Murder

The Harlem section of New York, usually so peaceful and law-abiding, received a severe jolt. About 4 :30 o'clock in the morning when "Bill" Brennan, ex-pugilist and proprietor of the Club Tia Juana Cabaret, was eating a good-night meal with his sister (stage name Shirley Sherman) and with his old friend, James Cullen, a State trooper, a man stepped into the cabaret, tapped Brennan on the shoulder, said : "Bill, can I see you a minute?" Brennan, knowing many, but known to many more, did not recognize the man, but, excusing himself from his sister's company, he followed the man out of the room. Two shots rang out. A human scream vibrated the air. There was a dull thud as a body fell to the floor. Miss Brennan and Cullen dashed out of the room into the hall to find the assassins on the point of leaving and Brennan lying face down on the floor. Miss Brennan seized one of the murderers by the sleeve, but he shook him self free. Two mOre shots rang out. One entered Cullen's neck and fatally wounded him, the other fortunately missed Miss Brennan. The latter now rushed back to her brother to find that he had been shot in the abdomen and chest. "I am dying, Shirley," he moaned. "Fod God's sake, Bill, you're not," cried .'Shirley. "I know I'm dying," Brennan con tinued. "My poor wife, my poor child ! Poor Mary!" Realizing that her brother was dying Miss Brennan said : "Do you know who they were, Bill?" "I don't," he answered. Brennan then became unconscious and a few minutes later was dead. Meanwhile the assassins had made good their escape from the cabaret. Outside they met a bobby and beat him unconscious in the twinkling of an eye. Out into the road they dashed, held up a passing automobile, forced the driver at pistol points to drive faster than the wind from the pursuing policemen. To all who attempted to stop them they leveled their pistols. Finally, the chase ended. Two patrolmen crowded the fleeing car onto the sidewalk. The patrolmen threatened to shoot. The murderers surrendered. They were Frank Rassi, taxicab chauffeur, and James Hughes, onetime pugilist. Their motive in killing Brennan was obscure; it was thought that it had something to do with bootlegging. "Bill" Brennan, aged 31, became famed when he stood up to Jack Dempsey at Madison Square Garden for 12 rounds in 1920, a feat which he repeated against Luis Angel Firgo at the same place last year. He was, however, never considered a front-ranker in the fistic world and retired after his disastrous fight last Fall with "Billy" Miske (now dead), when he was knocked out in the fourth round.