Huntingdon-Fulton County PA Archives News.....BRICE HANN TAKEN INTO CUSTODY BY POLICE LAST NIGHT January 5, 1940
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Sharon S. M. shabodeho@aol.com November 13, 2010, 8:37 pm

Daily Times, Huntingdon January 5, 1940
BRICE HANN TAKEN INTO CUSTODY BY POLICE LAST NIGHT

Man Who Fatally Wounded Private Sutton Offers No Resistance At Time Of Arrest

A twenty-four hour search by a posse of more than one hundred state motor 
policemen, augmented by county officers, for the slayer of Private Frederick
J. Sutton, state trooper at McConellsburg, ended last night when Brice Hann,
aged 54, of R. D., McConnellsburg, accused, of firing the fatal shot, was taken 
into custody in a barn eight miles from Needmore, Fulton county, and eighteen 
miles south, of McConnellsburg.  Hann offered no resistance when Private G. R. 
Wagonseller of the state police, and Frank (Happy) Kirchner, a Fulton county 
fish warden, located him in the barn on the Mellott farm.  He responded to 
their command to surrender by turning over his fully loaded 32 calibre 
revolver, thought to be the same, weapon used in the slaying of the policeman 
at the West End restaurant in McConnellsburg on Wednesday night about 6:15 
o'clock.  Sutton had accompanied Constable R. B. Regi of McConnellsburg, to the 
restaurant to serve a warrant on Hann, charging him with issuing fradulent 
checks in payment for cattle. Hann was a cattle dealer. Without warning, Hann, 
who had been standing with his hands in his coat pockets, fired a shot through 
his coat pocket and the bullet entered Sutton's abdomen. He died two and a half 
hours later in the Chambersburg hospital. In the meantime, Hann fled and a 
posse immediately took up the search, for him. Following his arrest last night, 
Hann was brought to the Fulton county jail. Officers expect to take Hann before 
Squire W. H. Greathead of McConnellsburg today and have him held without bail 
for court on a charge of first degree murder.  Hann did not know until told by 
officers that Sutton had died. Major E. J. Henry, of Harrisburg, following the 
capture of Hann, complimented his officers and all others who had worked 
unceasingly until Hann was taken into custody.  The Huntingdon state troopers, 
all of whom joined in the search, returned to Huntingdon shortly after midnight 
this morning.  Sheriff William A. Foster and his deputies, and numerous borough 
officers in various sections of the county, joined in the search yesterday. 
Maryland state police volunteered their services, it was said, and kept a 
lookout along the state line for Hann until informed of his capture.  The first 
trail of Hann was picked up at 8 o'clock yesterday morning by the state 
officers, and with the aid of a bloodhound from the Rockview penitentiary, the 
trail was followed until the posse caught up to him. He had stopped at a farm 
house, it is said, for supper last night, only a short time before he was 
captured.  Disheveled and unshaven, and suffering from cold, Hann, had few 
comments to make to the  officers. He stated, according to Trooper 
Wagonseller, "I enjoyed watching the flash of the searchlights on the white 
snow."  Funeral services for Private Sutton will be held Saturday at the All 
Saints Catholic church on the Mercer-Greenville road, near Mercer, Pa. The body 
was taken to the Cunningham funeral home at Leesburg. The services will be 
conducted by Rev. Denis O'Mahony, pastor of All Saints church, in (Salmis, very 
blurry??) with fellow troopers, acting as pallbearers.  Constable Regi in 
recounting the incidents leading up to the fatal shooting of Trooper Sutton, 
stated that he and Sutton had gone to the West End restaurant, to serve a 
warrant on Hann.  Hann was accompanied by Eugene Booher, of Three Springs, and 
was a customer in the restaurant at the time. Regi took office on New Year's 
Day, and this was his first official duty, it is said. Sutton asked Hann to 
step outside the restaurant to discuss the charge involved. After the officers 
and Hann, had reached the street, Sutton asked Hann to go along to the squire's 
office, to which Hann replied, "As soon as I finish my sandwich I have ordered, 
I'm going up to straighten up the check." Sutton then told Hann, "Well, we'd 
like you to go now."  To this Harm again retorted, "As soon as I eat my 
sandwich."  Then Sutton repeated his first statement, "We want you to go now," 
and reached for Hann's arm.  Hann, who had been standing with his hands in hia 
coat pockets, fired a shot through the overcoat pocket, without drawing the 
gun, before Sutton had touched him.  Hann, then, without saying a word, ran 
into an alley which was only about ten feet away.  According to the statements 
made by Regi: As Sutton was falling to the ground, he (Regi) grabbed him and 
tried to hold him up. "Try to get him in my car," Regi called to the people in 
the restaurant. "Help me load him in my car."  After getting the wounded man in 
the car, Regi rushed him to Dr. MacKinlay's office in McConnellsburg and 
finding the doctor absent, rushed on to Dr. Neill's office, who also was out.  
Regi then drove to the police station, reported the accident and went straight 
to Dr. MacKinlay's residence.  Dr. MacKinlay administered first aid and ordered 
him to be taken to the hospital at once.  Sutton was immediately rushed to the 
Chambersburg hospital in the Kelso ambulance.  Other patrolmen of the  
McConnellsburg police station immediately sent out a call to nearby stations 
for all available men to report to the hospital for blood transfusions tests.  
Medical science was to no avail, however, and at approximately 9:40 Wednesday 
evening, January 3, teletype and telephone messages brought the information 
that Private Frederick J. Sutton was dead.  Hann, aged 54, is a married man and 
the father of six children. He has been living with his son, Brice, Jr., at his 
home about one mile west of McConnellsburg.  Booher is being detained as a
material witness in the case. However, is it said, he was in no way involved in 
the occurrence.


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