The Battle of Viers Mill Village: Part Two.

Original caption: Round Up Prowlers -- Four residents of Viers Mill Village, Montgomery county community, Maryland, pose with two of the weapons they and neighbors used on prowlers. Left to right, Mrs. Martha Newell, Mrs. Mary Schulz, and Mrs. and Mr. Tom Newell.

Readers will recall my post the other day on the "Battle of Viers Mill Village." Several Irregulars sent in tips on where I might find more info on this skirmish of the armed citizenry versus the crooks. Most helpful was Scott, who found this article from the Baltimore Sun. I am running down clues on the surviving participants and will have more anon. The last paragraphs are interesting, demonstrating as they do that the whole "only ones" attitude of "authority" was not entirely a product of the last couple of decades.

NEIGHBORS IN NIGHT CLOTHES SEIZE 4 SUSPECTED PROWLERS
The Baltimore Sun, July 7, 1950, page 36.

Silver Spring MD July 6 -- Men and women in night clothes, some of them armed with revolvers, rifles and knives, early this morning captured four young men suspected of night prowling recently in a veterans' housing development here.

At the crack of five rifle shots, the neighbors poured from their homes in the 4500 block Sigsbee road of Viers Mill Village and quickly rounded up the four youths and held them until the arrival of arrival of police.

The shots were fired by Mrs. Francis Andrews, 26, a young and held them until arrival of police.

The shots were fired by Mrs. Francis Andrews, 26, a young widow with two children, who used a .22-caliber rifle after the German Luger jammed.

Two Halted By Shots

The wild shots halted two of the men who, it was believed, had attempted to break into her house. She held them at bay until the street quickly filled with other residents.

In the past three weeks, prowlers have attempted several times to break into homes of wives whose husbands were working, or in the case of service men, on night duty.

Several of the men had to be restrained from beating up the four youths before the arrival of the police.

The four, who were unarmed, were charged with disorderly conduct on warrants sworn out by irate residents. Each of them posted $52.50 bail and was released for a hearing in magistrate's court at 10 A.M. July 11.

Men identified

The arrested men were identified as William F. Hauppmann, 23, a filling-station employee; Donald M. Heizer, Jr. a cook; Charles F. Clark, 29, a cab driver, all of Silver Spring, and Joseph J. Olcnik, 22, a shop foreman of Bethesda.

Clark, in turn, swore out a warrant charging Thomas C. Newell of the 4500 block Sigsbee street, with firing a gun at him.

Newell, a first class aviation machinist's mate, who serves as crew chief on Navy transport planes, was released on $52.50 bail for the July 11 hearing.

Claims Self Defense

The Navy petty officer frightened off a night prowler two weeks ago when he turned on his porch light as someone was attempting to unlock the side door of his house.

Newell told police he fired into the ground in front of Clark in self defense when the latter failed to halt. Newell said Clark had lunged at him when he fired.

The machinist mate had been alerted by his wife several minutes before Mrs. Andrews fired the rifle shots. His wife, who was awakened by the cries of their three-year-old daughter, Nancy, said she saw a car without lights racing down the block at 50 miles an hour.

Mrs. Mary Schulz, a neighbor, reported to police that there were two cars speeding in the area without lights.

As soon as he heard the rifle shots, Newell said he turned on his car lights and ran across the street to borrow Mrs. Schultz's .45-caliber automatic. When he returned, he found Clark standing on his front lawn.

Led Up The Street

At gun point, Newell led Clark up the street to where the other three were surrounded by an angry crowd of residents.

"A couple of fellows were so mad they wanted to beat the four up," said Newell. "It was lucky they didn't get hurt," he said.

Mrs. Schulz, whose husband has a part-time job at night driving a taxi for the Maryland Veterans Cab Association, said she obtained a gun for "self-protection" after unidentified men had attempted to enter the side door of her home twice at night in the past three weeks.

She and her husband were just about to retire when he looked out their bedroom window and saw a prowler at their neighbor's side door. She said her husband, Walter, ran out in "his shorts" just as the rifle shots rang out.

Believed Captured Later

The man escaped but was believed to be one captured later in another street. Mrs. Schulz said the men had parked their two cars outside Mrs. Andrews home.

Viers Mill Village has about 1,100 homes, most of them occupied by veterans.

Mrs. Schulz said that when neighbors complained to the Montgomery police here about the night prowling, "they told us we'd better arm ourselves."

Newell said that the police reported that they couldn't do anything until we actually caught the men.

Mrs. Schultz said the prowlers "are not out to rob anybody."

"They only try to get into houses where women are alone at night because their husbands are working or have night duty in the service," she said.

Charles M. Orme, chief of the county police at Silver Spring, said he would investigate reports that the residents were told by police to arm themselves against the prowlers.

Such advice from a policeman, he said, was "foolish."