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Continued: The Spartanburg Herald, Spartanburg, S. C., November 27 1965 ROBBER KILLS PROPRIETOR; SUSPECT HELD by John L. Allen Herald Staff Writer A young Negro transient wanted for slayings in two northern cities is being held in the robbery and killing of a Spartanburg store manager Friday afternoon about 3 o'clock. The suspect, Leonard Curtis Hamilton, has admitted shooting Jones F. Burgess. 60-year-old manager of the Mary Carter Paint Co. store at 225 E.St. John St., police said late Friday night. Hamilton was arrested about 8 Friday night as he walked toward the Liberty Hotel on S. Liberty Street, where he checked in two days ago. City Policeman Francis Dogan, acting on a tip from an informer, was waiting near the hotel for Hamilton's return. Dogan said Hamilton did not resist arrest. Police said they found in the suspect's pocket Burgess' wallet which contained the victim's social security card and pictures of the store manager's wife and son. Burgess died instantly as two .38 revolver slugs tore into his face at pint-blank range. He died on the floor of the store which he had operated for the past eight years. City Law Enforcement Director W. T. Ivey said he late Friday night that Hamilton is wanted in Washington in the robbery-slaying of a liquor store proprietor last Tuesday. Ivey said Philadelphia police also are looking for Hamilton in the killing of a Negro man there on Nov. 19. A Negro woman also was shot in that occurrence and is in critical condition, Ivey said. A search of Hamilton's hotel room here yielded a suit- case containing a .39 target pistol which police believe was used in the killing of Burgess. Police said the pistol was fully loaded when it was found at the hotel. Earlier, police said three shots were fired at the store. The suitcase also contained a blood-stained pair of cotton gloves. In one of these, about 10 or more loose bullets were found. A pair of men's shoes spotted with bllod and a man's overcoat also were found in the hotel room. Police said the overcoat had been crumpled up and tossed behind a sofa in the room. The garment was damp when found and police theorized the suspect had attempted to wash blood stains from the coat. One policeman quoted the suspect as saying he had tried to wash the blood from his shoes but couldn't completely remove the stains. Hamilton reportedly checked in at the hotel Thursday and gave one address. When he registered Friday for another day's stay, he reportedly gave a different address. Police Director Ivey said he believes the cash taken in the robbery was used to purchase a new suit of clothes, including shoes and shirt. Ivey said police were still recovering portions of the money late Friday night. Hamilton is thought by police to have changed into new clothes and returned to the hotel after the slaying. When police arrived at the paint store Friday after- noon, they found the cash register drawer partially opened and empy except for one check. Burgess' teenage daughter, Mary, told police then that her father probably had about $246 cash in the register at the time of the slaying. She checked cash register tapes to get this figure. An Enoree Route 1 woman and her 13-year-old daughter found the body when they entered the store to buy paint shortly after 3 p. m. Mrs. William Hughes said she was looking at a paint chart in the front of the store when her daughter, Linda, called to her, "Come here, mother, there's something wrong with this man." Burgess was lying on his back in a pool of blood in front of the counter and only several steps from the open cash register. Mrs. Hughes went next door to the Greyhound bus terminal and police were called. Coroner George L. Adams said Burgess was shot twice. One bullet entered the man's left cheek and exited though one of his ears. A second slug entered his left nostril, traveled upward and lodged beneath the victim's skull. A pathologist said the slug that entered Burgess' nostril caused the man's death. according to Coroner Adams. That slug was taken from the body. Another slug was found on the floor in a rear corner of the paint store. One the wall to the right of the cash register, police found a chipped place in the plaster about the size of a quarter. The bullet found on the floor may have first struck this wall and ricocheted across the shop. Altogether, police believe, three bullets were fired. Ivey said Hamilton also is on parole on a burglary case in Pennsylvania. Ivey said he is recommending Policeman Dogan for a merit pay raise in recognition of his work after the slaying and in the arrest of the suspect. A Moore Route 1 man, Robert C, Cogdell, apparently was one of the last persons to see Burgess alive. Cogdell and his wife parked in a lot adjacent to the paint store about 3:07 p. m. Cogdell said he was aware of the time because he was late for a 3 o'clock appointment at a business just down the street from the paint store. A police alert was broadcast shortly after the slaying for a care bearing North Carolina license tags. Cogdell had observed the car when he parked at the lot. A description of the several occupants and the car was the first lead that police began working on minutes after the slaying. Director Ivey said Friday night that the car's occupants apparently had no connection with the killing. Cogdell, a mechanical supervisor with Daniel Construction Co., said the rwo shots were very distinct. Cogdell said he was signing some papers in a nearby building when he heard the shots. "It just clicked in my mind - it didn't quite register that anything was happening. There goes a .32 or .38 muffled." Cogdell said he thought to himself after hearing the shots. Cogdell placed the time of the slaying at 3:14 p. m. Jones Fletcher Burgess, 60, 149 Pine Grove Manor, was shot to death at his store in downtown Spartanburg Friday afternoon shortly after 3. Son of T. M. Burgess of Moore and the late Sarah George Burgess, manager of Mary Carter Paint Store here; member of St. Paul Methodist Church, previously attended Cecil's Business College and Wofford College as a special student. Also surviving: wife, Mrs. Willie Mae Bowen Burgess; daughter, Mary Louise of the home; son, Robert Neil of home; sisters, Mrs. Ruth Knox, Mrs. Edna Hammett, both of Spartanburg, Mrs. Esther Orr of Inman; brother, Paul of Greenwood. J. F. Floyd Mortuary.
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