Armless Man Commits Robbery With Gun Between His Toes

1903

HOLDS GUN WITH HIS TOES

Armless Wonder Cowes Roomful of Men By a Threat to Shoot.

Butte, Mont., March 4 — The most sensational and novel holdup known in the West was perpetrated when Chas. Payne, an armless man, entered the California club at the corner of Main and Broadway and with a 44-calibre revolver held between the toes of his right foot compelled a faro dealer Richards to return him $5 which he had lost during the night.

There were only a few players in the room at the time and they made a rush for the doors when Payne swung his gun into action. Richards begged him not to shoot and Payne said that all he wanted was the return of $5 which he had lost. It was cheerfully restored to him and he hopped out of the club while keeping the dealer covered with his gun. The robbery was not reported to the police till in the afternoon and after Payne had been arrested for taking a shot at another man in a boarding house on West Mercury street later in the day.

He resisted arrest and tried to cut the officers with a razor which he held between his toes. He was overpowered, disarmed and taken to jail. Payne was formerly a vaudeville performer, but has been out of engagements for more than a year because of dissipation and he is said to have been crazed with drink at the time of the robbery and shooting.

—Davenport Daily Republican, Davenport, Iowa, March 5, 1903, page 2.