It turns out the pocket flashlight can be a formidable weapon when shined in the face of an armed burglar. This is especially true of the burglar thinks you may be armed with more than the flashlight.
From the Arizona Daily Star, August 15, 1916:
EX-CONVICT, ARMED, CONQUERED BY NERVE
Clarence Barnhardt, With Flashlight and Superior Will, Captures Burglar
Armed with nothing but a pocket flashlight, Clarence Barnhardt, of 225 East Fourth street, conquered Jesus Navarro an ex-convict, who was armed with a six-shooter, Sunday evening. It was a battle of wills and the American won the mastery. Sunday evening about 9 o’clock Barnhardt heard a noise in his back yard and, going to the door, observed a Mexican, who proved to be Navarro, trying to unlock the door of an outhouse in which a quantity of clothing was stored.
Earnhardt surprised the Mexican in the act of trying to enter the house. The Mexican, turning suddenly, made a move toward his hip pocket as if to draw a gun. In a flash Barnhardt realized that he, unarmed, was at the mercy of a man who, for all he knew, might be a desperate criminal who would not hesitate to do murder.
Appreciating his peril, Barnhardt flashed a pocket electric flashlight in the Mexican’s face, keeping it within a few inches of his eyes. The intruder was completely blinded by the glare and for all he knew a gun was covering a vital part of his body down under the glare of the flashlight. His right hand, containing the weapon, was halted as it swung into position, and Barnhardt had won.
Earnhardt called to his wife then to request her to telephone the police to come for the burglar and Officer O’Donnell responded. In the meantime Mrs. Barnhardt had gone to her husband’s aid, knowing that he was unarmed, and she gave her husband a pistol, which he substituted for the flashlight.
After the officer had taken the Mexican away, Barnhardt picked up from the ground where Navarro had stood, a six-shooter, which he had evidently dropped to the ground as he was faced by Barnhardt’s pocket flashlight.
Navarro was turned over to the county authorities yesterday and two charges were put against him, attempted burglary and burglary. No charge of carrying a concealed weapon has yet been made against him.
The charge of burglary resulted from a search of Navarro’s home, where clothing that had been stolen from the outhouse in Barnhardt’s yard last Thursday night, was found. It was identified by the owner by marks on the lining of a coat placed there by a cleaner, which corresponded to marks on a vest belonging to the same suit, which had been overlooked by the thief.
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A bootlegger went to jail and his wife was released, at least until she continued her criminal ways.
Partners In Life and Crime Are Reunited
Woman Bootlegger Violates Parole and Joins Husband, Also Bootlegger, In Jail
Charles Phillips and his wife, Hannah Phillips, partners in life and in crime were reunited yesterday when Hannah, the execution of whose sentence for bootlegging had been suspended during good behavior, was sent to jail to join her husband Charles Phillips, who was sent to jail during the recent term of the superior court after he had been found guilty with his wife, of violating the prohibition law.
The revocation of Hannah Phillips’ parole followed her arrest Saturday night after a free-for-all fight at a negro club on South Main street operated by Phillips and his wife. It was the sale of liquor at this place that got Phillips and his wife into trouble in the first instance. Hannah was arrested, together with another negress, Bess Doran, on the charge of disturbing the peace. This charge against the woman club proprietor was dropped after Judge Cooper imposed the suspended sentence in the bootlegging case, which was one year in jail and a fine of $150.
In justice court, Bess Doran was fined $45 and given a jail term of sixty days, but the latter part of her sentence was suspended during good behavior.
When Phillips and his wife were called before Judge Baxter, of Yuma county, then presiding in the Pima superior court, Charles Phillips, nearly 70 years of age, made an eloquent plea for mercy for his wife and as a result the court suspended the execution of the sentence against the woman.
