Printed in the Thursday, October 21, 1954 Pilot-Tribune, Blair, Nebraska

Patrolman Kills Blairite, Pal

Fleeing Men Are Slain

Alan Billings, 21, of Blair, and Omaha Man Killed after Holdup

TROOPER ENDS THEIR RUN WITH TWO SHOTS

A Blair youth who forsook his factory job here for what he figured would be “easier money” is dead today, as is his accomplice in a brief dip into the life of crime.

Alan D. Billings, 21, of Blair and his Omaha companion, 25-year-old Charles D. Evans, died Friday under the blazing riot gun of a patrolman in western Nebraska.

Billings was killed outright; his friend died a short time later.

The men had been sought in connection with the armed robbery of a service station at North Platte last Thursday evening, in which some $200 was taken at gunpoint.

State Safety Patrolman Mel Busekist of Sidney killed the two Friday morning as they fled across a field northeast of Chappell, firing at him as they ran.

The two were quickly identified by the operator of the service station, who also identified their car, bearing Washington County license plates.

CHASED SEVERAL MILES

Patrolman Busekist said he had been alerted that the two men were headed toward Chappell. He spotted the car about four miles east of Chappell on Highway 30.

The speeding car, with Busekist in pursuit, careened off onto side roads, and then a single shot was fired at the patrolman through the back window.

Busekist’s car with siren blaring and red lights blinking, went into the ditch momentarily as the shot was fired, but Busekist was able to right the vehicle and get back onto the road. He fired a warning shot.

With Busekist in pursuit, the Blair car stopped at a rural road intersection and the fugitives jumped out and began running through a wheat field.

Busekist pulled his car into the field and “I hollered three or four times for them to stop.”

DASHED AHEAD

The men, ignoring the warning, dashed ahead in the field.

Busekist said the two men started running across the field and then Billings, who had a .32 caliber revolver, turned and fired at him.

The patrolman said he leveled his riot gun and fired one shot, which dropped Evans, 108 feet from the patrol car.

The Blair youth ran a bit farther, then turned and fired at Busekist again. The second charge from the riot gun dropped Billings 185 feet from the patrol car, killing him.

Both slain gunmen had criminal records and were “old numbers” to Omaha police. They were last arrested in Omaha June 4.

Police Chief Harry Green said a 22-year-old handicapped Omahan reported they had threatened him and forced him to hand over $5. They then warned him to have one hundred dollars for them the next day.

Chief Green said detectives met them instead.

Both were given 90-day jail sentences by Central Criminal Court.

By coincidence, Bureau of Identification officers had just sent Billings’ record and a photograph to Sheriff Rudy Fick in Blair, when they received word of his death.

The sheriff here was checking on Billings as a suspect in a burglary.

It is reported that the Blair man had a criminal record.

Blair police said they had a small run-in with him concerning his auto driving the weekend before last.

Ironically, Billings was scheduled to appear in police court at Fremont Friday on a charge of careless driving. Since he failed to appear, a warrant for his arrest was issued.

~~~Obituary courtesy of the Nebraska Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings and leaflets on file in the Public Library, Blair, Nebraska ~~~

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