Ralph Leavitt

In smaller serif print, the newspaper of record noted that "Armed in His Launch, He Defied Beardsley and His Sleuths."

Beardsley's adventure, according to The Times, began when Toledo, Ohio-bound New York real estate mogul Robert G. Kelsey picked up a car from Leavitt's dealership.

Minutes passed, and when the New York detectives went upstairs to locate Leavitt, they discovered the car dealer had fled, taking to his yacht.

When they put in at the Harbor, a bullet whizzed by their heads from the direction of Leavitt's Haidee speedboat, "the swiftest craft in any water thereabouts."

Hearing this, bail bondsman Beardsley chartered a tugboat from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, "with which to take up the chase again," reported The New York Times.

In the environs of York Harbor, noted The Times, the New Yorkers may have shown good judgment as "Leavitt has a reputation of being a crack shot with a revolver."

"Leavitt's boat is well stocked," reported The Times, "and he intends to remain on board indefinitely, or to put to sea if the New York deputies decide to pursue him again.