William R. Billingsley, 46, storekeeper, sustained fatal injuries rescuing Thomas A. Bryce, 21, filling-station attendant, from a homicidal attack, Sparenberg, Texas, May 1, 1930. A man wearing a mask entered the filling station attended by Bryce at night intent upon robbery and threatened to kill Bryce, handling him roughly and punching him on the breast with the muzzle of a revolver. Billingsley, who lived across the highway, was attracted, and he borrowed a shotgun and went to the filling station. Through a window he saw the man menacing Bryce with the revolver. He opened a screen door, and the man fired through the glass part of the main door, wounding Billingsley, and then opened the door. He immediately fired again at Billingsley, and Billingsley, who could not move the safety catch of his gun, struck the man with the gun and then fell. The man fired at Billingsley twice more and then ran away. Billingsley was struck by three of the bullets and sustained injuries from which he died the next afternoon. Bryce was not injured.
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