At four o'clock this morning three children rushed out of the house of James Marion, in Ferry street, Long Island City, and alarmed the neighborhood by shouting "murder" in chorus. Persons who hastily responded to the alarm found the children in their night clothes, just as they had leaped out of bed in their fright. They were chilled with the cold.

Cries of murder, partially stifled, came from the interior of the house. They were a woman's cries. Suddenly they ceased. The persons who had gathered before the house were timid about entering. Mr. Marion was not at home, being employed as night watchman in the Standard Oil Works. Policeman Waddell was attracted by the cries from a distant post. He had no trouble in effecting an entrance, the children, the oldest being 15 years, having left the doors open behind them.

Three men dashed out of the house through two windows, and the officer followed into the yard. Two of the men, more nimble than the third, scaled a fence and got away. The third man got astride the fence, and the officer, who had drawn his pistol, fired and brought him down. The bullet hit the man's ear, tearing a hole through it and plowing a furrow in his scalp. He was dazed by the shock and bled profusely, Officer Waddell recognized the man as John Quigley.

Some citizens volunteered to escort Quigley to the station house, while the officer gave chase to the other two men. Quigley was bound with three ropes, one fastening his hands and the other two a foot each, the ends held in strong hands. Everybody said it was a pity the officer had not killed Quigley.

Officer Carr and a few citizens were following Quigley's confederates, while Officer Parks was doing a good work in Marion's yard. Half an hour after Quigley had been lodged in the station house, John McGiller was brought in. They had been drinking, but neither was to say drunk. The third man escaped, but he is known. The woman whom the two had assaulted was Mrs. Brannagan. She is a widow and housekeeper for Mr. Marion, who is a widower. She says the men smothered her with a pillow and one maltreated her while the other two held her. She was found in bed unconscious, and Dr. Burnett was summoned. At noon she had rallied sufficiently to narrate the particulars, but the assailants were not known to her. It is believed that if the villains had not been interrupted, Mrs. Brannagan would have died from suffocation. She is 50 years old.

The prisoners belong to the Ferry street gang. Quigley is a notorious character. He was out of jail on bail, having been held for felonious assault on Thomas Ward, jointly with his father and brother. Ward was shot in the head and had several ribs and a leg broken. The Quigley brothers fled, John, the perpetrator of this last outrage, was caught in New Haven. His brother Michael, who had only recently been released from the State Prison, died in Canada of exposure. Quigley is a political bulldozer. For several years he has been able to escape punishment. This fact led the police to take the case directly to the Grand Jury this morning, and probably a bill has been found against the prisoners.