A knife-wielding man was arrested in front of the White House yesterday morning in a scuffle with Secret Service officers that followed a chase from the scene of a robbery attempt at a nearby delicatessen, a Secret Service spokesman reported.

A man entered the Executive Sandwich Shop in the 1700 block of Pennsylvania Avenue NW about 7:30 a.m., showed a knife and asked an employee to open the cash register, but left when the employee screamed, according to the owner of the shop, Emmnuel Skinarakis.

Skinarakis and others chased the man east on Pennsylvania toward the White House. Members of the Secret Service uniformed division stopped a man, who was carrying what was described as a steak knife, near Lafayette Square, authorities said.

A scuffle broke out, and the spokesman said the agents arrested James Arthur Lee, 31, of no fixed address, and charged him with attempted robbery and assault on a police officer.