Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1873-12-25
A Cool and Daring Robbery in Mis-.
souri,.

The latest, and one of the boldest, rob-
berries of the year. and one the details OF
which read like romance of old feudal
times, and an achievement which would
do honor TO Dick Turpin or Claude Duval,
or other notorious highwaymen, took
place on the State line of Missouri, about
thirty or forty miles south of Kansas City,
on Friday night last.
Messrs. Bryant and Chandler are the
proprietors of a small country grocery
and dry goods store, located south of
| Grand River and few miles south of the
village of Westpoint, Mo. The store is a
decent frame building, located at the cross
roads about half mile east of the Kansas
| State line.
1t was just as the shades Of evening had
cast gloom over the prairies in the
vicinity, when two strangers rode up to
the store They were young men, evil
IDENTIFY between twenty.four and twenty
eight years of age, one fair complexion
ed man wearing light whiskers; the other,
rather younger, had dark hair and sported
q mustache and beard la imperial. The
eldest wore brown chinchilla overcOat;
the youngest wore a soldiers overcoat.
Both had their foreheads concealed by
common black felt hats.
Mr.. Bryant was alone in the store, the
evening was cold and rather dark, the
nearest house was several hundred yards
away. The two young men entered the
store and walked up to the stove to warm
themselves. They entered into pleasant
and gossippy conversation with Mr..
Bryant, and appeared to be acquainted
with the country. They asked to see
some wooden scarfs, and finally selected
one and paid for it, and turned to the
stove. Mr.. Bryant proceeded with his
| keeping up careless and jovial CONVEX
sation with the two good-looking young
men.
Mr.. Bryant turned from his shelves,
where he had been busily engaged
Strengthening up fo- the night, when he
found his face in very uncomfortable
proximity to two large revolvers, while
the smiling countenances of the two ami
able young men had assumed a very bust
nesslike aspect.
"Mr. Bryant, we want all your availa-
BILE cash. We must have it, or take some
thing you value still more dear. So, shell
out without noise or delay"
| "But | will not submit"
"Yes, you will" replied the robbers,
and in another second the new wooden
scarf Just purchased was over his mouth,
| and his arms were soon securely pinioned.
His eyes were then shaded with a new
shawl, and the two robbers proceeded to
rife the store They first secured the
cash, amounting to about $500; then they
proceeded to select such articles of mer-
chandise as suited their fancy, manifesting
both taste and discrimination in their Sc
lections.
While these gay and festive youths were
engaged in this questionable business, an
old farmer just dropped in to pass away
a long evening, and talk over the news
around the stove in the cross-road store.
The young men received him courteously,
and took care of him as speedily as posi-
BILE by gagging and blind-folding him, and
emptying his pockets of his wallet, his
knife, several pieces of Irvine, buckle,
and few nails and some papers. He was
escorted to seat beside Bryant, there to
silently study and wonder what next was
to befall him.
This business was scarcely concluded
when two other farmers strolled into the
store. They were welcomed by the ban
dts, and seized upon as legitimate prey.
One of this last couple manifested his de-
sire to 60 home by starting to return home
without leave. He ran a short distance
down the road, when he was stopped by
the persuasive influence of pistol-ball in
the hip. He came back under escort He
and his companion were seated upon the
counter with the other two, and their
pockets rifled. Two more men struggled
in separately, one of them an Irishman.
These were successfully captured and pin.
toned, and six men were ranged in row,
helpless, and uncertain as to their future
fate.
The robbers, having secured the silence
and security of all their visitors, pressed
into service little boy who 'just dropped
in," and who was employed in and about
the store. With his assistance they
proceeded to go through the
store, manifesting taste and discre-
ton in their selection of goods and
trinkets They took an abundant supply
OF cigars, tobacco and whisky, fitted them
selves out with new gloves, handkerchiefs,
shirts, etc During this operation they
discovered schoolmaster to be among
their prisoners. The youngest took oc-
casion to lecture him upon the immoral
ity of being out late at nights, and its
tendency to promote bad habits, and
advised him never to go abroad again.
The Irishman was upbraided with being
so poor as to have only forty cints " in
his pockets, which they averred was not
enough to pay for the rope to bind him
with. The wounded man was examined
and pronounced not badly damaged, and
was made to stand up with the others.
Having satisfied their cupidity and
placed themselves outside of respectable
amount of whisky, they then proceeded
to arrange for their departure. The pris-
oners were escorted outside the store,
and ranged in line facing the road; the
boy was pinioned and blindfolded, like
the others, and placed with them. The
thieves then led up their horses, and a
third horse which had been ridden there
by one of the captured farmers. The
oldest of the thieves then addressed the
prisoners:
81 want you, gentlemen, to stand per.
fectly still until my partner is out of
sight. / will stay here with you for a
while. The first man that raises noise
or attempts to get away, will shoot his
head off. You must wait here perfectly
still for two hours; if you don't, I'll make
meat of yori.'