The Lewiston teller. (Lewiston, Idaho) 1900-1905, 1902-07-10
BOLD ROBBERY N COlFAX
GAMBLING HOUSE THE LOSER,

Lone Robber Gets Away with eiHoO
NEARLY . DOsen Men Were B..wsa
U Against Wall-DUlaest CrsAe
Ever Perpetratea In That city
safe Esaptiea.
Colfax, WASH, July THE Richelieu
saloon and gambling house was held up
and robbed Of $500 by lone robber At
2 o'clock in the morning. Nearly dozen
men were in the saloon at the time and
all were lined up against the wall with
their hands above their heads while the
lone robber went coolly about his work.
1t wac the boldest crime ever committed
in Colfax. The robber was marked and
carried two murderous looking revolyers.
both Of "A caliber and poked these famil.
iarly in tine ribs Of his victims ~ he gave
them orders which were readily obeysd.
The robber was evidently an expert at
the business and was the coolest man
in the house during the progress Of the
robbery.
Charles Schultz is proprietor Of the "a.
loon. The games are owned by Phillip
Love, who was in Spokane when the rob.
berry occurred. As Schultz was the prin-
cipAl actor In the drama, aside from the
robber, the story ID best told in his words.
Mr.. Schultz said:
1t was between l:30 and O'Clock. /
was standing behind the bar talking to
Jim Manson and Hank Sparks and waa
leaning with my elbows ON the bar and
my chin on my hand. did not hear the
outer door open, but the inside screen
doors swung open and I glanced around
the two men and looked directly into two
big guns. They were held by . man wear.
ing black cloth mask which covered al
his face and had holes for the eyes. He
said: Hold up your hanas.' We all held
up our hands and he marched Manson and
Sparks through the door leading into the
room where the tables were and kept me
covered with one gun all the time. There
were seven or eight men in the back room,
He made these all line up with their faces
to the wall and their hands I'm.
| "The r0bher then went TO the roulette
table and began scraping the money of
in sack. He took all the money from
the three tables In the room and searched
all the men, some OF them twice. He
took no money from the men, but seemed
to be hunting for arms. After he had
finished getting the money from the tables
he ordered the men not to move. Two
OF them, Hank Sparks and George Gerlitx
looked around over their shoulders and
each received knock on the head with
ono OF the gums. The robber turned u
me and said: Here, you big fellow, III
do business with you.' He then poked
one Of the guns In my hack and thu
other against the back Of my neck. Tn,
gun barrel was cold and his hand trem
bled little 20 that the muxxle Of tn.
gun rubbed up and down ON my neck
1t made me nervous.
He marched me to thu front end O.
; the saloon, after telling the others tina
he had two fellows with him and II an,
man moved 1t was death, and made m,
open the safe. told him ! did no,
know the combination, hut he made m,
open 1t and took out all the money. On,
drawer that locks with key and con
tanned insurance policies / tried 10 kce1
from opening. but he made me open /
and went through the papers. In tn
back end of the drawer he found a pri
vate sack containing COS belonging to ON
of the dealers.
. He poked me In the ribs with one O
the guns again and marched me back {,
the rear end Of the saloon and made m,
stand with my face to the wall. sayin,
as be did 90: II you attempt to NOV,
III blow a hole through your heart, an,
gave me another poke to show he mean
it, Both guns were at full cock all tn
time and he kept his fingers on the trip
gcrs. He then opened the drawers be
hind the bar. In one OF them he foun,
my gun and said: We'll, this is prett,
fine gun. 1t will come handy In my bus
mess. I'll take it along The gun is
~ caliber Frontiers Colts.
"The fellow backed toward the doc
saying: If any man moves inside Of /,
minutes he il a dead man. He opene.
the door and disappeared. George Gerlit
and Charles Ochs were in the toilet room
and say they saw the shadow OF thre
men go out, but no one else saw NOR
than the one man."
All others who were present at tn
time agreed that but one man did tn
work, and it Is not considered likely tina
more than one man was implicated. for
Is pointed out that one man would no
have undertaken such task alone if h
had confederates to assist HIM. Tn
| money taken was mostly in silver an
was heavy load for man to carry
Mr. Schultz estimates the loss at abou
; $500.