Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-12-25
Alleged Member of Eldon Bank
Robbers Gang Arrested.
CHARGED WITH GARDNER ROBBERY
Has Been Identified AS One of the Men
Who Blew the Bank at Gardner, III.
/ His Arrest Recalls the Case of
"Joplin Red"

Eldon bank in March, 1896, has been
arrested in Chicago, charged with the
robbery of the Gardner bank at Gard
ner, Illinois, about five weeks ago.
The readers of the Courier remember
the circumstance of this robbery, and
how the night Waterman at Gardner
was met on the street by bandits and
taken to school house, where he was
placed in such position that he
would hang himself il he tried to es-
cape. Then the robbers went ahead,
did their work, got $4,000 as the re-
suit of their nights labor and escaped.
Since that time detectives and officers
all over the country have been looking
for them, but it was not until Wednes-
day that Sawyer was arrested.
The arrest was made in rooms over
q saloon on the south side in Chicago,
where Sawyer is charged with having
lived with his mistress, while his wife
languishes in the house of correction
at Detroit, Mich. Local interest at
taches to the arrest for the reason
that Sawyer is also charged with being
one of the men who made the famous
raid upon the bank at Eldon, Iowa in
March, 1896, and was the one member
of the gang interested in that job
whom the officials and detectives could
never find.
The history of the criminal career
of Jimmie Sawyer is not long, so far
as years are concerned, but one of Pc
culiar fascination. Detectives have
been on the trail of the man for more
than five years and he has been more
than successful in eluding them. His
Il fho in, hiTo.
go was made by the merest chance,
the credit for the discovery being
largely due to the warden of the De-
troit house of correction, who held out
mail sent to Mrs. Sawyer and thus OBJ
tanned clews by the aid of which the
officers were finally able to land their
man.
So far as the officers know, Sawyer
has been very considerate of Iowa
people, and it is not alleged that he
has been connected with more thman
one robbery in this section-that at
Eldop in 1896.
Sawyer has sister at Beloit, and
as mentioned before, his wife is at
Detroit serving term in the house of
correction for women. Several
months ago Sawyer got into trouble
ut Kenasha and was locked up. 1t
looked like a trip to the pen at that
time, but the. case was finally drop
ped because of the failure of certain
witnesses to appear. Sawyer's sister
at Beloit desired to communicate with
Mrs. Sawyer at Detroit relative to the
incarceration of Sawyer She wrote
a letter that was apprehended by the
warden at Detroit and which gave the
clue that finally landed Sawyer be-
hind the bars. The letter was in
geniously worded and was evidently
the result of an understanding be-
tween wife and sister as to methods
of communication in case Sawyer
should get into trouble. The sister
wrote several little family matters in
the letter and finally in about the
middle Of the communication wrote
that she had been worrying about
Slim because of peculiar dream.
She said she had dreamed that Jim"
had been wounded and taken to hos
pital where he was lying in danger
Gus condition. The physicians had
worked with him good deal and had
finally come to the point where an op-
GRAFTON was declared necessary. The
date for the operation had been fixed
and she (the sister, would let Mrs.
Sawyer know as soon as possible after
the operation what was the result.
The warden at the Detroit house of
correction read the letter twice before
he detected anything suspicious about
it, Then he began to wonder whether
or not the hospital story might not
have some significance. 1t had been
bruited about that Mrs. Sawyer would
bear watching, though of course she
was not known to the warden by that
name. The letter was turned over to
a Chicago detective agency, and an
officer Immediately went to work on
the case. 1t was learned that instead
of being in a hospital at Kenosha the
man Sawyer was in jail, and that a
trial had been set for the day upon
which the sister had said the Opera
ton" would be performed. The date
had passed before the detective ar
rived in Kenosha, and Sawyer had
fled. A second letter, however, receiv-
ed by the warden at Detroit only a
few days ago, showed that Sawyer
was living in roms over South Side
saloon in Chicago, where he was final
ly caught.
tl lIS WOIh VI tuS ucleCllNGS vi Ile
case proved conclusively that when
the sister wrote hospital" she meant
''jail." When she spoke Of the physi-
clans she knew that Mrs. Sawyers
would understand that she meant ode
tectives,' and the word operation" in
the letter spelled trial" to Mrs. Saw.
yer.
Another point was learned from tbs
letter "sidetracked" at Detroit, which
explains why the officers had so muc1
trouble tracking their man. All tn,
descriptions Of Sawyer, which hav'
been floating around the country fo
several years, announce the croo,k al
a black haired man. From the lefter
it was learned that he had dyed hi
hair. When Sawyer was finally found
instead of looking like a Bohemian, a
the circulars sent out to police depart
ments all over the country say, h
looked like a Swede.
The EIdon Robbery,
The bank robbery at FGdon, i
which If is alleged that SAWYER wa