The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-01-08
SIX WERE IN THE GANG
Night Watchman and Bremen
 Captured and Gagged.
For Mine Hours, Without 1nts,- ference, the Burglars Were H Engaged on the Job-No
 Arrests Yet Made.

| St. Louis, Jan. 7.-Six masked men | entered the National Stock Yards Bank. | north of East St. Louis. ILL. last night.
 and after capturing and gagging the l night watchman and fireman at the. l plant and blowing open the vaults with | dynamite, secured s5,oo0 in coin and cur
 rency. with which they decaped early 1 today.
 l For nine hours. from o'clock last night until a. m. they were at work on ths vault, but without being interfered with The entire East St. Louis police force. aided by the St. Louis police. are guard ing all the avenues of escape. but as yet have obtained no clue to the whereabouts of the robbers. who. 1t is believed, escaped on horseback. Lee Philpot. one of the watchers. one of the rough-rider-friends of President Roosevelt, who is well known in Ksn- lucky. was the first to meet the robbers. He was standing in the stock yards.
 near the Exchange building, in which the
 bank is located when he was addressed
 by three men who sprang out of a fence
  They said:
 We want you, Philpot," and with that overpowered him before he could reach his revolver. The three robbers took Phil- pot to the composing room of The Daily National Stock Yard Reporter. near by and laid him on the floor. He was bound hand and foot and gagged with towels. | While lying there three other men came | in.
 While he was lying on the floor Philpot heard the leader of the robber gang say. Let's kill him. | He was deterred from doing this, Phil | pot says. by the other robbers. One of the six men was sent out with l injunctions to secure the others. | Albert Estep. the other bank watch- 1 man. was caught on the steps of the Ex- | change building The robber went up to | Estep and addressed him by name Thinking 1t was a friend, Estep was taken una awares and when revolver was thrust into his face, was not in shape for defense. Under threats of death he was forced to go to the composing room, where he was also bound and gagged. Night Fireman l.. W. Clark was taken unawares in the stamp department of the Exchange building. He resisted and was badly beaten before subdued. He was also taken to the composing room and he
 was left bound and gagged with his two companions.
 At midnight one of the robbers was left to guard the captives, while the other | five went to the bank, which Is located on
 the first floor of the Exchange Building near the centre.
 With nitro-glycerine the robbers blew 1 open the steel doors of the vault These doors were of double thickness of steel ! and were shattered and the banks books
 and papers blown into shreds. | Enta fhn hQ hiry eaf fA | with quadruple plate doors was next en- | countered. These doors were drilled and ! a charge of the explosive inserted within | blew them off.
 The explosion destroyed more books and 1 papers. scattered about $500 of silver upon | the floor. This was not taken by the
 robbers. They took all the currency and the other coin. amounting to about 5000 | as nearly as the banks officers can esti- mate.
 The five men left the bank and signalled to the one who was guarding the captive watchman and firemen. This man joined his companions.
 Five minutes later after the robber guard left the composing room Estep
 who had not been bound securely, worked
 loose and released Clark and PhiIpot.
 This was about o'clock. Estep then
 ran to the telephone and called up
 Charles T. Jones, general manager of
 the stock yards, and informed him of the
 robbery. President G. Gordon Knox of
 the stock yards was also called.
 Mir. Knox said that if the robbers had
 made their haul the night before they
 would have secured about S10000 more
 than they got.
 They did not take any of the banks papers.
 The vault and safe present scene of
 wreck and ruin. The robbers were all masked. The watchmen say that all the bandits appeared to be middle-aged men, none of them under S5 years of age. The leader. man of about 40 years, was tall and slender.
 Philpot says that while he lay in the printing office he could plainly hear two men outside. whose voices he recognized guarding cattle.
 They were within 20 feet of him, and the i've robbers who appeared quite ua- easy. kept very quiet.
 In addition to the 5000 the robbers se- cured $550 left with the bank by Assistant Postmaster Bushnell of the stock yards This is the bank whose officers recently swore out warrant charging Theodore Duddleston, the assistant cashier, with embedding $l2.0OO. The foregoing recital of the robbery was secured in talks with the watchman and fireman.
 H. E. T. Hollister was at work in one of the offices on the floor where the bank is located when the robbers first made their appearance at o'clock. He worked there until S:30 o'clock. He noticed sev- eral men, at different times. entering and emerging from the corridor.
 Some of them he recognized as em- ployes, while others were strangers to him.
 The police of both cities are investIgat- ing the robbery. and. 1t Is said, some sensational arrests will be made before night.