Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-11-14
FOUR SUSPECTS
HELD BY POLICE
ST. Louis May Have Some Of the
Men Who Robbed Rio
Bank.
JOB THE WORK OF AMATEURS
Manner in Which They Operate Shows
That They Are Not
Experts.

Charles Gallagher on information re-
ceived in a telegram from Sheriff c. F.
Hurburgh, of Calesburg, which gave a
description of one of the men who blew
| the safe of the RIO bank Saturday
morning. Three companions giving
their names as Harry Morgan. Charles
Stems and James Barrod were taken
into custody with Gallagher and held
awaiting developments.
The robbers. who were eight in num-
Der. IN leaving the bank. took the
street leading east. and at the railroad
crossing several hundred yards south
cas-; OF the passenger stat on divided
the spoils and separated. There the
clue of the robbers was lost, but il is
believed a Part of them drove east in
buggies and that others of the party
went in other directions.
Before the men had completed the
job several of the people of Rio had
been awakened by the reports of the
explosions and scarcely had they had
time to get out of town until nearly the
entire village was thrown into q str
of excitement
The first two men at Rio to be
awakened by the explosions were S. S.
Bair. who runs the telephone exchange
there. and Hermon Wicall, who was
rooming at the home of Mr.. Bair. The
reports were very loud and three eX-
plosions were heard by Mr.. Bair and
five by Mr.. Wicall, who was awakened
first.
The two men partially dressed them
selves and started toward the bank.
which is about half a block distant
from the Bair home. just around the
corner to the south and west. AS tae
two men left the house Mr.. Bair, who
is the constable of RIO. picked up his
revolver which had been lying in the
drawer for several years untouched.
They hurried down the street. Mr..
Bair being several feet in advance of
Mr.. Wicall. AS they neared the corner
they saw the men coming east, walk
ing in the middle of the road at
quick pace. Mr. Bair tried to cock his
revolver. but it hal rusted and he
could not make il work.
| s.- Robbers Are Seen.
The robbers were eight in number
and were walking two abreast. They
passed by not more than forty feet
from where Mr.. Bair was standing and
one of the party, pointing toward his
house. remarked. There is the tele
phone exchange" That was all that
the men were heard to say, and they
passed hastily by and went on east
until they came to the railroad cross
| ing. and there Mr.. Bair lost sight of
them on account of the darkness.
1t was very dark at the time and Mr..
Bair could not outline the features of
the men nor could he tell how they
We're dressed or whether they wore
masks. Several of the party were
large and the first two Mr.. Bair de-
scribes as quite tall. He could not
make out what they were carrying and
he is of the opinion that they had their
course clearly mapped out from the
manner in which they were going.
The bank building is new and has
been in use but about two months, and
the safe in which the money was kept
was not in the vault, which is not quite
ready to use, thus making easy access
for the robbers to get at the cash. The
|
| is evident that the robbers knew where
the money was kept.
Money Scattered on Floor.
Sitting near the window was mask
ed lantern that was still burning, which
had evidently been used by the rob-
bers to light their way. On the floor
were found several pieces of money in
silver and few small bills, which had
been scattered about by the explosions
and left by the robbers in their haste
to get away.
The manner in which the robbers
operated evidently did not show that
it was the work of experts, and it is
believed that the knob had been knock
ed off the safe door and a heavy
charge of nitro-glycerine used. No
burglars tools were found and they
had not tried to drill through the safe
The only tools which they had to OPP
crate with were some sledges and CHS
els that they had stolen from the south
handcar house some time during the
night 1t is believed that the time
taken by them required only about
thirty minutes
Familiar With Surroundings.
| That the robbers knew the condi-
tons and surroundings under which
they were working was evident and
it is believed that they entered Rio
early Friday evening, as three I'M
known fellows were seen about the de-
pot early in the evening and four men
were seen sitting near the handcar
house which was broken into, about
$3.50 o'clock in the evening. by trav-
cling man. During the previous day or
two parties have been seen hanging
around Galesburg who were strangers
there and whose business was not
known
What proves to be a clue that may
lead to the arrest of the robbers was
young man who stopped at the hotel
at Rio few days last week and posed