Los Angeles herald., 1907-02-14
FOLLOW CLEWS To
VANISHING POINT
SANTA MONICA ROBBERS ARE
AT LARGE
Sheriff's Posse and Local Officers
Search In Vain for Men Who
Attempted to Loot the
Postoffce


mesas. Detectives Ramsay and Ran
dali sought the bank robbers who at
tempted to loot the Santa Monica post
office, without success yesterday, and |
the wilderness still holds the secret of
the fate OF the outlaws and their wound
ed comrade, who was shot by Patrol
man Arlle Dunnum early Tuesday
morning.
Clew after clew was traced to it's
vanishing point and the only effect of
the fourteenhour search of the two
men was to strengthen the assurance
that the bandits had escaped to the San
Fernando valley through Topango cam
yon after FAINT trail had been traced
in this direction.
A blood stained handkerchief, the i'm
print of a mans knees by stream
and the unintelligibe story of a half
breed living near the mouth of the can-
yon were the detectives only rewards
of any value for their days work. All
three OF these clews pointed to Topango
canyon as the avenue of escape and
since this draw, with the possible ex-
ception of Santa Ynez canyon, is the
only outlet from the country in which
the men were corraled the Santa Mon
lea officials practically have concluded
that their game has escaped by this
course for the fugitives to take, as 1t
would offer them means of escape
via Chatsworth park on the north,
where they could connect with the main
line of the Southern Pacific. Ipstead
of taking this course after descending
to the San Fernando valley they may
have separated and returned to Los
Angeles.
Follow False Lead
The two detectives began their quest
for the criminals at daybreak with the
intention of securing all the canyons
from Santa Monica to Zumas point
The news of the fight of the robbers
had aroused the country and at every
ranch traces of the fugitivees were
found and when investigated in turn
proved to be worthless.
A man had been seen limping upI
Rustic canyon soon after dawn. He
was roughly dressed and wore a slouch
hat with which he sought to hide his
face. There could be no doubt that he
was the wounded man who had been
abandoned by his comrades. He was
found and proved to be an inmate of
the Old Soldiers home who had been
carrying an armful of watercress to a
friend at the head of the canyon. Henry
Burton, ranchman near the junction
of the Santa Monica and Rustic can
yons, knew of cache at the head of
a steep gully, where the robbers had
hidden some of their plunder and pos
sibly had left the wounded man. His
dog had given the alarm in the night
and he was sure the men had been
there. The cache was explored and
yielded nothing but an empty tomato
can and an old pair of shoes.
Meet More Disappointments
In Solvin canyon, in the midfore-
noon, the detectives discovered hole
in the cliff which would have made a
robbers cave to gladden. the heart of
Tom Sawyer or even Emerson Hough
himself. The entrance, black and for
bidding, was reached by a scramble
through the brush. The two men shoul-
dered against each other as they en-
tered together, filling the opening and
offering an excellent opportunity for
target practice to any possible inmates.
But there were no inmates and no tar
get practice and the disappointed thief
catchers wearily took up the trail for
the other canyons.
In Mandel canyon they found moro
caves and more natives who had Seen
suspicious appearing men and more
dogs who had been awakened from
peaceful slumbers by the bad robbers.
puL SlllI llO Ddiiullp, anu. LiiO u ciiio
stretched out into interminable miles
OF greasewood and chaparral and bar
rem hills, with clews far between and
with conjectures and surmises plenti-
full.
Trail Grows Warmer
At the mouth of ,Topango canyon the
trai! warmed up bit. The halfbreed,
who spoke a polyglot mixture and con-
fessed to a name which sounded like a
printers pi, evidently had really seen
something. He had been out late the
night before and. returning home early
in the morning, had seen three men
passing near his cabin. carrying some
thing. The detectives could not de-
termine clearly whether 1t was yester-
day morning or q week ago yesterday
that the man had seen something, but
his enthusiasm made up for the lack of
small details and his testimony was
encouraging.
Two miles farther on Detective RAM
say found a blood stained handker-
chief and the two sleuths began to be
Interested. 1t was a comparatively
clean bit of muslin and must have be-
longed to very gentlemanly yeggman.
With the third clew the imprint of a
mans knees by the side of stream.
the detectives were on edge and 1t be-
gan to look as though they might bring
in their game. The two depressions In
the sandbank of the stream indicated
that a man had knelt to drink from 1t.
but there were no other footprints and
no blood stains, Here the trail van
ished IN thin air and the detectives
sought for other canyons, with the
comforting assurance that If the ban
dts had gone through Topango they
had escaped into the San Fernando,
anyway. Sycamore, Tunis, Las Flores.
Sullivan, Carbon and Mandel canyons
all were explored and all were fruitless.
Ships Closely Watched
After lonely watch at the entrances
Of the canyons after their wearying day
in pursuit of the bandits the sheriff's
posse, under Deputy Martin Aguirre,
left the field yesterday morning Be
sides Aguirre the posse included Claude
Mathewson and Tom Rice. All the
men were thoroughly exhausted.
The escape of the bandits through
San Fernando was anticipated by Mar
shal Max Baretta and policemen from
the towns of that valley are guarding
the outlets of the canyons. The coast
ie watched thOrOughly No one has