The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-06-28
BANDITS Terribly
WHOLE SECTION
Rob Banks in Western States
And Secure Net Total of
Over $4,000.
Is A DESPERATE GANG.
NITRoGLYcERlN USED TO FORCE
DOORS FROM BANK VAULTS
OUT OF TWELVE ATTEMPTS,
ELEVEN ARE SUCCESSFUL.

Topeka. Kan, June 27,-Robbers
have been holding sway in southeast
Kansas, southwest Missouri and north
east Oklahoma. During the last four
months, bandits have robbed eleven
banks and carried away $4,000
Twelve attempts have been made al
together to get into the strong boxes
Of the banks and in only one case did
the desperadoes fail. The country is
wrought up and detectives are search
ing day and night for the bandits,
who have thus far been able to foil all
attempts to capture them. Large re-
wards are offered and the head of any
one of the bandits would be a valua-
Bile trophy to the man who brings it
in. All banks are taking extra pre-
cautions against raids and it is be-
lieVed that it will not be long before
the famous battle at Coffeyville will
be reproduced in one of the towns
There have been bank and train
robberies in this same country in
years gone by, but sooner or later the
gangs that accomplished the work
were captured or most of the mem
bers killed. In not single instance
is there the slightest clew to the rob-
bers in the last twelve bank robheries
1t was thought that band of out
laws led by Henry Starr. a former
desperate. made the raid on the
! Caney (Kan) banks and Starr was
hrTr, tod fS,p I~,,Y Il
| AS a matter of fact. there is no evil
dence that Starr was in the raid
| 1t is generally supposed that all of
| the burglaries were the work of the
same band, and all of the daylight
! holdups were performed by the same
men. Two to four men took part in
all of the burglaries. while three men
were all that actually held up and
| robbed the four banks. None of the
men have been identified, but the ear
marks OF each crime were such that
the officers believe that only two
! bands operated,
In each burglary the bank vaults
were blown open with nitroglycerin,
and the detectives placed On the diff.
ferent cases say the plan of operating
/ was practically the same. In each
| instance the men left the town on
| handcars which they stole in the rail.
road yards.
They rode on the handcars to some
railroad crossing twenty to thirty
miles distant from the scene of the
/ robbery and there boarded train
/ The robberies were SO timed that the
men were able to get away and ride
to the railroad crossing just in time
| to catch a train. The handcars al
ways were found at the crossing and
when the robbery became known the
| trainmen reported three or four men
/ boarding their train at this crossing
/ The daylight holdups We're accom-
p1ished by three men One man
! stayed outside to hold the horses and
watch the citizens. The other two
entered the bank and while one held
the bank officials and clerks at bay
with his guns the other put all the
money in sight into a sack.
| The three rode away together and
usually got good start before the
alarm was given. The robbers always
entered the banks either just after the
| bank had opened or just a few min
! utes before closing time, when it was
unlikely that there were many persons
/ in the bank.
| In all the robbeTies the depositors
1 and banks did not lose any money as
ali the banks carried burglary insur-
1 ance and the insurance companies
| paid the bills regularly and hired the
detectives to hunt the bandits In the
bank burglaries the bank buildings
were damaged almost as much as the