The Oskaloosa herald., 1911-10-12
MAY BE BANK ROBBERS
Men Arrested Supposed to Have
Done Job at Geneva.

The local police force and a special
detective have rounded up John Ray,
Mike Sullivan and Joe Wilson, who
are believed to be men with bad re-
cords. They were arraigned before
Squire Phillips Tuesday afternoon,
charged with breaking and enter
Ing" and after hearing all the evi.
dence they were bound over to the
grand jury. ......
About the 10th of September, the
powder magazine belonging to c. B.
Vermillion, situated along the Keo-
kuk division of the Rock Island
right-ofway, west of the city, was
broken open and a 25-pound box of
dynamite, a box of dynamite caps
and other articles were taken from
the building. Mr.. Vermillion was
not aware fthe fact that the maya
zine had been entered until the fol-
lowing Monday. He Immediately
who put a special detective on the
case. He went to the magazine,
made a complete investigation of the
surrounding premises, and stayed
there night and day. He worked
patiently on the case and discovered
nothing until Wednesday morning,
October 4th, when about five o'clock
ne saw a man coming along the bed
of a creek He followed him a con-
siderable distance, when three other
men joined the stranger. They seat
ed themselves on a log and the de-
tective hid behind some brush on the
bank of the creek within six feet OF
the four men. He could easily over
hear their conversation and heard
the men talking about cracking" a
safe at Abba. One of the men that
made the statement that he hoped
the job at Abba would be a bigger
success than the one at Geneva"
In reply to this statement one of the
other men said that he would have
to put more Juice into the charge
than he did at Geneva to make it
60" After discussing the Abba
matter the men started for the rail.
road track, followed by the detec-
tive. Before they reached the right.
of-way one of the men went into
some thick brush and brought out
25-pOund box of dynamite and a
blanket. They proceeded to the
track and tore the blanket into
strips, wrapping some sticks of dy-
Mantle in it. They then took the
tn
IT.. After observing where they con
cealed the box the detective follow
ed them to the Iowa Central yards.
He notified the headquarters and two
officers went to his assistance. While
away the men separated and upon
the arrival of the police search of
the yards was necessary. Sullivan
and Ray were found in a box car,
and when arrested Sullivan showed
fight. 1t was necessary for Officer
Lawrence to throw him out of the
car, while Walls had TO hit him over
the head to put him in the patrol.
Lawrence made a search of the
yards and located Wilson In the Bur
lington yards and put him under ar
rest. Two other men eluded the of
| ficers and their whereabouts is not
known. The detective returned to
where the dynamite had been con
cealed and secured it and also pieces
of the blanket and dynamite caps.
Dan Davis defended the men at the
/ hearing before Justice Phillips, while
County Attorney Patterson acted for
the State The only witnesses exam
ined were Chief-of- Police Walls, Off
Ger James Lawrence, c. B. Vermill
ion and the special detective. The
articles found by the detective were
used in the case and c. B. Vermill
ion identified the strips of blanket
and the dynamite and caps were OF
the same size, amount and kind miss
ing from the magazine. The defense
offered no testimony and the de
PENDANTS were bound over to the
grand jury and bond fixed at $500
The Geneva incident, of which one
of the men spoke, occurred the latter
part of September, but was failure
An attempt was made to crack
safe, but only the outer door wa!
blown off by the charge. Photo