The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1911-12-14
CAUGHT BANK ROBBERS
Two of the Gang who Robbed the
Derby Bank Caught at Omaha
and are in jail at Charlton.

ha, and it is reported that a part of
the stolen money was found on them.
The following account of their cap
ture is taken from the Charlton
HeraldPatriot:
Detectives working for the bur-
glary insurance company, in the
Derby bank robbery case, arrested
two men at Omaha last week who are
thought to be the ones, or at least
two of the ones, who robbed the Der
by State Bank a few nights ago and
stole nearly $4,000 in gold and paper
money from it's vault. A third man
who is suspected with being with
the crowd, is still uncaptured. One
of the men is known to the police as
Little Jim" and when arrested near
ly $3.50 in paper money and gold
was found in his pockets, yet only a
few minutes before he had said he
did not have enough money to buy a
drink. He refused to give any ex-
money. The other man had just
bought an entire outfit of expensive
clothes, totaling over $40. The de-
tectives gave it as their opinion that
if they had found the men five or six
hours earlier, they would have rc.
covered almost all of the $4,000.
Whatever money is recovered will be
the property of the burglary insur-
ance company, as they have made
good to the Derby Bank the full
value of it's policy with them, $4,000,
which will practically cover their Ell.
tire loss, except by fire, which will
be paid by the insurance companies,
so that the loss to the Bank will be
practically nothing.
1t was attempted to bring the two
suspected men to Charlton for exam
ination and Identification, if possible,
but they are resisting removal from
the state of Nebraska, under a ha-
beas corpus proceeding. County At
torney Collinson and Sheriff Enge-
bretsen went to Omaha the first #
the week, and anticipate little diff
ficulty in bringing the men here.
One or two citizens of Derby have al
ready seen them since their arrest in
Omaha, and believe them to be two
of three men who were in Derby, a
few days before the bank robbery.
1t-is SAID thatsta small can intended
for nitro glycerine was also found
among the effects of one of them,
which corresponded exactly with the
almost empty can of the same ex-
plosive which was left on table at
the Derby Bank on the night of the
burglary. A little of the dangerous
fluid was still left in the can left at
the bank, and for a few days it was
not known what it was. A serious
explosion might have resulted had it
been handled roughly, and when
detective told what it was, it was
quickly carried to the edge of town
and poured out. The detectives gave
it as their opinion that the robbery
was done by experts, as the handling
and placing of the explosive seemed
to be done in professional manner.
The men captured at Omaha seem to
be old hands at crime, and all indi-
cations point to them being the ones
wanted here.
When the fire started in the vault
after the robbery, it set fire to the
pile of books, notes, ETC., in the
vault, and the next morning much of
this half burned paper was shoveled
out and thrown in the coal house be-
fore it was found that the notes of
the bank were in the pile. That
gave rise to the report that the notes
had been burned, but later the notes
were examined and found to be only
charred, so that practically all of
them are identified, and the loss
from that source will be less than
$50. The destruction of the big
safe in the vault was one of the
heaviest losses. The new safe ar
rived Monday night, and as the fire
vault itself was practically unharmed
by the flames, business was in full
swing at the bank by Tuesday.
Later-Sheriff Engebretsen could
not 60 to Omaha because of neural
gia and an liberated tooth. The
habeas corpus hearing will be held
tomorrow. The names of the two
suspects are Jas. Burns and John
Williams"
Later-The alleged robbers made
hard fight against being returned
to Iowa, employing attorneys who Sc
cured their release under writ of
habeas corpus, but they were ar
rested again Immediately, after re-
sisting arrest and were taken to
Nha riton ond p1ocoH IN ioil IN owoif