The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1911-02-09
BANK
STILLATLARCE
MEN WHO ESCAPED ARE AMONG
THE MISSING.
SEEN AT COTTON LAST FRIDAY
AND WE'RE PROBABLY ON WAY
TO SIOUX CITY OR OMAHA.

LOTUS and Forbes, the two convict
ed bank robbers who escaped from the
county jail on Wednesday of last
week, are still among the missing.
Little trace of them has been found
and as each day passes the chances of
their being r~ecaptured grows more re-
mote. 1t is now pretty we'll estab-
lished that they have made their way
to Sioux City or Omaha, where they
have friends and where they can keep
under cover for a few months.
The men were seen at Colton about
10 o'clock on Friday evening, at least
it is presumed that they were the
parties wanted. They came into the
hotel about 10 o'clock in the evening
and asked for supper and from the
way they deposed of the viands set
before them ii was evident that they
had had nothing to eat for some time.
The hotel proprietor gave a good de-
scription of the two men and it tallies
NH"NtlS WIN ifoiluo dhu 4 liz
men remained in town about a half
hour n as nothing was thought of
the matter at the time they were al
lowed to depart in peace.
Cotton is located about twenty-five
miles north of Sioux Falls and both
the Milwaukee and the South Dakota
Central pass through the town. 1t is
probable that LOTUS and Forbes made
their way Wednesday night, the night
of their escape, to Arlington or Lake
Preston and laying under cover in the
day time they caught a freight south.
From Cotton il is presumed that they
vent south and were probably head
ing for Sioux City or Omaha.
1t is known that they had friends in
both cities and last fall after their
capture they received a check for 800
from a saloonkeeper at Sioux City
to be used for their defense. Sioux
City is notorious as a rendezvous for
crooks and most of the gangs of yegg-
men that operate in this section have
their headquarters there. 1t is now
very probable that LOTUS and Forbes
are in hiding there and the probable
tiles are that they will not be taken,
as the police of that city do not seem
to be very active in rounding up the
many criminals that flock to the place.
However, LOTUS and Forbes are nat
ural criminals and it is not thought
that they will long remain idle. They
may move to another section of the
country, but o or later they will
be taken for some crime and then
Brookings county will demand them
as escaped prisoners.
1t is now pretty well established
that the men had help in their escape
from the Jail. A more thorough ex-
animation of the lock on the cage
shows that it was not damaged in
any way, SO that 1t must have been
opened by a man expert at picking
locks, n the work would have to be
done from the outside, as it is impos-
sible to reach the lock from the in
side OF the cage.
Severa strangers were seen about
the city on Wednesday, the day the
men escaped, and it is also reported
that two men we're seer at Aurora.
However, whoever helped the men get
away made their escape as nicely as
the robbers and, of course, they vent
in a different direction. 1t was
thought that after their experience
last fall, when they We're captured
together at Egan, that the two roo
bers would separate.