The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-03-25
KILL CHAUFFEUR
STEAL CAR AND
KILL 2 OTHERS
Appalling Crime by phantom
Bandits" in Day Light
BANK WATCHMEN SLAIN
Vaults PiIfered of Treasure
Robbers FIee-AutO'S
Owner Shot
,Spec;aI from limited Press)


Paris. March 25-Three additional
human lives paid toll, today. to the
Phantom bandits, the most motor
ious band of criminals that has oper-
ated in France in years. The Chan
lilly branch of the Bank of the Societe
Generate was robbed of a large sum
OF money, the exact amount being
withheld by the police.
For bIoodthirstiness and boldness of
action. today's crimes have seldom
been paralleled The police are ut
teri without clues. They have de
and robbed today, but they had those
descriptions before and they proved
worthless. They have an abandoned
high powered automobile stolen by
the robbers after they had murdered
one OF the occupants and wounded an
other. 1t does not aid the solution
of the crime. The police believe the
place Of safety, they removed the dis
gu,se and are now minsFng with the
public, possibly aiding their bewildered
pursuers
So uncanny have been the operations
CT the bandits, so swift and certain
their complete disappearance after
each crime that the best men dn the
French secret service have almost
abandoned the case. Today's crime
was q duplicate OF others that had
gone before with the exception that
more victims fell before the deadly fire
OF the desperadoes. The first report
care from the outs-'rts OF the c:<y.
Three men took up a position at
crc o roads leading into the city. A
number of automobiles passed them
out they made no move. FINALLY,
high-powered car with the owner In
The rear seat and the chauffeur at
One Of the men stepped into the road
way. He waved a handkerchief as a
signal The machine halted. The
man In the road looked the car over.
then gave a signal. There was
rattle of automatic pistols and the
the car, with the top of his head al
most blown off.
With the first shot the man In the
rear vaulted over the end of the car
and, pursued by a hail of bullets, ran.
He escaped with bullet wound in his
hand
The bandits calmly dumped the
bleeding form of the chauffeur into
the gutter and jumped into the car.
1t disappeared in the direction of the
city before horrif:ed onlookers could
make a move to stop the murder.
The police sent hurried WARNING
broadcast and then got ready for news
of another crime 1t came quickly.
Officials at Chantilly, site of the
great race course, sent word that
three men had entered the branch
bank there. calmly riddled with bull
let's two watchmen who had Offered
no resistance, appropriated all of the
cash in sight and departed unmoies' ed.
An hour later the auto was found
abandoned by The roadway near Chan
<illy The bandits and their plum
der were missing. Inquiry in the
neghborhood failed to reveal trace of
shem. The police believe they had
another auto nearby and that thy used
1t to get to their hiding place, which
It IL believed. is In this city.
The description Of the men fits the
Phantom outlaws" who are believed
to be a band of international crooks.
Their methods in the past have been
to steal high powered automobiles and
then use the cars to get to wherever
they had planned bold robberies After
accomplishing their crime, they have
abandoned the car
A month ago the band shot and kill
ed a we'll known lawyer in one of the
suburbs, who discovered them at work.
Recently they had a running battle
with the police and killed one of their
pt1rsuers. Two of the supposed men,
hers of the band were arrested at that
time but so far the police have been
unable to fasten the crime on them.
The owner of the auto stolen, it was
learned later, jumped from the car and
ran when his car was attacked He
was shot at and slightly wounded in
tho hand