The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1912-09-12
THAYfR BANK ROBBED
yeQQmen Crack the BIG Safe of the
Thayer Bank While the Citizens
of the Town Watch Them.

uu0yCT O0Uk VUlbUC SIC VUSuACuo
of the Town Watch Them.
What is belived to be the boldest
bank robbery in the history of such
crimes in this section of the country
was perpetrated at Thayer at an
easily hour Friday morning, says the
Creston Advertiser. The large safe
Of the Thayer bank was cracked by
five yeggmen while several of the
citizens of the town looked on, and
the safe blowers made good their
escape with several hundred dollars
booty. AS nearly as can be ascer-
tanned the amount of which the
bank was robbed was $500. It was
thought that nothing but currency
was taken, and that all of the checks
and drafts will probably be account
ed for.
The slumbers of the denizens OF
the little city was broken about 1
O'Clock by an almost deafening ex-
plosion of nitro-glycerine that tore
the massive steel outer door of the
safe from it's bearings and piled the
bent and broken parts in a heap
several feet in front of the safe. This
was closely followed by another ex-
plosion of almost equal force, which
was used to blow open the inner
door of the safe, and thus give ac-
cess to the valuable contents. Many
of the residents of the town were
aroused and fully realized what was
going on, but all were so terror
stricken that not a one attempted to
head the robbers off. While this is
quite unusual, it seems that the
yeggmen had the plans so we'll laid
and the town so we'll covered, that
had anyone ventured out he would
doubtless have been shot down in
his tracks. Several of the men who
witnessed the job tell that they
wanted to sneak out of their homes
and give the alarm, but were kept
from doing so by their wives. Some
say that they we're about to tele-
phone to their neighbors, but were
also stopped from doing this.
ed by the depot agent and his friend
as being about 6 feet tall, and the
other four as being about 5 feet 8
inches tall. The two young men
further described them as wearing
dark clothes and being fairly we'll
dressed and wearing red bandana
handkerchiefs for masks.
On entering the town two or three
of the robbers proceeded to the c. B.
& @. depot to fix things there so
that the alarm could not be given
over the wires. The agent, Guy Hall
and the other young man who was
keeping him company, were both
seated in the Office when the robbers
approached. The agent was doing
in his chair and had his feet resting
on the desk, and his friend was seat
ed in a chair in the corner in a sim1-
lar position. The first intimation
that they were given of the danger
that beset them came when bullet
from a revolver crashed through one
of the window lights. A shower of
shattered glass fell over the head
and shoulders Of the agent. and as
he looked up with start his gaze
was met by two revolvers pointed
directly at him and held by pair
of the desperate criminals. Both
the agent and his friend were order
ed to put up their hands and to re-
main perfectly quiet. While one of
the robbers covered the young men,
his partner proceeded to search the
Office for loot. The cash drawer in
the desk was opened, but fortunately
the agent had taken all of the money
out and either hid it or placed it in
his pocket The robber then went
to a box in another part of the office
in which money is sometimes kept,
and on again being disappointed in
finding nothing there, he went
through the pockets of the agent.
He took the money from his pockets,
about $12 in all, and after looking
at it returned it with the remark,
"Well, you seem to be a mighty
good fellow, so I will give your
money back to you.' The two
young men were then ordered to
walk out of the depot ahead of the
robbers. They were marched to the
bank, where the other three mem
bers of the gang were waiting with
everything apparently ready to do
the daring deed. The agent and his
friend were told to sit down on the
walk in front OF the bank, and as
three members of the gang stood
over them with revolvers in hand,
the other two broke into the bank
and cracked the safe.
While the two members of the
gang were at the depot the other
three broke into me blacksmith
shop, which is located near the bank,
and obtained crowbar, a couple of
files, and several other tools which
were used in the job. The front
door of the bank was pried open
with the crowbar, and as these is no
vault in the bank all that remained
to be done to obtain the booty was
to apply the two charges OF nitro
glycerine and touch them on.
Those who watched the robbers
work say that about thirty minutes
were required to do the job. The
two young men say that every move
OF the robbers was like clock work.
On being asked if they were fright
,ened, they hardly had the words to
express it. They said, however, that
they were more afraid of being kill
ed by volley of shots from the citi-