The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1914-11-09
(Copyright By r. L. Nelson

pie In the night with masks on and
relieving them of their wealth. We
had plenty of luck on the Hudson
River front and raided over forty
houses. The game got so hot that
committees went out at night with
rifles to hunt for crooks and we pulled
of for a while as it never pays to be
q target even for bad hunter.
while laying of picked up pa
per and read of q swell wedding at
Englewood at the house OF a man
named Baldwin one Of the wealthiest
ducks in the neighborhood and some
fellow had figured up the presents in
jewelry and silver plate as being
worth 100000. l showed it to Jeff,
and said that we ought to give the
place call before any Of the pres
ents were sold. He agreed with me
and we sent Forbes to take q look at
the place. He reported that the job
was as easy as finding the stuff on
the road, and the night after the we'd
ding we landed in Englewood in a
grocery wagon.
when we got alongside Of the
house l was afraid Of alarm bells, SO
I sent Wiley to the top of the piazza
to try his luck. The window catch
was double-ender, which could not
be worked with a blade, and he had
to cut out pane of glass with dia-
mond point. The window opened in
to vacant room, and We all got into
the house that way. We put on our
masks and started through the house.
We struck old Baldwin's room first,
and he actually showed fight. He tried
to get to q knob which probably was a
signal Of some kind. and JEFF put him
to sleep with q sandbag. They were
all fighters in the house. and young
fellow shot JEFF through the arm in
the hall. He was put to sleep before
he could do any more shooting. The
women-three of them-had to be
tied up and gagged to keep them still.
when we thought that everybody
was safe We divided up and went on
a hunt for the swag. Forbes went to
the front Of the house, and in few
seconds heard some terrible growls
and a lot Of things upsetting. l ran
to the room, and there was Forbes
having it out with bull mastiff on
the floor, with young woman sit
ting on the bed and urging the beast
on. She was beauty and not scared
bit. The mastiff was getting the
best Of the fight and had a grip on
Forbes neck which was making him
look sick. l pulled my gun and or
dered the girl to call off the dog, but
| she defied me and told me to blaze
away. saw the bluff would not
work, SO l got out my old blackjack,
an ugly-looking thing, and hit the
beast clip on the skull that knocked
the life out of him.
"The girl few at me when l banged
the dog, like a wild animal, and had
all l could do to hold her without
hurting her. would not have
harmed hair Of that spunky girls
head for million, but l had to gag
her for safety. l always felt sorry
for her as she lay looking at the dog,
which was prorably her pet, and
made good fight to defend her.
I'VE had easy sailing after that,
and in every room there was lot of
stuff which we put into bags All of
1t looked good and was very heavy
There was any quantity of jewelry
lying around, and in a small safe
| which we had no trouble in forc;n O
with a wedge, there was a load OF
diamonds which had been described
in the papers. We took our time in
packing everything up in good shape
and after a good meal and a biz
draught Of the old mans wine cellar
we quit the place. Harper was wait
ing down the road bit with the
wagon, and we loaded all the stuff
into it,"