Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1914-08-05
WRITES wife OF
HOLDUP IN PARK
Rev. Frank Cole Tells How
Highwayman Looted Vel
lowstone Passengers.
POLITE AS A ROBIN HOOD
Did Not Want His Picture Taken
Refuses Purse Offered by
One Of Women.

park nOlu-up Oh last "eeh III "hiSh
Rev Frank Cole. pastor of st. Johns
NJ E. church of Davenport, and his
son, Russell, were among the victims.
is Interestingly told In the following
husband.
Our surrey passed slowly up
lforest bound road, to a sharp curve
near the top. This is Shoshone point
between 10 and IL miles from Old
Faithful Geyser, the foremost geyser
of upper Geyser basin, on the main
government road passing through the
park At this point we overlooked
Shoshone lake to the right.
Below to the right was a deep
valley of unbroken forest, except here
and there a little patch of meadow,
AS we approached this point, ours
being the fourth surrey in line of ~
that followed each other at varying
distances apart, we saw that the tour
lists ahead of us, excepting the driv-
| ers, had alighted and were sitting
suietly on the hill side on the left.
solitary man was standing on a
slight elevation in front of them with
1890 Winchester commanding them
to be quiet.
Had Emptied Purses.
"They had emptied their purses at
his imperative command at his feet.
Our nephew, who was driving the sur
rey whispered to his mother at his
side "A hold up l was walking just
behind the hack with my brother-in-
law, Rev. c. Z. Cunningham of Mon /
-,-t- T.,
side. Next l saw the man. At first |
thought he was one of the park sol .
diers standing guard at some interest |
ing feature to be seen next by the !
sight seers.
He called to us and said, Come |
up here and throw down your money
Russell, my son, and l reluctantly, /
hesitatingly obeyed. He said, 'Hur-
ry up, don't be so slow, turn your
pockets inside out The head team
of our party arrived about Is minutes
before we did. One of the men ir
his hack says at that time there
were two men. l saw but one. He
was about feet I inches in height,
40 or As years of age.
Wore Black Mask.
"Of slender build, he had blue eyes,
long pointed nose, wore curduroy
pants, medium topped shoes
and a black hat. Had II black hand
kerchief over the lower part of his
face. while his hands were dark brown,
his well manicured finger nails did not
conceal that the tan was artificial.
When a hack was driven up around
the short turn he said, Get out quick
everyone of you and throw down your
.
women and children. too, except
ing those in the last surrey obeyed.
"A man who had thrown down his
purse said to him from the hill side
Please leave my travellers checks,
the hold up man said, L will, | don't
care for travellers checks Another !
man with a kodak in hand said to j
him, May l take a picture of this in {
teresting group He. the robber, said, I
You stay where you are or | will ]
take care of YOU The man sat down
The robber said, don't want watches {
nothing but money. no jewelry, come {
up here and dump out your money" {
Considerable of Woman.
He picked up a long hand bag :
and said, Who owns this? | want
it opened. but don't want to cut it, it
will ruin it A woman walked out
from the crowd and opened it. How
we obeyed. He emptied the bag of {
the money and then threw it on the
ground. He used large flour sack in
which he put the money.
Il looked across the valley to the
south from where l sat under his gun
for three-quarters of an hour and saw c
beautiful Shoshone lake. s
h. r
his crowd. He said don't want to {
you people any more
than l can help" A woman threw
gun metal watch at his feet. He said
repeatedly, L do not want watches
When all was over at his per
mission we walked over to gather up
the emptied purses and other articles
which we had left. The aforesaid
woman could not find her watch She
spoke to me about it / went with
her to the robber, who had now walk +
ed to the road and was looting the ! T
people in the last hack and told him /
we could not find the lady's watch q
asked him to look in his sack for ,
{. He said, No, but if ] find that |
nave the watch / will send IL by reg
stored mail to the Transportation
at Gordinen, Mont, and she e
,ould get it from there a
Drops Necklace. e
One woman sitting on the bank n
said. oh, I dropped by necklace, cost
ng 500. in the surrey. do you think a
will find it,? Another woman said,
dropped my wedding ring in the
seat. do you think he will take it"
me hold up was between the !,
points In the government road when :.
We crossed the Continental divide -
we were on the Pacific side of the
lope. The driver of the first hack
aid. We got there at $3.50 and left
1t lO:45 o'clock This makes il for
ome of the tourists seated on the d