The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1918-11-07
YfGGS VISITED LEON
Farmers and Traders State Bank
Robbed Tuesday Morning. The
BURGLARS, Left No Clews.

A mighty smooth gang of yeggmen
blew the vault and inside safe of the
Farmers and Traders State Bank in
this city about 2:3O O'Clock Tuesday
morning, and got away with $4,000
or 5000 in cash, about 81 900 worth
of War Savings Stamps and probably
Loan bonds, and made clear geta-
way without being either seen or
heard. 1t was one of the smOOthest
bank robberies ever pulled off in the
state of Iowa, and the men who did
the work were top notch artists:
phone cables so as to prevent the
alarm being given, and they had eyi-
,dently had scout here getting the
lay of the land, as they knew just
where to go to cut the telephone
cables. They put all the long ais,
cut the cables, which contained about
six hundred lines. Mrs. Mollie
Sears, the night operator at the CEN
trail office, answered calls up to a
little after l o'clock, and Pete Brady
attempted to call central to get a
doctor at 2:15 and could not get any
response to his call, so the wires
o'clock Tuesday morning DR.. Eiker
went to the central office to see why
he could not call up patient, and
wakened Mrs. Sears. They examln-
ed the switchboard and there was not
a single drop down, which indicated
the wires were cut soon after Mrs.
Sears answered the last call.
Nightwatch Frank Smith was on
duty all night, and says he made his
regular rounds and did, not see or
hear anything out OF the ordinary.
The robbers gained entrance to the
l. h,1i1
dow on the east side of Vargas alb
stract office in the rear of the bank,
having first tried to jimmy the door
open, but failed. Once in the alb
stract office they had no trouble in
getting through the connectlnig onne nifgros2 dGor
crime, small charge being sufficient
outside vault door. They evidently
then closed the outside door and
drilled the money safe which was
protected with a time lock. The safe
blankets to deaden the noise, and
when the charge was eXnloded It
shattered the safe, blew the door off
nicely and then they had an easy
time getting the money. Just a day
or so previous the bank had shipped
$4,000 in gold n to Ghicagos hna osna1 ana naa
week previous they had more than
$4,000 more in the safe. The rob
hers did not moleSt any OF the prl-
yate boxes in the safe, and also, fail
ed to take something over thous,,
and dollars in silver and fractlonal
money which was outside the safe.
owned by private parties who had
left them at the bank, the bank not
owning any of the bonds which were
stolen. Part of the bonds were cou-
pom and part registered, and the
bank has the NUMBERS oi an tne
stolen bonds, and they Will be taken
up whenever presented.
No one heard any explosion, al
though Mrs. Emma Grouse and Mrs.
Lille Davenport were sleeping :, IN
the building just across the alley
east of the bank, and 1t is proDable
two doors to the vault, the explosion
could not have been heard outside
| Isaac West, who lives west of
Leon tried to call DR.. Bowman about
half past two, but could not, ring
central SO he drove in after the Dr.
who made the trip to the. West home,
and returned about 4 o'clock, pass,
ing the bank both times, but he did
not see or hear anything.
S. G. Mitchell lost pocketbo6k
containing valuable papers, bonds
and several thousand dollars worth
of notes which he had placed in the
safe. They are of no value to the
robbers, but will cause him lot OF
inconvenience.
The report is in circulation that
the robbery was the work of Dutch
Cross, the notorious crook who es-
capped from the county Jail at New
ton, Iowa, last Thursday, where he
was held on the charge of rObbing
the Valeria bank some months ago,
but there is no evidence to connect
him with it aside from reported re-
mark he is said to have made when
he was captured in Leon several
months ago with an auto loaded
with booze that he would get even
with Leon.
The banks loss is fully covered by
an insurance policy in the Fidelty
Casualty Co., against burglary.
M. d. Clemens. detective repre- i
sentating the Iowa Bankers Associa-
ton and the American Banking AssO-
citation, of which the bank is men, !
Der, arrived in Leon Tuesday even
ing, and is making an investigation,
but the clews are very slight. The
robbers left a half pint bottle with
little soup still in it, the two horse
blankets, and big club, which was
found standing near the vault door, |
and which they evidently intended TO
use in preference to fire arms in case
they were surprised while at work.
The exact amount of money and
bonds stolen can not be ascertained
until the representative of the in