Norwich bulletin., 1918-01-14
DETAILS OF THE BANK ROBBERY AT CAMP FUNSTON
Story of Tragedy Which Resulted in Suicide of Captain Whistler.

Story of Tragedy Which Resulted m
 Suicide of Captain Whistler.
 Camp Funston, Kas., Jan. 13.-De- tails of the manner in which Captain Lewis J. Whistler robbed the bank at the army cantonment here and killed with a hand axe four or five men who were in the building, were told to ar my officers today by Kearney Wornail, who, himself seriously wounded, was the only survivor of the captains fury.
 For forty-eight hours Wornall, who was cashier of the bank. had hovered between life and death. But today his progress was so satisfactory to the army physicians that they permitted him to tell the full story of the uag- edy, which ended with the death of Captain Whistler, self-infiicted at the moment of detection yesterday.
 Money Not Found. | In the meantime a systematic search | of the cantonment has failed to re- veal any money which was stolen | from the bank by Captain Whistler. Federal Bank examiners today began checking the banks accounts, but the | interior of the building is in such a chaotic condition that it is exuected no statement will be made for two or three days.
 It transpired today that note Cap tain Whistler wrote after he had decid- ed to kill himself, was addressed tc a. young woman at Ottawa, Kansas but army officers are making every eff fort to keep secret both her name and possible relation to Whistler.
 WornalPs story today differed slight ,I fy from that which had previously
 been pieced together as army officer:
 had questioned him during his infre- quent intervals of consciousness. To. . day Wornall told how he was in tht . bank with c. Fuller Winters, vic' l president of the National Reserve banl | of Kansas City, Mo-; John W. Jewell l editor of the Camp Funston paper
 Carl Ohleson of Kansas City and o t M. Hill, a clerk in the bank, yhel Story of Shocking Crime. It was about 730 o'clock Friday eve
 ming. The door was unlocked ant
 Whistler easily gained entrance to tn
 building. Walking around the coun
 ter, he drew a heavy automatic pisto and told the men he was short in hi account" and believed that this wa "the best bet' to remedy it. "OEud11 says -ludL IuC Oi1C6I 5 IS | marks were treated as a joke until h f took an axe from under his over
 coat and struck MT. Winters with it fiat side. All of the men then wer !, forced to lie face down on the floor
 while Whistler selected money, mostl
 bills of large denomination, and threy
 them into a sack. Wornall says h
 then was forced to get up and bin
 the other men. His own hands the { were tied by the officer and all of the1
 were gagged.
 f Here, says the staff officer who re
 ported WornalPs statement, the cash
 ier's mind is blank. and he recall
 nothing that happened until he becam e conscious in an ambulance on the wa . to the hospital.
 Wornall had been found by sentr, = wandering aimlessly outside the ban about an hour after the crime wa a committed. He could not answe questions, but mumbled unintelligibl.
 according to the sentry: Don't strik s him again. Are you friend" an finally murmured Bank robbed n Then the alarm was given. k Positively Identified Whisler. s That Wornall knew perfectly whs 0 ne was doing last night when he pos
 itively identified the body of Captai
 Whistler as that of the robber was al
 tested today by staff officer who WE
 present at the identification. Befol ] the body of the officer was wheele
 into WornalPs presence, the wounde '- cashier was made to read from a mas
 azine to show that he could see ar
 understand.
 # Then Whisler's body, dressed in h le olive drab campaign uniform ana LII y right in a chair, was wheeled into u le ward and placed directly before Wo @ nall
 m That's the man, that's the captain ,r exclaimed Wornan, according to tl J. staff officers story. Wornall the
 made a sworn statement that Whisl ,- was the man who had robbed the bar J. and committed the murders. ic After the crime, it now has been e l. tablished, Whistler went to the. qua
 termaster's office, where he remov'
 the bloodstains from his hands al
 garments. He then proceeded to
 class in French.
 h Knew Detection Was at Hand. ,e When an order came from hea 'o quarters for report from all con
 pany commanders yesterday, the ca tain seemed to know that detecti su was at hand. It was then he sh III himself to death.
 o- Captain Whistler recently took out re government insurance policy for $1t U 900. It was made payable to his fou teen year, old son, Duane, Sahna, Ka
 Ministers home, or in case of the sol as death, to Whisler's father. Capta d Whistler, who was 36 years old, al 5 his wife, Mrs. Vadne Whistler we