Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1919-04-04
WEEDS TO JOIN
A ROBBER GANG
AZURE OF EXCITEMENT AND COOP
CLOTHES LED GIRL TO ACCOM-
! PANY MEN IN LooTING BANKS
WAS GAME WHEN THE END CANE
ghe Is Silent Until Convinced that her
kS Husband and Other Men Had =
Efs. Confessed All

~ Husband and Other Men Had =
rs- Confessed ~.
Kansas City, Mo.-Speeding over
Eastern Kansas roads N motor car
loaded with bank robbers and with
sLeriffs' posses in hot pursuit was just
fhe' kind of excitement that Mrs. Ber-
tha Evans crayed, so when her hus-
band and his pals went out to rob
Tanks in country villages she always
went along. yaIss
1t was this craving that led Mrs.
Evans, then Mrs. Trowbridge. widow
with a son nearly 10 years old, TO mar
~ Ralph Evans, 70 years old. She
knew he was d crook, but that and
the nearly 10 years difference in thei-
ages didn't matter. She wanted ex-
citement. Also. she wanted what she
conceived 10 be luxury. She loved the
bright lights and it took money to
travel among them. Bank robbery she
considered an easy method of getting
money. So she helped in the robbery
of the banks at Jarbalo, Kan, and Lin
wood, Kan, sitting on guard in the
motor car while the men pulled the
rough stuff"
She, as well as her husband and
pals, Frank Mulkey and Barney Bat
lew, have confessed TO these two rob
berries. The police believe however
that the gang also robbed the bank a
st. Mary's, Kan, and shot the City
Marshal and several other persons
The police also believe that the same
gang knows who killed James Carr
Rosedale motor cycle policeman
when he tried to stop a speeding au
tomobile
But it wasn't Mrs. Evans who con
fessed first. Balew, the chauffeur 70!
the robbery car. was the weak ling ID
the chain. The underground channel
carried information TO the police thai
Ballew appeared to be unusually flush
with money. The police arrested Bal.
lew as one of the bank robbers. He
confessed, duplicating Evans and Mul.
hey. He refused to tell on the woman.
but the police knew there was wo,
man In the gang and arrested her.
The men readily admitted she was
with them. Not so with Mrs. Evans.
The detectives questioned and CUES.
toned, but never a hint would she
give that she had ever heard of bank
robbery. The detectives persisted.
You dicks annoy me dieadfully,
I'm awfully tired of YOU" she would
reply.
Then she would laugh
do you think you can make mo
talk" she would say. We'll you can't.
Your little old game of bluff don't
work on me-"
The detectives told her her husband
had confessed she was in the robbery !
you're lying" she replied "If 1
you're not, my husband is. You annoy
me"
Then she would gaze steadily at the
stylish gray pumps that set off trim,
gray silk clad ankles beneath a fash
ionable gray silk skirt
You're all very stupid and you're
awful bores," she would say.
Then the police played a coup. They
admitted Mrs Evans was a game lit
tie woman" Frankly, they admired d
woman Who wouldn't peach. But busi-
ness is business. They brought Bal
lew, Mulltey and Evans, one by one.
before her to admit their confessions
Scorned. Mrs. Evans told the whole
story of how tlH robberies were plan
ned and carried out. But she didn't
talk about any shooting episodes.
Yes" she said, tits the truth III
just as well not try 10 hold out with
those fools blabbing their heads Oft. i
was with them. Take me over to Kan
sas and try me-
The Jarbalo and Linwood robberIes
netted the gang nearly $4,000. .~
Criminals of Kansas Average S. Yeat
Topeka, Kan.--The thieves of Kan
sas have decided that a life of crime
IN the Sunflower State will never pay
much. By actual statistics they have
learned that it is practically impossi-
bic for a burglar, embezzler, a r0bbet
thighway or bank, thief (sneak or
brazenl, or pickpOcket on land or :
sea to make & aecent living out of the
Kansas commonwealth. Six dollars a
year is shown TO be the height of soft
y,ta yipou in fbf- tcrrib ln f1tr,,otn