Evening star., 1919-09-20

follow arrest It has happened in
other states though presumably
never in Kansas-that the man who
did the arresting found his ultimate
reward boiled down to a few chips
and a couple of whetStones, while
I police chiefs. nephews, prosecuting
attorneys and welfare associations
got the money The Kansas Bankers
Association evidently foresaw Ger
tain reluctance on the part Of good
citizens. So they added another clause
that really counts:
"If a robber is killed in the act OF
robbing bank or resisting arrest the
$1,000 reward will be paid on the
II cory that this constitutes con-
viction."
Can Still Use Their Guns.
They used to put it in more dra-
matte fashion in the rude old days.
when the state paid for a robber
dead or alive" But the meaning Is
! the same. Bank robbing in kansds
! may conceivably enter the list OF ek-
| ira hazardous occupations. II the
! bankers of other states follow SUIT,
| it is even possible that this lively out.
| door sport may follow croQuet ana
and bowls and bear-baiting into the
discard For here in the west a sur
| DTlS1ng numDeI OIL IIlcH HdsC oio oAN.
know how to use them, in spite or
| the eastern theory that the west mas
| been softened by oil and refined by
| free rural delivery and the farm tele-
phone.
! tried to stick up the bank at Rine'
| COL" said the man who might rea-
| sonably have been suspected OF be-
! ing the fourth. And it was just as
good as stuck up. Only one of the
l~,e
bit and that sort of gave the alarm
| and them old boys in Rifle began TO
come out of the cracks-and they
come a-shootin"
Puzzled Even in Death.
say. Them old boys in Rifle must
| carry Winchesters in their hair
| Them three boys that tried to stick
up the bank was certainly as dead as
! ever | see before Rifle got through
But the funny thing was that they
had the surprisedest looks on their
pore dead faces. Yes, sir. Looked
| like they was a-trying to figure out
! where that home guard had been
| a-keeping itself"
| The automobile has been RESPONSE
BILE for the recent elevation of coun-
try bank robbing to the dignity OF
vocation. Banks throughout this
! western country-Kansas, Oklahoma,
Texas especially-are so full of money
nowadays that new deposits must be
| crammed down the chimneys. Every
| little way there is large, oil soaked
splotch on any one of these states.
! Farming is fairly prosperous buslz
ness, too. An eastern writer recently
| figured out that the Kansas wheat
| crop only averages twelve bushels TO
| the acre, and that at the pegged prfce
! the farmer actually loses money on IT.
But the infatuated farmers commune
| rhaa money
! in the banks. e-hundred- -dollar-an-
acre land is cheap land in Kansas. ana
there are pigs and cattle in the coup-
try and the hotel business in town. --s
Fortune in Hotel Business.
II only want this hotel for one
year." the buyer of a new oil town
hotel is reported to have said. BY
| that time L will have got my money
| back"
Some of these banks, filled with
money and liberty bonds-and every
one has a liberty now wadays, and -each
| bond is as alike each other bond as
peanuts are like other peanuts-can
be tapped at night by any one pos
sessed of a screwdriver and giant
lfrecracker. Needy men not possessed
! of any bent for mechanics, however.
have found it easier to walk in during
business hours, shoot recklessly
around, empty the safe, and walk out
again.
A stolen automobile stands at the
| door with a partner at the wheel.
The getaway is easy. 1t is not often
that any one gets the number OF the
car-sometimes the license plates are
changed-and sometimes other cars
are stolen by the runaways. Any
how, there is the record. Twenty
! five Kansas banks were robbed this
year, and but one group OF robbers
was captured-and they by an entire
accident.
May Embarrass Robbers.
But if Kansas understands that
cash is being paid for scalplocks-
if the money is laid on the nail dead
or alive--the adventure of robbing q
bank will presently assume harsh and
forbidding outlines. Bank robbers
/, will no longer feel themselves safe
when they have stepped on the gas
and have whirled away from the scene
of their activities. Behind any hedge
farmer may be laying. armed with
one of those old-fashioned Sharp's
rifles that chamber a cartridge about
the size of the hired mans thumb,
and also with the full assurance that
the pelt of each fleeing robber is
worth just 5000 bucks and the car
full-welI. the car full would be about
equivalent to a lucky summer on the
Yukon.
Incidentally. other automobilists in
parts infested by prosperous country
banks. robbers. and farmers having
Sharp's rifles will be we'll advised If
they learn how to stop short and get
up their hands at any hail from be-
hind hedge.
It's like breath of old times to the
casual visitor. Magic words to con-
jure with-"Dead or alive"
In the competitive drill of the Odd