The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1919-10-02
ED FOLEY IS SLAIN
Car Bandit on Elk River Bridge Shoots
Him to Death While in Dis
charge of His Duty.
A Gun Battle Between Officers and
Yeggs Ensues but Robbers
Make Their Escape.

One of the most cold blooded MUIR
ders ever perpetrated in this state
was that in which Deputy E. H. Foley
was shot by an auto bandit at Elk
River on Saturday night while in the
performance of his duty.
It appears that Studebaker car
had been stolen in St. Cloud at about
9 o'clock on Saturday night and Sher-
if Groener of Stearns county notified
Sheriff Tiff of Sherburne county to
be on the lookout for the bandits, who
were headed in the direction of Elk
River. Sheriff Tiff, accompanied by
Deputy Ed. Foley and Marshal Will
Tiff, Immediately hurried to bridge
spanning the Elk river outside of
town. They barred this bridge with
a beam at the end nearest town, the
sheriff posting himself at the farther
end while Foley and the marshal re-
manned near the barrier.
They did not have long to wait be-
fore the headlights of a car appeared
in the darkness. The car slowed down
as it approached the bridge, and the
sheriff, seeing it was a Buick instead Of
a Studebaker car, told his companions
it was "all right" Deputy Foley
stepped out into the glare Of the
headlights to lift the beam from the
ratings Of the bridge and as he went
forward he called warning to the
motorists, saying Gust minute, fell
lows"
Without uttering a word the man
in the seat beside the driver leaned
forward, leveled shotgun and fired
across the wheel, the charge entering
Foley's throat and killing him.
Will Tiff leaped forward as the squirt
of flame broke from the bandits gun.
He threw his own weapon, sawed-of
shotgun, to his shoulder and fired
point blank into the drivers seat. II
got one Of them, Mert," he shouted to
the sheriff.
"That's right, give 'em hell" yelled
the sheriff, as he ran back across the
bridge, drawing his revolver.
The bandits scrambled from the car
and flung themselves headlong into
the road. The marshal saw three men
as they sprang to cover. He leaped
back to get behind the tonneau.
Two Of the bandits crawled up on
the running boards, stretched fiat, and
crept forward to the front of the car.
There, with their bare fists, they
smashed in the glass of the headlights,
and tore out the bulbs with their
fingers, without stopping to unscrew
them. The. sheriff joined Marshal
Tiff in the shelter of the rear of the
car, and both officers opened fire with
pistols. The bandits on the running
Ards turned about. Sheltered by the
Snders and the tool box on one side
they returned the fire.
Then gun flashes stabbed the dark
ness as the five men, at point blank
range, fired almost into one another's
faces. Fifty shots were fired in a
few moments, the sheriff said. Mar
shall Tiff was hit by two bullets, but
kept on pumping his shot gun. One
shot struck him in the left shoulder
and another in the left hand.
The officers kept up the battle until
their ammunition was gone, and the
bandits ceased firing probably for the
same reason. Sheriff Tiff and the
marshal then crept back from the car
in the dark, picked up the body of the
dead deputy and started toward town.
There they gave the alarm, mustered
a posse and hurried to the bridge.
The bandits had fled.
Upon examination Of the car blood
was found on the back seat, the side
of the car and the running board,
which indicated that one of the ban
UlCS ldu Uccll "OulluCSl. uc Will
shield was shot to pieces, the top rid
died with buckshot, and pistol bullet
found imbedded in the forward door
on the inside Of the car at about the
height of the drivers knees: The car
was found to contain burglars tools,
two 3S-caliber revolvers, dynamite,
nitroglycerine, puttied soap used in
blowing safes, jimmies, crowbars and
heavy hammers.
Discovery Of the bandit tools and
explosives gave the first indication
that they were highwaymen on their
way to do some COB" It is lucky for
the yeggmen, and probably for the
sheriff and his men that bullet did
not strike the combustibles.
From the bridge where the car was
abandoned the tracks of the men led
from the road across swamp toward