Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1920-09-08
LIBERTY BONOTHIEVES
CAUGHT AT VINT0N
ENTER HOME OF JOHN SWANSON
LAST THURSDAY AFTERNOON
AND CARRIED OFF SAFE.
BONDS, VALUABLE PAPERS GONE.
Enter Other Homes in Prairie Town.
ship. Organized Gang from Vim
ton Did the Work.

ship. Organized Gang from Vim
ton Did the Work.
John Swanson, well-to-do farm
er of Prairie township, is minus $3.50
worth OF Liberty bonds, $50 worth of
War Savings Stamps, and a large
amount of other valuable paper, as
a result of a theft committed last
Thursday afternoon, when the entire
family were attending the fair at
Manchester. 1t appears that the gang
of robbers visied the Swanson farm
some time during the afternoon. and
carried off the safe in which these
valuable papers were kept. In addi-
-tion to the Liberty Bonds and War
Savings Stamps Mr.. Swanson had
notes. deeds and mortgages and alb
stracts Of titles in the safe. Many of
these papers cost him a large sum
to procure, and are of no value to
thieves, but are now lost.
The home on the VIII Newman farm
was also entered but nothing Of val
ue was taken. II is said that other
farm homes were entered. At one
farm home 1t is said the thieves made
away with lot Of food stuffs, evil
IDENTIFY eating their dinner at that
place. lsr ast
Saturday morning officers here were
notified by the officers at Vinton that
one Of the burglars had been arrest
ed and some Of the bonds found in
his possession. The man made
complete confession and gave the
names of other men implicated in the
theft. A correspondent from Vfnton
gives the followings account Of the
affair in the Monday edition Of the
Waterloo Times Tribune:
'=Bert Burrows of this city was
arrested late Friday afternoon while
attempting to dispose of some Lib
erty bonds and by the time the Of
ficers were through questioning him
he had confessed to helping steal
small safe from farm house in
Manchester, from which about $4,000
in liberty bonds and cash were se-
cured. His confession also cleared
up the. theft of ten auto tires from
the salesroom of the Fleet Auto Co.
in this city a week ago Saturday
night, as we'll as duplicating four
other vinton yeung men: Two of the
young men, w |. Jackson and Rich
ard Spangler,. We're taken into cus-
tody Friday evening, but the other
two, Rollo AXE and Earl Elliott, made
their escape in an automobile before
the officers could apprehend them,
and are still at large. It was learn
ed that they stopped IN Shellsburg for
oil and gasoline, and later in the.
evening were in Cedar Rapids. How
ever, when Deputy Sheriff Ferguson
arrived in Cedar Rapids on the night
train they had disappeared.
Young Burrows, who has been
making his headquarters in Cedar
Rapids for some time. appeared in
Yinton Friday afternoon and tried to
dispose of some liberty bonds. He
offered one Vinton man $500 worth
for $50, but suspicioning something
wrong the man did not buy. Later
Burrows went to one OF, the local
banks and tried to cash some of the
bonds, the. amount being so large
that the b1nk official became suspi-
cious and notified the sheriff. Bur-
rows was picked up and when he was
searched the officers found $110o
worth Of bonds. He was taken to the
office of a local attorney and given
the "third degree finally making a
complete confession Of the whole
matter.
"It seems that the gang visited the
home of farmer near Manchester on
Thursday, while the family was at
the Manchester fair, and made away
with a small safe. They brought it.
to barn on the Hugh Austin farm,
two miles north of Vinton, where
the safe was broken open and the
cash and liberty bonds secured Bur-
rows made the fatal mistake Of try
ing to cash the bonds where he was
known, as his possession of them
even in a small amount, would be
cause of suspicion. The balance of
the bonds and cash is thought to be
in the possession of the two who es-
capped.
''By the confession of Burrows it
was leaned that practically the
same gang was guilty of the theft OF
the automobile tires from the Fleet
Auto company salesroom. Saturday
afternoon two young men, now sup
posed to be Rollo AXE and Earl E,-
lott, visited the salesroom, ap-
oarenly to look at second hand car
offered for sale. The car was stand
ng near one of the windows, and
while the salesman's attention was en-
gagged by one of the men, the other
urned the lock on the window. Re-
urning that night they opened tie
window, passed the tires out, closed
he lock and window and left by way
If the door. which has a Yale night
ock. The fact that all the doors and
were locked when the theft
vas discovered by Tracy Ames, man
ger of the salesroom, gave the theft
IN element of mystery. However,
when it was learned how the tires
lad been taken out, an examination of