Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1920-11-18
Boy COnfesses and Exoner-
ates Brother Who Had
Confessed.
PART OF STOLEN
MAIL DESTROYED.
Contents of Five Of Sacks, Contain
ing Thousands of Dollars in Cash
and Bonds, Burned Whom Youthful
Thieves Become Fearful Of Arrest
-Four Sacks Still Mi..ins-PhiI-
lips Remarkable Story.
SPECIAL to Times-Repupiican.

Specai to Times Republican.
Council Bluffs Nov. 1s.-rhe third
confession In the $4,000, 900 mail car
ROBBERY here Saturday night wa.
mace TO local investigators here late
last night when Orville Phillips, II
years Old. younger brother Of Mer,
Phillips, who already has confessed
1oid the agents that he and Fred 2.
Poffenbarger, 20. also in custody. did
the Job and that his brother Mer, had
nothing to DO with the robbery.
Meri, who already has confessed Ia
standing guard on the locomotive. aid
not take part In the robbery and
mace MS confession In an effort To
save and protect. accordins 10 the
story OF Orville. OrvilIe gave tim.elf
up to save his brother, who wa. ner-
Juring himself to save him. Merl
knew OF the plans Of Poffenbarxer
and Orville, according to orville. and
was on the engine to afford them nrc-
lection. he said.
A third man helped rob the ear and
was outside in the auto when Poffen-
oarger and Orville threw out the
sacks, but no amount Of grifline on
the part Of the officials SO far has
Drought out the identity OF the third
man or what became OF him.
Stolen Mall Burned.
FIVE OF the mail sacks were re-
covered late yesterday afternoon
after Orville had revealed their
whereabouts to the officials. Four
were tn the north end OF Spoon Lake.
under the ice. showed into an ordi-
nary mail sack. Tho other was 10
Gated In an outhouse In Cochren
park. The sacks were empty. The
boys say they burned the contents
when they became afraid Of detection,
but so far have not made public the
amount Of the stun they burned. II
they knew
Orville gave himself up after he
had learned that his brother and
Poffenbarger were under arrest and
that his brother had not only In
criminated himself but was sticking
to his story in way that has caused
wonder on the part OF the officials.
Does Some Tall Lying.
Merl had told every kind OF story
in the world to shield his brother.
even to giving fake descriptions Of
persons supposed to have taken part
in the case and Identifying an inno-
cent person, Frank Williams, in
Omaha. as one of the men who as
sisted in the robbery.> He gave tho
name Of Ray Roberts, Frank Will
liams and a score Of others az the
persons who assisted him. AT times
he expanded his story to include his
entire family, then contracted 1t to
his original recitation. When the
Questioning became too hot for him
he simply hung his head and refused
to talk.
Poffenbarger was nearly as good.
He told much the same story as
Phillips, but cleverness Of the In
vestigators succeeded in breaking
down tho yarns to such an extent
that orville thought best to give HIM
self up.
Who the third man is Orville has
not told publicly. Poffenbarger has
not, neither has Merl, so tar as can
be learned. Today the boys are be-
identity of the other men and the
location of the four stolen sacks not
yet recovered.
Four Sacks Still Missing.
What has become Of the other
sacks the boys say they don't know.
Officials are questioning them In the
belief that they do know. None Of
the bonds have been recovered. The
boys say they have been burned, and
they were not in the sacks recovered.
Another phase Of the sensational.
spectacular. and wierd story, which,
unless contradicted by subsequent
developments, will stand as one of
the most amazing modern incidents
in crime, is the continued effort OF
Merl Phillips to save his brother.
Merl when he first learned of the
plans Of his brother and associates
to rob the mall train labored with
them to give up their wild plans, but
to no avail; and finally, finding that
nothing he could do would swerye
them from their purpose, he decided
to stay with them and see if he could
not as last resort protect them
from being discovered and caught in
the act Of robbing the mail car.
Finally when he saw that all was
lost and that it was but a question
of time when his brother would be
caught, Merl almost verged upon the
act of surrendering himself in order
to act as a shield for his brother, and
then he was arrested and grilIed, and
for hours and hours was not permit
ted to get wink of sleep in the ef-
fort to force confession from him.
He smiled and held his counsel or
dove into an angle that took the ex-
perienced government men on
another of the numerous blind pas
sages in which Merl led them.
Almost equally dramatic is the
surrender of Orville Phillips, whose
brotherly affection and regard was
aroused by the efforts which Merl
was making on his behalf