Omaha daily bee., 1920-01-01
Police Pictures Of Two Men,
bers of the Old Kirk Gang
Identified by Witnesses Of
Benson HoIdup.
BANK is INSURED FOR
TOTAL $115,000 LOSS
Only Report From Outside
City Comes From Tekamah
OUTLAWS Described by Men
Whom They Locked in Vault.

Witnesses to the robbery at Ben
son al 1880 yesterday morning, in
which four or six bandits held up
the Farmers and Merchants bank,
forcing the employees into a vault
and getting away with $115,000 i'll
bonds and cash. late in the after
noon, partially identified pictures of
Frank Mckay and John Appleby,
alias Frank Adams. members of the
Kirk bandit gang that held up the
Malashock jewelry store two years
age and in the Gun battle with the
police that followed, shot to death
City Detective Frank Rooney, as
two of the band tfas perpetrated the
daring robbery.
City detectives place implicit con-
fdepcc in the selection If the pic
tures of Mckay an' Appleby from
tine Central police station files last
nigh. by witnesses Of the robbery
Positive of identification.
+. c. Kuhl, Sixty third and Maple
streets, witness of yesterdays rob-
berry, said last night on being shown
pictures OF John Appleby that Ap-
pleby was one OF the bandits.
Members OF the city detective de-
partment say that other witnesses
confirmed Kuhls choice and includ-
ed Mckay in their identification
A Cadillac touring car found yes
terday afternoon at 5 O'Clock at
Twelfth and Chicago streets is be
!ieved by the police to be the car
used by the bandits yesterday.
"The bandits didn't drive from
Benson to Twelfth and Chicago
streets just for fun" said Detective
Chief Dunn last night. "They had
a definite purpose"
Gus Hyers. head of the state de-
nartment of law enforcement; Chief
Dunn and Chief Eberstein reviewed
reports of all the men working on
the case last night iii Dunn's Office
at Central police station.
Car May Be Blind.
1. was suggested that the bringing
of the car back to Omaha may have
been a blind" and that the real
bandits kept on with their booty in
another car. The fact that the roads
were almost impossible, the police
car itself getting stuck near Flor
ence, was taken as evidence nullify-
ing the soundness of this theory.
however, and as corroborating the
suspicion that the willy bandits
thought the safest place to hide was
in the CITY.
Only One Report.
At a late hour Yesterday no further
trace of the fleeing bandits had
been obtained by Omaha police than
4 report that an automobile load OF
men. answering the general descrip-
tions of the bandits had sped
through Tekamail, Neo., 50 miles
north of OMAHA. at ) O'Clock De-
tectives John Psznowski and Muir
phy, armed with shotguns. drove to
Tekamah in police emergency car
following the report to Omaha po-
lice.
Squad Ready at Station.
A squad OF detectives is kept in
readiness az Central police station
for any emergency cali concerning
the whereabouts of the bandits.
The last definite report heard OF
the fleeing bandits was from Bert
V. Hensen, auditor of the Nebraska
Telephone company, whose car was
wrecked at fl:20 yesterday morning
at Forty-second street and Ames
avenue in a collision with the car
in which the bandits were riding.
He said they failed to stop after
Continued nn Page Three Column One \