Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-11-20
Boy Bandits Raid
7woAtLarataShops
And Are Nabbed
Youthful Gunner Use Wild
West Methods in Sensa-
tionaI HoIdupS at Busy
Stores


Two well-dressed youths Of nina
teen and seventeen are behind the
bars at police station. confessed
perpetrators of two Of the most dar-
ing hold-ups ever staged N Atlanta,
that Of the Parker-Branan drug
store, at Peachtree street and North
avenue, Wednesday night, and that
of the Stephens & Hawks drug store.
at West Peachtree and Fourteenth
streets, Thursday night.
They are Stuart Taylor and Eric
May, schoolmates of Minneapolis.
Mimi, who, by their own story, were
on their way to spend the winter
in Florida, lost their money on the
| train, stopped off in Atlanta, and
robbed the two drug stores, they de-
clare, in order to get enough cash
to pay their fare to Jacksonville.
They we're caught Thursday night
short while after the \Stephens q
Hawks robbery-Taylor at Peachtree
and Tenth streets, where he was in
another drug store, buying a choeo-
late milk: and May at a prominent
hotel-where the two boys were reg
| istered.
There are two heroes in the drama,
both negro messenger boys. One Of
hthem is Will Rogers, fourteen years
old. who, by closing the safe of the
Parker Branan company in the face
of a pointed pistol, prevented it
from being robbed. The other Is
Marvin Morrison, eighteen years old,
who works for the Stevens & Hawk
store, and, who by trailing the ban
dts after the robbery, brought about
their capture.
Eric May is an English lad who
says he has been in this country
seven years and for practically all
of that time had lived in Minneapo-
lis, where he went to school with
Taylor. He says the two of them
decided to go south this winter and
get jobs in Florida.
Needed Railroad Fare
| Somebody stole our money on the
train," he declared. land we had 70
get off in Atlanta. We reached here
at o'clock Wednesday night. went
to the hotel, and then decided &c
! take a walk"
The hold-up, he says, was the re-
suit of sudden impulse The two
young men were walking out Peach
tree, talking about finding work he
| said, when the idea occurred to them
: They put 'handkerchiefs over their
| faces. drew their revolvers and en-
tered rly I0-o Ie+
arate entrances.
The store was full of people. but
no one moved while the bandits rif1ed
the cash register. Willie. the colored
| boy, swung the door of the safe shut,
| though one of the robbers pumped
a bullet through the floor at his feet
A few minutes later they lodged out
of the store and escaped down North
avenue.
I'VE We're as scared as anybody"
declared May. eff anybody had
pointed gun at me. would have
dug hole and crawled in it,"
May said they got $40 at tho
Parker-Branan store, and decided
| this wasn't enough. Emboldened by
the success of the first robbery. they
approached the Stevens & Hawks
SbOIe 1HuISudy night.
Three men wereSin the store thu
| prescription clerk, the soda dis
| penser and a customer. Taylor and
May, handkerchiefs over their faces
and revolvers in their hands, appear
ed ean IN t tie doorway with the CONS
They ordered two of the men to
sit down on the floor. They went
through the cash register. The third
man they forced to open the safe.
a.
| OF the drug store say.
Marvin Morrison, the negro meg
senger boy of the store, was return
Ing on his bicycle from a call in
Ansley Park, when he saw Taylor
and May come out Of the store and
| run up the street.
There's been a robbery" he was
told at the store. Follow those
| men,"
So Morrison jumped back on his
Meyf and began to ride along
street he passed the two bandits and
saw one of them drop hat in the
mud. He followed them until he
| lost them temporarily near Tenth
street. Here he met Officers Har-
| Fourteenth street to answer the tele-
phone call sent in by the drug
| store.
Found In Store
Morrison told them he thought the
| bandits had entered one of the drug
| stores at Tenth street, and, going
| in with the officers, identified Taylor
| by the mud on his hat. He was cap
| tured without a struggle.
May, in tie meantime, had board
| ed a street car for the city, unaware
| of the arrest of his comrade. The
| police leaned the hotel at which the
| two we stopping and arrested May
| in hit, room about thirty minutes
| later.
When the off GERS entered his roomA
! May was busy engaged in sorting
out q sheaf of bills and counting a
raft of rickels. dimes, quarters and
pearei utterly astonished when inter-
rupted in his, work
The two boys WI be given a hear
ing before, Recorder Johnson, prob
ably Friday afternoon.
They declared Friday morning that
they would not ask for a lawyer. but
| would plead guilty and throw them
selves on the mercy of thc ,.>nr..
Despite their assertion that the
Atlanta robberies were the irst they
ever committed. Chief of Detectives
Lamar Poole states he will inVestl-
gate their past on the theory that
Both Birmingham and Chattanoo-
ga have had trouble with drug store
bandits,." said Chief Poole. And I
have asked the police OF those cities
for information that may fasten
other crimes on Taylor and May"
II welcome an investigation" said
May, when told of the purpose Of the
police. ut will show we have told
nothing but the truth-that we never