The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1921-11-25
ROY GARDNER IS
TAKEN IN ARIZONA
SANTA FEE MAIL CLERK FOiLS
RoBBER AS GUN is HELD
AGAINST BODY; GETS $1,000
Prisoner Claims He Acted Calamity
In Sparing Life or Railway EN-.
ploye Because He Saw Man
Was Brave and Unarmed

Phoenix, Ariz.-The bandit captured
here last Tuesday night at the Santa
Fe station, following an attempt TO rob
mailcar, was identified by finger
prints Wednesday as Roy Gardner, who
recently escaped from the federal peni-
tertiary at McNeils island.
According to the police, Gardner al
mitted his identity.
Police Wednesday morning said that,
while there was nothing of unusual val
] ne in the mail on board the car at
tackled Tuesday night, local bank
planned to ship $4,000 from here We'd
nesday, and they believe the void be
robber had been tipped OFF, to the
shipment, but got the wrong train.
The mailcar attacked Tuesday night
was on Atchison, Topeka < Santa Fe
train No. 40. The robber. boarded the
car ten minutes before the train was
due to leave for Los Angeles, and ii
is the theory of local officers that he
intended to ride to a nearby station,
where, they believe, he had accom-
plices waiting for him.
Herman Inderlied of Phoenix, clerk
in charge of the car, said he was not
looking when the wouldbe robber got
in the car and that the first he knew
of the others presence was when he
felt a gun pressed against his body and
turned around to find a masked man
holding a revolver against him. Inder-
lied, who is feet inches tall and
weighs about 215 pounds, struck his
assailant, took his gun away from him
and then sat on him while he waited
for officers to respond to his calls.
Then the bandit was taken to the
county Jail, where he said he was ar.
Z. Nelson of Chicago"
Inderlied went out with his car Tues
day night.
While Interlied was holding his pris-
oner, to latter said, swell, you've
earned your $4,000 tonight" referring
to a standing reward offered to mail
clerks for the capture of mail bandits.
Another Santa Fe train was stand
ing ON a track at the local station,
just few feet from No. 10, and a
Southern Pacific train, with two ma
rine guards in the mailcar, was. at the
Southern Pacific station, a quarter of
a block away, when InLerlied was at
tackled.
Interlied, who returned to Phoenix
Wednesday, was called to the police
station to identify the prisoner formal
ly as his assailant. AS he approached
the prisoner, the latter held out his
hand and said, 'Tou haven't got any
hard feelings, have your"
'I've got a wife and child at home,"
Interied replied.
$50 have t. responded Gardner, |
land If you had had gun last night |
your wife would have been a widow |
today. l never hurt an unarmed man |
But next time a gun is stuck against !
you, you put up your hands. 1t might |
not be Roy Gardner behind the gum"
San Francisco-Roy Gardner escap-
ed from McNeirs island, Washington
September g. 1921, by
cutting his way through the barbed
wire fence during a prison baseball
game and running through the fields
to cover amid a rain of shots from the
guards.
A Gordon was thrown around the is
land and watch kept for weeks, but
Gardner was not found. Prison Off
cials later said they thought he reach
ed the mainland the night after the
guard was withdrawn.
Two convicts, former soldiers at
Camp Lewis, serving life sentences fol
statutory offenses, also made dash
for liberty with Gardner. One of them
was killed, the other wounded.
Gardner committed two mail robber
les in California and escaped from his
guards twice while being taken to pris
Dn. The first robbery was of a mail
wagon at San Diego in April 1920, his
loot being $4,000, all of which was re
covered.