The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1921-05-13
An Attempt Made To Rob
Bank At EIko
WOMAN SAW PL0TTERS
All Communication Cut off; the
Would-Be Robbers Flee
In Auto

| OhliV SludSS VI GihO, village VI
seventy FIVE inhabitants, short dis
lance west of Pennington on the
Mankato st. Paul division of the Mil
waukee road. The invasion was
made Friday night, but the fact was
not made known to the outside
world until late Saturday. The ham
let was cut off from the rest of the
world for seventeen hours, the ban
dts having cut the telephone and
telegraph wires, preparatory to max.
ing raid on the place.
The plot failed because of amateur
tactics, but the bandits, one of them
believed wounded in gunplay which
| took place at the village bank, es-
capped. The Scott county sheFiff's
forces will continue their search.
The attempted wholesale footing
was replete with the thrills of a dime
novel. The bandits first cut all
telephone and telegraph wires con
world and then divided their band
into two parties, one heading forsthe
bank while the other advanced on
the combination railroad station an.
lpostoffice. =
Woman Discovered the PIotters !.
Mrs. James Scanlon, Elko post
master and wife Of the station agent,
heard the first indication of the
bandits work. Shortly before mid
night she noticed peculiar sounds In
the telegraph wires. The instru-
ment kept up an uneven clicking
while from the wires overhead came
steady buzzing sound. Her hds-
Dand had gone to sleep, however,
and she did not wake him.
Saturday, after the whole story was
known, the buzzing sound was ex-
planned by the lineman who repaired
the wires. The bandits, he said, ha.
cut the wires with a haccksaw in
stead of pliers and it was the strokes
OF the saw that produced the yibra-
lions hear in the station. The wires
were cut about a mile up the track
on each side of the village.
| Two hours after the telegraph IN.
struments had acted so peculiarly.
Mrs. Scanlon was awakened again
this time by the sound of someone
crawling over the station roof. This
time she awakened her husband and
he investigated. At their first move
inside they heard two men scramble
TO the edge. of the roof and drop to
the ground. Scanlon opened the
station door and sent his dog. Tin
out after the marauders. He had a
glimpse of two fleeing figures, with
the dog at their heels, disappearine
up the villages one street
Practically at the same time Mr.
and Mrs. B. F. Case, who live in the
basement of the Elko State bani...
were undergoing a somewhat SINH
lar experience.
Banker Was Awakened
Mr.. Case. who is cashier OF the
bank, was awakened at two O'Clock in
the morning by the ray of flash
light which shone in from the
ground floor windows. Without
moving. from bed he watched two
more shafts of light, shining throue..
the windows. Moving stealthily. he
got, out of bed, obtained his revolver
ana went upstairs into The bank
where he stood in the shadow be-
hind one of the front windows.
A few buildings in Elko, the bank
among them, are supplied with cleo
irlclty from the Elko hotel, but when
the hotel closes the towns lights
are extlnguished by the proprietor,
?. j. Roehl and the street, at this
! hour was deserted and dark
Against the sky Mr.. Case could
see the silhouettes of three s..u
standing together and almost d.
rectly in front of the window. With.
out waiting for any further move.
ments he fired into the group. his
bullet ripping through a plate glass
| WINDOW and a storm window. He
heard muttered curse and then a
second shot, this time from the ban
1t missed Case
| Get Away in Autos
He ran to the door but the bandits
We're fleeing westward. He wafchad
| them run about block to the EIko
scnoolhouse where they climbed into
an automobile and, still heading west
roared off UP the road.
AS he had come up the stairs To
reconnoiter Case heard the crash of
glass, and when he returned to the
,' ne found that one of the
basement window. The rock struck
the pillow on which he dad been
sleeping: With it came shower Of
grass which narrowly escaped seri
ously injuring Mrs. Case who Law
| terrified in bed ''
Although outside communication
nad been cut off the telephone sys-
lem tem INSIDE the village limits was in
Two or his friends, A. L. Page and
): h. McFadden. They obtained an
automobile and gave chase Tbev
traced the bandit car to the noint
where its track turned into the man,
| !oau 10 harrington. Here they LOST
it and turned back.
| Thinks One Bandit Was Hurt
Walter Chestnut, lineman for the
Milwaukee railroad, who superintena
ed repair work on the severed lines
believes that one !. or more Of the
bandits were injured when they
tried to cut the lines. In their first
attempt to sever the lines, they cut
all the wires on one side of a tele-
graph pole about a mile north of the
station. The scene, as Chestnut
found it, showed clearly that the
pole had toppled over as soon as
these lines were severed breaking
away from the lines on the other side
Chestnut believes that at least one
bandit was atop the pole when 1t
| fell
| At point a mile south of the
station where the second line cutting
was effected the robbers profited by
the experience and alternated in cut
ting the wirap saving one on one
side and one on the other until they
cut all lines and left the pole stand
| ing.
Mariana License Issued