Omaha daily bee., 1922-06-03
Omaha Men
Surrender
to Po S S e
Two Wounded. One Seriously.
in Gun Battle in Under.
brush at Decalur-Girl
Cashier Gives Alarm.
Woman Member Of Gang

Tekamah. Neb.. June 2.-(Special
Telegram. Three Omaha men were
arrested by posse IN the under
brush along the river south OF De-
ea,ur late this AFTERNOON alter they
had held up the Decatur State bank
and made away with $1,000 Two OF
the bandits were wounded before
they surrendered
Louis Clernt, S2li Z street. South
Omaha. and Jack Fuller OF Chicago
were wounded. Clernt was shot III
the shoulder and Fuller in the arms
and face. Clernt was brought TO the
hospital here and his. injuries are
considered serious. tullcr'S wounds
are slight George Bercek. also OF
Chicago, was not injured.
Scared by Woman.
The bandits drove up 10 the bank
and pointing gun at Miss Connolly
assistant cashier. who was the only
pcr,on in the bank, ordered her to
hand over the money. She screamed
and the bandits hprriedly scooped
I'M the money in the till behind the
counter and ran. They pushed
through the rapidly assembling
crowd. jumped in their car and start
ed south.
At the edge OF town they were
forced TO back their car and crashed
/ into telephone pole. damaging the
machine so badly they were forced Z
to abandon it.
The trio leaped from the machine
and fled into the underground along
the banks OF the creek south OF De-
catur.
Posse Starts Chase.
A posse. which had quickly formed,
surrounded the men and fired heavily
into the underground. Clernt was
shot in the shoulder with "a charge
from shotgun and gave himself UP.
He was brought to hospital here,
where he is under heavy guard.
Shortly after, Fuller gave up. DC
was brought here for medical treat
ment.
! Within all hour the third man.
i George Bercek, gave up. He told
police he and Fuller moved to
Omaha from Chicago week ago.
Clernt and Fuller told officers here
that they left Omaha at 10 this
morning for Decatur.
Probe Motor Cars.
Sheriff Stanfield hurried to Deca-
tur by automobile from this city to.
take charge of the man hunt. Alter
the arrest of the three men the sher-
if and county attorney started an in
vestigation of number OF motor
cars which they believe were stolen
by the gang.
A woman and two children. boy,
9, and a girl. IL, were connected
with the gang. The woman was
taken in charge by the county at
torney and no information given out
about her.
Among the automobiles recovered
was a Hudson coupe, believed
stolen from James Allen, 703 Thirty.
eighth street. Omaha, from the
streets OF Ralston last night. A car
bearing the registration card of the
Drive-It-Yourself company of Oma-
ha was also recovered. A Dodge
car was recovered and search is be-
ing made for a Maxwell which the
woman said the party had
Clernt gained considerable notori-
ETY. when his Omaha home was raid
ed last November by a special squad
of police under the direction of Po-
lice Sergeant Frank Murphy. Clernt
and his wife were not at home at the
time and their five children, all un-
der. l6. alleged that the police took
$505 which was hidden in the house.
Clernt and his wife were later ar
rested charged on six counts with the
sale OF liquor. Clernt later sued the
police and their surety companies for
the SS0S