New Ulm review., 1922-12-20
STEAL 5 | | ! | ]! in
CASH And | . 81 5000. 0
WOR THI OF BONDS


Telegraph Wires.
BLOW OFF Y AUL /. DOOR 0,
WITH NITROGLYCERIN
Lock One Man IN Room and
Hold Another Captive
In His Home.
Five bandits drove into the town Of
Lafayette, is miles north of New
Ulm, early Friday morning, cut tele-
phone and telegraph wires, pried open
the front door Of the Farmers State
bank, blew off the vault door, scooped
Iup & $1,l27 in cash and robbed
/ 125 safety deposit boxes of SIS, 900
in Liberty bonds and War Savings
'Ista mps. RI y !.
The robbers were professionals. So
|liesurely did they work that it was
daylight before they got around to.
blow the safe inside of the vault.
tAlthough placing a charge Of nitro
glycerin at the safe door they were
evidently afraid they did not have
sufficient time to blow it. The safe
contained about So, 900, according to
Henry johnson, Cashier Of the bank.
Park Car Near Haystack.
Information gathered after the rob-
berry indicates that the burglars en-
tered Lafayette early in the evening,
in new Chalmejs Sedan. They
drove about town, evidently on a trip
of Inspection. and then disappeared.
Tracks in the snow the next morning
indicated the car had been parked
back Of a haystack, one-eighth OF
mile from the town. Tt is believed that
the burglars began their operations
about 2::30 a. m. S.
After succeeding in cutting telephone
and telegraph wires wit h the exception
Of one wire to Gaylord, the bandits
broke into railroad car house and
stole spike puller. With this they
went boldly up to the front door Of
the bank and pried it open.
Bandits Capture Carlson.
Einar Carlson Of the Lafayette
Ledger was working until $3.50 a. m.
preparing a holiday edition of the
paper for the mails the next day. On
his way home he passed on the OPP
posite side Of the street from the bank
building He did not see the bandits
but was noticed by lookout in the
shadow Of the. bank :. The lookout
fired over Carlson's head to halt him
and ordered him to come over to the
bank. Carlson obeyed. As he ap-
preached, the bandit comma nded him
to sstick up his hands, and to turn
his back to him.
Carlson was marched into the bank
and to the cloak room where his hands
|and feet were: tied The door Of the
cloak room was locked. q tis Carlgon's
[opinion that two Of the bandits were
used as lookouts while. three were
breaking into the vault and the deposit
boxes. AS he entered the bank he
declared he saw flashes Of light about
the vault. 5ss..s9 s# .s3
While Carlson was locked in the
room he heard three explosions Of
|nitrogly glycerin. The bandits first
knocked off the combination Of the
vault door, according to Mr.. Johnson.
| This failed to open the door, however
because Of ! special lock. It was then
that they fred the charges Of nitro
glycerin which blew off the door,
doing 5000 worth Of damage to- the
vault, and running $400 adding
machine standing nearby.
The commotion the bandits were
making at this stage Of their operations
aroused Fred Lund j tinsmith living
next door. He started out to investi-
gate but was met by q man with =
sawed off shot gun who ordered Get
back, into your house and keep your
mouth shut. Lund did not have ia
fhiss house either 4 revolver Or j tele-
phone. Hefobeyed orders. Ezss5
b After finding the cash in the vault,
the robbers liesurely went through
the safety deposit boxes, taking from
them bond stamps, mortgages and
other papers Of value The papsrs
which they did not want they threw
Iabout the interior Of the vault.
opped at othins
Before beg snaing their work ia th1
a bank the burglars had gone to the
basement where they disconnected the
burglar alar They also cut the fire
Continued on page 81.