, 1922-07-27
LINCOLN HIGHWAY Scene
81, Of SPECTACULAR HOLD-UP
DESPERATE BANDIT ACCEPTED RIDE FROM SALES
/. MAN. Then ROBBED HIM Of MONEY and
VALUABLES. CAPTURED next MORNING
Tibbets z Illness

Tibbets Feigned Illness
The nerve racked victim of the
holdeup and his captor were by this
time nearing Rawlins the second
time and Tibbets, whose mind had
been fixed on some method of es-
cape. decided to pretend to be i'll and
unable to proceed. Accordingly he
said to the highwayman: TN all in,
you can take the car and everything
else I've got, only let me out. l
can't go another foot, so do your
worst" The brutal yegg was obdur-
ate and insisted that Tibbets. go on.
which he did. driving through Raw
Inns at about 20 miles per hour and
seeing dozens of people who would
have aided him had he dared make
his predicament known. but the
bandit had placed a blanket over
their knees after first showing Tib-
bets that his gun was at full cock
with the safety catch off. Under this
blanket he held this weapon pressed
closely into his unwilling companions
side, assuring the latter with dis
concerning frequency that any false
nov was just naturally committing
suicide.
They Part Company
At the outskirts Of Rawlins the
car was stopped while Lesson got
out and examined . sign board. He
kept his victim carefully covered and
finally came back to the car and
resting his gun c~arelessly on the
door. pointed directly at Tibbets, he
seemed to deliberate on the next
move. Tibbets is of the opinion,
from the mans actions that he con
templated killing him there and
taking = chance Of getting away with
the car. The man had already in
quired carefully about distances to
various. places westward. Finally he
said: well. you've been a pretty
good fellow and I'm going to let you
Co." He then ordered Tibbets to
drive due west on the Lincoln High
way for an hour and a half, adding:
that, for I will be waiting for you
alongside the road and I'll burn
you"
Tibbets drove on, and on, and on
and, finally, when he was sure that
his lights could not be seen he halt
ed the car and took off the side
curtains; extinguished all lights and
drove rapidly back to Rawlins, ar
irving almost exactly at II o'clock.
When he. was allowed to depart. the
robber warned him profanely that
when he gave a description to the
officers he must tell them that he
had been stuck up by a short, fat
man with "a big belly" The robber
is a tall man of muscular build and
weighs about 225 pounds. Tibbets
was threatened with death IL he failed
In any n to obey Instructions.
The Alarm Given
The first thing Tibbets did was to
get Sheriff Sanders ON the telephone
and tell his startling story briefly,
At once a posse was organized in
which city and county officers, all
heavily armed, and a number of
deputies as we'll as volunteers, took
part. Every exit from the city was
covered and while the search was be-
ing conducted Lesson was in q local
.rooming house. bathing, shaving and
donning his late victims clothes aud
underwear. He was later seen and
recognized from descriptions fUrn-
ished. A chase followed In which he
fired several shots at hfs pafsuefs.
fortunately without hitting anybody.
The fugitive disappeared In . dark
alley and was lost for the time being.
Captured NeEt Moszlng.
The search c~ontfReaA throuGhOut
the night and in addition to deputies
in other parts Of town. five. were sta
toned at the deep railroad cut west
OF the city. When It became broad
daylight Lesson was captured n he
came down from the hill where he
had undoubtedly spent the latter
part Of the night. The man who
actually made the capture was w. @.
Pullam. who had been In the chase
during the night and who was one
Of the men who were shot at by the
fleeing bandit. He offered no re-
sistance but was found to be well
armed with hts own gun and the one
taken from the suitcase of Tebbets.
A Hard Boiled YeW
When confronted at the county
Jail By the man he bad ~terrorized for
three hours and whose clothing he
was at that moment wearing, Lesson
denied that he had ever seen T1b-
bets before. He was then given .
shght exempuffcatioa Of the .'third
degree" and sooa became more
tractable, and admitted the whole
story, which confession he later
retracted. The fact that the under
wear he wore bore T1bbets' laundry
mark, and that he had in his posses
sion when captured . gun, safety
rasor. sweater, and other articles
which Tibbets could easily identify
wss proof conclusive that he was
the man wanted.
The one real mystery 10 the case
IL what Lesson did with the money
he is known to have had when he