Belt Valley times. [volume] (Armington, Mont.) 1894-1977, 1923-10-18
CONNORS HELD
UP AT NEIHART

Wednesday morning two holdup ar
lists attempted to rob T. ]. Connors,
proprietor of pool hall in Neihart
Shortly after a. m. Connors locked
up and started homeward with the
cash from the till in his pocket.
Just as he started to climb the hill
to his home he was stopped by two
men who ordered him to "Stick 'em
up" Connors dislikes very much TO
have any one take anything away
from him although if they had said
''please" he would willingly have
loosened up for the price of bed or
meal. 1t so happened that he had been
presented with large squash that
day which he was carrying under his
some pumpkin pies to grace his table
later. When the holdup peremptorily
ordered him to put up his hands he
could not do so without dropping the
squash. The thought angered him
and figuring that if he must lose his
beloved squash anyway he would get
some use out of it, he promptly
smashed it over the head of the strong
arm in front of him and followed this
up with an attack on the other thug
with fists. Connors is big man and
to protect himself the holdup was COM
PEELED to bring up his reserves and
took shot at Connors hitting him in
the left arm between shoulder and ell
bow. Connors then concluded that it !
was time to leave and ran across the !
road to the Judge Hotel. The bandits |
did not follow and soon the noise of I
high powered car was heard speeding |
down the valley.
Deputy Sheriff Ed Donovan was I
called and an attempt made to tele-
phone to Belt and Great Falls but the
line was dead. They tried White Sui
phur Springs but the wire had been
cut
After considerable delay word was
got to Deputy Sheriff Leland who
routed out Bill Fluhr. Leland went
TO get his car intending to block the
temporary bridge with it but was just
coming down the street by the laun-
dry as the lights of the car flashed
into sight across the creek. Leland
ran his car across the sidewalk cross
ing. Fluhr waved his hands and yelled
to the car to stop but the occupants
had important business elsewhere and
stepped on the gas The sidewalk
crossing is very rough at best but the
yeggs picked the toughest spot of all
bumped across the curbing and step
ped on the gas swinging around the
curves on two wheels. Fluhr turned /,
loose with his gat at the tires but ,
there was always the chance that it ,
was the wrong bunch and he shot low.
AS soon as they could turn they ran
to the telephone office, telephoned to
Sheriff Gordon and took up the chase.
The bandits were evidently heading
for Great Falls but after finding that
the officers were on their trail they
changed their plans and threw their
pursuers off the track by turning
down the Bogner lane and heading
north. At daybreak Leland and Fluhr :
found their tracks and trailed them I
clear to Fort Benton. They continued
their search on the other side of the
river returning by way of Iona and
but the pursued had hidden }
themselves away on some abandoned
ranch or in the breaks of the Missouri
The unfortunate part of the pursuit :,
was the fact that the officers in Belt :
did not get word in time to complete
ly block the bridge. If this had been :,
done there might have been more :,
serious story to tell.
We left Tom Connors at the Judge !
hotel but Ed Donovan and Chester
Smith took him to the Columbus hos
pital in Great Falls where the bullet
was removed and the wound was
dressed. The patient is getting along
nicely.
When Connors gets home any one
who will replace that squash will re- =.
reive the everlasting goodwill of the
dy piece of fruit.
CApn aE rxr NKC