Seward daily gateway., 1924-10-18
EPIDEMIC OF BANK
 HOLDUPS IN ILLINOIS
BANKS URGING STATE POLICE DEPARTMENT CURB BAN-
 DIT RAIDS.

SPRINGFIELD H., Oct. 16.-Leo- pold and Loeb have been plotted out by peniteneiary walls. Herrin is quiet. But Illinois has another claim i to headlines-bank robbers.
 Bank robbing has been developed to it's highest point in this State, 1 Throwing up hands and being locked in the safe are becoming part of the routine of Illinois bankers. The loot taken by crews of bandits who cruise the States paved roads makes Cap tain Kids pieces of eight" appear mere pocket money.
 All this is indicated by statistics compiled by the Illinois Bankers As sociation in urging the establish ment of a State police force to check the bandit raids.
 l Bandits who operate in this State 1 of cornfields and coal mines boast of 139 bank robberies in the last three years. Their fellows in New York State were able to tap only nineteen 'tills" in the three years. And Pennsylvania bandits had to subsist on the booty from twenty jobs. Even the Missouri yeggs, with their wealth of tradition from the James boys, could not equal the Illinois total. And this year the Hi nois bandits are we'll on their way to a new record, with nearly half a hundred banks footed
 Bank robbing used to be nocturn- al art. It was a laborous process of jimmying and dynamiting, but modern methods have changed all that. High noon is now the hour. Then most of the employees of small banks, on which the bandits prey, go out to lunch, leaving the cash on the counter, and only two or three clerks piles empty a squad of masked men at the selected bank. The employees are forced into the safe at the point of sawed-off shotguns. When the sheriff investigates a half hour la ter the bank could not cash a post age stamp.
 Illinois authorities believe most oi the bandits who operate in the State are gangsters from St. Louis and Chicago. With the States new con crete road system putting the most remote point within a few hours drive of these centers, bandits have Hound it short and comparatively safe days work to shoot out to a lrural Illinois bank, gather a harvest of banknotes and dash back to their refuges in the labyrynth of city streets.
 Bankers of the States are taking determined steps to meet the bandit menace. A fight for a State consta bulary will be made in the Legisla- ture this Winter. Banks are buying shotguns and distributing them tc special deputies employed in second floor offices near bank buildings Armored pursuit cars, manned by ex pert riflemen, are being equipped in some counties. Small banks are lock ing their doors during the noon hour to foil attack.
 l The following bandit don'ts have been issued by the Illinois Bankers Association:
 Don't leave one person alone in the bank at any time. It is safer to close the bank at noon and all go to lunch.
 Don't leave your vault door open unless you shoot the bolts and throw the combination. It's wise man who profits by the experience ot others-it may be your turn next Do you want to be locked in the vault?
 Don't have all your money out on the counter Keep the reserve locked under combination and time lock at all times.
 Don't do business on payroll days without extra guards.
 Don't expect your bank to be i'm mune from attack. Be prepared al all times" .*<
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