Arizona state miner., 1927-03-12
V|CILANTES HALT
BANK ROBBERIES
Make Iowa Very Unpopular
Place for Hold-Up Men
to Operate.

to Operate.
Council Bluffs. Iowa-Tf Dave and
Broy Harding, who held up and robbed
the bank at Modale. Iowa, and sho:
two men in doing so, hadn't have
been new ones in the bank robbing
business they might have remembered
the slogan of the Iowa vigilantes: "If
you rob a bank in Iowa. you get
caught" And if the Harding broth
ers had known this, they might be free
and at work today instead of in Jail
waiting an absolute certain trip to the
Iowa penitentiary for life.
The bank robber who comes before
an Iowa court has a hard time. Life
Imprisonment is the penalty for the
man who holds up bank in the day
time in Iowa and the courts inf1ict
that maximum penalty without hesita-
ton.
That penalty, together with the
Iowa vigilantes and the pistols and
rifles Of the latter organization. have
made bank robbing mighty unpopular
in Iowa.
The ModaIe Bank Robbery.
Dave Harding, forty-four, fisher
man along the Missouri river. and his
brother, Broy Harding, twenty-three,
a blacksmith entered the Modale bank
about ten o'clock one morning, shot
the cashier, grabbed S4,50O ran out
the door and were met by bullets from
eight or ten men who got wind of the
holdup. The brothers escaped to their
automobile, shot another man. and got
away.
Half an hour later they crossed the
Missouri river on the ice. were given
'lift" by a passing automobile and
reached Omaha. But when they went
to enter the boarding house in Omaha
where they had prepared to "lay up"
for awhile, they found four Omaha
detectives, each with riot gun and
lot Of other weapons, waiting for them.
That was some four or five hours after
the holdup.
Everybody watches out when there
has been a bank robbery in Iowa The
system of pursuit is all cut and dried
Practically every county has Wig
,ilance committee. The members of the
committee, and their telephone num-
bers, are right before every telephone
operator in the small towns. And the
operator who first gives notice of a
bank robbery is paid $25 extra.
When holdup has been perpetrat-
ed, these telephone operators not only
call out the members of the local COM
mittees, but notify heads in adjoining
counties. giving a description of the
robbers wherever possible, the kind Of
automobile in which they are escap-
Ing and all other available informa.
ton.
They give a general" ring. calling
all the farmers in the county and ask
these farmers to keep a lookout and
report any suspicious automobile par
ties They notify sheriffs and mar
shals and within a few minutes the
entire country is out after the rob-
bers
$1,000 Reward Offered.
Automatically reward Of $1,000 for
the robbers, dead or alive" goes into
effect the moment an Iowa bank rob-
berry takes place. This is all ar
ranged and is standing reward in
the state.
The speed with which the Harding
brothers were captured is but an ex-
ample Of the way that the Iowa vigil
lance committee works, although in
this case the capture was made by the
Omaha police. Information as to
where they would be found was tele-
phoned from Iowa, however.
About a year ago Pat Carol, Kan
sas bank robber, and his gang held up
bank at Little Sioux, Iowa. With
every point covered, the bandits were
making a run for Kansas but they
never got out of Iowa. The vigilantes
got them Pat Carroll Is now serving
life sentence in prison.
The vigilantes were organized by
the Iowa bankers and every member
is man Of good character and Of re-
sponsibility. They are sworn in as
officers but do not take the field ex-
cept when major crimes have been
committed. They draw no salaries
but are eligible to the 81 900 rewards
for bank robbers and for other re-
wards offered for criminals.