Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-01-30
JEWEL BANDITS HAD
PROHIBITION BADGE
Emblem Was Found on Phil
lips, Believed Leader in
Laurel HoId-Up.
. staf Correspondent of The Star.

BY STAFF Correspondent of The Star.
UPPER MARLBORO, Md, January
30.-Police authorities were today
checking with the Office of Col. Amo;
w. w. Woodcock, national director Of
prohibition enforcement, to find Out
how Internal Revenue badge No. 654
which was found in the possession Of
Thomas A. Phillips, 80, one of the two
bandits under arrest in connection with
the Laurel jewelry store holdup Wed
nesday, came into the bandits posses
sion.
Parents Coming From Kansas.
Parents of Louis c. Taylor, 3d. son
of wealthy GrantSville, Kans., nursery
man, and bridegroom of three weeks
who committed suicide in a swamp neal
Laugel when cornered by Maryland
State police, notified authorities today
that they were leaving Kansas by mo-
tor to claim the body of the dead bandit
An inquest will be held tomorrow al
3 O'Clock before Judge Harry M. Scott
at Laurel into the death of Louis Tay-
lor, who died from a bullet wound over
the heart and one in the right temple
The dead bandits bride of three weeks
and Mrs. Alpie Olsen, reported woman
friend of Phillips, who have been held
at Ellicott City on technical charge
Wednesday, will be released from Gus
tody today, according to Deputy Sheriff
Thomas H. Garrison of this county.
Meanwhile the two bandits who were
quickly rounded up by the Maryland
police authorities are behind the bars
here. The men are in separate cells
one on each side of the building
Phillips, who police are trying to con-
meet with series of robberieS in this
section and with other major crimes
through the country. pleads for chance
to get his hands on Paul M. Taylor.
baker and college graduate, the other
member of the bandit trio.
According to Phillips, the hold-ur
failed through the "chicken-hearted-
ness" of Paul Taylor, who became scared
and drove off in the bakery truck in
which the bandits were to make their
getaway, leaving his two confederates
without means of transportation. Phil
lips stated from his cell yesterday that
he would get Paul Taylor If it took him
10 years"
Detective SergtS. Dowd and Flaherty
of the Washington police, who visited
the local jail yesterday, characterized
the capture of Phillips as the most i'm
portant criminal catch in this vicinity
in recent years.
Phillips claims to have been a mem
Der of the notorious Whittemore band
of highwaymen which terroriZed Bal
timore several years ago and openly
praises the Candy Kid" leader of the
Whittemore gang, who died on the gal
lows for the murder of a prison guard
following his arrest. as real leader.
Questioned by Washington Police.
Washington police questioned Phillips
yesterday and said he answered the de-
Scription of the man who held up the
Avalon Theater, in Chevy Chase, D. c..
last August. Phillips admitted, they
said, that he was in Washington on the
date of the hold-up. His flngerprints
were taken for comparison with those
of the Avalon robber.
Baltimore detectives plan to question
Phillips today concerning the recent
hold-up of the Commercial National
Bank in that city, where six men OBJ
tanned about $4,000. 1t is understood
they will also try to connect him with
a series of other robberies in that city
in recent months.
Phillips is also said to be wanted in
Los Angeles for forgery and the larceny
of an automobile. Local county author
tiles also believe that he may also be
wanted for murder which was COM
mitted during a hold-up about six
months ago.
Paul M. Taylor, %, the other man
held here, claims to have made his first
venture into crime when he took part
in the hold-up. Paul Taylor, who is a
graduate Of Blair Military Academy
N. j., and Ohio Wesleyan University
and is the son of distinguished lee
turer, blames drink as leading him to
the crime and forms a pathetic figure
beside Phillips
Louis Taylor, the dead bandit, is also
believed to have been more or less of an
amateur at the hold-up game.
Paul Taylor was captured in a Balti-
more restaurant Wednesday night after
Deputy Sheriff Tom Garrison of this
county traced a telephone call he made
to his wife, who operates a bakery in
Chevy Chase, D. c., asking for clothes
and money. A taxicab in which Paul
Taylor's wife left for Baltimore from
her Kensington, Md, home was trailed
by Maryland police and Taylor was
arrested by Corpl. Kreiss of Maryland
police as he waited for his wife.