Evening star., 1931-04-10

At each bank, 1t was added, she pro-
duced two dime banks and exchanged
their contents for paper money.
Man Entered Bank.
At about the same time, Hopkins was
told, man answering the description
OF one Of the robbers went to the Upper
Marlboro branch Of the Eastern Shore
Trust CO. and obtained change for q SIS
bill. At his request, he was given SO in
dimes and the remainder in paper
money.
The man is believed to have obtained
the dimes to put In the banks which
later were taken to the financial inSti-
tuttons by the girl. The dime banks,
1t Is believed, were employed by the
young woman as an excuse to visit the
three financial institutions and decide
which one should be held up.
Hopkins saw the girl as she left the
Southern Maryland Trust Co., but paid
scant attention to her, other than to
observe she was stranger.
After leaving the institution, how
ever, she was seen entering the gun
mems car. She sat behind the steering
wheel and her companions stepped
from the machine. She disappeared a
few minutes later, following the return
of the bandits.
May Have Aided Escape.
The speed with which the robbers
made their getaway after abandoning
their automobile in q ditch on a mar
row country road near Browns Station,
Md, gave rise to the theory the young
woman may have driven away from
Upper Marlboro In another car and
picked them up when they abandoned
their own machine.
Hopkins refused to permit newspaper
a. Al Yarya yaag
person, but he sketched its contents
and said it had been mailed in a small
town on Lcng Island.
The epistle, addressed to Joe" ex-
pressed appreciation for money sent the
writer, explaining 1t was used to pay
the interest on the mortgage" and to
purchase Easter finery.
Asked for More Money.
The note added, however, that the
writer needed more money with which
to pay the taxes on q lot 1t also re-
ferred to a shady business transaction
OF which people are saying Joe done It, !"
The handwriting, according to Hop
kins, was that of a woman. presumably
the girl seen in Upper Marlboro before
the attempted robbery.
Hopkins gave Washington police
description of the young woman, and
they said it Tailed with a girl whose
photograph was found in Hayes apart
ment here yesterday. No name was on
the picture.
Car Found In Ditch.
The bandits, both of whom are armed,
one with submachine gun. have not
been sighted by their pursuers since
they sped out Of the county seat, headed
toward Washington.
Whether they reached the Capital Is
not definitely known, as their automo-
bile was found abandoned in a ditch on
a narrow country road near Browns
Station, several miles away.
Tracks in the muddy road indicated
the robbers had made no attempt to get
their car out of the ditch, into which
it apparently had been forced by an
other machine.
Members Of the posse at first conclud-
ed the bandits had kidnapped the driver
of the other automobile and continued
their flight. This theory was tempo
rarily abandoned q few minutes later,
however. when a woman told Sheriff W.
Curtis Hopkins she had seen the robbers
running toward a nearby woods.
Trail Lost In Stream.
A trail believed to have been made
by the fugitives was picked up in the
woods and followed to a stream about
mile away. where it disappeared in
the water. It was picked up again on
the other side Of the bridge spanning
the creek. but disappeared entirely on
another bridge on the Grain Highway
Disappearance of the tracks caused
some members of the possess to return
to the conclusion the bandits had fed
in hn 0VTtn
! their own car into a ditch. Sheriff
Hopkins, however, held to the theory
the robbers had taken to the woods on
foot and ordered his followers TO con-
tinue searching the woods and patrolling
the roads.
Only one customer was in the bank,
located on Upper Msrlboro's main street,
only about a block from the Prince
Georges County Court House, when the
gunner entered.
RObber Opens Fire.
One Of the bandits strobe behind the
tellers' counter, another marched to q
corner of the small Office and the third
with the sub-machine gun in his hands
remained standing in the doorway.
Looking up from his work in response
to crisp command TO stick 'em up!"
Claude II. Owen, assistant cashier
found himself gazing into the muzzle
of a revolver.
His reply was to grasp the weapon
and try to wrench 1t from the gun
mans grasp. The attempt failed. how
ever, as the robber. apparently realizing
he was in tough spot" opened FIRE
Unframed Owen whirled. grabbed
one Of several pistols kept beneath the
| counter for such an emergency and
fired five times in rapid succession.
h NzyfII 81
exchange shot for shot by pulling the
| trigger OF his revolver four times.
Bandits Gun Jams.
The pistol jammed, however, after the
! second shot, which missed Owen by a
narrow margin. Dents were found in
the two undischarged cartridges by
Sheriff Hopkins, who examined the dead
robbers gun.
A customer. James w. Latimer, who
was about to leave when the gunner
entered, narrowly escaped being shot
| when Owen mistook him for one Of
the bandits.
Latimer was on his way out when
the robber with the sub-machine gun
took up his stand in the doorway Sud-
denly finding himself confronted by the
gunman and not realizing a hold-up
was in progress, Latimer brushed the
sub-machine gun aside. The bandit
pointed 1t at him again, however, and
he stepped behind the door.
Glancing quickly around the ONCE
after the bandit had fallen mortally
wounded, owen caught a glimpse of
Latimer standing behind the door. He
had leveled his revolver and was about
to pull the trigger when Miss Louise
Armstrong. 22-year-old clerk shouted:
Don't shoot-heS a customer"
Uses Dead Mans Pistol.
Meanwhile the fallen robbers COM
panions had ned, leaping into their au-
tomobile, parked just around the cor
ner and speeding away