The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-09-17
Portland Police Plan a Communist
Bank Robbery

made to join the Communist Party failed, as
the Party would not have him. No evidence was
in the Partys possession to show just what he
was, but as he was not reliable he was not taken
into the Party nor given any work of Importance
in any organization. About a month before the
bank job Bruggnlan moved to a hotel where sew
eral members of the Communist Party were liv-
ing. AS he was watched, he was unable to get
any information or do any damage.
OF course, when stool-pigeons can't get any
evidence" the next best thing is to make it,
Bruggman then got hold of an individual Joe
Edgar Edgar at one time was a member of the
Communist Party but was expelled about : --'c0r
ago in Seattle when he misappropriated funds
and was generally unreliable. Edgar introduced
Bruggman to the two who robbed the bank,
Farley and Sigmund. Both Farley and Sig
mund are workers who came to the
the conclusion that they couldn't live any way
in capitalist society except by going out as in
dividuals and taking what they needed. Neither
of them were members of the working class
movement, though in way they were sympa
thetic The four then planned the robbery.
Bruggman reported to his chiefs, Bacon and
ODale that there was going to be a job and
that Farley and Sigmund were Communists"
Bacon and ODale were so enthusiastic about
everything that they didn't even take the trouble
to see if Bruggman were telling the truth or
not and told Bruggman to "go ahead"
What an opportunity to concoct real Com
munist plot" not only for their own objects, but
what nice thing 1t would be to help out the
Fish Committee that is still trying to digest
some of the stories they gathered up all over
the country, including Bacons story about bank
robberies when Bacon testified before the "hon-
orable" body in Portland.
Things didn't go so smoothly however. The
robbers decided TO go outside of Portland rather
than pull the job in the city They further got
wary of riding with Bruggnlan for some reason
and took another car after the job was pulled.
Then to cap the climax, the state police horned
in and without knowing what it was all about
arrested the stool-pigeon of the Portland police.
Bruggman gave a real tale of woe to the state
police. He said he was repairing his car by the
side of the road when the bandits came up,
poked a gun in his ribs fired bullet in the
windshield of the car and commanded him to
drive away. The papers said this story was dis
credited by the fact that there was no bullet
hole in the windshield"
When Bruggman was arrested it seems that
the state police and city police were unable to
get together, so the state police got COMES
sion" from Bruggrnan who informed on the two
he worked with and also his own part in the
then got cold feet, went to the police and showed
them where to get Farley and Sigmund. Both
Edgar and Bruggman promised to testify that
the Communist Party was directing the robbery
though they both knew that this was a lie.
Bacon and O'Dale made statement after state
ment trying to implcate the Communist Party.
Then Bruggman, Farley and Sigmund we're
tried" All pleaded guilty and were given ten
years in the pen.
the goat so he began splitting the beans. He
stated that not only Bacon and O'Dale but Chief
of Police jenkins also was aware of the plans
before the robbery took place. He still thought
he might save his own hide though and stuck
to his story that it was Communists who did the
job. Edgar, who was not even arrested for the
robbery after he had informed on Farley and
Sigmund was then offered the job previously
held by Bruggman. He was given $50 by ODale
and Bacon went with him to try to buy gun
for self protection says Edgar. O'Dale and
Bacon offered Edgar SITS month to get "eH-
deence"' against the Party, (stool-pigeons come
cheap In the wild Wes). g.
The Party knew of both Bruggman's and Ed
gar's character and exposed them to the workers
OF Portland. When the police found that Edgar
was known to the workers as stool-pigeon
they changed their mind known stool is Of nc
value, so they then arrested Edgar for the crime
"of carrying concealed weapons" that they them
selves had paid for
Now Edgar desires to redeem" himself before