White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1932-11-03
effort made to run them down befor,
they wreck us ALL"

GLAD TO give you the IactS, Out tney
are meager, thus far" was the ready
reply. "At about three o'clock, Big.
gers, one of our two town night watch
men, saw an auto come in from the
east, and he supposed it was merely
belated tourists car passing
through, as quite possibly it was. A
little later he saw the car standing in
the street opposite the bank, and a
man had the hood open and appeared
to be doing something to the motor.
The next time he walked his beat,
which was about an hour later, the
auto was gone and the bank was a
wreck"
"And he had heard nothing in the
meantime?" Markham queried.
mot a sound; and neither did any
one else, so far as we can learn. An
explosion that ought to have aroused
everybody within the town limits
didn't arouse anybody"
1T was the Waterman who discov-
cred the robbery"
"Yes. Passing the bank on his later
rounds he found broken glass all over
the sidewalk; the front windows had
been blown out. He gave the alarm
and came and called me. I could
hardly believe my eyes when saw
what had been done. The interior Of
the building is complete wreck,
showing that an enormous charge Of
explosive must have been used. Even
the concrete walls are shattered"
"This auto that the Waterman saw"
Markham went on; has there been
any effort made to trace it?"
1--WE have done what we could
Nothing definite has come Of it. The
roads are full of cars coming and go
ing at all hours Of the day and night
We couldn't very we'll authorize indis
criminate arrests on a mere suspicion.
All we could do was to try to trace a
car which had, presumably, passed
through Perthdale at certain hour
of the night. Such car has been
found and traced, but the occupants,
three business men Of Louisville, on
their way to look at western mine,
were able to give perfectly clean
bill of health"
"You say this car fitted the watch
mans descriptions" Lands put in.
"Where was it seen last?"
''At Terre Haute-passing through
at about seven this morning. The
three men had breakfast there and
that is where they were questioned.
AS 1 say, they produced clean bill
of health and had the documents to
show for it."
"You got this by wire?"
"Over long distance, from the sher-
iff. He said the men laughed and In
vited him to search them and their
car. Said they hadn't robbed bank,
yet, but they might need to before
they got through with their mining
venture"
AS they left the bankers house,
Markham said, "Well, what do you
think, Owen? Are we on the trail OF
your black box?"
'sThere isn't the slightest doubt, in
my mind. Wally, I've simply invented
new horror, and these scoundrels,
whoever they are, are using it. God
only knows what they'll do next!"
"What about this Terre Haute clew
which seems to be no clew at all?"
1--WE been thinking about that.
While Mr.. Stockdale was talking it
struck me all at once that those three
men might have been running a bold
bluff. 1t would be the cleverest way
of throwing everybody off the track"
"Thats So" Markham acquiesced;
and then, abruptly, Are you good for
an all-night drive, Owen?"
"Anything to get action"
"All right; We'll go. It's long
chance but it seems to be about the
only one. We can take turns driving
and manage a bit of sleep that way.
1t will probably prove wild-goose
chase, but we'll MAGE it,"
Accordingly, half an hour later, the
blue car took the road again, follow
| ing the trail to the westward Driv-
| NY anu SltCpluS ny IuI uo LISS ACoSASu
| Terre Haute early in the morning and
| Markham ordered all the morning pa
pers. When they came, they both
went through them painstakingly, and
| found nothing. If the Perthdale ex-
plot had been repeated elsewhere, the
news had not reached the press wires.
Rather leaves us up in the air,
doesn't it?" Markham remarked. "As-
Stunning that the three men we have
traced this far are the Perthdale bank
wreckers-and that's stretching the
probabilities a good bit-we don't know
which way they went from here. !
suppose there Is nothing for 1t but to
wait until the lightning strikes again
somewhere"
"With the weapon they've got, the
bandits who are using it won't stop
with the footing of single country
town bank"
you still think they have your
black box?"
"There can't be q doubt, in the