Evening star., 1933-09-10
BY FRANK HARREL.

BY FRANK HARREL.
~ ANDITRY again fourishes in the
II Southwest.
~ A few weeks ago seven ban
IL dts descended upon the little
town of Weir, in the south
eastern corner of Kansas. Weir has
known bandits before; years ago 1t saw
the Dalton boys come and go, and the
notorious Jesse James and his brothers
were no strangers to this hamlet ana
its neighbor, Coffeyville. But Weir
had never before seen bandits such as
these. They arrived in truck and a
big black sedan. The truck carried a
winch and the sedan was loaded to the
top with machine guns. Ready to man
the machine guns and the winch were
the desperadoes, several Of whom wore
white flannels.
> The bandits looked first to the night
marshal, quickly subdued that minion
of the law and then set about lifting
two-ton safe from the Citizens Bank.
Of course. townspeople were aroused;
but as they sleepily wandered over 10
see what was taking place they came
under the influence of the machine
guns and were promptly herded of to
IL.
loaded into the truck, % citizens OF the
town. including the telephone operator!
had been locked up in the town bastlle
One family did break away and drive
five miles to a telephone to summon
help from a neiehboring town: but by
the time the officers arrived the truck
with the safe aboard had been driven
out of town.
National Guardsmen joined in the
chase, and few hours later the truck.
with the safe still intact, was recoV-
cred; but the bandits had disappeared
into the underground OF the Verdigris
River bottoms, safe even from the mill
tary cavalry.
Banditry "in the Saddle
In the Southwest bandits are again
in the saddle! Over trails that were
familiar to the notorious outlaws OF
the frontier a new crop OF desperadoes
now glides in fast automobiles, spraying
the countryside with bullets. capturing
sheriffs for the fun Of it, robbing
banks, kidnapping oil millionaires, shoot
ing down bank officials and defenseless
citizens A new set of legends is growing
up, this time built around such figures
as pretty Boy Floyd. Wilbur Under
hill. Harvey Bailey. Soon there will be
folk songs and yarns of Robin Hood
generosity and fearlessness about these
dregs of the underworld who owe their
success to two things: They have
enough money to buy machine guns
and they operate in a countryside
which has practically no police pro-
lection.
Bank robberies in the six States of
Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri,
Oklahoma and Texas have increased
more than 100 per cent in eight years.
From September /, 1882. to March l.,
1898. the American Bankers Associa-
ton has reported, there were Ill bank
hold-ups in these six States, as COM
pared with a total of So in similar
period in 1925. For Arkansas alone,
Robert E. Wait, secretary Of the Ar
kansas Bankers Association, gives this
picture:
There have been 46 bank burglaries
or robberies in Arkansas from May 5,
1882, to June IT, 1888. The amount OF
money and securities reported as stolen
in these roboeries is approximately
S156,000 have no record OF recoverles.
Five years ago. or during the year 1928,
the records of our detective agents
show that there were in Arkansas eight
attacks against banks, only three, OF
which we're hold-ups. The total loss
covered"
A gang of convicts shoot their way
cut of the Kansas State Penitentiary
and for weeks terroriZe small commun1-
ties in four States. robbing banks, kid
naping citizens, locking up entire towns
in refrigerator cars while they blow
bank safes. State and Federal authorl-
ties plan a gas raid to clean out the
famous Miami Hills district of North
eastern Oklahoma, which once sheltered
horse thieves, cattle ruStlerS, train rob-
bers and Civil War guerrillas and EoW
provides cover for the modern counter
part of these criminals, the man with
the machine gun. A quiet village street
that hasn't seen a gun battle since the
old days of frontier "grudge killings"
suddenly becomes the scene of brutal
massacre as bandits ride down on an
unprotected bank with $4,000 in its
vaults.
Ordinarily Quiet Section.
These are unusual happenings, for
this is ordinarily a quiet countryside
where doors are never locked against
the possibility of night burglars, where
the village bank cashier is accustomed
to leave his banks funds in charge OF
the woman clerk when he goes home
for luncheon. Southwest citizens, per-
hap{ remembering the glorious tradition
of Wyatt carp and Wild Bill Hickok,
who met frontier outlaws on their own
terms and exterminated them with six
shooters. until now have looked on their
high sheriffs" as capable of coping
with any criminal who might come
along. Now it sees them quail at the
sight of a menacing machine gun.
For these bandits are ruthless lot,
and the sheriffs, who are certainly not
trained in police work, are no match
for these cravens who have learned that
unprotected banks in rural districts are
good pickings."
The condition is almost purely local.
The American Bankers Association In
its annual report for 1882 gives us some
of the reasons why bank robberies are
localized in this section. Banks in
California and in the Missouri and
Mississippi River Valley States, it says,
suffered from IS to 80 per cent of all
bank robberies reported for the entire
country. The association report states:
when bank crimes of violence be-
come SO popular and productive to the
criminal element in one-third of the
States as to account for three-fourths
80 %bo roI,Iorioe ,o,,,,,,;ffoI IN, oil Sfofoe