The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1934-05-15
ARIZONA Child IS
TAKEN FROM TOMB
UNDER CACTUS BUSH
Tale Of 19-Day imprisonment
Is One of UnexampIed
Torture, Brutality
LEGS WE'RE HELD BY CHAINS
Dungeon Would Have Been
Grave Had Not Strange
Letter Brought Help

Tucson, Ariz.. May 15.-(R)-1ittle
June Robes Is home again, rescued
from the desert tomb where kidnap-
ers had kept her prisoner for 10 ter
rifying days.
Physicians watched over her Tues
day anxiously to ascertain how seri-
ously she may have been affected by
an ordeal which might easily have
killed her: blazing days Of a sun that
burned her olive skin, and chilly.
lonely nights in iron chains that
gripped her slender ankles.
An unsigned letter, postmarked
Chicago, gave the directions that led
to her rescue late Monday afternoon
by her uncle, Carlos Robes and Clar-
ence Houston, Pima county attorney.
No ransom was paid. Fifteen thou
sand dollars had been demanded when
the child was kidnapped April Is.
The letter that saved the girls life
she could not have survived much
longer in her desert dungeon-was
received Monday at the office OF
Governor Moeur in Phoenix. It gave
explicit instructions for finding the
girl buried under cactus" near
Tucson. The use of the word buried"
sent chill down the backs Of the
hunters, for they feared it meant she
was dead.
The letter was sped to Houston and
his deputy who called Robes.
Driving out to a point indicated on
Rincon Way, desert road, they be-
gan beating about the bushes and
thorny cacti
Rescued from Grave
Houston was separated from Rohles
when he stumbled onto the prison.
The child was literally rescued from
the grave. Her prison was boxlike
hole dug in the desert nine and
half miles from her home. It had
virtually the same dimensions . Z
grave, except for depth, being six
feet long, three feet deep and two and
a half feet wide
Over the grave-it might indeed
have been a grave had the rescue
been much longer delayed-was
roof of cacti, tin and burlap, crudely
put together. There were several
holes in the roof, and the sun burn
ed down to make the pit, despite the
covering Of cacti, sweltering Inferno
by day. chill, horrifying tomb by
night.
Only the fact that she was always
a robust child permitted her to go
through 10 days and nights Of such
imprisonment" her uncle, Carlos
Robes, said.
When they found her she was i'll
and too weak to walk. She appeared
calm. but the horrors OF her expert
ences have written themselves upon
her. Only after days Of quiet and
medical care will it be determined
how seriously those experiences may
have affected her.
Barbarity without Parallel
The barbarity Of the girls kidnap-
ers was without present day parallel.
The prison itself could have been con-
ceived by no one but q person insen-
sible to human suffering. The pit,
with its covering. would not allow
her to stand erect, and she could
hardly sit. There was room only to
turn over, but this was difficult, II
not impossible, because OF the chains
that held her ankles The chain was
fastened to an iron stake.
Seldom do records Of crime show
more callous treatment Of q kidnar
victim than that accorded June Rob-
les. The kidnapers supplied enough
food to keep the child alive, but the
food was poor and not clean.
CONTINUED on Page Two)