Evening star., 1937-01-01
FNE-TON BLAST
KILLS GANGSTER,
RIPS PIT IN EARTH
Woman Shot Escaping From
Powder House BIames
Three Ex.Convicts.
FORCE OF EXPLOSION
SHAKES VAST AREA
Plat. Glass Windows in Score of
Stores Are Broken-Man.
hunt Starts.
~ the Associated Press.

). the Associated Press.
SIOUX FALLS, s. OAK, January
IA wierd tale of gangland execution
by 81 tons Of high explosives sent
police on an extensive manhunt today
for three former convicts, who they
said blew one member Of their gang To
death and attempted to kill his woman
companion to prevent them from
"squawking" about robbery.
Helen Seller, rs, Sioux City, suffer-
ing from eight bullet wounds, told
States Attorney Louis N. Grill of the
strange staying and identified the VIC
tim Of the blast as Harold Baker, a
member of q band which last week
staged a $4,000 robbery Of jewelry
store in Sioux City, Iowa.
Baker, she told Grill, was beaten and
shot, then left in an explosive store
house S miles east Of here last night
while three members of the gang fired
q fuse and fied after shooting her
down when she tried to escape across
the snow-covered fields.
More than q ton and half Of dyna-
mite and nearly four tons Of blasting
powder ripped loose in the terrific ex-
plosion that followed. Plate glass
windows in more than score of busi-
ness houses here were broken by the
resulting conclusion which was felt for
so miles around, and threatened panic
momentarily to thousands of New Year
revelers.
Crawled Into Roadside Ditch.
Her legs and feet frozen, Miss Seller
told Grill she had been marked to die
with Baker m the blast, but that she
recovered consciousness before the ex-
plosion occurred and ran. She man
aged to crawl into a roadside ditch just
before the blast. Passing motorists
brought her to a hospital here.
Although her condition was described
as critical. physicians said she had q
chance to recover.
Based on the woman's story, police
laid . dragnet for Tom Tobin, slim
Reeves and Dwane Nesbit, who, they
believe. fled toward Sioux City, Iowa
D. v. Baker. police identification
ofdcer, said Tobin was recently re-
leased from the South Dakota Peniten-
tiary and that he believed the two
others also were ex-convicts.
Miss Seller said she and Baker were
enticed into the country by their three
companions to get some soup" for d
safecracking job. She said Baker was
beaten and shot and that she was
struck over the head with q hammer
and shot.
Il was not entirely unconscious. "
Grill said she related. Il knew when
they shot me and when they shot
Baker. I saw them light a fuse and
then I crawled out of the building.
don't know how far I had gone when
it was exploded"
Crater IS Feet Long.
Police today planned to scour the
area around the 35-foot crater caused
by the blast in an effort to locate
parts of Bakers body. The powder
storehouse belonged to a Sioux Falls
hardware company.
Windows in virtually every farm
residence near the powder house were
broken but the principal damage was
caused in Sioux Falls, where dozens
OF panes Of glass in downtown stores
were shattered. A glass company,
called to make repairs, estimated the
damage at $4,000.
The terrific blast knocked pictures
from walls, ratified dishes, started
chandeliers swinging and in other
ways resembled an earthquake. Down.
town celebrating crowds, as we'll as
residents in outlying districts, rushed
to the streets.
Deputy Sheriff E. H. Weidenbach.
after visiting the scene of the explo-
sion, said the blast excavated a crater
IS feet long, Is feet deep and Is feet
wide. Signs a mile away were blown
down by the blast, he said. An inven-
tory Of the explosive depot, he said,
shows 1t had contained three hundred
25-pound cans of powder and $500
pounds Of dynamite.
In Dell Rapids, 20 miles away, some
windows we're broken by the force of
the explosion. The blast also was
felt In Pipestone, 81 miles away, and
in Doom. Iowa, 40 miles distant.