Imperial Valley press., 1939-10-20

dan. Part of the way from
Yuma to Ell Centro she had a police
escort trying to catch her. 1t was
like trying to nab mouse in a
bathtub. The wild dash ended at
Sixth and Broadway in Ell Centre
when, with police sirens screaming
behind, her car ricocheted off the
side of one machine and melted into
the rear of parked Sones Lumber
company truck.
Momentarily dazed but unhurt by
the terrific crash, she came to in
a highway patrol car en- route to
the sheriff's office, and hissed:
eff I hadn't hit that truck you
wouldn't have caught mel"
At the sheriff's office she finally
obliged questioners by giving her
name as Lois Oliver, % years old,
of Miami, Fla. But that is as far
as she went in giving information.
Most of her replies were wisecracks,
when asked why she stole the car
of two Globe, Ariz., men and drove
deep into Imperial Valley at break
neck speed.
If the comeIy blondes behavior
upset the pm. equilibrium of Ell
Centre, it aroused Holtville as much
as the Alamo. Her performance OF
driving skill in Ell -Centro-crossing
the railroad tracks with the sedan
aoing a mere go miles an hour
and turning north on Fourth street
at so and up Broadway at a clip
that drove cars to curbings-was
spectacular, but alongside of the
exhibition she gave in Holtville it
was small potatoes.
Warned that a stolen car was
racing across the desert from Yuma,
Holtville Police Chief w. H. Cornell
ison and Officer Alfred Lyons were
posted in a police car east of Holt
vile when the car with little Lois
at the wheel whistled past. They
gave chase at 80 miles an hour
and were barely able to hold their
own. Through town they were close
enough to the speeding sedan for
Chief Cornelison to fire a couple
OF shots. They just missed the gas
tank. The chief said:
II was close enough that could
have shot her, but Slim (Officer
Lyons yelled:
Hey, that's a woman driving
the carr
so I shot at the tires and the
tank"
Trying to make a turn out of
Holtviile, the girls car clipped the
police machine and for a few Sec
onds the cars did a Skidding act
that would make a midget race
driver nervous. The girl won and
came out of the spin headed back
up Fifth street while the officers
car was temporarily out of COM
mission.
Then the girl disappeared for
about a quarter of an hour. Officers
were not sure whether she parked
in town and waited for the hue
and cry to die down or drove
around back roads in the interval.
However, she showed up again
heading the sedan down Fifth street
toward Ell Centre lickety split. Of
ficer Lyons and Officer j. M.
Priest hoped into another car and
took off anew. Meanwhile, Deputy
Sheriff Herbert Hughes spotted the
stolen car and phoned the sheriffs
office from Holtville.
Making the turn at 65 miles an
hour the girls car and the police
machine barreled toward Ell Gen.
tro. The blondes sedan snaked
back and forth across the highway.
forcing half dozen other cars to
take safety in bitches.
Two hours after the experience.
Viggo Hanson was still white. He
was driving one of the machines
forced off the road.
AT the Central Valley intersec-
ton, Highway Patrolman A. II.
Bump joined the chase In q fast
patrol car, and little Lois really
stepped on 1t. They got up TO s5.
"Everytime I tried to get along
side she would whip out to the left
and try to run me into the ditch.
Bump recalled.
"She was some driyerl"
When Lois reached the railway
tracks she hardly slowed up and
her sedan almost took off into
the air. With skill that would have
shamed Barney Oldheld she took
the turn into Fourth street. II waa
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