Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-11-05
Thieves Raid Store,
Couple Terrorized
Arlington Home
Invaded, Man and
Wife Are Bound

before the televiSion set wound
up as a night more terrible than
any ke-believe whodunit for
George c. Duval and his wife,
Mildred.
For an hour and a half they
were the bound captives Of three
armed men who forced Mr..
Duval to turn over keys to a
Peoples Drug Store he helps
manage and the combination to
the safe they rifled Of $500.
| Still shaken by the ordeal, the
slight. tnild-mannered 55-year-
old druggist today described
what befell the couple last night
lin their home at 2799 North
Washington boulevard, Arling-
ton.
Il had closed the store at 1891
Wisconsin avenue NV. at 8 pm,
and had Just begun relaxing
with the Ed Sullivan show when
I heard knocking" he said.
HuddIed in Doorway
Three men were huddled In
the doorway. They had nickel
plated revolvers, and were
dressed in tan trench coats,
gloves and grotesque rubber Hal
loween masks which covered
their faces.
Before could speak, one Of
the men pushed. and I pushed
back. Thinking it some kind Of
belated Halloween prank. I said,
Look, this is not funny"
One of the men pushed Mr..
Duval into the living room and
the others followed.
They switched off the tele-
vision set and made me lie face
down in the living room. One
of them went to the kitchen for
my wife, who was fixing dinner.
and made her lie down. beside
me-"
]. Demand Combination
J While one man watched, the
, other went. over the house, top
to bottom.
Returning to the living room,
they gave Mr.. Duval q pencil
and piece Of paper and ordered
; him to write the combination Of
the store safe.
: Reading the number aloud,
one Of the men said, This had
better be right. mister, because
: l am leaving one Of the men
with YOU, and II II Is wrong, you
and your wife viii never get Oh
elthat floor."
: Mr.. Duyai took back the pencil
land paper. and re-Wrote the
combination.
Take Store Keys
Two of the men, both 6-foot,
l75-pounders, took Mr.. Duyal'n
store keys and those to his house
and the couples two cars.
Then they ushered Mr.. and
Mrs. Duval into the bedroom.
had them lie face down on the
bed, and tapped their ankles with
!. adhesive tape they had brought
along. To complete the bind
; ing of ankles and wrists, they
took two dozen of Mr.. Duval's
ties from the closet.
j The two taller men departed,
/ leaving the DuvalS with a man
S about 5 feet 8 inches and los
pounds who had a Spanish ac-
, cent.
/, Searches for Narcotics
The little man, who like the
:. Others had earlier appeared
! cocksure. paced the floor nerv-
louSly. He asked whether Mr..
-iDuval had any narcotics in the
] house. Told there was none, he
: nevertheless searched the bath
I room medicine cabinet.
IAN during this terrible hour
and a half. we were paralyzed
with fear" Mr.. Duval said. I'VE
: kept wondering whether we
: would get out Of it alive. Mrs.
Duval was so frightened she
hardly talked.
The little man kept telling ia
; what would happen II we didn't
5 cooperate"
At 1915 p. m. the telephone
rang and the little man an
swered 1t, yep"
He returned and said to Mr.,
Duval:
you stay here. I'm going "a
move your car so you can't gel
away, then I'm going TO gel
your wife's car out Of the ga.
rage"
Tears Down Telephone
Then he ripped the telephone
of the wall.
The Duvals heard the car
driving away. and waited agoniz-
ingly for the sound OF e mans
return. But after 10 minutes,
all still was quiet, and Mr.. Du-
van began straining at the
bonds. He freed himself. then hi,
wife, and went across the street
TO call police.
Then the police came. and
questions began flying
They kept questioning US I'M
til 3 O'Clock. and when they left
i could hardly get 10 sleep. II
was awful
"One Arlington policeman told
us he passed the house twice
while we we're tied UP. And all
the time the neighbors were
watching television across the
street." Mr.. Duval sighed.
Police theorized the bandits
we're the same trio who invaded
. the home Of Sam Klein, 2eOl
Dawson avenue. Wheaton, and
took s1,702 october 20. Two oi
the men had Halloween MASKS
and the third wore a handler
chief.
They forced Mr.. Klein, press
dent Of District Grocery Stores