| Show 2 THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE SUNDAY MORNING APRIL 1938 3 cashier in the county bank in California was THE aboutEl Monte to leave for lunch when just vi dona-looki- ng Frank Smith shoved a gun through the cage! "Up with 'em!" the bandit coldly commanded through clenched teeth Across the lobby Smith’s yegg-pa- l E C Yates ordered a stenographer to she had just drop the receiver of answered Both bank employees naturally did as they were told Yates kept everyone covered with a deadly looking black pistol as his partner went into the cage and scooped up some bags filled with paper money The toughlooking Smith seemed to know exactly where the money would be kept and scarcely more than two or two and a half minutes had elapsed before both hold-u- p happening all that was being said Newa-papHeavens— but she was happy work could be thrilling after all I When the whole convention of police placed the surviving bandit in jail he told an amazing story about his crime career For four long years he said he and "the two dead criminals had been 1 sticking up banks with monotonous regularity and in all that time had only come close to capture once That time the bandit car had proven faster than the police auto and the trio had escaped Undoubtedly no small part of the robbers’ success was due to the paraphernalia they carried with them Police found in the getaway car a sack of broken bottle glass an arsenal comprising a dozen pistols and Shotguns several cases of ammunition boxes of tacks to be strewn along the roads and collodion for fingertips to eliminate the danger of leaving prints behind I Smith remembered ten hold-up- s of which he could give the details There were others he said but these had sort of slipped his mind since they were men were backing slowly towards the door A quick backward kick from Yates and the swinging doors ‘ leading into the street were wide open And then— "STICK 'EM UP!" earns the roar of many voices The startled bank robbers turned to find themselves covered by row upon row of uniformed policemen! Without a moment’s hesitation Smith and Yates reached skyward as the bags containing $3000 in small currency dropped to the floor Then a strange thing happened Not one cop moved forward to disarm the bandits There was an embarrassing few moments When— BANG! went the run of every eop In the crowded lobby They'd turned! ust In time to Are at a third bandit Frank’s brother Clarence who had been playing lookout man and had just entered! But Clarence’s gun had gone elf too and the bullet had hit his partner Yates who slowly lumped to the hard floor When the smoke cleared after that blinding flash from many guns the elaborate plans that had taken the trio of' thieves manv months to perfect iil (v' a' HER HUSBAND UNHARMED Bot the Joy ef Mrs Frank Smith (Above) st Her Husband's Survival of the Battle Was Marred by the Appalling Revelation That Ha Was a Bandit! as were Clarence were shot to pieces Smith and Yates The plottings that would make Shakespeare’s villainous Iago take on the aspects of a Little Lord Fauntleroy were completely done away with In a couple of twinkles of an eyelid Frank the only survivor of the battle just continued to hold his hands high Them— instead of reflecting philosophically that the well laid plans of men mice and bank robbers are often known to go awry—he began to cry! hoid-u- p man But the middle-age- d really shouldn’t have for it wasn’t his fault or the dead banditq either that had brought about the Unexpected denouement No the plans had been aD right and would have worked fine Tillie if a girl reporter Irwin hadn’t been nosing around for I news The young “cub" had received her assignment from the city editor of the El Monte Herald that day with ill grace Just a routine bit of work she thought covering a convention of pistol experts from tho various small-tow- n police departments of San Gabriel Valley It was no different in her opinion from reporting the engagement of John Smith to Mary Jones or describing the new coat of paint that had been put on Mrs Brown’s barn Gee— thought Tillie —reporting was dull stuff when you had to cover such trivia! All her short life she had imagined newspaper work would be a thrilling job—just like it is in the movies But so far it hadn’t been any fun at all Tillie attended the cops’ convention and thought for a while that something interesting might be said by the stalwart looking officers who carried their guns thing from the hip in such proud fash- - “Every cep hi the place rushed pellmell eat ef' the building with hie gua drawn Tillia was at tha head ef the line Down the street they tore just like the Keystone comedy ceps used to do 1" committed The middle-age- d bandit said their stunt was to open a small savings account in the bank to be looted under a phoney name When every bit of information that was needed had been gathered the account was closed Then after the plans bad been made in great detail the bank was “knocked off” Smith addea 4 V tj SHE DIDN’T KNOW Mrv E Carl Yata' Whose Hutbaad a in Waa Alia Killad ia tha the El Monta California Bank Robbary Ha Too Kopt Hia Crlmsa From Hi Wifa for Many Year Gun-Battl- But they didnt talk about hold-up- s or murder no just about where they would hold their next annual pistol competition The chubby blonde took some notes and filled with ennui dreamed the re- ion porter’s dream of getting an "exclusive” Oh boy I Wouldn’t that gang of veterans at the office be surprised I That would stop their teasing about ber being the female Horace Greeley! But Tillie dismissed such thoughts from her mind as impossibilities and wandefed in boredom across to her office She decided to call her friend Ruth Bruton the stenographer at the County Bank and find out if anything interesting had happened in that institution The youngster yawned the number into the mouthpiece and a moment later asked for Ruth Suddenly every bit of wearinesa in Tillie’a body disappeared For— Over the wire came the faint voice of a man: “Pat that telephone down and stick up yoot band at" As you already have (messed it was the voice ef Bandit Yates—and the had heard it! lucky The startled cub next beard the receiver drop with a bang and a shrill feminine scream Tillie doubted her own ears! She waa actually listening in on Gone was her bore-a bank hold-u- p er 1 s' rvr-NVi- dom aa she tore across the street—hack to the cops’ convention — in an amazing burst of speed Yelling at the top of her lungs Tillie gasped out her story: "Run down the street— harry up! Someone's robbing the bank! I beard Hem over the phone7' One can imagine what happened as the breathless story was unfolded The eops were roaring mad What would people think of them with a hold-u- p within two blocks of the convention? Why —they'd be the laughing stock of the valley! Wasn’t that always the way — whenever police held conventions someone tried to pull a “job” right under DREAM CAME TRUE Photo of tho Plump Tillie Irwin Charatritic "Cub” Reporter With Her Pad and Pencil Ready for Nawa That Smila Hasn’t Left Her Face Since She Scored Her First Big "Beat" BBSS r r Vm ' : L—T’ 4 ! - noses! Every con in the place rushed pellmell out of the building with his gun drawn Tillie ran at the nead of the line She wasn’t at all scared—this was a reporter’s life as she had always pictured itl Exciting— glamorous — fun I Down the street rushed the whole caboodle just like the old Keystone comedy pops used to do Only these cops weren’t going to throw custard pies bullets would be the answer to the desperadoes who had the colossal nerve to try to make n i - f) " y$ ivilo El Monte Police Looking at th Gun Found in the Bandit Car Tha Bandaged Hand of Officer Joeeph Fritch in tha Center Can Be Eaeily Seen He Loet HU Finger in the Melee dtyrUht lilt fools out of the law! As the uniformed crowd reached the door Frank Smith and Yates were leaving with the money sacks in their arms "Stick ’em up!" reared the convention In unison “Yeah! Stick ’em upt” added v the courageous Tillie Tho two bandits were flabbergasted If there had been one two or three cops they would not have minded so much but what’s well —a whole convention I a bandit to do? They did it Complete surrender without firing a shot But at this point an Emily Post would The policemen have helped greatly were from various departments in the valley and hot one of them could figure out who was to have the honor of disarming the robbers Then-- All this time Frank’s brother Clarence was waiting around the corner at the wheel of tha getaway car Ha hadn’t seen the cops’ convention arrive Now he waa getting a little nervous over the men were taking to time 'the hold-u-p complete the job So— into the bank charged Clarence brandishing a sawed-of- f shotgun He began thecommand "STICK ’EM— ” but got no further The words ttac futtrto DvttnU lac ' - their x that had proven quite lucrative in the four years that the trio had been staging stick-up- s No one ever suspected that he Clarence and Yates were bandits Even their wives and Yates' children didn’t know of their nefarious activities The wives believed the trio were engaged in mining work in the Mojave desert That was how their absences were explained away bank-robbi- NEITHER DID SHE The Attractive Widow of Clarenco Smith tho Bank Robbar Who Thought Har Huchand Waa a Ratpoctable Miner Until Ha Waa Killad by tha Copt’ Convention V er 't4m mWin t vi i — mi mi hi tutmf I' f i- BANDIT If You Look Cloialv at tha Hard Vicious Line in the Face ef Bank Robbar Frank Smith in Thit EngrOiciflg Camera Study It’s Difficult to Believe He Sobbed Like e Child When Police Killed Hi AccSmpliees Before Hi Ey CRY-BAB- died in his throat as h saw that “convention” Then— every cop fired at cnee I So much lead hit Clarence all at one time that his body was bounced right out the front door! But Clarence's gun had gone off and hia bullet had hit Yates who fell to the floor dead In some unexplained way too one of the eops was shot in the finger Frank meantime kept his hand! raised high over his head But when it was all over he sobbed "it was bis first job" and he " wished ba hadn’t dona it" TUlie was scribbling furiously on her pad putting down everything that waa Frank Smith was charged with robbery and murder The latter charge results from a California law which holds that person engaged in committing a felony which results In a murder even though he doesn’t actually commit it can be found guilty of the crime Tillie in the meantime continued to "cover” the story for her paper and received plaudits on all sides for the fine work she did No matter what happens in uneventful El Monte from now on Tillie la content for she will always possess the memoiy of every reporter’s dream— an exclusive “beat!” |
