Black Sheep Sunday: Auto Used By Bank Bandits Is Found

Source: Marion Leader-Tribune, Marion, Indiana, December 28, 1924, p. 1.


AUTO USED BY BANK BANDITS IS FOUND


Machine Was Found Mired At Kempton


It Had Been Occupied by Six Men Who Were Driven to Lebanon, Indiana


ALL WERE YOUNG MEN


Local Sheriff Gets Full List of Goods Taken From Lebanon Store


Kempton, Ind., Dec. 27. - An automobile which stood mired in a road near Kempton from Tuesday night until Friday night before it was removed by authorities is said to have been the Moon car stolen from George W. Killinger, 1922 North Pennsylvania St., Indianapolis, Monday night and which is believed to have been used by bandits who held up and robbed the Upland State bank at Upland late Tuesday, of $2,500.


With the recovery of the car authorities have learned that six men were in the car when it became mired in the road about 7:30 o'clock Tuesday night.  Some of the men walked to the home of Mrs. Bonnie Peters about one mile distant and telephoned the Hawkins garage at Kempton.


Clem Goodnight, of the garage, started to take the men to Frankfort at their request.  They carried shotguns, rifles, revolvers and satchels, were well dressed an appeared to be from nineteen to twenty-five years old.


At the Michigan road, Goodnight said, the men changed their minds about going to Frankfort, and had him take them to Lebanon.  At Lebanon two of the men got out at the edge of town, pretending that they lived there and the others were taken to an address which Goodnight said he could not remember, but which he said he could find again.


The men told Goodnight that they were from Louisville and wished to get back home for Christmas.  They said they had been hunting and had been out three days, but did not say where they had been hunting.


Goodnight said he asked the men if he should pull the mired car from the road and was told by them they would send a man back the next day for the car.  The man never appeared, however.


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Turns Letter Over.


Indianapolis, Dec. 27. - George W. Killinger, Jr., 1922 North Pennsylvania street, owner of the Moon car, said Saturday he had been informed that his car was found by police at Kempton.  He said he gave the letter to the company which had the car insured and it would get the car.


Evidence Is Received.


More evidence showing that the six bandits, who robbed the Upland State bank of $2,500 are the same men who robbed the Lebanon Hardware company of Lebanon, Indiana, of a large quantity of merchandise on the night of December 22, was received by Sheriff Bert Renbarger yesterday.  Joe C. Cain, sheriff of Boone county, wrote a letter to Sheriff Renbarger, giving him a list of the articles stolen from the Lebanon store and stated that the robbers were driving a Moon sedan, license 443-554, which was stolen from Indianapolis on the night of the Lebanon robbery.


This is the same car and license number as was seen in Marion by the police and deputy sheriffs a few hours before the Upland bank was robbed.  Since the Upland robbery not a trace of the robbers has been reported from any section of the state.


The articles taken from the Lebanon store included two rifles, two double barreled shot guns, one hammerless double barrel shot gun, two single shot rifles, one Marlin rifle, repeater, two Remington repeating rifles, eight pocket knives, one six inch barrel pistol, one 32 German automatic revolver, about fifty boxes of ammunition, four flashlights, several batteries and other articles.


The bandits are thought to have came to Marion, following the robbery at Lebanon, arriving in the city shortly after one o'clock Tuesday afternoon, when they were first seen by Captain Jake Campbell near Twenty-ninth and Washington street, driving north on Washington.  A few minutes later they were seen at the corner of Third and Adams street by Detective Humble and Andrews.


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This article is a follow-up to the robbery of the Upland State bank by a group of robbers led by my paternal cousin, Harry PIERPONT (1902-1934).  Harry later came to fame as a member of the "Terror Gang" with John Dillinger.  I've enjoyed tracing his early career in Indiana through local newspapers.




Black Sheep Sunday – create a post with the main focus being an ancestor with a “shaded past.” Bring out your ne’er-do-wells, your cads, your black widows, your horse thieves and tell their stories. And don’t forget to check out the International Black Sheep Society of Genealogists (IBSSG). This is an ongoing series at GeneaBloggers.