Black Sheep Sunday: Two More Bandits Fall In The Trap

Source: Marion Leader-Tribune, Marion, Indiana, January 3, 1925, p. 1.


TWO MORE BANDITS FALL IN THE TRAP


Couple, Man and Wife, Admit They Were Part of the Gang Which Robbed Marion Bank


Romance Enters Into the Lives of Bandits, Stranger Than the Most Imaginative Fiction, for Girlhood Friendships, and Boyhood Love Affirs, Form Chapters in the Lives of Men and Women In Jail, and of Others Not Yet Captured


Robert Morse, 25, an automobile mechanic and his wife, Emily Morse, 27 years old, were arrested shortly after five o'clock last night by Sheriff Bert Renbarger, detectives from the Indianapolis police force and operatives from the Webster Detective agency at their home, 59 South Lasalle street, Indianapolis, on charges of automobile banditry.  They are charged specifically with robbing the South Marion State bank on the afternoon of November 26, when approximately $4,000 was taken.


Morse and his wife both admitted to being in the gang of seven people, five men and two women, who took part in this robbery, but denied being with the gang at Upland and Noblesville.  They were brought back to Marion and put in the Grant county jail, arriving here shortly after ten o'clock last night.


Although they had read accounts of the robbery at the Marion bank, and arrests the couple did not leave Indianapolis but moved to the LaSalle street address on December 30, from another part of Indianapolis, and they showed no surprise when they were placed under arrest.


Old Schoolmates


Mrs. Morse was the other woman, Mrs. Mary Bridgewater, who is also in jail here, who sat in the seat of the automobile, while the men entered the South Marion bank and robbed it.  It was brought out with the arrest of the Morse couple last night that Mrs. Morse and Mrs. Bridgewater are old schoolmates and that Morse was a sweetheart of Mrs. Bridgewater, before her marriage to her present husband.


The Morse residence was searched by the officers and all that was found of any consequence WAS A BLOND SWITCH, WHICH WAS SAID TO BE WORN BY MRS. MORSE ON HER TRIP TO MARION.  MRS. MORSE HAS A HEAD OF BLACK HAIR.


After the officers had grilled Mr. and Mrs. Morse for some time at Indianapolis, they admitted to having taken part in the South Marion bank robbery.  Morse said that he was an automobile mechanic by trade and that he and his wife had never been in trouble of any kind before and that he was coaxed into joining the gang by the other members of the band.  He said that he received as his share of the loot only $153, while he was supposed to get as his share about $600.  He said that his share was counted out and handed to him by another member of the gang and was told that the pile of money contained $600.


Plans Are Changed


Morse and his wife said that the gang of five men and two women had driven to Hartford City with the intention, at first, of robbing a bank at that place, but changed their minds and came on to Marion, on November 26.  They drove around the city in their Nash car and drove past the South Marion bank several times to size up the lay of the land.


Later they drove up to within two blocks of the bank, Morse said, when four of the men got out and went into the bank, while the two women and one man remained in the machine and drove around in the vicinity and then up in front of the bank.  After the bank had been robbed, the gang jumped into the car and drove to Lebanon and then on to Indianapolis.  They had at first intended to use a Dodge car on the trip to Marion, but this car was wrecked and then they secured a Nash car.


Sheriff Renbarger left for Indianapolis yesterday afternoon and arrived there in the afternoon and in company with detectives from the police department and Webster agency, they drove to the Morse home and made the arrests.


Three Are at Large


The total number of arrests made in connection with the robbing of the Upland and Marion banks, now totals six, four men and two women.  Three of the five men who took part in the South Marion bank are now in custody, as well as the two women and three of the band of five men who robbed the Upland bank are now behind prison bars.  Three members of the gang are yet at large.


Sheriff Renbarger said last night that Mrs. Bridgewater and Mrs. Morse would be arraigned in court on charges of automobile banditry.  Although the women did not actually hold up the bank officers and take the money, under the law they are equally guilty with the men and now face long terms in prison.


While Mrs. Bridgewater told a Leader-Tribune reporter, after her arrest, that she did not know that the bank was being robbed while she was out in the automobile, Mrs. Morse admitted to the officers last night that she knew the men were going out to rob the Marion bank.


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This article is another in a series of follow-up stories to the robberies of the Upland State bank and South Marion bank by a group of robbers, led by my paternal cousin, Harry PIERPONT (1902-1934).  Harry later became famous as a member of the "Terror Gang" with John Dillinger.  These earlier robberies terrorized Indiana during 1924-25.



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.

Couple Escapes Flames In Early Morning Fire

Alexandria Times-Tribune, Alexandria, Indiana, April 21, 1999, page 1.

Couple escapes flames in early morning fire


by Linda Ferris


An Alexandria man was pulled to safety early Tuesday morning by his wife and a neighbor as flames raced through a home on CR 900N.


The single-story, block home of Robert and Barbara Webster, 551 W. County Road 900N, was heavily damaged.  Robert Webster, 68, a stroke patient, was later taken to Community Hospital for evaluation.


Barbara Webster, who had been ill all night, heard the popping and cracking that warned her of the fire, according to Alexandria Assistant Fire Chief Dan Ingram.  Believing the sounds were coming from the kitchen, she checked the microwave first.  Then she went to the attached garage, where she saw flames in the southeast corner.


"She tried putting it out but wasn't able to," Ingram said.  "She tried to call 9-1-1 but couldn't because the telephone line was dead."


A knocking at their door woke Ord and Gloria LeMaster, the Webster's neighbors to the west.  Gloria LeMaster said they recognized the pickup in their driveway, but could not see anyone.  Barbara Webster, Gloria LeMaster's aunt, had already ran next door to the home of Robert and Anna McDaniel, who didn't hear the doorbell.


Seeing the fire, Ord LeMaster shouted for his wife to call 9-1-1.  The call rang in at the Alexandria police station at 4:17 a.m., according to dispatcher Steve Gipe.


Ord LeMaster then headed to the burning home.  "He said when he got down there the house was full of smoke," said Gloria LeMaster.


Robert Webster, who was in bed in the living room, was lifted into a wheelchair by his wife and Ord LeMaster.  The family's dog gave LeMaster some resistance until it understood what he was doing, according to Gloria LeMaster.  After her husband took her uncle out, he looked back to find her aunt had gone back into the house.


"He yelled at her to get out," Gloria LeMaster said.  "It was probably shortly after that the fire trucks arrived."


"By the time we got here, we had visible fire through half the attic," Ingram said.


Calls for mutual aid brought a stream of tankers from Frankton, Richland and Pipe Creek townships.  To facilitate their movement, Ingram said Conrail was asked to halt its trains for about two hours.  The tracks run between the Webster's home and the closest water source, a hydrant on Ind. 9 across from the Hi-Way Cafe.


The fire originated in the attached, two-car garage.  It was ignited by electrical wiring, according to the fire department report.  The Websters' loss was estimated at $100,000.


Assisting Alexandria's firefighters on the scene were Emergency Management volunteers, who blocked the road from onlookers, and Orestes firefighters, who refilled air bottles with the Madison County Air Van.

Grandma Wright's Wedding Dress

The Alexandrian, Alexandria, Indiana, July 1, 1986

Home Tour - Gloria LeMaster, right, presided over the front parlor of the Scott-Malone Place Thursday.  Her grandmother Wright's wedding dress and license were on display, commemorating the fact that while the home was owned by the First Christian Church, numerous couples such as the Wrights were married in the front parlor.  Gloria's two aunts, Clara Ellen High and Barbara Webster, visited the home, now owned by John and Marsha Madden, during the benefit tour sponsored by the Alexandria-Monroe Historical Society.

This article was from a collection of newspaper clippings that my parents have saved for their "Indiana Room" at their home.  My grandparents, Virgil Lee WRIGHT and Edna Muriel "Peach" PIERCE, were married June 15, 1915 in Alexandria, Madison County, Indiana.