Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 91, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 April 1913 — ORDERED EMPLOYE TO TURN OUT LIGHTS [ARTICLE]

ORDERED EMPLOYE TO TURN OUT LIGHTS

Two Men Visited Rensselaer Plant and Forced Tul Malone to Throw Street Light Switch. \- Y?bat would you do in the middled! the nighblf you were all alone and two men" with burglar masks surprised you and one of them demanded you to throw up your hands and used a big revolver as an argument? You’d do it, wouldn’t you? Ninety-nine .out of a hundred would do the same thing, perhaps nine hundred and ninety-nine out of A thousand. ' i. ,?• Well, Tul Malone, who has. the light plant shift between li o’clock at night and 8 o’clock in the morning, had the experience Tuesday night. He was in the boiler room reading a paper at 10 minutes of 1 o’clock. He sat with his back to the east door, which is the back door of the plant, leading to the alley from the boiler , room. He looked backward, possibly attracted by some noise, and there stood two men with short, black masks and the one in front had a revolver. He did not poke the gun into Tul’s face, but he had it ready as he said: ‘Turn out the street lights.” “Tul thinks he asked, “What’s the idea?” but he is.not. just certain what he said. He does know that the man raised the revolver higher and told him to obey orders,and not ask any fool questions. Tul went into the engine room at the front of the building and the man followed him, holding the pistol at the ready position. Tul turned the switch controlling the street lights and the man said: “Leave them off.” The man with the gun went back through the boiler room and joined his companion and they went out through the alloy. Tul don’t know which way they turned. He didn’t care, just so they went some place. When he thought it safe he tried to call Nightwateh Critser but could not get- an answer at the Makeever hotel: He then called Chester Zea at the fire engine house and Chester awakened Marshal Shesler, Constable W. S. Parks and others. The officers of the town were soon on the job and in a half hour or such a matter Tul had the street lights on again and was protected by two or three officers, \yho were prepared to give the “bad men” a warm reception. But they did not reappear, and a search abouj; town failed to reveal any trace of them. / Tuesday three street medicine men had been in town and they were sleeping at the Barnes flats, over The Republican office. It was thought that two of them fairly well answered'the description given by Malone of his midnight visitors and Officers went to the flat® and got them out.* They were preparing to leave on the early mdrning train for the soufh, any way, and were not seriously inconvenienced, although they were very badly frightened. They-were taken to the light pl&nt and Malone said at once that they were not' the men who had visited him. They went to the depot and departed for the south on the morning train.

Officers and volunteer aids, garrisoned to the teeth, 1 watched all trains, but there nothing occurred that gave a clew to the visitors at the light plant, except an indication that the men were the ones who had robbed the Monqn depot at Hammond ol about S9O at 9 o’clock that evening. When passenger train, No. 3, due here at 11:05, left the South Hammond yards, two men were riding on the top of the baggage ear and they rode there until Rensselaer was reached. Word was sent to Rensselaer and several officers met the train upon its arrival here. The men seemed to suspicion some trouble and had climbed down from the roof of the car and the fireman saw them run ahead and east in the yards near the Harrington elevator. The train pulled out slowly, officers walking on each side to prevent the men from again getting on the train and when the stock pens were reached the signal was given for the train to pull out and it did so, and the men who were supposed to be the robbers did not get on. But the officers could not And any trace of them and Anally gave up the search and had retired when the incident at the light plant occurred. Since no efforts were made to pull off any robberies here it is supposed that the burglars were either scared away or had ordered the lights out because they thouent they might encounter officers and have to Aght their way loose and would sooner do it in the dark. * The incident has occasioned a great amount of talk and concern here, as it is the Arst time in many years that a desperate deed of any kind has been undertaken.