Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 65, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 January 1909 — CHICAGO TALKS OF VIGILANTES [ARTICLE]

CHICAGO TALKS OF VIGILANTES

Stirred by Repeated Robberies at Lake Bluff. TO HOLD MEETING TONIGHT Pair of Robbers Invade Home Where Woman la Without Protection 'and, After Rendering Her Unconscious By Holding Chloral Saturated Handkerchief Under Her Note, Ransack the Place and Steal Fifteen Dollars. Chicago, Jan. 15. —One more audacious assault by Lake Bluff’s “telephone robbers’’—the third in as many months—has aroused the residents o. the north shore village to the necessity of organizing a vigilante committee. A mass meeting of villagers will be held this evening for the purpose of organizing the committee. Mrs. William Rankin, the latest vio tim of the robbers, was drugged, kicked and beaten Into unconsciousness. Physicians who attended her said that her coudition was critical. men, one a tall, dark man with a lig. overcoat and cap, the other short and fair, rang the door bell. Mrs. Rankin opened the door and the men pushed in. One seized her by the arm and demanded to know where the money was kept. She reeled as the other man drew a cloth saturated with chloral from his pocket and kept it tightly under her nostrils. He held her thus until she sank unconscious to the floor. The thugs got sls.