07/25/2024

This story, from 100 years ago, struck me as rather odd.

When we have a bank robbery here in Minnesota - WE HAVE A BANK ROBBERY!
No futzing around! :-)

Odd to describe one obscure small town (Dover) by saying it's located near another obscure small town (St. Charles).

I suspect that didn't help the readers of the Washington Times very much :-)

The Washington times. [volume], July 29, 1924
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026749/1924-07-29/ed-1/seq-1/

BANDIT "ARMY" 
BLOWS SAFE 
IN MINN.
Surrounds Town With Autos,
and Fights Citizens—Women
Take Part
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn., July 29. 
A bandit army moving in a fleet 
of motor care surrounded Dover, 
Minn., near St. Charles, early to 
day, blew the safe in the First 
State Bank, terrorised the town for 
nearly two hours and made off With 
only a few hundred dollars in loot 
when one of their number was in- 
jured by a premature blast which 
failed to open the inner vault. 
Two women entered the bank with 
the safe blowers and are believed 
to have assisted in the bungled job 
of cracking the strong box. 
Lieutenant George Hillstrom, of 
the Minneapolis police, commanded 
a gun squad which started in the 
direction of Dover to head off the 
bandit party. 
At the time his car left it was 
known that more than a score of 
bandits participated in the hold-up, 
and the police squad faces the 
probability of being out numbered 
and out-fought should it encounter 
the army. 
Three or four hundred persons 
living in Dover were aroused by 
the explosion of the charge which 
wrecked the outer doors of the 
safe and left the floor stained with 
the blood of one of the robbers. 
H. Tubbs, depot agent at Dover, 
stepped out of the front door of 
his house with a revolver in his 
hand to investigate the explosion. 
He was met with a fusillade of 
shots. 
Citizens who went to the tele- 
phone to call St. Charles and give 
the alarm, discovered that all lines 
had been cut and Tubbs, going to 
his telegraph key at the depot 
later found that even the tele- 
graph wires had been severed.