March 18, 2024

Honeymoon Bandits

No trace of the husbands of the two women who spent their honeymoon in the Clarke County jail on charges of having participated in the robbery of the Kraft Clothing store (which is now the location of Robinson’s) has been found since they left a trail of stolen and abandoned cars in eastern Iowa in 1938. The two couples were married two days after a gasoline station holdup in Ottumwa.

The four broke into Kraft’s and stole $1,000 worth of men’s clothing and were discovered by the night marshal who exchanged shots with them as they sped out of town.

Four miles north at the Ralph Wiant corner they wrecked the car and, at the point of a gun, forced Wiant to drive them in his car to Osceola. In front of the B & H Cafe, Wiant took the keys out of his car, jumped out and went in to the cafe. The bandits escaped on foot, stealing a car from Mumper Garage, and drove to Ottumwa.

Identities were learned from the marriage certificate found in the wrecked car; the girls found hiding out in one of their mothers’ homes in Ottumwa.

A police net was thrown out over three states for the apprehension of the robbery suspects. The women were wanted on forgery charges and for allegedly stealing dresses in Ottumwa.

A car used by the bandits when holding up a service station in Carroll was left in Des Moines, as well as another car stolen from that vicinity. A man from Truro saw a car stopped near his car in front of his home containing two men and two women. When asking what they were doing the men called back saying they were fixing their lights. Soon after the man discovered the license plates on his car were gone. A few minutes later the operator on duty at the Phillips station in Truro noted the car as it drove in and got some gasoline and notified the Madison County sheriff. All roads in the district were closed by the Iowa Highway Patrol.

After playing hide and seek with a great concentration of county and state officers after the bandits appeared in Truro, they finally slipped through the net and reached Knoxville with two Sioux City girls, ages 19 and 14, in their company. They were captured in a Knoxville hotel where they had been traced by a night officer and sheriff.

The bandits made some confessions and were further questioned by state officers before being returned to Osceola, charged with the Kraft robbery and sentenced to 15 years in the Fort Madison prison.

The men stated they only had the two other women along to help get away and help get their wives out of prison. The wives, ages 16 and 20 were taken to Rockwell City prison, the girls to Mitchelville Women’s Prison.

The Honeymoon Bandits admitted to using and being addicted to marijuana, all four girls with the men said they were addicted to weed. One of the men asked if they had killed anyone. The drug used was widespread among younger people all over the country.