Presidents Letter August 2010
My how time flies. Before you know it we will be smelling popcorn and apple butter and listening to the roar of the tractors over the buzzing of the people walking through the flea market looking for treasures. Dick Otte has reserved two spaces in the commercial tent for LHS. We need to reimburse him for the reservation fee. We need to work on the specifics of set up time, volunteers to man the booth, when to close and when to tear down. The calendar will be ready to go to the printer at the end of the month. At this time we only have four businesses that have committed to advertising on the calendar. That leaves 8 months that are still available for ads. Maybe someone would like to volunteer to call businesses to remind them of the dead-line at the end of the month. We also need to discuss what we are going to do with the coloring book.
We have had several photo collections loaned to the society for scanning. Keep up the good work people. In the items for me to scan there is also an interview with Ben Stone about the bank robbery [see below]. I had not seen this particular article and it will be a new addition to our Ben Stone collection.
The trees have been removed from in front of the town hall and hopefully construction will begin soon.
Due to a conflict in schedules for the next couple of weeks I am changing office hours to 1:30 (instead of 1:00) to 3:00. Hopefully the extra half an hour will give me enough time to make it to the office.
Marshal finishes His Nap After Killing Bank Bandit
59-Year Old Hero of Luckey Holdup Says Thugs Broke Right Ito Middle of Sleep by Allen Saunders
The Northwestern Mounties may wear fancier clothes than Ben Stone, but his village marshal gets his man, too, and walks away from the fight.
Ben, 59-year-old hero of the Luckey Exchange bank holdup late Thursday, lay in the emergency ward of Mercy hospital an hour after the affair and, while two doctors bound up three wounds in his legs, he smiled, squinted, rubbed his grizzled head and told reporters how he ended the career of a would-be bandit.
“I’m night-watchman, marshal deputy sheriff and such things as that out at Luckey,” he said. “Being a night-watchman, I naturally sleep days. This afternoon, I was on my bed in the back of the furniture store when Harmon Landwehr, who was washing windows out in front, ran in and woke me up.
“Ben,” he says, “that pair of bank robbers is back again. I spotted them because they parked against the curb, instead of heading in.”
“Fine!” I said, reaching for my pants and my overshoes. I put a six-shooter into each pocket and picked up a double –barreled shotgun loaded with buck-shot. Then I walked across the street to the bank. “A young, foreign-looking fellow in a leather coat came out. He had his hands in his coat pockets. I told him to stick up his hands. He grumbled something and I began to think I’’d made a mistake, that he might be some hunter. So I let my gun barrel waver a little. Right then I heard two cracks and something nipped my legs. That was when I let him have the right barrel. He went down in a heap. The other fellow, who was in a car behind me, tore out as soon as I shot. I’m pretty sorry I didn’t get him too.”
A Narrow Escape.
“It’s a wonder he didn’t get you in the back.” The ambulance driver spoke up. “Boy you certainly made sure of the first one though! Emptied that six-shooter into him. He moved about an inch every time a slug hit him.”
“Yeah, I guess I made sure of him all right,” Ben admitted.
A doctor poised a hypodermic needle over the marshal’s arm. “All set for this? he asked.
“Just so it don’t hurt any more than a 32 caliber bullet,” Ben said. “I can take it. You know, I never thought 51 years ago, when I left this town [referring to Toledo] that I’d come back like this. I was in an orphanage, out on Lagrange Street. An old settler took me out to Luckey and I’ve been here ever since. Been watchman for eight years, but I never shot a man before.”
There was a moment’s discussion as to whether Ben could walk up to his room. He thought he could do it.
“I’ll bet he could make it,” the ambulance driver said. “We had a hard time to get him off his feet after he was shot. He walked around and talked about chasing the other bandit. Finally, he went into a store and sat down. When he saw the blood on his legs—where one bullet had pierced his calf and another both thighs-he laughed and said, ‘I guess they nicked me.’” “I think I’ll finish up my nap now” Ben said. “Those bandits woke right into the middle of it.”
The photos on the following page are from Betty Meyer. What a wonderful peek into the past of Luckey.
How about a picture day/ tea party Aug. 26th?
Hope to see you at the next meeting August 19th, 2010 at 6:30 in the Luckey Library.
Over and out ——–Sally
