Armed Robbers & Bootleggers in LaPaz

Garner's Truck Stop, under construction in 1958

When your little town is at the crossroads of coast-to-coast highways, there is likely to be some trouble with bootleggers and Bonnie & Clyde types.  During the 1930s, at the height of Prohibition and the Depression, our little corner of the world found its fair share of trouble.

In 1931, federal agents uncovered a massive alcohol distillery operated by individuals locally, of course, but connected back to others in Gary and Chicago.  The still, estimated to be contributing $20,000 worth of strong contraband, was discovered on the Dolph Farm between LaPaz and Tyner (I think they meant Teegarden, as the Dolph property was located north of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad).  The federal agents hurried off to Chicago after arriving on the scene in order to make further arrests of the crime boss and syndicate.  Seven were arrested in all, including one poor chap who drove up upon the scene to deliver a truck load of corn syrup.

A few years later, in December 1934, the Farmers State Bank of LaPaz was robbed of $3,549.00 by four bandits who fled south to Kokomo on State Road 31, which would have meant that they would have had to slow down to a crawl as they passed through Plymouth, Argos, Rochester, and Peru before arriving at their hideout in Kokomo.  Bank officials described the robbers as "young, dark and foreign looking."  Well heck, that would have described me.  Three of the four, one being a woman, were arrested in Kokomo.

And the third story was another of those that my grandfather would tell, but I wasn't sure to believe.  Garner's Truck Stop was robbed by gunpoint by four young men from Mishawaka in March 1961.  I can imagine it was an easy target on a road bordered by seemingly endless cornfields, a mile outside of town, and my grandpa the only one on duty.  When they were arrested, they were also charged with other robberies in the area.

Grandpa, cigar in mouth and money in hand, c. 1965