A Tire on the Road, Stop To Get It, Robbers in the Ditch!

Sheboygan, Wisconsin, 1921--

HOLDUP IS FOILED BY SPOTLIGHT

A spare automobile tire in the road, an old game resorted to by a certain class of bandits lured three young men from this city to stop to investigate last night, about three miles north of Sheboygan on the Lake Shore road and nearly cost them all the money they had. They were saved from the trap set for them, however, by the use of a spotlight on their car.

The young men who figured in the incident were Max and Gus Holman, members of the H. J. Holman & Sons overall company in this city, and Simon Leviton, a friend who was with them.

Saw Tire In Road

It was shortly after nine o'clock when the three, in the Nash sport car owned by Max Holman, were driving north on the Lake Shore road. As they arrived at a point three miles north of the city their attention was attracted to a tire lying alongside the road.

After passing the spot where the tire was seen they decided to stop and get it. They had passed it some several feet and backed the car up toward that point. Mr. Leviton, who was in the back seat, got out of the car and ran back to look for it. When he arrived at the place where he had seen the tire he did not see it, so he waited until the car got back to him. After it got there, they turned the spotlight on and discovered the tire had been moved farther away from the road and that it was attached to a rope.

Discovered It Was Bait

When they saw this they decided that It was only the bait of a holdup man and Mr. Leviton, the only one out of the car, ran and Jumped in and the driver, Max Holman, started the car off.

Led to Clump of Bushes

Mr. Holman stated this morning that the rope tied to the tire led to a clump of bushes a few feet from the road and that they knew someone was behind pulling it away from the road to draw whoever was attracted by it away far enough so that whoever was there would have had him in their power.

The spotlight was thrown on the spot where the tire lay only in an attempt to learn where it was, but Mr. Holman declared he believed it was the only thing that saved them from being robbed. As it happened, Mr. Leviton had a large amount of currency in his pockets.

It Is believed that when the spotlight was turned on it blinded the men who had planned the holdup so they could not see behind it and that it foiled their scheme.

Telephone For Sheriff

After arriving at Jack Johnson's roadhouse they stopped for a few minutes to telephone the sheriff's office. They said two men and a woman drove up in an automobile shortly after that and asked for a supply of gasoline. Max Holman declared one of the men was covered with mud and that he believed he was one of those who staged the tire episode and that the lady in the car was a blind to sidetrack any suspicion that may have been held toward them.

Sheriff Koehn received the call and immediately dispatched two of his deputies to that point to investigate. Mr. Holman said the three who were subject to the tire game waited at Johnson's for about 25 minutes, but that when representatives of the sheriff's office did not appear, they continued their journey.

--The Sheboygan Press, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, August 2, 1921, page 1.