Close Watch Maintained Over Taverns; Two Suspects Questioned and Released
An intensive watch of taverns and pool rooms is being maintained by police in the search for the bandit who took $3991 in bills from the First Federal Savings & Loan Association at 318 High St. about 10:40 Friday.
Two men, one picked up in a tavern near the bank and the other stopped in a car on High St., were questioned and viewed by witnesses late Friday.
They were not identified and both were released, Asst. Chief of Detectives William W. Osieja said.
He said there is no indication that the bandit had either a car or an accomplice.
The bandit is described as a white man about 25. He was wearing a tan trench coat and a dark brown hat.
The bandit had what appeared to be a plastic Luger-type gun and disappeared west along High St. after warning the teller from whom he demanded money to make no outcry. Police believe he may be the man who held up the Linwood office of the Liberty Bank last Dec. 1.
Detective Chief John J. Whalen noted that the descriptions in the two cases are similar and the method used in the holdups are almost the same.
A branch of the First Federal Savings & Loan Association at 2133 Genesee St. was held up May 29, 1956, by a bandit who took $1024.
A suspect, Fred Berman, 37, escaped from Meyer Memorial Hospital before standing trial. He subsequently was sentenced to prison in Washington State for attempted bank robbery.
