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Thursday, September 15, 2022

Police Arrest 'Yaller Bean' and 'Little Titus', Thanks to Bloodhounds, Sept. 14, 1922

Bloodhounds Did Their Work Well. . . Were Put on the Trail of Store Robbers and Rounded Them Up

Hey, O you doubters! Lenoir has had a real, genuine, live bloodhound chase and the culprits were caught.

Levi (“Yaller Bean”) Bentley, Burwell Key and Eugene (“Little Titus”) Keller were arrested Tuesday afternoon after bloodhounds had followed a trail from the Lenoir Hardware and Furniture Company, which had been robbed the night before. The Key boy was the first of the three to be arrested. He said that he did not have anything to do with the robbery; that “Yaller Bean” came to him in the morning wanting him to make a trip over towards “Cheraw” with him. The other two boys were arrested late in the afternoon after they can come back from the “Cheraw” section.

The robbery was committed some time Monday night. The boys entered through a back window. Three pistols and several boxes of cartridges were missed. Two of these pistols have been recovered, and two other pistols which the boys traded for are also in the hands of officers, who believe they have the other stolen pistol located.

The work of the bloodhound in picking up and following the trail was soi remarkable that it seemed uncanny. It was followed through the public square and other streets that had been heavy with traffic all the morning. The hounds were brought here by T.H. Dillingham and J.C. Roberts of Asheville. Only one of the dogs was put on the trail. This was an old dog about 13 years old, the same one used here after the attempted post office robbery a few years ago. After picking up the trail at the rear of the store the dog followed it out through the back lot to Church street and then to West avenue. Here the dog worked through the square to the post office and back. Going down West avenue, the dog followed the trail to the corner at the depot. From this point he circled around the Hickory Grocery company and the Lenoir Roller mills and returned to the corner and picked up the trail again and followed it up the railroad track, turning in at the home of Jason Parsons. The dog went up on the porch and stopped at one of the doors. Mr. Parsons is a bachelor and works for the Harper Furniture Company. He was sent for, as it was thought there might have been a robbery there, as he has been running a store in his house. He came and opened the door. The dog walked in, smelled around and came out again. He seemed perfectly satisfied. He picked up the trail, followed it around the house and back to the railroad. After following the railroad for about 200 yards the dog turned up the path to the home of the Key boy. From there he went to Keller’s home. In turning up from the railroad track the dog barked twice. This barking, the keeper said, was to tell that the trail had divided. After the dog had trailed to the Keller home he was taken back to the railroad, where he picked up the trail again and followed it to “Yaller Bean’s” home.

Burwell Key was the only one of the three boys to be found at home. He was placed under arrest. He said that he did not have anything to do with the robbery, but told that “Yaller Bean” came to his house early in the morning and showed him the pistols. He took the officers to the place where they had been hidden, but they had been taken away. Later in the afternoon the other boys returned home and they were arrested. Officers finally picked some information out of them which led to the recovery of two of the pistols and two more for which they had traded. They claimed to have swapped one pistol for half a gallon of whiskey. The officers have not been able to find either the pistol or the whiskey.

Other Arrests

Dave Francum and Gaither Beard of the Cheraw section have been arrested on charges of being accessories to the boys under arrest for entering the store. “Yaller Bean” made a statement to officers implicating these men. The pistols were found on them. Other arrests are likely to follow. The boys claim to have traded one of the pistols to Theodore Estes for two quarts of whiskey. Estes denies this.

From the front page of the Lenoir News-Topic, Thursday, Sept. 14, 1922

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