Rocky Mount, Sept. 4—Held up at the point of a gun by two highwaymen when he stopped at a bridge across which the third member of the gang was lying prostrate, J.F. Vick, who works in this city but resides several miles out in Edgecombe county, was relieved of $61 in cash and his new Oakland touring car early last night at Cow Lick bridge on the Old Battleboro highway about a mile from the city.
Mr. Vick was driving home at the time of the hold-up. With his automobile taken from him and no telephone handy, he was compelled to walk to police headquarters and report the robbery. By the time officers arrived on the scene all traces of the three robbers had disappeared.
Mr. Vick stated this morning that the prostrate form across the bridge, which caused him to stop was that of a white man, while the two men who held him up and poked guns into his sides were negroes. He stated that he saw them only in the darkness and was not sure whether he could identify them or not. The authorities at all surrounding cities and towns have been notified, and a drag net is being spread which it is hoped will result in the apprehension of the highwaymen or at least the recovery of the stolen car.
According to Mr. Vick he was driving home out of the Old Battleboro highway last night about 10 o’clock. As he neared the Cow Lick creek bridge, about a mile from town, he saw in the reflection of his lights ahead a prostrate form lying across the bridge. With various thoughts flying through his mind, and the idea that the man must be drunk uppermost, he decided that the best thing to do was (to) come back to police headquarters here and report the instance.
He had not more than stopped, however, and started to throw his car in reverse gear when two negroes stepped out from the bushes on opposite sides of the road, covered him with guns and ordered him to get out of the car. Evidently he did not move fast enough to satisfy them as one of them grabbed him by the collar and forcibly yanked him from the machine. By this time the white man, who had been lying on the bridge as a decoy to stop the victim, came up but the negroes, according to Mr. Vick, did the talking, as he was searched and $61 taken from his person. Mr. Vick is unable to understand how they missed his watch as the chain was broken when he was jerked out of his car.
From the front page of the Lincoln County News, Lincolnton, N.C., Monday, September 8, 1924
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn91068449/1924-09-08/ed-1/seq-1/#words=SEPTEMBER+8%2C+1924
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