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Spirit of Culver LbNA #12303 (ARCHIVED)

Owner:flagbearer
Plant date:Nov 20, 2004
Location:
City:Culver
County:Marshall
State:Indiana
Boxes:2
Found by: korazin
Last found:Dec 18, 2007
Status:FFFFFFFFFFFm
Last edited:Nov 20, 2004
BOTH OF THESE BOXES ARE MISSING AND WILL NOT BE REPLACED

It was the era of Chicago mobs and the Great Depression. Many rural Indiana banks had already been hit by wandering bandits, and many communities, including Culver had formed vigilante groups and laid battle plans should they become targets. Just nine days before Culver Military Academy's Commencement of 1933, the Culver State Exchange Bank came under gangster guns.

Culver switchboard operator, Elsie Wagner, believed what she thought was a routine call, but was actually from Major A.S. Stoutenburgh calling from the shoe repair shop saying "Bandits are robbing the Culver bank. Call the Academy. Notify all surrounding towns." She called the Culver Military Academy first. They had U.S. Army guns, ammunition and men trained in campaigning against the enemy. Calls then went out to the Marshall County Sheriff, Charles Keller, and vigilantes within a radius of sixty miles

The gang that was menacing the Culver institution was as choice a lot of tough Chicago desperadoes as ever operated under a single banner. No less than five of six men in the robber car that morning had been charged, arrested, or investigated in atrocious murders. They were "big shots" of the Underworld, and had come down from a big city to show a little town how it was done. Minor troubles began to pop up almost as soon as the gangsters rolled into Culver. Ted Ewing, proprietor of a second story barber shop, had poked his head out for air and saw the bandit car, bristling with guns, rolling up. He had leathery lungs and let out a yell of "bank bandits" that was heard for blocks. William O. Osborn, president of the bank looked out the window
and saw the robbers adjusting their masks. He sprang to his desk and and set off a burglar alarm. The bandits, at pistol point, herded pedestrians, bank clerks, Osborn, and customers, into a group and made them lie down on the floor. One bandit vaulted the partition and ordered Carl Adams, the assistant cashier, to open the vault door, which he did. The bandits had scooped some $18,000 from the tills and vault. The actual robbery lasted but two or three minutes, but in that short interval, firing had started out side. One of the first vigilantes in action was John Osborn, the seventy-five-year-old father of the bank president. The elder Osborn carried an army rifle. Others carried guns that dated as far back as muzzleloaders of 1812. The vigilantes were now taking up strategic points. For some time Capt. H.A. Obenauf and Col. Basil Middleton of the Culver Academy had conducted a firing school for the vigilantes on the Culver Rifle Range. One who had attended the firing school said: "We don't figure on every vigilante getting a shot, but when he does shoot, we expect him to get his man." The first bandit to be shot was the driver, a most important member of the gang since he knew the roads in the area. Taking two hostages the robbers fled town. Outside town the hostages were forced to jump from the running boards of the car. Overturning their car in a ditch they commandeered the car of Dr C. G. Mackey an Army Reserve physican, who had followed them hoping to keep an eye on them until the vigilantes arrived. But arrived on the scene as he topped a ridge and had no time to avoid them.

Piling in Dr. Mackey Studebaker they drove away but later turned on a road that was full of quicksand and the car bogged. Abandoning the car they took to the woods. With night approaching, there was still a good chance for the heavily armed desperadoes, loaded down with bank money, to commandeer a car after crossing the swamps, and make their way to known haunts in Chicago. But the bandits were up against something they had never before encountered in an Indiana foray: That was an ample store of high-powered rifles and the leadership of Regular Army trained men who had seen combat in France . Riding hot on the trail of the fleeing Chicago gangsters were Rossow and several members of the Instructional Staff at Culver Academy . The spirit of Culver was riding that day. Rossow was a hard man to stand against in battle and in pursuit of the bandits, he meant business. A sweep through the woods and swamp turned up all the robbers and all but $3,000 of the cash.

Box #1 "The Get Away Car"
Park your car in the area of the beach on Lake Shore Drive and walk the path toward the woods at the east side of the beach. Follow the path along the 6 feet tall fence past a beach volleyball court, children's play area and picnic shelter. When you enter the woods the path quickly forks. Take the lower path that forks again in just a few paces. Take the lower path again. You come to a small tree and fallen tree that the path steps around. Just a couple paces past the small tree is a short stump just off the trail on the right. This is where the bandits abandoned their car.

Box #2 "It's in the Bag"
**Please note possible need to adjust clues
Retrace the few steps to the path you just left and continue walking with the lake on your right until you come to a where two paths cross. Make a U turn and travel up the paved path. You will come to a trail that branches to the north.

**** When I checked this box in August, there was a tree that had fallen over the path making it nearly impossible to continue on this path. (I say nearly impossible because the DUCA family managed to climb through the tree:-) I would not have been so brave.) You may get to box #2 by retracing your steps to the paved path that you originally entered to woods on and taking the first trail on your left (north). From this point you follow the oringinal clure.

Follow it for 9 paces (one pace = 2 steps). On your left is a tree that forks low to the ground and where the bank's cash is stashed. Return to the trail you just left and continue down it till you reach the car that you abandoned.

The signs at the beach say that there is a $2.00 parking fee for Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays. During swimming season, I assume. You may be able to find parking on the street.