Paul Pueller.com

At 11 o'clock on Sunday, February 27th, 1927, a mask man entered the rear part of Bill Maddow's pool hall in Veneta, Oregon, through the rear door,

armed with a rifle. At the same time, another man who also wore a mask, entered through the front door.

The man in the rear part shouted to the proprietor and six other men in the room to throw up their hands.

The men say they thought it was a joke being played upon them by one of their acquaintances,

but when the rifle barked and Maddow fell in a heap upon the floor, they realized it was a real hold-up. Maddow had been working with something on the floor

with a hammer and when he started to raise up he held the hammer in his hand. The

bandit evidently thought he intended to resist and fired in an instant. The shot was fired while Maddow was still in a recumbent

position and the bullet entered the rear of his shoulder and came out through his neck.

The six men were lined up and all were searched, but nothing was taken from them. It was the

evident purpose of the bandit to see whether or not any of them

had firearms. There was not a gun of any description in the entire building. In the meantime, the man in the

front room had rifled the cash register, obtained about $90. Maddow, after being shot, attempted to arise and crawl toward the front of the building.

The gunman warned him to lie still or he would finish him and then rejoined his companion.

Delbert Crist, one of the men in the pool room at the time, was compelled to drive the robbers in his car south on the old territorial road to Crow, thence out the Crowe Road a mile or so.

He was tied to the steering wheel of the car and the men disappeared into the darkness. Christ freed himself in a few minutes and returned to Veneta to tell the officers where the men had left his car.

The bandits wore masks that almost completely covered their faces and a good description of them could not be had.

Both were medium-sized and wore rough clothes.

Maddow was 40 years of age and is single. He has been operating the pool room at Veneta for the

past year. Mr. Maddow is at the Eugene Hospital and while his wound is serious, attending physicians

expressed the belief that it will not prove fatal. He was doing quite well last night.

The shot that wounded Maddow was from a 3220 rifle. Deputy Sheriff's Turnbull and Daniels responded to a call for help,

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