The Bandit of Joliet Road

It was a Tuesday evening in mid-December, 1911, when alarming reports started coming in to the Lake County sheriff. One was from the Hobart veterinarian, Dr. Mike O'Hearn, who had been traveling along the Joliet road (present-day 73rd Avenue) around 7 p.m. when out of the darkness a stranger in a buggy hailed him. It was only after he had stopped that he noticed the stranger held a gun. The man demanded to know if Mike had a watch, and then peppered him with questions, all the while pointing the gun at him. At the approach of a couple other rigs, the stranger whipped up his horse and moved on, to Mike's great relief. As soon as he could get to a telephone, Mike called in to Sheriff Thomas Grant with a description of the man.

Two similar reports came in that evening of Deep River-area residents being accosted by a man with a gun on the Joliet road.

The December 14 edition of the Hobart News recounted Mike's experience with a sober warning: "Everybody take notice and keep off the roads at night."

The next day, the Gazette cleared up the mystery:

A deputy sheriff from Laporte county who was delivering a horse and buggy to a deputy sheriff at Merrillville Tuesday evening imbibed too freely at some thirst parlor enroute and in stopping several people, among whom were Mike O'Hearn from here and young Granzow and young Buchfuehrer, nearly scared the lives out of the gentlemen. They fancied they were "held up" and so reported the incident but the deputy simply stopped the three different ones to learn the time of day, which was about 6:30 p.m.

I wonder if the Bandit of Joliet Road arrested himself when he found out who he was.

Sources:
♦ "Ainsworth." Hobart News 14 Dec. 1911.
♦ "Deputy Sheriff In Hold-Up." Hobart Gazette 15 Dec. 1911.