Girl's Cries Crack Nerve of Bandit

Salt Lake Telegram, 2 November 1951, page 25

Because thieves abhor much noise making and because young girls sometimes scream when faced with a gun, proprietors of the Apollo Theater, 3605 S. State, kept their proceeds intact Friday morning.

A gunman with obviously amateurish standing stood in front of the cashier's cage Thursday at 9 p.m. Just long enough for Velma Woodard [17], the cashier, to release two piercing screams. Then he ran.

The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. ... Woodard, 340 Fenton Ave., ... Salt Lake, Velma apparently upset the plans of the awful gunman by talking via phone to a friend from inside the cashier's cage.

While she talked, the gunman paced – and lost his nerve.

...s Woodard said the gunman walked back and forth in front of the theater while she was using the telephone. He then stood by the cashier's box and examined the picture posted there.

“When I hung up the receiver,” said the girl, “he pulled a gun out of his pocket and pointed it through the window.”

“Give me the money,” the man demanded.

... Velma was beyond being ...rative.

“I was scared. I just sat and screamed. I screamed twice and he ran,” she explained.

The gunman, sought by officers from city and county and state highway patrol law enforcement agencies, was described as 20 to 30 years old, no teeth in front, blond, wavy hair. He wore a yellowish-plaid jacket, brown trousers and was bareheaded.

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