Editor's Notebook

Editor’s notebook

December 2, 2021

A question from a reader of this newspaper and wife of a Superior High School classmate reminded me of the day more than 60 years ago when Mankato’s Texaco gasoline station was robbed. It was a pleasant January afternoon and I was working at my father’s Champlin station located on the hill south of Superior.

Winter days were usually pretty slow and my father often said business was so slow in February, grass would have grown in the drive if it wasn’t so cold. I liked those days for they often provided reading and project time.

I wasn’t in Mankato that day but I suspect there was considerable traffic on Highway 36 as the interstate highways had not yet been built across Kansas and Nebraska. To serve the highway travellers, there likely were at least 12 gasoline stations, perhaps more, open that afternoon in Mankato.

The afternoon became memorable for me when I learned the Texaco station had been robbed at gunpoint.

With the hope of catching the robber, the Jewell County Sheriff’s office requested the assistance of area law enforcement agencies. En route to the stateline, Nuckolls County Sheriff Emil Klawitter requested the assistance of a Nebraska State Patrol Trooper.

The two officers took up a position directly in front of the Blauvelt Station and began monitoring northbound traffic.

I stood by the cash register located behind a plate glass window in the station office and watched the events unfold.

Looking back, I now think it probably would have been smarter to have taken cover behind something more substantial than a plate glass window. If I would have gone into the old station building, I could have watched through windows that were smaller should the officers needed to shoot at the suspect to force a stop.

For once I didn’t want a customer because that likely would have meant I had to go outside. It seemed like an eternity passed before the trooper walked over to the station office and said we could stand down as the suspect had been apprehended in Belleville.

Wanting to know more about the incident, I went to our newspaper files and found the following story:

Friday the 13th proved to be a bad day for an 18-year-old youth from New Philadelphia, Ohio.

He had an argument with his father on that day, took the family automobile and left home.

Saturday afternoon he was arrested for the armed robbery of a Mankato Service station. About $198 was taken from the Owen Texaco Service on US 36 in Mankato. (The current location of a convenience store known as Mankato Express.)

Jewell County Sheriff Earl Stafford said the youth had admitted to the robbery. He said the youth had driven into the station and asked Lyle Cady the attendant, who was alone, to fill up the tank of his car. When Cady came to the window of the car to collect for the sale, the youth stuck a loaded, 16-gauge shotgun into Cady’s stomach and demanded the money in the cash register.

After the youth left, Cady called the owner, Cecil Owen and the sheriff. Cady furnished a description of the car and the license tag number.

The youth was arrested about an hour later in Belleville by Republic County sheriff’s officers and Belleville police. He offered no resistance. Stafford said the money and two shotguns were in the car when the youth was apprehended.

As I think about how foolish it was to stand by the cash register, I recalled the time I tried to place an order with an Omaha paper warehouse. Normally the customer service representative is able to check stock and report on the availability and price and, if asked, when I last ordered. That day she didn’t have any of the information and I asked why. Her answer surprised me.

I was told a swatt team had surrounded a nearby building and all of the paper company’s office workers were crouched beneath their desks in case the bullets began flying. In that position, they didn’t have access to their computers and couldn’t answer my questions.