YACHT BANDIT’S BRIDE HAS HER EYES OPENED

Shannon News, 10 December 1929, Page 1

YACHT BANDIT’S BRIDE HAS HER EYES OPENED

Lore and Crime

HANDSOME HUSBAND RECEIVES 15 YEARS

LONG LIST OP ROBBERIES

"Mv darling husband a 'yacht bandit?’ I can’t believe it!" And with this anguished cry, beautiful Lydia Andrews, aged 22, blonde debutante of Cheyenne, fainted away as the grim sentence: "Fifteen years to life," re; sohnded through the Oakland, California, courtroom. Superior Judge Homer Spence had just condemned to Folsom prison Lydia’s adored Lloyd Sampsell and his friend, Ethan McNabb, for a series of audacious robberies Of which the astonished girl was ignorant. The story of her infatuation with Sampsell and his almost successful attempt to keep his true colours from her is one of the strangest in the annals of love and crime. Two years ago Lydia, toast of scores of Wyoming he-men, wearied of social concpiest. She longed for a career in the movies. Hollywood was her obvious goal. Arrived there, she found—as anyone could have told her —the market overstocked. Her disappointment and privation were heartbreaking.' But with a knowledge of stenography she got a job. in a realtor’s office.

"Then," says Lydia, "I met Lloyd. He was awfully nice to me. I loved him—deeply. We were married.” (The authorities have been unable to substantiate this.) "We took some lovely trips on Lloyd’s yacht. There was always plenty of money and pretty clothes for me. I admit that I lived in luxury. I didn’t question the source of his cash account. He told me his in come was from funds he hdd made as a travelling salesman, I never dreamed people would finally tell me he was an ex-convict and bigamist." The Arrest Behind the vehemently pathetic outburst certain salient facts stand out One night a posse of San Francisco detectives raided' a luxurious apartment iri Leavenworth street and arrested three occupants—Sampsell, ■ McNubi and Lydia. Scrutiny of the rooms re vealed a veritable arsenal. Every r-ort of firearm was found hidden in closets beneath beds, under 'blankets—sawed off shotguns, tear bombs, anti-bandit guns equipped with gaseous projectiles rifles masked with Maxim silencers, and soft-nosed ammunition.

While »Lydia was detained at thAlameda County gaol for questioning the police probed deep into the past of her supposed husband. The data they unearthed was astounding. As the re-sult-of their investigations they laic these charges at Sampseii’s door:— Sent to Missouri reformatory in 191 S for fprgery; leader of bank bandi. gang for years, terrorising the who If Pacific coast; "stuck up" alone dozen ol' banks from Vancouver to Los An-, gelcs; gun-runner on west coast o Mexico, carrying contraband ammuni tion in his yacht, the Sovereign: charged with bigamy several years age "real" wife said to be living in seclu sion in San Francisco; held up Pacifi National Bank of Los Angeles Marc’ 12, 1929, getting £1000; held up BanV of Italy branch, same city, March 12 1929, getting £I2OO in currency an i gold. Other robberies: Berkeley Bank £3200; Oakland Bank, £2400; banks iEscalon, Woodland, and Vancouver B.C.

In many of his depredations Sampseii was invaluably aided by recourse to his yacht. Quick getaways from ports he had pillaged were made easy by tin Sovereign, a trim vessel 50ft. long, ornately decorated, gasoline-powered, and capable of making 30 knots. Bough 1 in Seattle, it was confiscated' by the San Francisco police and attached b\ one of the banks Sampseii had. looted. Lydia Pitied California’s attitude towards Lydi-i is one of mingled pity and astonishment that a girl of her intelligence should have been so easily duped. "But it never occurred to me," she stoutly insists. "When were were on the yacht and touched at some port, Lloyd and Ethan would go ashore ‘on business.’ I’d stay aboard. We had such good times at sea, too. Lloyd told me-—and why should I have doubted it?—that he was the principal travelling representative of a wholesale grocery. concern."

The police, still not satisfied with Lydia's part in the three-cornered menage, gave her a thorough grilling, but were unable to shako h?r story. Wha: seemed to be a bullet wround in her leg was, she insisted, the result of a motor car accident: Dressed in summer silks and wrapped in costly furs, Lydia, refined in diction and obviously wellbred, gave no impression of underworld affiliations.’ ■' Throughout the trial of

the two yacht bandits she remained the mystery figure. "Let the Kid Alone" Throughout the protracted investigation Lydia was a figure of paramount interest —not officially, but because of her personality. Even those people; ; ,vho were frankly sceptical of her story ,f ignorance and innocence acknowledged her irresistible charm, and even the women with whom she came in contact said to each other afterward: "She certainly is one sweet kid!" , A sweet kid, yes; also a very puzzled and doleful one . Sampseii and McNabb, the former . protesting his innocence ,gave her a complete "out," "Let the kid alone; she’s all right," growled McNabb. "She’s on the up-and-up." McNabb, by the way, is declared by the police to be the "petting party bandit," convicted of a chain of robberies in Griffith park, Los Angeles, sentenced in . 1923 to San Quentin and paroled in August, 1927. Sampseii is alleged to be Vancouver’s "phantom bandit." Life is tragically grey for Lydia these days. "I’m going back Los Angeles for a while," she says, "to wait for Lloyd. It may be a long time, but I’ll stick it out. You see, my , heart’s with him in prison."