Officer Schulz was on his rounds in downtown Bloomington when he saw a group of boys inside the Buescher Store on West Market. They exited through the back door and Schulz was just too late to catch any of them. He did however, attempt to shoot at them, but fortunately, his pistol did not fire. He called for help and he a Detective Radka tracked down the boys to the Alton train yard.
The boys were found hiding in a box car. They were all fifteen years old and gave a story of travelling by rail to Springfield, where they robbed a grocery store and then continuing on to Kansas City, where they robbed a house in a small town outside Kansas City. The report does not indicate that the boys were malnourished or even hungry. In the Buescher meat market they had smeared the floors with butter and opened the gas valve, which could have spoiled all the meat in the market. These boys were held over for charges in court.
On the same day, the city instituted a rule for all city employees. A couple of days earlier, an affray had broken out in the street and two firemen had been slow in coming to the aid of the police. The new rule stated that the police could call on any city employees to help in the preservation of the peace and that that those employees were required to lend all possible support to the police.