DOUBLE BANK RAID NETS BIG HAUL

Taranaki Daily News, 23 February 1935, Page 15 (Supplement)

DOUBLE BANK RAID NETS BIG HAUL

Bandits Daring Coup Goes Off Without A Shot WORKERS BOUND ON ARRIVAL: TIME-LOCKS OPEN SAFES SUCCESSFUL double bank robbery, a coup unique in the annals of Oklahoma outlawry, was executed at Okemah without a shot being fired; Six men in overalls and cheese-cloth masks looted two of Okemah’s three banks of an estimated $19,000 and fled 10 minutes ahead of any alarm, leaving 13 persons bound and gagged. A. B. S. Bontty, vice-president of the First National Bank, estimated the bank’s loss at $12,000. • A. J.

Martin, president of the Okemah National, across the street, said the loot there was about $7OOO. “This is a set-up ‘Pretty 'Boy* Floyd and the rest of the boys overlooked,” Mr Bontty said one of the robbers boasted. . ■ Working with precision, three men lay in wait at each bank, overpowering the janitors and taking their keys. Then they ambushed other employees as they entered and trussed them up, eight at the Okemah National and five at the First National. At 9 a.m., when the time-locks opened the vaults, the gunmen seized the cash and fled northward in two small sedans. About 10 minutes later the victims freed themselves and gave the alarm. Four times previously Oklahoma desperadoes had risen to the challenge of a double robbery in the same town, but had always failed. The Dalton gang was wiped out in its raid upon two Coffeyville, Kansas, banks in 1892, four outlaws and four citizens being slain. Henry Starr, Indian outlaw, tried to rob the two banks of Stroud, Oklahoma, in 1915, but was wounded and captured. After being released from prison he was killed in a bank robbery at Harrison, Arkansas, in 1921.. In 1927 Matt and George Kimes climaxed, a brief but bloody career by twice robbing two banks, but they were captured after killing two peace officers and now are serving life sentences. > • ‘ ’ “Pretty Boy” Floyd was charged with robbing two banks on January 14, 1932, but the banks were in different towns—Castle and Paden.