Monty McCord - The 1931 Hastings Bank Job & the Bloody Bandit Trail

Published by The History Press

Charleston, SC 29403

www.historypress.net

Copyright 2013 by Monty McCord

All rights reserved

First published 2013

e-book edition 2013

Manufactured in the United States

ISBN 978.1.61423.996.3

Library of Congress CIP data applied for.

print edition ISBN 978.1.60949.796.5

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

For Annthe one.

Contents

Preface

I learned of the 1931 Hastings bank robbery in the 1970s while working on my first book, a history of the Hastings police department. After stints at the Adams and Phelps County sheriffs offices, I joined the HPD in 1978. The book was locally printed four years later. Over the next thirty years, between other book projects, I saved bits of information about the robbery for a possible article. But the more I learned about it, the more I wanted to know.

Working with many different sources, particularly newspapers across the country, it isnt always easy to glean the actual story. In fact, the various aspects of this book took a bit of detective work to decipher. It was necessary to recognize reporters errors so they didnt derogate the story. After many years of study, Im confident that the facts have finally revealed themselves.

I decided that, considering such a momentous crime, I was looking at only half of the story. I wanted to know who the bank bandits were and where they came from. Had they robbed any other banks? What became of them after they left Hastings with our money?

The facts of the bank robbery itself were well covered by local newspapers, but the mystery remained. What happened to the bandits afterward? Research over time would reveal the mysteryor would it?

Acknowledgements

I am truly grateful to the many wonderful people who helped in one way or another with this work. I list them here in no particular order and with the sincere hope that I havent forgotten anyone.

I would like to begin by offering a very special thank you to Darran Fowler, publisher, and Don Seaton, owner of the Hastings Tribune, whose complete support and willingness to share materials helped to make this book complete. The Tribunes detailed coverage of the bank robbery allowed for a nearly step-by-step narrative.

A sincere thank you to my wife, Ann, for all of her helpresearch, editorial, technicalbut most importantly, for her support of my work.

Also a thank you to Mark Schreiber, deputy warden (retired) of Missouri Department of Corrections, who shared his time and historical knowledge of the old prison, and to Ray Miller, a volunteer prison tour guide (www.missouripentours.com), both friends worth having. My appreciation also goes to Jon Bruning, Nebraska attorney general; Sonya Fauver, Nebraska Board of Pardons; Richard Witt, Catherine Renschler, Carol Kleppinger and Karen Butler of the Adams County Nebraska Historical Society; Patricia Freeman, Webb City, Missouri Genealogical Society; Linda Williams, clerk of the Circuit Court, Carthage, Missouri; Jeanne Babb, Jasper County Missouri Circuit Court; Andy Howell, Ogden Standard-Examiner; Jeannene Douglass, Nebraska Department of Correctional Services; Gayla Koerting, Linda Hein and Matt Piersol from the Nebraska State Historical Society; Christy Smith, Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum; Jeanne Newby and Peggy Duty, Central Texas Genealogical Society; Cathy Spitzenberger, University of Texas at Arlington Library; Matt Swearengin, Durant Daily Democrat; Zoe Ann Stoltz, Montana Historical Society; KC May Sackman, Montana Old Prison Museum; Ken Fisk, the Coin Center; Linda Merryman, Waco-McLennan County Texas Library; Susan Wentroth and Beverly Mossman, Oklahoma Historical Society; Jackie Williamson and Annette Laber, Thayer County Museum; Herman Kirkwood, Oklahoma Outlaw-Lawman History Association; Oklahoma State Department of Health; Sergio Valasco, Texas State Library and Archives Commission; George Goldthwaite; Gail Hughes; Dolores Lindsay; Ron Lukesh; Lenn and Lauretta Woods; Cyndi Snokhous; Martha Williams; Randal Chick; Carl Montgomery; Charlie Vogel; Tommy Dryden; Ray Thomas; Deborah Hatten Lacey; Leon Davis; Floyd Marian; and Pat Toscano.

Introduction

This is the story of the Hastings National Bank robbery of 1931 and the trail of blood spread by the Texas and Oklahoma bandits who perpetrated the crime, a trail that stretched into the 1950s. But first, a little background is in order.

The state of Nebraska did not escape the rash of bank robberies that plagued the Midwest during the Roaring Twenties and Dirty Thirties. Nor, as history shows us, did the robberies begin during those times. Citizens often read newspaper accounts of these and other crimes throughout the state before the 1920s.

One such article appeared prior to the Hastings bank robbery, fourteen years to the day, in fact, detailing Nebraska lawman Jim Malones battle with bank robbers in the early years of the twentieth century. In part it said, The history of Nebraska bank robberies sounds like a chapter from a Diamond Dick magazine. It deals with bad men, sure enough detectives, and a gang so organized and controlled by a few leading spirits that for years Nebraska bankers labored under the danger of robberies more apparent and more real than any other state in the nation.

On May 1, 1917, prohibition went into effect in Nebraska (two years before national prohibition), and with it came new responsibilities for the governor. State law made it the duty of the governor to enforce the prohibition law and a law against the theft of automobiles and gave him the power to employ whatever assistants he needed to carry out enforcement. Shortly before the law went into effect, Governor Neville explained, The enforcement of the new law rests upon the local authorities and they will be held to strict accountability for the failure to enforce same. The governors appointee for the job was called chief deputy law enforcement officer. The chiefs assistants were called state agents of the law enforcement department (or division). They were commonly referred to as the state sheriff and deputy state sheriffs. It was also the duty of the state sheriff to assist local law enforcement agencies, when requested, with any crimes that were above their ability to manage. This most often involved major crimes, including bank robberies, at a time when offenders were highly mobile and could flee through several counties and even cross state lines to make good their escape.

One major case culminated in September 1927. Richard Brumfield and Lester and Donald Barge were arrested in Minot, North Dakota, in response to circulars sent out by Nebraska state sheriff William C. Condit. (The office of state sheriff had officially been created that year, even though the title had been in use for several years.) Brumfield and Barge had stolen a car in San Francisco and driven to Nebraska, where their crime spree continued. They were wanted for robberies and attempted robberies of banks at Hamlet, Saronville, Taylor and Smithfield in Nebraska and Hillrose, Colorado. During the attempted robbery of the Taylor bank, the sheriff was kidnapped and the town marshal wounded. They were also wanted for the murders of a bank cashier in North Dakota and a marshal in Minnesota.