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Forest City,Missouri May 7, 1889
The spirit of Jesse James is still rampant in Missouri.
The Forest City bank was robbed in the old Missouri way today. Shortly after 1 O'clock, President Webber, cashier Hunt, and Wesley Sanford were sitting in front of the bank talking baseball. Three men wearing slouch hats entered the bank and the bank officials followed them in. Once inside the bank the strangers drew revolvers and covered all three. It was then discovered that the men were masked. The prisoners were told that if they made the least outcry they would be shot dead. Cashier Hunt was marched behind the counter with a pistol at his head and forced to show where the funds were kept. The cashier opened the safe and the thief tossed $4,500 into a little bag and demanded more. The cashier said that was all the cash in the bank. He was then marched back to the other prisoners and the three were taken to the rear portion of the bank and told to remain there for ten minutes on pain of death. The robbers then left the bank taking with them all the firearms they could find. The President and cashier did not wait for the limit of time to expire,but gave the alarm as soon as the robbers were out of the building. They were too late,as the robbers had mounted and left the town. Posses were sent out but so far have captured no prisoners. The directors of the bank offer a $1,000 reward for the robbers. This is the second robbery that has taken place in the vicinity recently.
Southwest City,Missouri
On May 20,1895, The Bill Doolin Gang attempt to rob the bank but are thwarted.
State Auditor J.C. Seaborn is killed and Bill Doolin receives a head wound.
La Grange,Missouri
Bank is robbed of $21,000 on February 27, 1887
Melvin E. Baughn 1836-1868
b.Virginia,moved to Missouri
He was a pony express rider,guerrilla raider, jayhawker,horse thief,robber and killer.
Before he was hanged in Kansas he requested to be buried in Doniphan,Missouri.
1884
Clay Wilson and Con W. Caddigan were arrested in St.Louis on July 1st with a lot of gambling implements and bunco material in their possession and are well known to western detectives as smart confidence men and thieves.
Bank Robbery In Missouri
Kansas City,Nov 11
The Kirksville Savings Bank was entered by burglars early this morning and robbed of $14,000 in government bonds belonging to Samuel Rees,President and something in the neighborhood of $18,000 in gold and greenbacks. Two or three thousand dollars in silver were left,evidently too heavy, and $2,400 in the vault was overlooked by the robbers.
OMAHA POLICE COURT
Three burglars blew up a safe in a bank in Sheridan,Missouri on the night of Feb 15, 1898. They got away with $2,400. The bank's insurance company hired the famed Pinkerton Detective Agency and sent assistant superintendent F.H Tollotson to hunt down the burglars. Tollotson tracked one of the wanted men through Missouri,to Council Bluffs and eventually to a room at the Sheridan Hotel in Omaha. With the aid of the Omaha police,Tollotson apprehended a gun wielding fugitive after a brief struggle. The alleged bank robber gave his name as Charles Martin,but had several letters addressed to Charles Davis. Martin was unknown to Omaha police but some detectives speculated to newspaper reporters he could be the notorious safe blower and bank robber Sam Welsh. At the time of his arrest,Martin had a gold watch and $565 in cash,believed to be his share of the spoils of the Missouri bank robbery. Martin was taken to the police court where he was measured,photographed and locked up while he awaited transfer to Missouri.
Martha Alice "Mattie" Howard 1894-?
b.Idaho,moved to Kansas City,Missouri
She robbed and murdered a Kansas City jeweler and got 7 years in the Missouri Penitentiary.
Became an evangelist and wrote a book on her life.
NEOSHO TIMES April 3, 1919
Man arrested in Granby bank robbery.
Tells K.C officers that the loot is concealed in a mine.
A.M Gunnell,of Neosho,Missouri., 32 years old,arrested Thursday at 1423 Charlotte street with a 16 year old girl,who was released later,was taken to Granby,Missouri,by Granby officials late today as a "material witness" to clear up the robbery of the bank of Granby, January 26. Questioned by the police after his arrest with the young woman, Gunnell gave a detailed account of his past life. Among other things, he told of borrowing a cash register from a Granby merchant and that when he returned it,the merchant took him into the basement and showed him $16,000 in Liberty bonds. "This is the fruit of one bank robbery" Gunnell says the merchant told him, and then offered a half and half division if Gunnell would dispose of the bonds for cash. Gunnell says he refused the offer. Gunnell later said the bonds were hidden in a coal mine near Granby. Robert E.Phelan, chief of detectives,communicated with Granby officials,who came for Gunnell late today to see if he could clear up what has been a mystery. Gunnell has a wife and two children in Neosho. This story is published in the Kansas City Star on Tuesday evening. Gunnell once lived in Neosho and was engaged in the junk business over near the Frisco depot. He seems to have left here about a year ago. We could not find out whether his family still lives here or not. The Bank of Granby was robbed of $10,000 in Liberty bonds some two months ago and the supposition is that the bonds he described may be the same ones but there is a difference in the amount. This is the first clue obtained to the Granby bank robbery.
Elmer, Missouri
August 19, 1922
Thieves took 93 dollars in money and stamps from the post office and then entered the bank through a window,badly damaged the vault door with a sledge hammer but were unable to open it. They left behind their nitroglycerine.
St.Louis,Missouri
April 22, 1922 South Broadway
Three police officers were guarding money at a trust company across the street from a bank. A man ran in and notified them that the bank was being robbed. When they ran across the street,gunfire erupted and two officers were shot in the head and killed while the third took a bullet in the shoulder. Three suspects were later captured and two of them, Charles Merrill and Hugh Pinkley were hanged on July 18,1924 at the city jail.
William "Mike" Evans 1897-?
Missouri
Harry Funk 1885-1940
Illinois/Missouri
I'm not sure when these guys started their criminal career but their crimes go back to at least 1919. Evans was doing life at Missouri Penitentiary for a 1919 murder and Funk broke his back falling over the wall helping Evans escape. Evans never forgot the favor Funk did for him. Some of this I got from the Chicago Tribune of July 8,1936, and the rest came from other newspaper clippings.
William "Mike" Evans,39 years old,murderer and bank robber,was paroled yesterday from a robbery sentence of 10 years to life in Joliet penitentiary and returned to serve a life sentence for murder in the Missouri Penitentiary at Jefferson City from which he escaped in 1923. By pre-arrangement with the Missouri authorities,he was met at the Joliet prison gate. His sentence in this state was for the $184,000 robbery of the Farmer's Bank of Chenoa,in McLean County in January 1925. He and Harry Funk,posing as bank examiners,hoodwinked the bank officials,tied up James Kelly,the president,after most of the employees had departed,and escaped with cash and bonds. Uninsured,the bank failed. Funk was captured and sentenced to n10 years to life shortly thereafter. In May,1927, Evans was unmasked at the Joliet prison gate,armed with pistols and nitroglycerine and disguised as a priest,bent on freeing Funk. In doing so, he was attempting to return a favor. It was Funk who aided Evans ,imprisoned for murder,to escape from the Jefferson City prison in 1923. Evans was promptly sentenced for the bank robbery. In June,1930, Evans and seven other convicts were surprised at the mouth of a tunnel they had dug nearly to the prison walls from the basement of an abandoned prison factory. Funk,still in Joliet,has been a paralytic invalid for several years.
Other newspaper articles,
William "Mike" Evans showed up at the gate of the Joliet prison disguised as a priest carrying a basket of flowers. He said he was there to visit Harry Funk and thought the flowers would brighten up his room. When he was caught, they found lots of pistols,ammunition,four suits and enough nitroglycerine in his car to blow up a city block. He even had some nitro in the basket of flowers.
Lloyd E. Sampsell 1900-1952
"The Yacht Bandit"
Escaped from a Missouri state reformatory when he was 18.
He and his partner would travel by yacht to rob banks on the west coast.
Famous prison escapee in the 1920s-40s, escaped from Fulsom.
Paroled in 1947 and robbed a bank and killed a bystander a year later.
Executed in the gas chamber.
Jack Mann alias Henry Mason
Missouri
Robbed bank of Napolean,Missouri of $583 on 4-15-32
Stole automobile
Shot to death former Warrensburg,Missouri Fire Chief Sam Burge while robbing his filling station 12-8-32
Escaped Johnson County Jail and was shot to death by posse
John Richard Bayless 1915-1981
Kansas
Robbed the Farmer's Merchant Bank of Mansfield,Missouri Nov 2 1937
Was at Alcatraz and was caught trying to swim away.
Carl Janaway 1902-1997
b.Arkansas,lived in Doniphan,Missouri for a time.
One of Cookson Hills Bandits.
Was in Alcatraz with Capone.
He was Pretty Boy Floyd's mechanic.
Terry Alden
"The Bionic Bandit"
Escaped from New Jersey prison.
Robbed 5 St.Louis banks of $72,000 during the 1970s.
St.Louis named him the Bionic Bandit because of his athletic ability and once while he was robbing a bank,a security guard shot him in the back as he was running away and he didn't even flinch.
William Scott Morton 1856-1878
b.Virginia, lived in Springfield,Missouri as an orphan.
Went to New Mexico and became a gunman for the Murphy-Dolan faction during the Lincoln County War.
Paul Christian 1929-?
Dexter,Missouri
He was one of three men who robbed the Bank of Gordonville of $3500 in Cape Girardeau,Missouri Feb 21, 1950. He was caught trying to spend some of the money, $15.00 in pennies. They discovered the money bag and coin wrappers buried on his father's farm in Dexter,Missouri.
Pevely,Missouri
Robert Michael Hickman,56 and Robert Theodore Weaver,47, both of St.Louis,Missouri, robbed the Pevely bank of $40,174 on July 27,1954 after ordering the employees into the vault. They were caught and each sentenced to 22 and a half years,2 and a half years less than the maximum allowed. The judge told them that the reason he deducted the 2 and a half years from their sentence was because during the robbery they showed a "touch of humanity." When a female employee of the bank advised the men that if they shut the vault door completely,they would suffocate, Hickman and Weaver left the vault cracked open so they could breath.
William Henry Waggoner 1924-?
b.St.Louis,Missouri
Did time in the Missouri Penitentiary for armed robbery in 1946.
He then went to Santa Fe,New Mexico where he robbed a hardware store and shot the owner in the leg after the owner tried to take his gun. After serving time for that robbery,he headed down to Florida where he was caught for armed robbery and put on a chain gang. He claimed to have stolen $22,000 during his life and only kept a job long enough to find out where the safe was located.
John William Farr 1922-?
Missouri
Robbed the First State Bank of Buckner,Missouri.
He also robbed the Farmer's and Merchant Bank of Eureka,Missouri.
On June 17,1955 he was sentenced to 25 years.
Robert Dean Ponder (age 30)
Missouri
He robbed the bank at Brumley,Missouri July 10,1958 of $17,747.
For a while the police suspected his father and two brothers were in on it with him.
John Austin Hooper 1882-1917
Legendary Oregon bandit and escape artist.
Was sent to San Quentin in 1900 for larceny.
Escaped from an Oregon jail.
Killed a police officer in Joplin,Missouri on June 3,1916.
Sent to the Missouri Penitentiary where he later escaped.
He was killed by police in Mississippi when they spotted him floating down the river in a houseboat where he had three rifles and a revolver.
Here are some 100 year old mugshots from Nebraska. I'm looking to see If I can find any old Missouri mugshots posted anywhere.
Three men robbed the Duenweg Bank on February 17,1915 of $1,806 after locking the cashier in the vault. The bandits failed to catch a street car and tried to flee on foot but were captured.
LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER'S MEMORIAL
Lafayette County,Missouri May 4, 1919
Sheriff Joe Talbott,Deputy Sheriff John McDonald and Deputy Constable James Stapleton were shot and killed while transporting three auto theft suspects they had arrested to jail. The men left Lexington bound for Marshall,transporting three suspects that had stolen a car in Lexington,Missouri. They left Marshall, with Sheriff Talbot and Constable Stapleton in the front and Deputy McDonald in the back seat with the three unshackled prisoners. When they had not shown up in Lexington by the next day, a search was conducted and the bodies of the three lawmen were discovered near Mayview,Missouri in a field by the Prairie Church. Stapleton was still alive but the other two were dead. Stapleton was taken to the hospital but died three days later. He had been shot in the head and shoulders and beaten badly before being found barely alive 36 hours later. Deputy McDonald was shot in the back of the head after an apparent struggle in the back seat of the car. Sheriff Talbott was shot three times in the back. James Bradley was charged with the murders in June 1920. He was tried and convicted of the murders but was given a new trial and acquitted. He was later arrested with James Dean in Kansas City,Missouri in 1923 in connection with a simultaneous armed robbery of two banks in Buckner,Missouri in excess of $49,000 of liberty bonds and negotiable securities which were recovered following a gun battle with police.
The Heatherly Gang (around 1836)
Carroll County,Missouri
A family of thieves and murderers consisting of the father,George Heatherly Sr, his wife, four sons and a daughter.
Charles Meir "Dutch Charlie" 1817? - ?
Gasconade County,Missouri
In a span of 50 years he was sent to the Missouri Penitentiary 13 times and the Illinois Penitentiary twice. He always used a different name. The first time in the Missouri prison was during the 1860s. He swindled people with bogus land deals. He disappeared after 1907 and they figured he was about 90 years old.
Gaston Means 1879-1938
b.North Carolina and died in Springfield Missouri hospital.
He was a scammer.
Pierce City,Missouri 1900
Night watchman Reuben J.Chappell was shot through the eye and killed while investigating possible bandits roaming around the rail yards. His suspected murderer, Peter Hampton was killed by vigilantes months later.
Roy Ledbetter and Howard Carter robbed the bank of Ash Grove,Missouri of $3,758 on June 6,1931.
Missouri State Highway Patrol
Sgt.Ben Booth of the Missouri Highway Patrol and Boone County Sheriff Roger Wilson were shot and killed at a roadblock in Columbia,Missouri on June 14,1933. Francis McNeily was convicted of killing Wilson and was given a penitentiary sentence. George McKeever was convicted of killing Booth and was hanged in Fulton,Missouri December 18,1936.
Ralph Roe 1906- ?
Excelsior Springs,Missouri
Bank robber who vanished from Alcatraz.
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