ST. MARYS, OHIO ROBBERY
October 3, 1933.
First National Bank & Trust
Five men reported to be involved within the robbery. Gang members involved believed to be Harry Pierpont,
Charles Makley, John Hamilton, Russell Clark, and Edward Shouse. Mary Kinder was the reported get-away driver.
This was the gang's first bank robbery after their escape from Michigan City Prison. St. Mary's Ohio was Charles Makley's home town and many believe that Makley recommended the bank to the Gang.
The First National Bank of St. Mary's Ohio had been closed by the Treasury Department, but had cash on hand to accomodate it's reopening.
Harry Pierpont is reported as entering the bank with Charles Makley. Harry went to the bank teller with a map in his hand. Hidden under the map was a pistol. When the bank teller looked up when Harry came to the window, she noted the gun under the map.
Harry and Makley left the bank with two bags of money, over $11,000. The St. Mary's Police Cheif sat a few blocks from the bank listening to the World Series while the robbery occurred.
After the robbery, the Gang had to wash and dry the money a number of times to remove the "new" feel of the bills. The Gang knew that trying to pass the new bills would result in suspicion and the risk that the serial numbers be checked against a list of stolen numbers distributed by the Treasury Department.
GREENCASTLE, INDIANA ROBBERY
October 23, 1933.
Central National Bank & Trust
This was the first bank robbery in which John Dillinger joined the Terror Gang.
It was reported that eight men were involved in this robbery. Knong members were Harry Pierpont, John Dillinger, John Hamilton, Charles Makley, Russell Clark, and Harry Copeland. Another is believed to have been Ed Shouse.
Two cars rolled into Greencastle with four men in each vehicle. After the vehicles parked, six men entered the bank while the remaining two men stayed in the vehicles.
Upon entering the bank, the robbers pulled guns and made the twelve customers in the bank at the time all move to one side of the bank. One of the robbers walked up to Harry Wells, bank cashier. The robber demanded that Harry open the vault. Harry obeyed the command and the robber quickly collected $20,000 cash and $55,000 securities.
The alarm was set off by one of the bank employees, which notified the local police station. However, it took 20 minutes for the police to arrive at the bank by which time the outlaws were long gone.
It should be noted that John Dillinger later stated that the take from this bank was only $32,000 and not the $75,000 reported. This statement, along with the unusual amount of time it took the police to arrive at the crime scene has led many to believe that the robbery was arranged by the East Chicago underworld bosses. Often times bank robberies were "arranged" by local crime bosses to cover embezzlements of monies that could be determined by an audit of the bank's books. A robbery was a convenient way to cover cash discrepencies from being discovered.
RACINE, WISCONSIN ROBBERY
November 20, 1933
American Trades Bank & Trust
At 2:20 pm, two men entered the bank. Both were armed with machine guns hidden under their overcoats. One of the men, Harry Pierpont, casually strolled over to the front window of the bank and posted two Red Cross posters over the window. This was to obscure the view into the bank from any passer-bys outside. Harry then pulled his machine gun from under his coat. At this time, Russell Clark, the other man, also pulled his machine gun and took up position behind the teller cages where he could easily view all of those inside of the bank.
John Dillinger and Charles Makley entered the bank. John was carrying a machine gun and Makley was carrying two sacks to collect the banks money.
Makley immediately began gathering money from the various cages and stuffing the loot into the bags. The bank employees and some customers were ordered to the back of the bank and were forced to lie face down on the floor.
Makley approached bank teller Harold Graham and ordered him to, "Hold Them Up". Startled and in shock, Graham paused. Makley fired his revolver directly ay Graham. As Graham fell to the floor, he pressed the silent alarm button that was located at his teller window. The Gang did not know that a silent alarm had been pressed.
Dillinger had collected Bank President Grover Weyland, cashier Leslie Brown, and cashier L.S. Browne and herded them into the vault area of the bank and demanded that they open the vault. Dillinger collected the money from the vault and made his way back to the front of the bank to meet with the other outlaws.
A few blocks away at the local police station, Sgt. Hansen and Sgt. Worsley received the alarm notification from the bank. Hansen grabbed a Thompson machine gun from the station's gun cabinet while Worsley strapped on his revolver. The two were joined by Officer Cyril Boyard and the three police officers hurried off towards the bank.
Officer Boyard was the first to enter the bank and was quickly disarmed and taken hostage by the robbers. Sgt. Hansen was directly behind Boyard, and as he entered was fired upon by Russell Clark. Hansen dropped to the floor with a grazing wound to his right side. The police officer's weapons were removed from their posession.
Sgt. Worsley was outside in the squad car and was notified by a pedestrian that the other officers had been taken hostage by the robbers. Worsley drove back to the police station, a few blocks away, to gather reinforcements. Soon, other police officers and detectives arrived on the scene.
The Gang noticed the police reinforcements gathering outside of the bank and fired one of the machine guns through the plate glass windows facing the front of the bank. The robbers then collected the Bank President Grover Weyland, Officer Boyard, and bank employee Ursula Patzke, and using them as human shields exited the front of the bank.
The Gang pushed and herded their hostages through the crowd which had now gathered in front of the bank. The Gang made it to their getaway car and forced the hostages to ride on the running boards of the vehicle (to prevent the police from firing and potentially striking one of the hostages) and made their escape.
After a few blocks, the car stopped and ordered Officer Boyard off of the car. The other hostages were placed inside of the vehicle and it fled, making a clean getaway. Mr. Weyland and Mrs. Patzke were released 46 miles away.
EAST CHICAGO, INDIANA ROBBERY
January 15, 1934
First National Bank
First off, there is a great deal of speculation as to whether John Dillinger or Harry Pierpont were involved in this robbery. The two outlaws were documented as being in Florida on January 14th. Needless to say, while it is possible that John and Harry traveled from Florida to Northern Indiana in one day, it is very unlikely. It should also be noted that Mary Kinder later stated that this robbery was not the work of John and Harry, but had been undertaken by John Hamilton, Homer Van Meter, and an unknown member of Baby Face Nelson's Gang.
What is known of this robbery is that two robbers entered the bank on January 15, 1934, while one robber remained in the car. While inside of the bank, the alarm was sounded. Upon exiting the bank, the robbers encountered the police and gun fire was exchanged by both sides. John Hamilton was wounded in the gun battle, but would survive.
One of the officers, Sgt. William Patrick O'Malley, shot one of the robbers in the chest several times. The robber shot was identified as John Dillinger. The outlaw was wearing a bullet proof vest and while the gun shots made him stagger backwards, the outlaw was able to shoot Officer O'Malley with his Thompson machine gun. Officer O'Malley was killed.
Sadly, Officer O'Malley left behind a wife, Letitia, and three daughters, Agnes, Frances, and Margaret.