Shortly after ten a.m., November 1, 1939, two men stopped their car outside the Rozier Bank of Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, left the engine running, and entered the bank. Unmasked and armed with shotguns, they ordered four bank officials into the vault, and two customers, who strode into the bank about that time, were also forced into the vault. While one of the bandits stood guard over the hostages, the other began ransacking the tills behind the cashier cages. One of the bank officers was able to sound an alarm located inside the vault, and the robbers fled with about $2,200.
Sheriff Lewis Ziegler and Ste. Genevieve city marshal Henry Drury responded to the alarm and took up the chase as the robbers fled south out of town. In an effort to outdistance their pursuers, the bandit pair ran their car into a ditch just as they turned onto a farm-to-market road on the outskirts of town. The officers came upon the car almost immediately, and Drury jumped out of the lawmen's car with Ziegler right behind him. The bandits opened fire with a shotgun and a rifle, and Drury returned fire with his revolver, but Ziegler's revolver jammed. Drury was struck by a shotgun blast, and he and Ziegler both fell back. Seizing the opportunity, the robbers jumped into the officers' car and took off. Drury's injuries were considered severe at first, but a few days later he was on the road to recovery after numerous buckshot were removed from several parts of his body at a St. Louis hospital. The abandoned bandit car was identified as having been stolen the previous night from a citizen living about five miles south of Ste. Genevieve.
Meanwhile, the robbers continued their flight, and area law enforcement officers were alerted to be on the lookout for the two. They were spotted an hour or two after the holdup as they sped into Arcadia, about fifty miles southwest of Ste. Genevieve, and turned south on Highway 21 (present day Highway 72). Two state troopers gave chase, and a running gun battle at speeds exceeding 70 miles an hour ensued. The robber who wasn't driving hopped into the back seat and exchanged fire with the trooper who was riding shotgun in the pursuing state patrol car. About thirteen miles south of Arcadia, the bandits ditched their car and took to the rugged woods and hills near Glover.
A manhunt was organized, and the next morning a railroad signalman reported to authorities that he'd seen a man who was walking along the tracks near Piedmont take to the woods when the train approached. The man was arrested about noon at the depot in Piedmont, where he was trying to buy a ticket to Poplar Bluff. Identified as 34-year-old Patrick Palmer of Cape Girardeau, he admitted under questioning that he had participated in the bank holdup. He implicated ex-con Clifford Pyles of Ste. Genevieve as the "fingerman" in the robbery, and the 29-year-old Pyles was arrested the same day. Pyles admitted that he had suggested the Rozier Bank as a target and helped plan the crime. The man who had actually helped Palmer pull off the holdup was identified as Eddie "Red" Haggert, but he remained at large.
On November 4, Palmer pleaded guilty, and later in the month he received a sentence of 15 years in prison. Pyles initially pleaded not guilty but later changed his plea to guilty, and he also received 15 years in the big house.
Meanwhile, it was learned that Haggert's real was Marvin Atkeson, and he, like Pyles, was an ex-con. Atkeson was arrested on November 6 in Augusta, Arkansas, for carrying a gun, but he was not identified as a participant in the Ste. Genevieve bank robbery. Put on a detail to work off his fine, he escaped and was not caught again until April of 1940, when he was taken into custody at Fort Dodge, Kansas, on a public drunkenness charge. Identified as a wanted man, he tried to slash his throat while awaiting extradition to Missouri, but the suicide attempt was foiled. He was then brought back to Missouri, where he pleaded guilty to the robbery charge and, like his cohorts, received a 15-year sentence.
Newspaper stories at the time of this incident pointed out that it was the first bank robbery in Ste. Genevieve since May of 1873, when the James-Younger gang had held up the Merchant's Bank of Ste. Genevieve, which was principally owned by the Rozier family, the same family that still owned the Rozier Bank in 1939. So, in a sense, the same bank that had been robbed in 1873 was also robbed 66 years later, although it had changed its name and relocated to a building about a block away from the original bank.
Saturday, February 29, 2020
Saturday, February 22, 2020
Missouri Bank Robberies Fall 1905
A newspaper article that originated in Chicago and circulated in papers throughout the Midwest in early 1906 detailed an outbreak of bank robberies that had occurred in the middle states the previous fall. At least thirty bank robberies had occurred in the states of Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Indian Territories, and Texas during the last three months of 1905. Missouri, "which invented train robbery," usually led all the states of the Union in bank robbery, according to the article, but the Show-Me State had lagged behind the surrounding states during the most recent outbreak of bank robberies. Still, Missouri was the scene of at least a couple of bank robberies during the designated period.
In the wee hours of the morning of November 3, 1905, burglars broke into the Bank of Creighton (located in Cass County about halfway between Clinton and Harrisonville), blew the safe with nitroglycerine, and made off with slightly over $4,000. Rewards were offered for the apprehension of the robbers, but no trace of them was found, at least not in the immediate aftermath of the crime. This robbery occurred less than a week after burglars had broken into a bank at Kingsville in neighboring Johnson County and blown the door of the vault but failed to penetrate the inner safe, thus coming away empty-handed. The robbers did get a very small amount of money, however, from the local post office, which they also broke into.
The Chicago newspaper article mentioned a bank robbery at Eldon, Missouri, in late November 1905, but I could find no mention of this incident in Missouri newspapers of the time. The Chicago article also mentioned a bank robbery at Shelbyville in early December 1905, but this was actually a post office robbery. The thieves broke into the post office through a rear door and then blew open the safe with nitro. They made off with a little over $100 in cash and about $700 in stamps and money orders.
The Chicago newspaper story claimed that the modus operandi was very similar in nearly all the bank robberies that had occurred throughout the Midwest. The robbers usually worked in gangs of four and their main tools in breaking into safes were almost always nitroglycerin and soap. The soap was used to make a "lip" or a mold by caulking the crack between the door and the main body of the safe. The nitro was poured into the lip, a percussion cap and a long fuse were inserted, and then the robbers would retire a safe distance and use the fuse to ignite the explosive. The robbers themselves also tended to share certain traits. They were neither young nor old but instead tended to be somewhere around 35. They were almost always white, as bank robbery was "unknown of negroes," and they were usually ex-convicts.
In the wee hours of the morning of November 3, 1905, burglars broke into the Bank of Creighton (located in Cass County about halfway between Clinton and Harrisonville), blew the safe with nitroglycerine, and made off with slightly over $4,000. Rewards were offered for the apprehension of the robbers, but no trace of them was found, at least not in the immediate aftermath of the crime. This robbery occurred less than a week after burglars had broken into a bank at Kingsville in neighboring Johnson County and blown the door of the vault but failed to penetrate the inner safe, thus coming away empty-handed. The robbers did get a very small amount of money, however, from the local post office, which they also broke into.
The Chicago newspaper article mentioned a bank robbery at Eldon, Missouri, in late November 1905, but I could find no mention of this incident in Missouri newspapers of the time. The Chicago article also mentioned a bank robbery at Shelbyville in early December 1905, but this was actually a post office robbery. The thieves broke into the post office through a rear door and then blew open the safe with nitro. They made off with a little over $100 in cash and about $700 in stamps and money orders.
The Chicago newspaper story claimed that the modus operandi was very similar in nearly all the bank robberies that had occurred throughout the Midwest. The robbers usually worked in gangs of four and their main tools in breaking into safes were almost always nitroglycerin and soap. The soap was used to make a "lip" or a mold by caulking the crack between the door and the main body of the safe. The nitro was poured into the lip, a percussion cap and a long fuse were inserted, and then the robbers would retire a safe distance and use the fuse to ignite the explosive. The robbers themselves also tended to share certain traits. They were neither young nor old but instead tended to be somewhere around 35. They were almost always white, as bank robbery was "unknown of negroes," and they were usually ex-convicts.
Sunday, February 16, 2020
The Lynching of Montgomery Godley
About 11:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve, 1902, several black men were drinking and supposedly involved in an altercation on West Fourth Street in Pittsburg, Kansas, where a "colored ball" was being held at the nearby Jenness Hall. When city policeman Milt Hinkle arrived on the scene and ordered the men to break up the melee, one of them, Joe Godley, greeted him with an insult. Hinkle undertook to arrest Godley, but he resisted and was aided by two of his brothers, Montgomery (aka Mumford) and Jess Godley. In the ensuing scuffle, Hinkle pulled his pistol and several shots were fired, although it's not clear how many, if any, Hinkle fired himself, because one of the Godley brothers managed to wrest the pistol away from Hinkle. The young black man then fired a shot with the officer's own gun that struck Hinkle in the head, killing him within minutes.
Two of the brothers, Montgomery and Jess, were quickly arrested and taken to the city jail, but Joe managed to escape. Within an hour, a mob formed and marched on the jail. A young lad named Doty, who claimed to be able to identify which man shot Hinkle, accompanied the mob. The vigilantes broke into the jail and overpowered the guards. They went first to that part of the jail where Jess Hinkle was being held, but Doty said he was not the man who had fired the fatal shot. Taken to the part of the jail where Mont Godley was being held, Doty identified Mont as the killer. The cell was promptly broken into, and Mont was taken out and strung up to a nearby trolley post about 1:00 a.m. on Christmas morning.
Hinkle had lived in Pittsburg almost twenty years and was serving his second stint as a city policeman at the time he was killed. Mont Godley's brother Will and an uncle, French Godley, were two of the three victims of the notorious lynchings in Pierce City, Missouri, in August 1901. Joe and Jess Godley had already left Pierce City and were living in Pittsburg at the time, and most of the black people who still lived in Pierce City also left as soon as the atrocity occurred, including Mont and the rest of his family. They joined Joe and Jess in Pittsburg.
Almost from the time Montgomery Godley was lynched in Pittsburg, there was some doubt as to whether he was the man who had actually shot Hinkle. Many people, including a number of law officers, thought Joe was the one who did the actual shooting, but several of those who agreed that the mob probably got the wrong man still tried to justify the lynching to a certain degree by saying that, even though Mont might not have been the actual shooter, he was equally guilty because of his scuffling with and resisting Officer Hinkle.
A manhunt for Joe Godley was quickly undertaken in the wake of his escape, and he was finally arrested in California in April of 1904 and brought back to Kansas. He was tried for murder in February of 1905 and promptly found not guilty. Was the quick verdict of acquittal at least partly an attempt to justify the mob action of two years earlier, an act of denial that the vigilantes had gotten the wrong man?
Two of the brothers, Montgomery and Jess, were quickly arrested and taken to the city jail, but Joe managed to escape. Within an hour, a mob formed and marched on the jail. A young lad named Doty, who claimed to be able to identify which man shot Hinkle, accompanied the mob. The vigilantes broke into the jail and overpowered the guards. They went first to that part of the jail where Jess Hinkle was being held, but Doty said he was not the man who had fired the fatal shot. Taken to the part of the jail where Mont Godley was being held, Doty identified Mont as the killer. The cell was promptly broken into, and Mont was taken out and strung up to a nearby trolley post about 1:00 a.m. on Christmas morning.
Hinkle had lived in Pittsburg almost twenty years and was serving his second stint as a city policeman at the time he was killed. Mont Godley's brother Will and an uncle, French Godley, were two of the three victims of the notorious lynchings in Pierce City, Missouri, in August 1901. Joe and Jess Godley had already left Pierce City and were living in Pittsburg at the time, and most of the black people who still lived in Pierce City also left as soon as the atrocity occurred, including Mont and the rest of his family. They joined Joe and Jess in Pittsburg.
Almost from the time Montgomery Godley was lynched in Pittsburg, there was some doubt as to whether he was the man who had actually shot Hinkle. Many people, including a number of law officers, thought Joe was the one who did the actual shooting, but several of those who agreed that the mob probably got the wrong man still tried to justify the lynching to a certain degree by saying that, even though Mont might not have been the actual shooter, he was equally guilty because of his scuffling with and resisting Officer Hinkle.
A manhunt for Joe Godley was quickly undertaken in the wake of his escape, and he was finally arrested in California in April of 1904 and brought back to Kansas. He was tried for murder in February of 1905 and promptly found not guilty. Was the quick verdict of acquittal at least partly an attempt to justify the mob action of two years earlier, an act of denial that the vigilantes had gotten the wrong man?
Saturday, February 8, 2020
The Tragic Story of Lulu Walker
Twenty-year-old Lulu Walker came to Springfield, Missouri, from the Dunnegan area of neighboring Polk County sometime around the late spring or early summer of 1898. She was "rather good looking," according to one Springfield newspaper reporter, but she had "the appearance of having seen better days." According to Lulu herself, her parents were well-to-do farmers in Polk County, and letters later found in her possession seemed to add credence to the idea that she came from a good family. However, Lulu was no longer welcome at home, although the exact reason for her estrangement from her parents is not known.
Shortly after arriving in Springfield, Lulu was hired by Charles Afflack, manager of the Waddle Hotel on Campbell Street, to work at the hotel (probably as a maid). Afflack later said that Lulu appeared to be a good girl and was well liked by his family. Lulu stayed there only about four weeks, however, and then began "frequenting questionable houses."
On Saturday, August 27, at the Gulf depot in Springfield, Lulu ran onto a woman whose acquaintance she had previously made in Ash Grove, and the woman introduced Lulu to her niece, 18-year-old Lucy Richardson. Lucy's life, like Lulu's, had recently taken an unfortunate turn. She'd gotten married about a year earlier but had ended up leaving her husband after only a few months because he refused to support her, and she had gone back to her stepfather's surname, Richardson. Perhaps partly because of their shared hardships, the two young women struck up an immediate friendship.
The three women spent Saturday night at the home of a woman named Mrs. Dell, who lived on Dale Street. The next day, Sunday the 28th, the aunt left to go back to Ash Grove, and Lulu and Lucy were left to fend for themselves in the city of Springfield. They roamed about town until nightfall approached and then went to the north side and stopped at the Plain View Hotel, which, at the time, was probably the most notorious house of ill repute in Springfield. Late the same night, the two young women were arrested as they loitered about the Frisco Depot. They were placed in the calaboose on the North side and stayed there until the next morning, when they were taken to police court and fined one dollar apiece, plus costs. Unable to pay the fine, they were lodged in a larger jail on the South side, commonly called the city hold-over, where they were supposed to serve out the sentence.
According to Lucy's later story, on Thursday evening, September 1, two men slipped some whiskey into the jail for them, and the two young women got intoxicated. They were housed on the second floor of the two-story building, and the roof was rotten and leaky with gaping holes. Lulu started talking about breaking out of jail through the roof, and she soon had Lucy talked into going along with the scheme. The young women made it through the ceiling and onto the roof okay, but as they were preparing to scale down a pipe that ran the height of the building, they fell. Lucy said she blacked out, but somehow she made it to Nichols Junction, where she met her brothers, who took her to her stepfather's nearby home. Meanwhile, Lulu's lifeless body was found sprawled out on the ground at the base of the jail building on Friday morning.
Officers went to Nichols Junction to bring Lucy back to Springfield for a coroner's jury on Friday night. Lawmen thought at first that Lulu's name was Richardson and that she and Lucy were sisters. Tracing the girls' movements, the officers learned that Lulu had gone by the name Bertha Johnson during the brief time she'd stopped at the Plain View, and further investigation revealed that her real name was Lulu Walker. Lucy confirmed Lulu's real identity, although officers were skeptical at first of Lucy's story. For one thing, they didn't believe that whiskey had been slipped into the hold-over and that the girls had gotten drunk. According to the Springfield Republican, though, Lucy told a very convincing story, and many people were inclined to believe it. Lucy said one of the main reasons she and Lulu had decided to escape was because of the terrible food served at the hold-over. All they had the whole time they were there, she said, was bread and warm water, and the Republican railed against the poor food and other terrible conditions at the hold-over.
Lucy said she didn't realize Lulu was dead until the officers brought her back to Springfield from Nichols Junction. She said she remembered falling but didn't remember anything after that until seeing her brothers at Nichols. Investigators theorized that Lucy had fallen partly on top of Lulu rather than hitting the bare ground, which is why the fall left her only stunned and bruised while Lulu died from the fall. Lucy seemed sincerely broken up when she learned that her friend was dead, and she vowed that the tragedy would serve as a lesson for her and that she would "try to lead a better life."
Authorities sent letters to Lulu's family in Dunnegan informing them what had happened, but they got no response. So, Lulu was buried in a potter's field on September 4 at county expense.
Shortly after arriving in Springfield, Lulu was hired by Charles Afflack, manager of the Waddle Hotel on Campbell Street, to work at the hotel (probably as a maid). Afflack later said that Lulu appeared to be a good girl and was well liked by his family. Lulu stayed there only about four weeks, however, and then began "frequenting questionable houses."
On Saturday, August 27, at the Gulf depot in Springfield, Lulu ran onto a woman whose acquaintance she had previously made in Ash Grove, and the woman introduced Lulu to her niece, 18-year-old Lucy Richardson. Lucy's life, like Lulu's, had recently taken an unfortunate turn. She'd gotten married about a year earlier but had ended up leaving her husband after only a few months because he refused to support her, and she had gone back to her stepfather's surname, Richardson. Perhaps partly because of their shared hardships, the two young women struck up an immediate friendship.
The three women spent Saturday night at the home of a woman named Mrs. Dell, who lived on Dale Street. The next day, Sunday the 28th, the aunt left to go back to Ash Grove, and Lulu and Lucy were left to fend for themselves in the city of Springfield. They roamed about town until nightfall approached and then went to the north side and stopped at the Plain View Hotel, which, at the time, was probably the most notorious house of ill repute in Springfield. Late the same night, the two young women were arrested as they loitered about the Frisco Depot. They were placed in the calaboose on the North side and stayed there until the next morning, when they were taken to police court and fined one dollar apiece, plus costs. Unable to pay the fine, they were lodged in a larger jail on the South side, commonly called the city hold-over, where they were supposed to serve out the sentence.
According to Lucy's later story, on Thursday evening, September 1, two men slipped some whiskey into the jail for them, and the two young women got intoxicated. They were housed on the second floor of the two-story building, and the roof was rotten and leaky with gaping holes. Lulu started talking about breaking out of jail through the roof, and she soon had Lucy talked into going along with the scheme. The young women made it through the ceiling and onto the roof okay, but as they were preparing to scale down a pipe that ran the height of the building, they fell. Lucy said she blacked out, but somehow she made it to Nichols Junction, where she met her brothers, who took her to her stepfather's nearby home. Meanwhile, Lulu's lifeless body was found sprawled out on the ground at the base of the jail building on Friday morning.
Officers went to Nichols Junction to bring Lucy back to Springfield for a coroner's jury on Friday night. Lawmen thought at first that Lulu's name was Richardson and that she and Lucy were sisters. Tracing the girls' movements, the officers learned that Lulu had gone by the name Bertha Johnson during the brief time she'd stopped at the Plain View, and further investigation revealed that her real name was Lulu Walker. Lucy confirmed Lulu's real identity, although officers were skeptical at first of Lucy's story. For one thing, they didn't believe that whiskey had been slipped into the hold-over and that the girls had gotten drunk. According to the Springfield Republican, though, Lucy told a very convincing story, and many people were inclined to believe it. Lucy said one of the main reasons she and Lulu had decided to escape was because of the terrible food served at the hold-over. All they had the whole time they were there, she said, was bread and warm water, and the Republican railed against the poor food and other terrible conditions at the hold-over.
Lucy said she didn't realize Lulu was dead until the officers brought her back to Springfield from Nichols Junction. She said she remembered falling but didn't remember anything after that until seeing her brothers at Nichols. Investigators theorized that Lucy had fallen partly on top of Lulu rather than hitting the bare ground, which is why the fall left her only stunned and bruised while Lulu died from the fall. Lucy seemed sincerely broken up when she learned that her friend was dead, and she vowed that the tragedy would serve as a lesson for her and that she would "try to lead a better life."
Authorities sent letters to Lulu's family in Dunnegan informing them what had happened, but they got no response. So, Lulu was buried in a potter's field on September 4 at county expense.
Saturday, February 1, 2020
The Murder of Crawford Hibbard
I've titled this blog entry "The Murder of Crawford Hibbard," because at the time of the 25-year-old Hibbard's death in 1906 in Howell County, Missouri, most observers were convinced it was a murder. However, there is some doubt about that, because the case was never solved.
On the afternoon of August 16, 1906, Hibbard and his wife, 23-year-old Anna, were home alone at their house on Wolf Creek near Mountain View, because their little daughter was visiting her grandfather, John Vaughn (Anna's father) at his nearby home. Hibbard, who had recently joined his wife in the teaching profession, lay down in the floor with a grammar book to bone up for the coming school year. According to her later testimony, Anna left the house to pick some fruit, and she had just been in the orchard a few minutes when she heard what sounded like a gunshot coming from the direction of the house. Hurrying back to investigate, she found her husband lying on the floor with the top of his head nearly blown off. Brains oozed out, and the floor and walls were splattered with blood and hair. Beside him lay the grammar book he'd been studying, and also just a few feet away lay his shotgun, which he normally kept in an adjoining room.
Horrified, Anna ran to a neighbor's house to give an alarm, and investigators soon arrived on the scene. The coroner ruled that the death could not have been a suicide because the location of the wound and the length of the gun barrel made it virtually impossible for Hibbard to have shot himself in that location. The investigators, therefore, tentatively concluded that an unknown assassin had slipped into the house and killed Hibbard with his own gun.
However, the mysterious death fueled much speculation, and suspicion gradually began to settle on Anna Hibbard. Some people openly gossiped that the woman had killed her own husband. Anna countered by suing at least two of the gossipers for defamation of character, including a school director where she had previously taught, who had openly accused her of murder and gotten her dismissed. She won her suit against the school director, but the speculation about her didn't stop.
In April of 1907, a grand jury finally charged Mrs. Hibbard with murder. Despite the serious charge, she was released on $5000 bond, and when the case was called in June, the prosecutor dismissed it, giving no explanation at the time.
In August, however, after a new law bearing on the case went into effect, the prosecution revived the charge against Anna, and she was re-arrested. Her father, John Vaughn, was also arrested at this time as an alleged accomplice in the murder. Both defendants were released on $1000 bond each.
Anna's trial took place at West Plains in December 1907. After less than two days of testimony, both sides rested their cases, and the jury found Mrs. Hibbard not guilty after only 18 minutes of deliberation. The charges against her father were subsequently dropped.
Photo of Crawford and Anna Hibbard from the Howell County Gazette.
On the afternoon of August 16, 1906, Hibbard and his wife, 23-year-old Anna, were home alone at their house on Wolf Creek near Mountain View, because their little daughter was visiting her grandfather, John Vaughn (Anna's father) at his nearby home. Hibbard, who had recently joined his wife in the teaching profession, lay down in the floor with a grammar book to bone up for the coming school year. According to her later testimony, Anna left the house to pick some fruit, and she had just been in the orchard a few minutes when she heard what sounded like a gunshot coming from the direction of the house. Hurrying back to investigate, she found her husband lying on the floor with the top of his head nearly blown off. Brains oozed out, and the floor and walls were splattered with blood and hair. Beside him lay the grammar book he'd been studying, and also just a few feet away lay his shotgun, which he normally kept in an adjoining room.
Horrified, Anna ran to a neighbor's house to give an alarm, and investigators soon arrived on the scene. The coroner ruled that the death could not have been a suicide because the location of the wound and the length of the gun barrel made it virtually impossible for Hibbard to have shot himself in that location. The investigators, therefore, tentatively concluded that an unknown assassin had slipped into the house and killed Hibbard with his own gun.
However, the mysterious death fueled much speculation, and suspicion gradually began to settle on Anna Hibbard. Some people openly gossiped that the woman had killed her own husband. Anna countered by suing at least two of the gossipers for defamation of character, including a school director where she had previously taught, who had openly accused her of murder and gotten her dismissed. She won her suit against the school director, but the speculation about her didn't stop.
In April of 1907, a grand jury finally charged Mrs. Hibbard with murder. Despite the serious charge, she was released on $5000 bond, and when the case was called in June, the prosecutor dismissed it, giving no explanation at the time.
In August, however, after a new law bearing on the case went into effect, the prosecution revived the charge against Anna, and she was re-arrested. Her father, John Vaughn, was also arrested at this time as an alleged accomplice in the murder. Both defendants were released on $1000 bond each.
Anna's trial took place at West Plains in December 1907. After less than two days of testimony, both sides rested their cases, and the jury found Mrs. Hibbard not guilty after only 18 minutes of deliberation. The charges against her father were subsequently dropped.
Photo of Crawford and Anna Hibbard from the Howell County Gazette.
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