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.