Forsyth Bank Robbery

   About noon on Monday, February 15, 1932, two "shabbily dressed," unmasked men walked into the Taney County Bank at Forsyth and, flourishing revolvers, herded the cashier, the bookkeeper, and one customer into the vault. Unable to open the safe, which was on a time lock, the robbers turned their attention to the tills in the front part of the bank. One gathered up about $350 while the other stood guard near the door.
   As the bandits fled, the cashier picked up a revolver that had been secreted in the vault for just such an emergency. He stepped outside the vault, which had not been locked, and fired two shots at the fleeing robbers. They fired three shots in return, narrowing missing the occupants of the bank.
   Out on the sidewalk, the two bandits ran about a half block to where two accomplices waited in a getaway car. The robbers jumped in, and the car took off toward Douglas County. Taney County officers gave chase but lost track of the vehicle near Brown Branch close to the Douglas county line.
   In late February, Collins Rippee, about 22 years old, was arrested at Wichita, Kansas, as a suspect in the robbery. Although he was now living in Wichita, he was originally from the Mansfield area of Wright County, Missouri, and had been visiting relatives at the time of the holdup. He was identified after an automobile believed to have been used in the crime was traced to the relatives.
   Collins confessed to his part in the robbery, and he implicated four other young men: Ralph Newton, 24; Chester Huffman, 25; Wade Rippee, about 33; and Percy Rippee, about 27; all from the Mansfield area. Wade and Percy Rippee were both cousins of Collins Rippee. Huffman and the two older Rippees had all been in trouble previously on less serious charges.
   The four other suspects were soon rounded up, but Wade and Percy Rippee both escaped shortly after their arrests. Meanwhile, all three of the suspects still in custody pleaded guilty to bank robbery. Huffman and Collins Rippee were given 12-year prison sentences, and Newton was given 5 years. Huffman was the man who fired the shots at the bank cashier, and Collins was presumably his sidekick. Wade and Percy Rippee were apparently the men who waited in the getaway car, while Newton's role as an accomplice is not clear.
   Percy Rippee went on the lam for over two and a half years, traveling throughout the United States, before returning home in the fall of 1934 when he got sick with malaria. He was taken into custody a few days after he came back to Wright County. He pleaded guilty to bank robbery and was sentenced to five years in prison.
   Collins Rippee died in prison in 1936, and Percy Collins was paroled around the first of September 1937. Wade Rippee was finally recaptured about the same time Percy was paroled. At the time of his arrest, Wade was also facing federal charges in connection with a recent bank robbery at Mountain Grove, but Taney County officials refused to turn him over to federal authorities. He pleaded guilty in the Forsyth case and was given two years at Jeff City.
   Meanwhile, Percy Rippee wasted little time getting into trouble again after his parole. Arrested on a drunk driving charge, he was doing time at the Wright County Jail in Hartville when he dug his way out of the calaboose in mid-October 1937 and took off for parts unknown. Officially he was never heard from again, although a grandson of his, Curtis Ashlock, recently contacted me and put me on the trail of this story. According to Curtis, Percy changed his name, got married, and lived out the rest of his days as a peaceful citizen. Curtis remembers Percy (although that is not the name by which Curtis knew him) talking about his days as a "hobo" traveling around the country, but not until he was an old man did Percy mention his criminal past to his grandson.