When two men robbed the People's Bank on Commercial Street on the morning of December 27, 1927, it was the first bank robbery in Springfield history. The two men left their car parked in a nearby alley, went into the store, and flourished pistols.
They ordered several customers and employees to lie on the floor and told another employee to open the safe. The employee told them the safe was on time lock, but they knew it was a bluff and forced him at gunpoint to open the safe. One of the bandits scooped all the currency he could find from the safe, and the two robbers then ordered everybody into the vault. The bank employee who opened the safe begged them not to lock them in, saying how hot it would be with that many people locked in close quarters, and they agreed not to lock the vault but warned them to stay in it for several minutes before emerging. They agreed, and the bandits took off, jumping in their vehicle, which they had left running, and taking off about ten minutes after they parked it in the alley.
Two young men, Jack Long and Joseph Fowler, were identified as suspects in the holdup, and two men, thought to be the fugitives, were arrested on the morning of the 29th near Galena, Missouri. They were brought to Springfield later that same day, but they proved not to be Long and Fowler and were released.
The real Jack Long made his way to Texas, where he was arrested in the spring of 1928 for a bank robbery committed after he arrived in the Lone Star State. He was convicted in 1930 and served five years on the charge. When he was released in 1935, he was brought back to Missouri to face charges in the 7-year-old People's Bank job.
He was also convicted of that robbery and sentenced to 10 years in the Missouri State Penitentiary.
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