On the morning of October 26, 1928, the Bank of Irondale (MO) was held up just as the cashier opened for business. Two unmasked young men entered the bank, closed and locked the front door, and drew revolvers. They ordered the cashier, who had just opened the vault and safe, to hand over all the currency, saying they didn't want the silver because it was "too heavy to carry."
The two bandits fled with about $1,700 to a green vehicle (later identified as an Essex) that they'd parked across the street and took off out of town. The automobile was later found abandoned a couple of miles outside Irondale, and a change of clothes was found nearby. A path through some woods led to another road, where it was assumed the robbers got into a second vehicle to complete their escape.
About a week later a "rustic-looking" youth who was loitering on a St. Louis Street late at night with some other young men was arrested on suspicion and taken to a police station for questioning. Identifying himself as 19-year-old Homer Babb of Esther, Missouri, the suspect admitted he'd been involved in the Irondale bank robbery. He said he had two partners, one who accompanied him inside the bank and another who waited in the getaway car. His take in the robbery was about $300, he said, but he had already spent all but eight dollars on "whiskey and women."
Babb was arrested and charged with first degree robbery. He was convicted in late November 1928 and sentenced to thirty years in prison.
In June of the following year, a second man, William Forbes, was arrested and identified as a suspect in the Irondale bank job, but I have found no record that he was convicted of the crime. I also have found no mention of a third suspect being arrested.
Babb served about eleven years of his thirty-year term before being paroled by the Missouri governor.
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