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Reflections
Remembering Kendall County's 'golden age' of bank robbery : Reflections : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisRemembering Kendall County's 'golden age' of bank robbery
| by Roger Matile
| 6/14/2012
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Between 1912 and 1933, the bank of every town in Kendall County except Yorkville's was robbed-at least once. That's an interesting factoid, but not nearly as interesting as how robberies changed during that roughly 20 year period.
There were two distinct bank robbery eras in Kendall County that can be defined by the tactics and techniques used. The first lasted from 1914 to 1920, and the other one taking place from 1929 to 1933. Only Yorkville escaped, probably because that's where the county sheriff was based. Every other town had, at best, part-time peace officers.
The first era began on Nov. 26, 1912, when Charles Stuppy and John Clint broke into the Millbrook Bank, blew the safe with nitroglycerine, and made off with the bank's cash. Then on the night of October 1920, robbers broke into the Farmers' State Bank of Newark and blew open the safe, escaping with a fair cash haul.
Kendall County wasn't alone in experiencing bank banditry, of course. In November 1920, the Illinois General Assembly was considering establishing a state police force. As Kendall County Record Editor Hugh R. Marshall editorialized: "Plainfield had a bank robbery, Newark suffered from burglars, Somonauk had an attack on its bank, auto robbers and bandits work unhampered, mail trains are held up and criminals of the worst sort are abroad in the state. There is no organized method of apprehending them. The officials in the small towns are not competent to wrestle with the question of a robbery. A state constabulary would be able to throw out a cordon with a few minutes after a robbery and the criminals would be apprehended or killed."
But state officials dallied and as the impact of both Prohibition and the nation's financial problems mounted the previous bank robbery problems experienced by small communities mounted sharply. Instead of the former tactics of breaking into banks at night, blowing the safes, and escaping with the loot, the new generation of bank robbers preferred daylight robbery aided by the faster cars and better roads that became common throughout the state after World War I.
In October 1929, ironically just as the stock market was crashing to begin the destruction of the nation's economy, the unfortunate bank at Millbrook was again struck, this time by a gang that virtually seized control of the village. As the Record reported on Oct. 30: "These men were quite brazen about their 'job,' patrolling the streets during the robbery and departing without any show of fear or alarm. Although they were inadept enough to use ten shots of 'nitro' to break open the vault, they had foresight enough to cut all the telephone wires about Millbrook."
In July 1930, the Record reported that efforts were underway to coordinate defense against bank robbery in Kane, Kendall, DuPage, and McHenry counties by the respective county sheriffs, the Illinois Bankers' Association, municipal police chiefs, and others. "Secret signal systems, silent alarms, inexpensive gas, electric and automatic radio wave protection systems were found to be in quite general use," the Record reported. "The lack of such systems in places successfully robbed was emphasized."
The intentions were good, but with so little coordination, the bank robbery epidemic continued. In late December 1930, the Record reported that "Three well-dressed and well-armed bandits entered the First State Bank of Plano, drew guns, and forced the bank employees and customers to lie flat down on the floor while they helped themselves to $3,000 in currency. The trio then returned to their awaiting motor, a 1930 blue Buick sedan bearing Wisconsin license plates, where a fourth member of the party was stationed."
Looking for a bit of good news given the epidemic-and in marked contrast with our current 21st century financial crisis where no bankers have been held responsible-Record Editor J.R. Marshall noted on Jan. 28, 1931 that: "A count of the prisoners in the Minnesota state penitentiary shows that bank robbers now outnumber bankers, 26-24. It used to be the other way around and does not represent much of a margin, but we hope it means a trend toward less robbing of banks from the inside."
The crime wave continued on Tuesday, Feb. 23, 1931 when the Millbrook Bank was robbed yet again. This time, the robbers, Donald Carpenter and Harold Younger, both of Coles County in southeastern Illinois, only got away with $200, and were almost immediately arrested in Charleston.
An exciting bank heist took place on July 14, 1931 when Jack Sullivan, Jerry Fitzgerald, and Tom Harper knocked over the Millington Bank, getting away with $1,300. The three made the mistake of fleeing to Newark where an alerted group of armed men opened fire, wounding two, capturing all three, and recovering all the money.
That didn't deter three other bandits from robbing the Oswego State Bank in broad daylight on Sept. 30, 1932. Two men stepped out of a 1932 DeSoto and entered the bank while the driver parked around the corner on Main Street. With drawn revolvers, the two scooped up $1,500 in cash and then rejoined the getaway driver and escaped. Despite a reward from the bankers' association, no trace of the robbers was found.
The last robbery in the county during that period-not counting the Sandwich State Bank, which had been robbed the week before-was the July 22, 1933 stick-up, again, of the unfortunate Millbrook Bank. Jack Dean, alias Joe Jud, along with Harold Witt and Guy Ellis robbed the bank, but this time an aroused neighborhood was ready to fight back. The thieves' car overturned when fleeing and Dean was captured. Witt was taken soon afterwards and returned to Stateville Prison at Joliet from whence he'd escaped, and Ellis was shot and killed the next morning when he tried to steal a car during services at the Millbrook Lutheran Church. As the Record dryly editorialized a few days after the excitement: "The average in Kendall county is decidedly not in favor of bank banditry-the bandits lose."
While Kendall's first generation of robbers used stealth, the second generation favored heavy armament and fast cars to outrun law enforcement on the new all-weather roads of the era. Today, technology has taken another leap-bank thieves use computers in their plush offices and are rewarded with fat bonuses by the banks they've just robbed. Guess that's progress for you.
Looking for more local history? Visit http://historyonthefox.wordpress.com
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