Local bank robberies through the years

HOWARD COUNTY/ SURROUNDING AREA - With the excitement of the bank robbery in Lime Springs on Tuesday, Sept. 3, locals have been talking about area bank robberies.
Looking in the archives of the Howard County newspapers, available on the Cresco Public Library’s website, here is a rundown of the few that took place in and around Howard County.
Luckily, research shows the last local bank robbery took place about 34 years ago.  There were a couple robberies or attempts in the 1970s, with a span of 38 years from one in Elma. The prior 10 years had various robberies as well. 
Hopefully the recent bank robbery does not start a trend. If any low lifes are keeping track though, the fact the Sept. 3 bank robber was free for just two-and-a-half hours before he was caught might scare off anyone thinking about robbing a Howard County bank.
 
June 12, 1985
(Lime Springs Herald, June 20, 1985) - Although technically in Minnesota, most locals consider Granger part of the county. On June 12, 1985, the Granger State Bank was robbed at about 10:30 a.m. A man pointed a sawed-off shotgun at the tellers, Nancy Martin and Laura Bock, and demanded money.
The robber fled in a white 1976 Mercury Capri, reportedly stolen the day before in Brownsville, Minn. Using teletype messages, it was learned the car had been pulled out of a ditch at Jessup, Iowa at around 6 p.m. 
The car was then spotted at Stanwood, Iowa around 9 p.m. at a motel parking lot. The suspect had left for dinner. When he returned, he was grabbed by Iowa State Patrol officers. The man was Everett Allen “Big Foot” Johnson, age 41. He grew up in Hokah, Whalan and Highland areas of Houston and Fillmore Counties.
 
Feb. 15, 1976
(From an article by Ken Becker for Times Plain Dealer, June 19, 1985)
A failed bank robbery attempt took place at the Exchange State Bank (now CUSB) in Lime Springs. It was located where Dr. Ernst’s dentist office is today.
The robbers tried to cut a hole through the second floor office of Dr. Abner Buresh. They got into his office, by coming in through the roof.
They were thwarted when bank clerk Leland Johnson happened to stop at the bank on an errand and heard activity upstairs. By the time Deputy Sheriff Dennis Austin arrived, they had cleared out, leaving several tools behind in their haste to escape.
 
March 20, 1973
(New Hampton Tribune, March 22, 1973) An unmasked gunman walked into the Alta Vista bank on March 20, 1973 at around 1 p.m. and escaped with $1,500 in cash. Gary Calhoun of Alta Vista approached Norbert Johann, cashier, threatened him with a possible .22 caliber piston and demanded money. He was apprehended at 2:10 p.m. by Winneshiek County Sheriff Eugene Simmerson two miles southwest of Calmar on a gravel road. He surrendered without resistance.
 
Aug. 22, 1973
A Minnesota man was arrested by Wisconsin law officers the evening of Monday, Aug. 20, 1973 in connection with the holdup of the Bohemian Savings bank in Protivin earlier in the day. Everett Alan Johnson, in his late 20s, was apprehended near Mt. Hope, Wis. about 7:30 p.m. Monday and taken to the Crawford County sheriff’s office at Prairie du Chien.
He reportedly was unarmed, and offered no resistance when apprehended.
According to Howard County Sheriff Gordon Watros, a lone gunman walked into the Bohemian Savings bank in Protivin about 2:30 p.m. Monday. The man, armed with a sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun, demanded money from bank vice president Ronald Dostal. He reportedly asked that the money be placed in a paper bag and also demanded a cashier to “fill it up.”
Between $5,000 and $6,000 was reportedly taken and the man left the bank and crossed the road to an automobile.
A description and Minnesota license plate number of the car were reported by bank clerk Jerry Dostal. Sheriff Watros, along with deputy Mark Grinhaug and an agent from the Iowa Bureau of Criminal Investigation got to the bank about 2:45 p.m. Watros reported, and road blocks were set up in the area around Protivin.
A short time later, the car reportedly used in the robbery was found along a dirt road 3.5 miles southeast of town in Winneshiek county. The driver had apparently failed to make a curve in the road, and the vehicle was abandoned in the ditch. Also found in the area were a sawed-off shotgun and shells.
The man then apparently walked down a lane on a farm belonging to Ed Mikota, Sr. Mikota was cutting weeds near the vacant house, when he looked up and saw someone drive away in his 1966 automobile, Sheriff Watros said.
Officers from the Iowa Highway Patrol, along with sheriff’s agents from Chickasaw, Winneshiek, Fayette and Howard counties, and an Iowa Conservation Commission agent participated in the search Monday afternoon. An aircraft from the highway patrol was also used in the effort to locate the man.
The automobile seen driving away from the Protivin bank had apparently been taken in the Caledonia area, Watros said. Warrants for the arrest of Johnson had been issued by the Houston County, Minn. sheriff in connection with three break-ins and several more over the weekend in Howard county.
Ultimately, Johnson was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
 
May 15, 1935
Elma also had a robbery scare as the late Mrs. Mary Mulick (Gansen) attested in the Prairie Neighbors insert of the Lime Springs Herald, August 2000. “Years ago, we got cream checks. My mother wasn’t feeling well. I drove her to Peoples Savings Bank, so I could deposit the check. When I got to the counter, this guy said ‘Go over there and turn your back’. I saw the gun, so I did it.”
It was 3:15 on the afternoon of May 15, 1935. Three men pulled up in front of the Elma Peoples Savings Bank, two of the men entered the bank and told assistant cashier, Walter Diekmann and an unfortunate state bank examiner to lie on floor, face down. They saw the gun and that is when Gansen walked in the door. Joe Bilek, a farmer, entered after Gansen. He was told to stand by Gansen, but believed it a joke until he spotted the gun, the robbers were brandishing. Another farmer, Joe Hilsman, entered the bank. He also thought it was a joke, but quickly sized up the situation and obeyed.
The robbers then scooped up all the cash and fled the bank. It seemed like an awful long time to Gansen, but it was over in three minutes. Ironically, the robbers were so quiet, head cashier Charlie Garmen and another bank examiner, who were in a back room, did not even know that the robbery had taken place.
The bandits made off with $304.40 in cash and $300 in bonds. Had the gunmen gone to the vault, they would have gotten away with much more money. 
Officers in Cresco and Osage were immediately alerted to the robbery.
A week later, some men who were suspected of the robbery were arrested in Sioux City. “Howard County Sheriff Peterson and his wife took Walter and I to Sioux City to see if we could identify the robbers. It was so quick (the robbery), you couldn’t remember what they looked like,” Gansen says.
Neither could positively identify the men. The robbery left a big impact on Gansen. “I couldn’t sleep at night afterwards,” she says.
In a bank newsletter from 2017, Ann O’Brien stated, “I remember my dad telling a story about his uncle (Joe Bilek) being in the bank when it was robbed during business hours. The robber told him he had to stand by another woman. Joe told him he couldn’t because he was a married man.”
 
 
 
Another story from 2017 was from Henry Elwood, “I recall the bank being robbed shortly after they moved into the new building (1962 or 1963). The robbers cut through the roof to get to the vault. They sawed through the cement vault. Nobody saw them. Percy Haven was the Sheriff at the time, and I was the County Attorney.”
 
Aug. 21, 1931
Lime Springs had quite the excitement on Aug. 21, 1931. A lone gunman entered the First National Bank, located where Lindstrom Funeral Home is now. The first person he saw was Jack Buchanan, assistant cashier. He then noticed Frank Paul, the town’s night watchman.
He ordered the two into the back room where he was surprised to find two more men, Robert Hughes, president of the bank, and Charles Anderson, cashier. He ordered the four men into the vault. He then escaped with $5,340.50.
The four men in the vault were cramped and getting mad. They started yelling, hoping a passerby or bank customer would hear them. Minutes later, F.B. Hathaway heard the cries and was able to open the vault door with some instruction from the men inside. The four bank employees practically ran Hathaway over trying to get outside.
According to the late Jack Buchanan, who wrote his version of the story for the Lime Springs Herald. “It wasn’t until we came roaring out the front door of the bank that those old fellows dozing and visiting on the bench at Schacht’s (filling station that was just across the street) knew anything had happened!
“But in moments ... the whole town knew, the country knew ... the whole countryside knew, and several carloads of us were burning up the road in the direction someone had said a strange car had gone thataway.
“We were armed and on the right track (not too worried about a revolver against shotguns) and we trailed this man as far as Granger.”
The men followed the trail of the man to between Harmony and Canton. They lost the trail when their car ran out of gas.
The bank robber had gotten gas and oil in Granger and used two one-dollar bills to pay for it. The serial numbers matched money stolen from Lime Springs. It was later determined that the man had left his car on the outskirts of Preston. He had then gotten a shave at a local barbershop and put on a clean shirt. 
The car that he had abandoned had been stolen. Blueprints of the interior of the bank were found in the car. The bank robber was never seen again.
 
December 1931
(Chester Through the Years 1858-2008) The present day Cray Insurance in Chester was once a bank — Farmers Bank to be exact. In December 1931, burglars gained access to the building through a basement window. They attempted to open the vault by burning off the combination lock and cutting around it with an acetylene torch. 
The burglars were startled by a gas bomb going off, which forced them to vacate. What they didn’t know was that the owner, William W. Cray, set a gas bomb inside the door every day. When the acetylene flame hit the gas, it exploded, filling the room with fumes, and more than likely filling the burglars’ britches with something brown and sticky!
W.W. Cray’s grandson, the late Dick Cray, said he was told the safe was so strong and thick if someone tried to blow it up, it would just bounce.
He found out differently. “When I wanted to add some file cabinets to the office, I had to break a hole in the wall of the vault.” It turns out the walls of the vault were two feet thick but not solid. They used hollow brick tiles.
Cray continued, “I broke through in an hour. The burglars who tried to break into the vault back in 1930 would have had an easier time breaking through the door than trying to cut through the vault door!”
 
June 15, 1927
(Times Plain Dealer, June 19, 1985) - Two men, “one short and one tall,” entered the Protivin bank at about 2 p.m. Will Dostal was in the front of the bank. His sister Celia, was in the back, unknown to the bandits.
The pair pulled guns and told Dostal to fill up a sack with money. They then asked him if there was an alarm in the vault and if it was air tight. He told them there was no alarm, but that it was air tight.
They must have believed the first but not the second, as they forced him into the vault and locked him in. There was an alarm in the vault, but it didn’t work.
Meanwhile, Celia was unsuccessful in trying to get out a back door to summon help. After the robbers left, however, she quickly let her brother out of the vault, and they called the sheriff’s office in Cresco, as the get-away car was seen heading north.
Sheriff Ed Evans, Deputy Frank White and Cresco Mayor E.L. Davenport received the call and headed south from Cresco toward Protivin when they saw a cloud of dust and the suspects coming toward them in a “large Chrysler” at a “terrific speed.”
The three stopped their vehicle crossways on the road. The two occupants of the get-away car crouched low, and it “appeared there was no one at the wheel.” The Chrysler went around the sheriff’s vehicle and into the ditch, going astride a telephone pole lying in the ditch and also struck a rock. They managed to get back on the road.
Several shots were fired by the officers, but all missed as the car continued north to what is now Highway 9, heading toward Davis Corners. 
The robbers must have figured most of the area were on the lookout, so instead of taking old Highway 59, which would have taken them through Lime Springs, they went to Foreston to cross the Upper Iowa River. They then made it to Greenleafton when the trail was lost. The men netted about $1,960.
 
May 23, 1922
McIntire is by far the most unfortunate of the area towns. The Aetna Savings Bank was robbed three times in a 15-year span.
• The first robbery occurred at night on May 23, 1922. The bandits practically took over the whole town.
According to the McIntire Centennial book, they climbed the light poles and removed the light bulbs from the sockets. They also tied up the couple living at the telephone exchange office, and a guard was stationed at the only telephone booth in town. They had done their homework.
The robbers then put black oilcloth over the bank windows and commenced to blow up the safe at the bank. The door to the safe exploded with such force that it flew through the counter and was embedded in the west wall of the building. The explosion was so forceful that much of the paper money in the safe was blown to pieces.
They escaped and blew up over $5,500 in cash and securities before fleeing northward into Minnesota.
Mr. R.D. Williams was the bank cashier at the time. He was aroused from his sleep at his home and called authorities. Williams was face-to-face with bandits in the next two robberies.
• The next time the bank was robbed was 13 years later. This time, a man walked into the bank and demanded cash. He got a fistful of money totaling $600. Miss Grace O’Brien was also in the bank at the time. She was the bookkeeper.
James Charlson from Minnesota later confessed to the holdup.
• Less than two years later, the bank was robbed for the last time. Both Williams and O’Brien were in the bank.
With gun in hand, the bandit demanded cash. Williams and O’Brien were ordered to the floor. The robber then escaped for just a short time. He was apprehended the next day on a farm near the Iowa-Minnesota border. The bank retrieved most of the nearly $250 stolen.
Eugenia Watson of Riceville said that her grandmother was rounding up some geese. As she went to cross the road, one of these bank robbers almost ran her down. She didn’t know until afterwards that the bank in McIntire had been robbed.
There is no longer an Aetna Savings Bank in McIntire. It had been around almost since the origin of the town, but it was liquidated in 1945 and closed. 
 

Cresco Times

Phone: 563-547-3601
Fax: 563-547-4602

Address:
Cresco TPD
214 N. Elm Street
Cresco, IA 52136

Sign Up For Breaking News

Stay informed on our latest news!

Manage my subscriptions

Subscribe to Breaking News feed