Bank Robbery of 1933  

It was 75 years ago today..
The great Culver bank robbery of ' 33

The Culver Citizen Special edition May 29, 1933: The State Exchánge Bank of Culver was robbed of between $8,000 and $9,000 this moming by six bandits who entered the bank a few minutes after 9 a.m.

The five ordered W.E. Wahburn and W.R. Washburn, who had just parked near the enrance of the bank, to enter; with their hands up. These two, along with Jessie Crabb and Heine Aitheide, who were painting the door, were ordered to enterand lie face down on the floor. W.O. Osborn, cashier of the bank, had. seen the men get out of their car and immedietly turned in the alarm.

A bandit rushed into his office and ordered Osborn and Miss Martha Werner to lie on the floor. Rev. W.B. Waniner, Steven Warren, and Nick Long, who were conducting business in the bank, Wete also ordered to lie down. Two men ordered the clerks to keep their hands up and Carl Adams, assistant cashier, to unlock the vault. Meanwhile money was being scooped up from the cash drawers and the bandits scooped up the cash in the vault.

The quartet made a hurried exit when the outside guard told them their driver had been hit (by Culver resident Oliver C. Shilling), taking Carl Adams and Steven Warren with them on the running boards as protection from the gunfire of townspeople. The two local mn were soon, shoved off the car and the bandits continued across Road 10 on the Den- nie Road. The driver collapsed, going into a ditch and tunring over.

A car being driven by Dr. C.G . Mackey came upon the group and he was ordered to get out, five of the men continuing on their escape and leaving their wounded pal behind. The robbery was over within three or four minutes.

A large posse of Culver citizens, joined by men from Plymouth and North Judson and led by Col. Robert Rossow,- commandant of the Culver Military Academy, encircled the robbers and all but. one were 'caught. One of the men was in a tree, another submerged up to his neck in water, another man with the leader of the gang were well hidden with only their faces showing above the swamp water. 33 the outside guard told them their driver

Above: then-publisher M.R. Robinson displays the special edition of the Citizen announcing the robbery. Photo courtesy Antiquarian and Historical Society of Culver Archives

Col. Robert Rossow in later years

Col. Rossow remembers...

The Dec., 1933 edition of the nationally syndicated True Detective magazine featurèd a large spread, with photos, on the robbery, "How Culver' captured Chicago's marauding gunmen." That article is excerpted below:

The robbers-continued to a combined woods and swamp near the little town of Ober. Here, they mrid into a road that fill 6f quicksand and their car bogged. Riding hot on thetrail of the fleeing Chicago gangsters were Rossow and several members of the instructional Staff at Culver Academy. Rossow wrote recalling an armed posse meeting near Bass Lake comprised, among others of "Mr Ewald, a Culver businessman; Hobart Baker, also of Culver, and others" including C. A. Whitney, commander of the Black Horse Troop, whom Rossow placed in charge.

Wrote Rossow:

I and a small party followed the car tracks along the dirt road. I ... was told that they were armed with a submachine gun and automatic firearms of various types. We cautiously followed the tracks of the car into the woods.

I heard a commotion outside-of the woods. One of the bandits had been driven out of the woods ahead of our advance and surrendered... and had cleverly stripped to his underwear. He claimed that he was a hitchhiker and had been kidnapped by the bandits. His story was incredible, and he was taken safely under guard.

We waded through the swamp, from north to south, and one of the members of our patrol discovered fresh footprints on the edge of the swamp and leading into it.

Just when I started to issue orders the follow the trail thoroughly, the second bandit uttered a loud cry and sprang to his feet. He had hidden himself in the water with only his head above the surface. He came to his feet with both hands high in the air. It was Eddie Murphy who, at first, wanted us to believe he was seining for minnows and fell in the swamp.

In a very tall maple at the edge of the swamp we discovered a third bandit who gave his-name as Jack Gray. Gray would have liked us to believe he was a woodchopper who had become frightened and climbed a tree.

I heard some shooting and a great commotion on the left end of the line. I proceeded to the point of the noise, and discovered that Gus Davis had stumbled upon two of the bandit gang lying in the ditch. They gave their names as John Patrick and Daniel McGeoghegan.

By this time, a good representation of Culver men were in the activity. I noticed about me Col. A.R. Elliott, Lt. Col. C.F. McKinney, Lt. Col. W.G. Johnston, Majors J. S. Wood, R.A. Throckmorton, and H. W Walmer, Lt. Col. WR. Kennedy, Captains V.R. Gillespie and Hugh Harper, Sgt. Robert Reveley, and others. Gen. L. R. Gignilliat, superintendent of the Academy, and Sgt. J. J. Rich had arrived and joined us in a final swing through the woods.

Much of the stolen money was collected from the woods, much of it buried under a root on a creek bank. The robbers were tried in Plymouth, three of them sentenced three to 10 years and three sentenced 25 years. The seventh robber was eventually arrested in Chicago.

It's worth noting that the reason a small bank in the small town of Culver was targeted by Chicago gangsters was the State Exchange's remarkable success during the Depression. It was the only Marshall County bank allowed to remain open with a Class A rating during Pres. Roosevelt's "bank holiday," and it never borrowed, never restricted deposits, cut salaries or skipped a dividend during the Depression. In fact, the State Exchange only grew in success during those years, so much so that in 1935 the bank underwent a major remodeling project!

It was rumored that the infamous John Dillinger had cased the Culver Bank and decided it was unsafe to escape the area, apparently unbeknownst to the robbers who journeyed to Culver that . May morning 75 years ago.

The Culver Citizen May 31, 1933: Notes on the bank robbery...

The Citizen had a special edition on the streets two and one half hours after the robbers entered the bank.

Local citizens used more caution with this robbery than the 1920 robbery, which cost one citizen his life. Citizens firing at bandits kept well under cover.

A local store reports brisk sales of BB guns to small boys one day after the robbery.

A copy of the Culver Citizen was found in the bandits car. They had good taste in reading, anyway.

May 29, 2008 compiled by Jeff Kenney Citizen Editor