Volume 16 , Issue 35

1921, March 30 - Bank Robbery At Salt Springs, Oklahoma

We are in the process of searching for the last bank robbery at Salt Springs, located in the northwestern part of Oklahoma. What we did find was an Appeal from District Court, Harper County, with Arthur G, Sutton, Judge, residing; and Madden v State 1924 OK CR 62, 223 P. 716, 26 Okl.Cr. 251, 03/01/1924, Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals.

It seems that one Thomas Dickson was convicted on the 21 September 1921, in the district court of Harper county, Oklahoma of the crime of robbery in the first degree, and sentenced to serve a term of 10 years imprisonment in the state penitentiary. Was this the "Last Bank Robbery" of the Citizens' State Bank of Salt Springs?

The Appeal mentions, from the judgment rendered against him defendant appealed to the Harper county district court by filing on the 17th day of March 1922 petition in error with case-made attached to the appeal.

It was first urged that the trial court erred in overruling the demurrer to the information. The information omitting caption and signature of the county attorney, is as follows:

"Now comes D.P. Parker, the duly qualified and acting county attorney, in and for Harper county, state of Oklahoma, and gives the district court of Harper county, state of Oklahoma, to know and be informed that one Thomas Dickson, did in Harper county, and in the state of Oklahoma, on or about the 30th day of March (1921), in the year of our Lord, one thousand, nine hundred and twenty-one and anterior to the presentment hereof, commit the crime of robbery in the first degree in the manner and form as follows, to wit: The said Thomas Dickson did then and there unlawfully, willfully, intentionally, wrongfully and feloniously conspire with and plan with one Joseph Hierholzer, to commit said crime and did aid and abet said Joseph Hierholzer in the commission of said crime, and that said Joseph Hierholzer being aided and abetted by said Thomas Dickson, did then and there wrongfully, and feloniously take certain personal property, to wit, the sum of $60.25, lawful money of the United States of America from the immediate presence of and from the possession of A.C. Clothier, as the cashier of the Citizens' State Bank of Salt Springs, Oklahoma, a banking corporation, and against the will of said A.C. Clothier, accomplished by means of force and fear of great, immediate and unlawful injury to the person of said A.C. Clothier, said fear being brought about in the mind of said A.C. Clothier by said Joseph Hierholzer with force and violence pointing a revolver at and toward said A.C. Clothier, and by said Joseph Hierholzer striking the said A.C. Clothier on the head with a revolver and by said Joseph Hierholzer shooting at said A.C. Clothier with a revolver, said revolver being then and there a deadly weapon, and did then and there and thereby by the employment of said force and fear as aforesaid, obtain possession of and retain possession of said property and prevent and overcome the resistance of said A.C. Clothier to said unlawful and felonious taking of said personal property, said personal property being immediately before and at the time of said wrongful taking in the immediate presence of and in the possession of said A.C. Clothier, as cashier as aforesaid with the wrongful and felonious intent of the said defendant to deprive the owner thereof and to convert the same to his own use, contrary to the form of the statutes, in such cases made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the state."

Also, it was stated in a another appeal dated March 1, 1924, that the defendant testified in the preliminary examination of Dickson, Charles Brankel, Bennett Highfill, and Joseph Hierholzer, charged with robbing the Citizens' State Bank of Salt Springs, that Brankel and Highfill were not to his knowledge at his (defendant's) home on Monday the 28th day of March, 1921, and that they did not with his knowledge and consent take the horse used by Hierholzer on the 30th day of March, 1921, in robbing the Citizens' State Bank of Salt Springs. It was as to the materiality and falsity of this testimonyy given by the defendant in the preliminary examination of those charged with the bank robbery that caused this prosecution.

The undisputed evidence was that Hierholzer, in attempting to rob the Citizens' State Bank at Salt Springs, rode a horse belonging to this defendant, and it was also uncontradicted that the horse which Hierholzer rode on the 30th day of March, 1921, in robbing the bank, was taken from the defendant's premises some time during the night of March 28, 1921. It was apparent that the testimony of the defendant given in the preliminary examination could have been material to connect Hierholzer, Brankel and Highfill with the robbery of the Citizens' State Bank by means of connecting them with the horse which Hierholzer rode and which was owned by Madden.

[You can read more of the Appeal at the links listed above at the beginning of this feature.]

Was this the "Last" bank robbery of the Salt Springs, Oklahoma bank?

If anyone runs across any information concerning the "last" bank robbery at Salt Springs, Oklahoma, we would love to hear from you. You may contact Linda at mcwagner.lk@gmail.com.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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