The Fleagle Gang

Betrayed by a fingerprint

 

The Fleagle Gang

The Scarlet Raid

Wednesday, May 23, 1928, The First National Bank of Lamar, Colo., opened for the afternoon promptly at one o'clock. Ten minutes later the peace of the small town spring day was shattered when four men entered the bank with guns drawn. One shouted, "Stick 'em up!"

The bank was located on the northwest corner of Main and Olive Streets, the main intersection of a city boasting a population of nearly 8,000.

The building had two sets of double screen doors, on the south and east, leading into a vestibule, and the main doors were a diagonal set with glass panels in the upper half.

​Bank President Amos Newton Parrish had his office in the northeast corner closest to the main entrance. A wall of frosted glass and a door separated it from the main lobby.

To the immediate west of the private office was a swinging gate leading behind Cashier John Festus Parrish's desk, son of the elder Parrish, who was known by most Lamar citizens as "Jaddo." There was a door into the area behind the teller cages and the vaults to the north of Jaddo's desk. Between Jaddo's desk and the teller counter there was a 3'6" high railing.

Four teller windows, the same height as the railing, ranged along the angular S-shaped counter. To the south of the last window was another door which limited access to the back rooms, vaults and the side door leading to the street.

Behind the counter were the desks of the assistant cashier and the bookkeepers, as well as the main vault and the safety deposit vaults.

The four bandits spread out to secure the bank. One, later described as "younger" stayed near the front door and one "wearing glasses" moved to cover the side door by the fourth teller window. The older looking gang leader went straight to the first teller's cage and with a wry smile pointed a gun in the face of Assistant Cashier William Garrett and repeated the order to get his hands up. The largest of the four headed toward President Parrish; bank customer William H. Hill, a local hog buyer; and Jaddo who were together just outside the bank president's private office.

Hill was grabbed by the largest robber and thrown to the floor.

A.N. Parrish was smoking a cigar and leaning on the gate near Jaddo's desk, talking to his son and Hill. When they heard the bandit's command to put up their hands, Parrish ducked into his office. It was a few steps to his desk where he pulled out a single-action Colt .45 named "Old Betsy." He returned to the doorway where he cocked the gun and aimed at the nearest robber.

His first shot caught the largest and nearest robber in the mouth. The man staggered, but didn't fall. Newton Parrish was close enough to leave powder burns on the bandit's cheek. Parrish cocked the gun again, but it misfired. By the time he got it cocked for a third time he had been shot and his third bullet went wildly into the ceiling as he fell back into his office fatally wounded.

The robber who had been shot through the jaw fired his .44 at least twice, hitting the 77-year-old bank president in the head. Again, the shots were fired so close to the victim there were powder burns on Parrish's face. At the same time those shots were fired, the younger looking robber closest to the front door opened fire through the frosted glass wall of the office. He fired at least five shots, one of which may have hit the elder Parrish in the head before he fell. According to Hill, when there was no return fire the younger robber went into the private office muttering he would make sure the "old bastard" was dead or dying. The robber picked up the gun which Parrish had used in a futile attempt to stop the robbery. He came out with it saying, "I got the old devil." Hill heard empty shells from the bandit's gun hit the floor as he reloaded his gun.

While the guns were blazing in the front, John Parrish took the opportunity to turn from his desk and head for a closet on the north wall where there was a telephone and other weapons. The gang leader who was standing outside Garrett's teller cage saw the younger Parrish and followed him by climbing over the railing. The robber fired his .38 twice. One shot missed and went through the closet door and lodged in the wall, but the second shot hit Jaddo in the chest and lodged in his heart. He fell dead by the closet door. Later Garrett told authorities he thought Jaddo Parrish tried to shoot at one of the robbers, but his shot also hit the ceiling. However there is no evidence John Parrish actually had a gun.

When the firing began the fourth robber grabbed a customer, Harry Anderson, and threw himself and Anderson to the floor. The bandit then got up on one knee and told the customers and employees to stay on the floor.

Eleven shots were fired in a matter of seconds, with all but the one in John Parrish's heart leaving telltale holes in the bank walls, ceiling and window casing.

The leader of the gang ordered Everett A. Kesinger, a bookkeeper, to show him the vault. "Show us the money, the gold and the Liberty bonds!" he ordered.

Despite the bullet wound in his mouth, the largest bandit went around to the inside of the teller cage and began emptying the drawers of cash, putting the money in a pillowcase. Underneath the first teller window there was a .38 pistol which was also taken.

When the robbery began Mrs. Myrtle Garrett came to her husband's window to see what was going on, and was ordered to lie on the floor next to her husband. While rifling the cash drawer the wounded bandit bled profusely and blood dripped onto Mrs. Garrett's dress. Also lying on the floor near the teller windows was Vivian Potter, who lifted her head to see what was happening and was soundly told to "keep your head on the floor, you ... (unkindly name)."

"Open this damned door," the robber with glasses yelled, and the leader of the gang unlocked the door between the lobby and the back rooms.

"Get the rifles," came an order from the young bandit watching the front doors, and the bandit wearing glasses went out the side door to a blue Buick four-door sedan which had been parked on West Olive about half an hour before the robbery. He brought in two rifles giving a Remington Model 30 to the younger robber who was covering the bank lobby and the front door, and keeping the Springfield Model 96.

The bandit leader came out of the vault with a stuffed pillowcase and said, "It's time to go!"

Eskel A. Lundgren, another of the seven bank employees, lay at his feet. Lundgren, possibly a veteran of World War I, had only one arm. The bandit leader reached down, grabbed him by the shoulder, and said: "You come with us."

Kesinger, the teller who had been forced to help loot the vault, said, "What do you want with him?"

"You go with us, too," snapped the bandit leader and thrust a gun in his ribs.

The wounded robber went out the side door first, followed by the two captive tellers being pushed by the bandit leader. The other robbers, armed with the rifles, then came out and got into the waiting car. The tellers were forced onto the floor in the back of the car with the robbers carrying the rifles seated on the back seat. The wounded robber got in the front passenger seat and the leader got behind the wheel of the four-door sedan. The robbers had been in the bank for about six minutes.

Dr. W. I. Varnum, whose office was next door to the bank's side entrance, was standing near the door of his office when the bandits came out.

One bandit swung his pistol toward the doctor and commanded him to get back into his office, which Varnum did quickly.

The Master Six blue Buick roared to life and the bandits headed west on Olive Street for a block before turning north. They were forced to go further west on Beech Street to cross the railroad tracks because a Santa Fe freight train was blocking the Main Street and Sixth Street crossings.

They managed to cross the tracks at Eighth Street, then turned back to Main near the Maple Street intersection. They headed north across the Arkansas River bridge and west on U.S. 50 (then called the Santa Fe Trail).

About two miles west of Lamar the bandits turned north on a county road, (County Road 8), and after a short drive stopped and shoved Eskel Lundgren out saying, "Let's get rid of this one-armed bastard. We don't need any damn cripple. We'll keep the other one."

Before he was thrown out Lundgren had tried to take a peek at his captors which resulted in a blow to his head from a gun butt. He also told authorities later that one of the bandits had remarked, "I'm glad we got the old man. He trimmed me in a land deal." This led to wild speculation that revenge was the motive of the robbery, but in the end it appeared the robbers planted the story to throw the authorities off track.

Shots in the bank had been heard by Cashier Harry L. Hooker, of the Valley State Bank across the Main Street intersection. He ordered his front door locked and the vault locked. He leapt to the phone and called Prowers County Sheriff Lloyd E. Alderman, who was at home having lunch. "They want you at the First National. There seems to be trouble down there," the sheriff was told.