A Military Bank Robbery

A very adroit bank robbery was recently effected in St. Louis by a young rogue belonging to the 3rd Missouri volunteers.  It was effected in broad daylight.  Below is a protion of the statement of the young robber which shows how it was done:

OFFICE OF PROVOST MARSHAL,

ST. LOUIS, March 29, 1862.

I was born in St. Louis county; will be sixteen years old in May next.  I joined company H, Third Missouri Volunteers, in this city on the 4th inst., and went to Rolla soon afterwards. – On the 20th instant I arrived in this city from Rolla as one of an escort of prisoners of war – escort and prisoners being in charge of Colonel Shepherd, of said regiment.  On the 24th inst., I went to the office of Capt. Leighton (Provost Marshal St. Louis District,) and reported that a cavalry sabre was in possession of one Kuester, living on the Bellefontaine road, six miles from the city.  When I made this report I expected Capt. Leighton (Provost Marshal,) would give me authority to take the sabre, but I was merely informed that the matter would be properly attended to.  On the next day I went to the headquarters of the Eighth Missouri Militia, on Fifth street, near Franklin avenue; said I had been sent by the Provost Marshal to get a guard of five or six men.  The officer in charge gave me five men, and I went with them to the house of Keuster and got the sabre.  On going out I marched the guard to the terminus of the railroad at Bremen, and then took possession of an omnibus, telling the driver to take myself and the guard to the six mile house, on assuring him that the fare would be all right between him and Uncle Sam.  The driver did not object to the terms which I proposed.  After leaving Kuester’s I went to the premises of Col. McLaren and took therefrom a breach loading rifle, a musket, a shot gun, a navy revolver, and a few cartridges.  I then went to the house of John Jennings, and took from a box that I found therein about a dollar in silver.  Not finding any arms in Jennings’ house, in which I was very much disappointed, I directed him to send his wagon with myself and guard to the Six Mile House, which order he complied with.  The money which I obtained from Jennings was barely sufficient to pay the fare of the guard from the six mile house to the city.  I discharged the guard on the sidewalk in front of an eating house on Broadway, kept by on Crozier, sending it to headquarters on Fifth street under the care of one of them, whom I told to act as corporal. – The arms taken in this expedition were deposited by me for safe keeping in Crozier’s establishment.

On the next night between seven and eight o’clock, I proceeded to the headquarters of the City Guard, on Sixth street, and called for a guard of six men, and the same time presenting to Major McConnell an order purporting to have been written by Captain Leighten, Provost Marshal.  I wrote the order in an eating house on Broadway by Miller & True.  As I was quite nervous from the effects of liquor, I could not write very well, and asked Miller to write the order, but True said: “No, if you can do that it will get you and me into trouble; but Redman may write it here, and I will not say anything about it.”  I told True that I was going to get a guard and arrest the proprietors of the Broadway Bank, and that I would soon have money enough to go into partnership with him, to which he replied, “Bully for you; if you do, I will stick to you as long as life lasts.”  Both Miller and True had a pretty good idea of the adventure, although I had not given them the full particulars.  My intentions were, in case I obtained the guard, to rob the bank and arrest the proprietors that night.  Major McConnell refused to give me the guard, and I returned to Miller and True’s eating house, and stayed there that night.  Before retiring for the night, I told True to call me early in the morning, as I intended to arrest the proprietors of the above named bank, and he said he would do so.

An an early hour on Thursday morning, I went to the headquarters of the City Guard, and presented to the Lieutenant in charge another order purporting to be from Captain Leighton, for a guard of six men.  The Lieutenant said the order was not good and refused to place the guard under my charge.  I then went to Benton Barracks, and after a few judicious inquiries, learned that a German company attached to the Seventeenth Wisconsin Volunteers, was stationed in Barrack No. 68; so I informed myself of the Captain’s name and went to his quarters, and told him that I had been sent to him by the Provost Marshal for a guard of six men.  He said it was strange that I had not brought a written order, but gave me the guard quite readily.  My idea was that I could get the guard more surely from a German than from an American officer and the result showed that I had reasoned correctly.  Upon getting the guard I marched them to the Broadway Bank, arrested the proprietor thereof, and sent him under guard to the Broadway Garden; after which, finding I could not unlock the safe – it having a combination lock – I went to the Garden and told him he must come down and open the safe, as I had orders to see that all his papers were thoroughly searched.  He came down to the bank with me and opened the safe, and then I sent him back to the Garden, giving directions to have him kept in close custody until further orders were received from me.  After his departure I went to the safe and helped myself to quite a large amount of money – the exact sum I do not know.  I then locked the door of the Bank and gave the key to a sentinel which I had previously stationed on the sidewalk for the purpose of keeping the crowd back, telling him to deliver it to the sergeant of the guard, and to tell the sergeant not to let any one have it except myself or a commissioned officer.  I also gave the sentinel a ten dollar bill and told him to hand it to the sergeant of the guard, and have it spent for the benefit of the guard in the way of paying for beer and food.  I had previously paid the sergeant a dollar or two to pay the fare of the guard and that of my prisoner from the Bank to the Garden.

Upon leaving the Bank I stated to the crowd in front of the door that I had seized a quantity of counterfeit Treasury notes, and was going to take them to the office of the Provost Marshal, but I immediately started in search of a man named Jerry Welch, (who had previously been introduced to me by the name of Wetzel,) whom I found on Fifth Street, near the Melodeon.  We stepped into an alley, and I told him what I had done.  He said, “Bully for you; you have carried the thing out better than I have ever heard of anything being done before.”  I then gave him part of the money which I had taken from the Bank, and told him that I had two others to divide with.  I do not know how much I gave him.  I then divided with Miller and True, but do not know what sums I gave them respectively.  My opinion is that Miller got more of the money than True did.  I kept only a comparatively small amount.  The understanding was that Miller and True were to meet me in Chicago, where I intended to go the day following the robbery.

The idea of getting money from the Broadway Bank was original with me, but I spoke of it to Welch, Miller and True, and they encouraged it.  I told Welch that I thought of bringing a charge against the proprietors of the Bank, and have it investigated by the Provost Marshal.  Pending the examination, I expected to find time and opportunity to rob the Bank.  Welch said that scheme would not work, and advised me to get a guard and arrest the banker, and have him confined in some place where there were no commissioned officers.

The Broadway Garden being the only suitable place that I knew of, I selected it as a temporary prison for the banker, and expected he would remain there in confinement at least twenty-four hours.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, April 5, 1862, p. 2