The 1915 Robbery of Stockgrowers State Bank, Maple Hill, Kansas

I conducted many oral history interviews with my Grandmothers, Mabel R. (Jones) Clark and Mildred Mae (McCauley) Corbin.    While I was looking through the notes about the Rufe King murders, I saw attached to it the information my Grandmother Clark had given me about the 1915 robbery of Stockgrowers State Bank in Maple Hill.   These stories are interesting and worth repeating.

A 1910 photo of James and Mable (Jones) Clark.

"It was a very hot night in August.  The Stockgrowers State Bank was located directly across Main Street from the Central Office.   Jim (my grandfather, James Peter Clark) and I had only been running the Central Office for about a year.  The rule was that I would keep the switchboard open until 10:00pm.   After that, those who had phones were instructed only to make calls if there was an emergency.   I opened the switchboard again at 6:00am, although we were usually up at 5:00am so I would take any calls that came into the switchboard.

As I said, it was a very hot night and I had put on my night gown and robe and I went into the central office to close down the switchboard and blow out the kerosene lamp.   Jim had gone to bed at about 8:00pm as was his custom.   He had to get up early and milk cows so he always went to sleep about as soon as the sun went down.

I walked from our bedroom across the living room and into the central off and reached for the lamp.  Just as I did so, I heard a voice through the open window which was about three feet from the switchboard.   "Put out that lamp and go to bed.   If you come into this room again, I'll kill you."  Grandmother Clark said she did as she was told and went to the bedroom.   There was a window on the north side of the house within a couple of feet of the bed and it was open.   She saw a shadow cross the window and then the voice quietly said, "I'm watching.   Stay in that bed and don't try anything."  Grandmother said she did as she was told and Grandfather Clark did not wake up.

Within a few minutes, there was a terrible explosion that shook the entire house.   Grandfather Clark woke up and the man standing by the window fired a shot into the air yelling, "Stay in that bed and don't move or you're dead!"

Grandmother said it was all she could do to hold her young husband in bed but he did as he was told.   She said within minutes, there was a second explosion and it was clear that the bank vault across the street was being blown open and the bank robbed.

The second blast blew the vault door off and within a short time the contents were emptied.

This is a picture of Maple Hill, Kansas in 1910.   The Central Office is the white one-story structure on the left side of the street.  Directly across the street, is the one-story stone building of Stockgrowers State Bank.

My Grandmother Clark said that it was a very foggy night.   It was so foggy that it was difficult to see what was going on.   But as soon as the first explosion occurred, at least two open touring cars began driving up and down Main Street and other streets in Maple Hill and men with shotguns began shooting into the houses.   This was meant to keep people inside their homes and allow the robbers time to make their escape.

Grandmother said that the man at the window ran to one of the cars as it drove past the Central Office and disappeared.   Before long, all the cars were gone and the little town's people began pouring out into the streets.    Only a few people had automobiles at that time and most of them were not deputized to pursue the robbers nor did they really want to do so.   My Grandfather Clark didn't have a car at that time, nor did my Paternal Great Grandfather, Leander Emory Jones, who was the town's marshall.   So the robbers make a clean get away in the fog.

Although the case was investigated by the Wabaunsee County Sheriff, the robbers were never found.   Sometime during the 1970s, I interviewed Warner Adams, whose father Franklin Adams founded Stockgrowers State Bank in 1907.    Warner was a lad of 15 when the robbery occurred.   He said that about $2,500 in cash was taken and that it was not insured but his father covered the loss from his personal funds.  Warner said that it was mid-month and that the bank kept more money on hand at the end of the month to cash the pay checks of local ranch hands and other workers.   At the end of the month, there might have been $10,000 in the vault.    Warner said that he father and others had suspicions about who might have been involved but no evidence was strong enough to make charges.

In 1969, the author and his ex-wife bought the two-story frame house on Main Street belonging to Glenn and Mae Crayton.   It had been built by Dr. J. M. Kemper soon after the town's founding in 1887.   When we took the front siding off, we found several bullets lodged in the wood sheating.  The bullet holes had been plugged on the front side but were still in evidence on the back side and in the wood sheeting under the siding.

Maple Hill was a quiet little farming and ranching town of 250 people in those days, but exciting things did happen.