Stateside Stories

The USA has had its history of heists and bank robberies. In the early 20th century, they were exceptionally common as poverty rates were very high, and the wealth gap was very wide. Banks became targets for people who were down on their luck and wanted to make lots of money quickly. However, a bank robbery that occurred in Texas in 1927 really stands out, as one of the perpetrators was Santa Claus himself!

In 1927, three men, Marshall Ratliff, Henry Helms and Robert Hill had all recently been released from prison. Most ex-cons would lay low for a while and avoid trouble. However, this trio were already plotting their next crime. Ratliff had been imprisoned for bank robbery, but was released after only one year. He wanted to give it another go, and was originally planning to rob a bank with his brother, Lee Ratliff. But Lee had already been caught committing another criminal offence and was sent back to prison. So Ratliff called upon Helms and Hill, who he was friends with. A fourth man, Louis Davis was also recruited. Davis had no criminal history but was known to be good at opening safes.

On the 23rd December 1927, the four men got ready to rob the First National Bank of Cisco. Ratliff would be dressed as Santa Claus to avoid suspicion. This caused problems from the beginning. As Ratliff entered the bank, children were excited to see Santa and gathered around the doors hoping to get a proper look. The other three men entered the bank with guns and Ratliff got the bank tellers to hand him money, and got one to open the vault. Some customers managed to escape, and alerted the police who arrive at bank within minutes. At the time, Texas was having up to 4 bank robberies a day, and members of the public would be rewarded $5,000 dollars if they shot a bank robber. As members of the public and the police surrounded the bank robbers with guns, they escaped, using customers from the bank as human shields. A shoot out began, resulting in the mortal injuries of two police officers: police chief Bedford and officer George Carmichael.

The four robbers drove away in a stolen car, taking two young girls with them as hostages. Louis Davis was also severely wounded from the shoot-out, and was struggling to remain awake. Their car was running out a fuel, so they attempted a steal another car. However, their new car would not start. They moved back to the first car and drove off, not realising that they left the money they had stolen in the second car. They also left Davis behind, who died on Christmas Day. The men eventually continued their escape on foot, throughout the 24th and 25th December a manhunt ensued to find them. By the start of Boxing Day, the trio were doing poorly due to injury, lack of food and the cold weather.

After stealing another car, the men were involved in another shoot out as the police had caught up with them. Ratliff was badly wounded and could not get up, but Hill and Helms managed to escape again. Ratliff had suffered from 6 wounds, but survived. Helms and Hill both realised that they were too weak to continue going on the run, and eventually surrendered to law enforcment.

Hill was given a 99-year prison sentence for armed robbery. He tried to escape prison 3 times, but was always recaptured. He was eventually released in 1945, after serving 17 years. Hill became a productive member of society after this, and did not re-offend. Hill died in 1996, after 50 years of being a model citizen.

Ratliff and Helms were both given the death penalty. Both would try to plead insanity, but neither were believed. Helms was executed by electric chair in 1929. Ratliff still tried to claim that he was insane, and attempted to delay his execution. On the 18th November 1929, Ratliff pretended to suffer from a nervous breakdown; he shot a guard and escaped from his cell. However, the public were furious at this, and tracked Ratliff down. A mob of about 1,000 people gathered outside the prison and lynched Ratliff by hanging him. Nobody from the mob ever faced any charges for the lynching, possibly because Ratliff was so hated. More crowds gathered to view Ratliff’s body the next day.

What was supposed to be an easy bank robbery resulted in 6 deaths and multiple injuries. At the time, it was the largest bank robbery in US history, and has also become known for how much of it went wrong. In 1967, a plaque was placed on the side of the bank to immortalise the incident, ensuring that it never faded from public memory.