‘Dead bank robbers wanted’

The version people usually tell.

On Sept. 10, 1926, a car drove to and parked near the front of the Red River National Bank in Clarksville, Texas. Two men got out and went into the bank. The men, carrying revolvers and bank bags, exited the bank a few minutes later. A Texas Ranger happened to be walking on the sidewalk across the street when the two men came out of the bank. Seeing the guns and bank bags, the Ranger pulled his own pistol and said, “Texas Ranger! Put up your hands!” The two men failed to follow the Ranger’s instructions, instead pointing their guns at the Ranger. The Ranger then killed both bank robbers, identified as A.M. Slaton and T.L. Smallwood.

What really happened, as told by Henry Lee Somerville, who was 11 years old at the time.

On the September day mentioned, a car did park at the front of the bank. Two men got out of the car and went into the bank.

So far, it’s a usual bank robbery story.

But then, things got interesting.

After the two men went into the bank, the driver of the getaway car got out of the car and walked away. And, as soon as the gunmen were in the bank, the town constable began directing traffic away from the bank.

Across the street from the bank, Texas Ranger Captain Tom Hickman and a local law officer were sitting on the running board of a car, hidden from the gunmen. The Ranger now and then eased up high enough to check the bank. Captain Hickman was a patient man. Patience is part of being a Texas Ranger.

About 20 minutes after entering the bank, the two robbers came out, holding bags of cash and pistols. Captain Hickman and the other lawman stood up. The Ranger later said he identified himself and told the robbers to put up their hands. Instead, the robbers pointed their guns at the Ranger. They died for their mistake.

People at the scene, Somerville said, did not hear the Ranger make his announcement.

Somerville also said that the Texas Bankers Association not long before the robbery announced a reward for dead bank robbers. The announcement is at Page 21,

http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/Backissues/Dispatch_Issue_31.pdf

The announcement stated in part: “$5,000 Reward. Dead bank robbers wanted. $5,000 cash will be paid for each bank robber killed while robbing a Texas bank.” The announcement also said the association would not pay one cent for a captured, live bank robber.

The Bankers Association gladly gave Captain Hickman a reward.

So, a getaway driver walks off, a Texas Ranger is concealed from the robbers, the bad men do not do as instructed by the Ranger and suffer the consequences.

But that’s not all of the story.

After Somerville’s recounting, I checked back issues of the newspaper and learned that on the day after the robbery, the Red River County sheriff went to a popular camping lake south of Annona and southeast of Clarksville. There, the sheriff took into custody two women who were in their 20s. He had the women taken to Dallas County Jail, where one was identified as having been in a drug store in Irving, Texas, a month before, on the same day a bank was robbed there. Both women denied knowledge of the Clarksville or Irving bank robberies, but did not give credible information on their decision to drive to Red River County for a campout.

Law officers never got a chance to charge the women, though.

The day after the women arrived at the jail in Dallas, an attorney from Fort Worth arrived, saying he represented the women, one of whom was from a prominent Fort Worth family. The women were released.

A story unfinished.