PLANO NATIONAL BANK
ROBBERY AT PLANO BANK
Bullets Struck 4 Citizens
Bank
Cashier Sounds Alarm
Three
Men Make Getaway Headed Toward Dallas.
McKinney
Daily Courier Gazette, September 15, 1927
Three
unidentified persons entered the Plano National bank at 1:30 o'clock this
Thursday afternoon, covered the five occupants of the bank and attempted a
robbery of the institution.
While one of the
men remained in a waiting automobile, two others entered the building and
ordered the occupants to the rear of the building. Those in the bank were J. H.
Gulledge, president; D. S. Coleman, cashier; Miss Mattie Potts, teller; Jimmie
Coleman, bookkeeper, and Jim Thomas, negro janitor.
The men entered
the cage where Miss Potts was working taking all the money in the drawer. The
two men were forcing employees in the vault of the bank so they could enter the
vault, when Mr. Coleman and his son made their getaway through the rear of the
building and gave the alarm.
***
Crowd Quickly Gathered.
A crowd quickly
gathered, many with shotguns, and as the men rushed from the building the
younger one, about five feet tall and appearing about twenty years old, fired
several shots into the crowd. Many of those who gathered at first thought there
was a fire and did not know that the bank was being robbed.
The young man,
as he left the building, ordered the people back, firing several shots which
struck Mrs. Rice Brown, an employee of the Mathews Department store, and Miss
Alice Belle Hudson. Both were struck below the knee and were not seriously
injured.
O. S. Watts, a
farmer of near Plano, got a gun in a drug store and fired at the retreating
bandits. It is thought that one of the men was hit, as they made the escape.
They went south, and after their departure some of the money taken was found
near the Cotton Belt depot. They headed towards Dallas on the Exall highway.
***
Man Wounded.
Walter Farmer, a
Plano confectioner, was also slightly wounded when struck by a stray bullet
fired by the bandits.
All officers in
this part of the state have been notified and a description of the three bandits
given in each case.
McKinney
officers were the first notified and left immediately for the scene of the
robbery.
It is believed
that the amount of the loot will not be more than $300 as it was said by bank
officials that only about that sum was kept in the money tills in paying
teller's cage.
Historical marker, 1993
PLANO NATIONAL BANK/
I.O.O.F. LODGE BUILDING
AFTER A BUILDING THEY SHARED WAS
DESTROYED BY FIRE IN 1895, THE
PLANO NATIONAL BANK (EST. 1887) AND
THE I.O.O.F. (ODD FELLOWS) LODGE
(EST. 1870) ERECTED THIS COMMERCIAL
BUILDING HERE IN 1896. IN 1936 THE
STRUCTURE WAS REDESIGNED BY
ARCHITECT/BUILDER ABE CAIN WITH
ART DECO DETAILING. THE BUILDING
WAS REMODELED IN 1958 BUT A 1980s
RESTORATION PROJECT RETURNED IT
TO ITS 1936 ART DECO APPEARANCE.
PROMINENT FEATURES INCLUDE CZECH-
OSLAVAKIAN BLACK CARRARA GLASS.
Plano
Places Index
Recommended
citation:
"Plano National Bank - Places, COLLIN COUNTY HISTORY," Collin County, Texas History and Genealogy
Webpage by Genealogy Friends of Plano Libraries, Inc., <http://www.geocities/genfriendsghl>
[Accessed Fri February 13, 2004].
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