"TWO GUN" HENDERSON

During the depression years of the 1930s, bank robberies were quite common across the nation.  There were many notorious criminals--the names John Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, and “Baby Face” Nelson come to mind.  Several of them were alleged to have passed through or near the area.

However, the name that struck fear and terror in the hearts of local bankers and law enforcement here in northern Iowa was that of “Two Gun” Henderson.  Born in Arkansas, Hillary “Two Gun” Henderson came to this part of the country via Texas, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska, leaving a trail of robbed banks in his wake.  It wasn’t long before he found some Kossuth County banks ripe for the picking.

Between the middle of August and the middle of November of 1930, four area banks were robbed—the Bank of Lu Verne, the Exchange State Bank in Wesley, a bank in Hardy, and finally the People’s Savings Bank in St. Benedict which was robbed twice in less than three weeks.

LU VERNE BANK ROBBED

Bank of Lu Verne

The robbery in Lu Verne occurred on Wednesday, August 20, 1930, at about 9:30 a.m.  Two men with guns drawn entered the bank and told the three employees – Consuelo Hanna, W.Scott Hanna, and Arthur Hof – to “stick ‘em up.”  With their hands in the air, the trio was then directed to lie down on the floor.  The younger of the two men was wearing a mask and guarded the bank

Consuelo Hanna

workers.  His nervousness was palpable and the other bandit reassured him several times that there was little danger.  The older robber cleaned out the teller drawer and then ransacked the vault.  Once he had plundered all cash and bonds in sight, the three staff members were ushered into the vault and the door was shut and locked.  The two bandits escaped to the car where their accomplice, St. Benedict native Art Rosenmeyer, was waiting and they tore out of town to the north.  The two robbers would later be identified as “Two Gun” Henderson and Lawrence Dugan. 

Meanwhile, after giving the bandits sufficient time to leave, Mr. Hanna worked the inside combination to unlock the bank vault.  Once the door was open, he called Sheriff L.E. Hovey to report the theft.  The bank robbers had been spotted by a LuVerne youth as they left the bank with money bag in hand.  He did not enter the bank until they had disappeared.  It is interesting to note that a news article in the August 27, 1930 edition of the Whittemore Champion reporting the robbery chastised the young man by stating, “The youth was driving a Buick, and could have kept the robbers in sight if he had grabbed a companion off the street and chased them immediately.”  Later in the article further directions were given to the public.  “Proper procedure following a bank robbery, as suggested by Mr. Hovey, is to follow the bank robbers at a safe distance.  The important thing is to keep them in sight.  This forces the robbers, naturally nervous, to keep to the main roads in order to make speed.  In the meantime the surrounding country will be warned and be on the look-out.  The sheriff or other peace officers would then have a chance to waylay the car and its occupants.”

The getaway car was found two days later near a straw pile on a farm near Hanna Switch.  The vehicle had been stolen from F. B. Spangler in Janesville, Minnesota, and the plates came from a vehicle registered to a man near Buffalo Center.

EXCHANGE STATE BANK, WESLEY

Almost a month passed before the next robbery.  On the morning of Thursday, September 18, 1930, “Two Gun” Henderson, brandishing a revolver and swearing, entered the Exchange State Bank at Wesley.  His face had been smeared with grease to camouflage his appearance.  He demanded that the employees and a customer lie on the floor while he looted the till of about $700.  Henderson next herded the group behind a partition in the center of the bank and again made them lie down.  The bandit then demanded that the assistant cashier, John Hutchison, open the vault, but Hutchison convinced him that there was a time lock on the door which prevented him from opening it.  Knowing he would be unable to get to the more lucrative stash kept in the vault, “Two Gun” fled the bank.  He jumped into a gray coupe and headed west out of town at a high rate of speed.  Officers attempted to follow but eventually the driver eluded them. 

Exchange State Bank, Wesley, Iowa

After his escape from the law, Henderson met up with Art Rosenmeyer and another accomplice, Walter Baer.  The night before he had tried to talk them into helping him rob the Wesley bank but they had declined.  Now that he had boldly committed that robbery on his own, he convinced them to accompany him to the Hardy bank that afternoon. 

ROBBERY IN HARDY

Henderson and Baer entered the Hardy bank at about 3:30 p.m.  Following the same modus operandi used in the earlier robberies, an employee and a customer were ordered to lie on the floor while another employee was ordered to open the vault.  As the robbery unfold, a woman passing by observed what was happening and spread the alarm.  As the men fled the bank, Marshal Lewis Rasmussen fired, hitting “Two Gun.”  The two robbers made it into the car which quickly sped out of town.  Although law enforcement followed in hot pursuit, the robbers’ car was no match and soon outdistanced their pursuers. 

Although the marshal was able to get a shot off at the fleeing bandits, State Agent J. E. Hronek who investigated the case, expressed his disappointment that area merchants had not taken action.  Having been warned by the observant woman, the merchants, armed with shotguns, took positions on the roofs surrounding the bank.  He stated that they could have fired into the engine or tires of the vehicle to block escape or actually fired at the bandits while they made their getaway.  A carload of local men actually pursued the getaway vehicle out of town.  It eventually turned into a dead end road.  Hronek was upset that instead of blocking their escape path, the locals allowed their quarry to turn around and speed by them without firing a shot.

As the robberies became more common, bank robbers were wanted more dead than alive.  In September of 1930 the Palo Alto County Bankers Association offered a reward of $1,000 for “the first dead bank robber brought in by any person or any member of the vigilante committee.”  Many local communities organized vigilante groups to provide additional protection which, from the comments of the sheriff, appears to have been encouraged.

It was said that had an attempt been made on any Algona bank, anywhere from 10 to 20 shotguns would have gone into action on State Street.  The courthouse was also heavily armed.  Clerk of Court Clark Orton kept a deer hunting rifle in the second floor southeast corner room ready to spring into action.  In reality Algona was most likely protected by its traffic problem.  At that time cars were double parked on each side of State Street making it difficult to make a quick getaway.

The three robbers involved in the LuVerne, Wesley and Hardy crimes were not able to be tied to either of the robberies of the Peoples’ Savings Bank of St. Benedict although Art Rosenmeyer was suspected of being involved in the first robbery that occurred there.  Three other men were later arrested for the second robbery.  They were identified as Myron Martin of Renwick, Clarence Perry of Clarion and Harris Damon of Holmes.

PAYING THEIR DEBT TO SOCIETY

The only local man involved, Art Rosenmeyer, was apprehended and charged with aiding and abetting the two men who robbed the Bank of LuVerne, Iowa, by acting as the getaway driver.  He was sentenced to an indeterminate term not to exceed life on October 30, 1930 and sent to Fort Madison.  He was paroled on February 12, 1936 and returned to the St. Benedict area where he lived the rest of his life.  Rosenmeyer married in 1944 and had eight children.  He died in May of 1966 and is buried in the St. Benedict Catholic Cemetery.

So what happened to “Two Gun” Henderson?  He had also been suspected of bootlegging when he resided on a farm near Blue Earth, Minnesota, before he became a bank robber.  At the height of the crime spree, local law enforcement did all they could to track him down.  Accomplices were arrested in Minnesota and Sheriff Hovey and witnesses from the various bank robberies traveled to make identities and to obtain information about the ring leader.  Henderson, along with a pal, Clarence Campbell, was finally arrested in Wichita, Kansas, in October of 1931 after robbing the bank in Hayesville.  Sentenced to a maximum of 50 years at hard labor in Kansas, he was released from prison in 1939 and brought back to Kossuth County.  Henderson pled guilty to robbery with aggravation for the robbery of the Exchange State Bank in Wesley.  He was sent to the Iowa State Penitentiary at Fort Madison to serve 25 years.  Court records reflect his release in September of 1945. 

From that point on, his information trail runs cold.  Did he ever answer for any other robberies or crimes he may have committed?  Or did he turn his life around after serving his time?  Most likely, we will never know.  Hillary “Two Gun” Henderson was finally laid to rest in Mount Sherman, Arkansas following his death on August 28, 1969.  Although he is gone, his legend lives on.

Until next time,

Jean, a/k/a KC History Buff

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