Discussing the holdup Mercantile Trust are, from left, Lt. Lawrence Arkley, St. Louis Department; Robert Neske and Bill Kenkel, security officers at Mercantile; Leigh Doxsee, a bank vice president and Ed Moreland, FBI special agent.
Mrs. Gloria Cantino and her husband, Armand J. Cantino, shown with an officer, were in the bank on business. One of the bandits used Mrs. Cantino as a shield, but release her when she pleaded that she was a mother. Cantino was slugged but not seriously hurt by officers who mistook him for one of the bandits.
Markings made by the Southwest Bank bandits are shown on this map discovered by police in a room rented by Fred W. Bowerman, the gang leader. Marking (A) is the rooming house at 3503 Park Ave., where Bowerman stayed. The large circle (B) encloses the area of the of the holdup attempt at Southwest Ave. and S. Kingshighway. (C)are neighborhoods where the four robbers lived prior to the holdup. (C) and (D) also denote places where the gang's automobiles were left. Other circles mark important intersections, viaducts and possible get-away routes.
The third automobile used by the gang of Chicago bandits (nicknamed the Southwest Bank Bandits) was recovered yesterday on a parking lot at 4631 Shaw ave. Patrolman Raymond F. Griffie of the Second Police District is inspecting the car, a blue Hudson. The car was driven by Fred W. Bowerman, gang leader.
Smiling despite the ordeal of being held as a shield by a desperate bandit at the Southwest Bank holdup yesterday is Miss Eva Hamilton being assisted by a policeman at City Hospital wher she was treated for two broken wrists.
Police crouched behind parked autobmobiles in front of the Southwest Bank to exchange shots with holdup men inside. More than 40 shots were fired before two of the bandits were wounded and capture.
The fourth man sought in the amazing holdup attempt at the Southwest Bank was last seen about noon Friday when he stepped out of the automobile shown at left. The car, bearing a stolen Missouri license, was abandoned on Lemp avenue, near Shenandoah avenue. At right is the escape car driven away from the bank by the fourth man. It was found on a parking lot six blocks away from the bank. From left to right: Captain John Buck, Detective Walter Cliff and Captain Maurice O'Neil, and behind Detective Cliff is Sergeant Emmet Hahn.
This toy pistol and length of pipe were found on the deck above the rear seat in the bandit's getaway car, which was abandoned two block away from the Southern Commercial and Savings Bank.
These tellers' windows in the Southern Commercial and Savings Bank at 7201 South Broadway were the targets of a lone bandit who obtained $31,130 in a holdup there yesterday. Thwarted in his effort to obtain any cash from Window No.1, the bandit moved to Window No.2 (indicated by arrow), repeated, his demands for money and got it.
Scene of $16,000 robbery is the Southwest Bank at Kingshighway and Southwest avenue. At right, the teller's cage at which the holdup occurred is checked to determine the amount taken.
This warning, chalked on the wall of the bank, was noticed several days ago by bank employees. They said they had been joking about it, never realizing that it would come true and add a mystery to the strange story.
Bank officials, after the battle, counted the money which the bandits had scooped into the bag before they were caught in the police trap. Police said more than $141,000 was in the bag.
The alarm which brought police to the Southwest Bank at Kingshighway and Southwest Avenue and foiled a $141,000 holdup was set off when Dillon Ross, president of the bank, notified the telephone operator to telephone police. Arthur G. Zinselmeyer,cashier, saw one of the bandits shoot himself when capture was imminent. Paul D. Geisler (pictured above) a salesman of 8501 Pilot ave., a customer
The stolen automobile in which the bandit fled was found a short time later, where it had been abandoned near the mouth of an alley opening into Upton street, just west of Broadway. The automobile found was stolen by a bandit who held up the Southern Commercial and Savings Bank.
