The Last Train Robber by W. C. Jameson

Author:W. C. Jameson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: TwoDot
Published: 2020-01-20T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 21

SPENCER, INDIANA

Following the aborted Illinois Central train robbery, the Newton Gang traveled to Chicago, where they went to baseball games, attended movies, and dined and drank in some of the city’s finest restaurants. As funds began to run low, Willis invested some thought into whether he should attempt another train robbery or try holding up another bank. His decision was helped along by a man he met in Chicago who informed him about the potential for two bank robberies in the town of Spencer, Indiana, located fifty miles southwest of Indianapolis.

For providing information about the banks, the man negotiated to be brought in as a partner. Willis agreed, and before heading to Spencer, the gang drove to Tab, Indiana, to make a try at the bank there. Tab was a tiny community located in the west-central part of the state four miles from the Illinois border. Oddly, the small town supported two banks: the National Bank of Spencer and the Exchange Bank. Tab was originally established as a refueling and water stop for the railroad. Today, the town’s population is less than fifty.

On arriving at Tab in the dark of night, the gang found one of the banks closed down, so they drove directly toward the second one. Willis told his brothers that he and the new partner would remain in the car while the rest broke into the bank and gained access to the vault. Finding no night watchman around, Joe, Doc, and Jess walked up to the front door and broke through it. From the description earlier provided by the partner, the new round safe would be difficult to blow open.

From the car, Willis instructed the partner to stand guard near some posts at one side of the bank. Willis explained that it was important that he find a place where he couldn’t be seen. Willis took a position in the shadows on the other side. From hiding, Willis watched as the partner, unmindful of his instructions, stepped out of hiding and stood bathed in the moonlight.

About this time, the first explosion from inside the bank could be heard. While Jess was preparing a second charge, a window was raised up in the building across the street. Willis stated that he watched as the man in the room spotted the new partner out in the street “and cut down on him with a .22 automatic.” One of the bullets struck the partner in the middle of the back. Staggering from the hit, he dropped his shotgun. The weapon fired on impact with the ground and blew out the front window of the bank.

The partner limped over to Willis, saying he had been shot. Willis immediately called into the bank for his brothers to forget about the safe, that they needed to get out of there in a hurry. Assisting the wounded man, the brothers hastened to the car and drove away toward Chicago. In Chicago, Willis took the partner to a doctor he knew. The doctor did what he could, but the man died the next day.

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