The Santa Claus Bank Robbery

Download or read book The Santa Claus Bank Robbery written by A. C. Greene and published by University of North Texas Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Master storyteller A. C. Greene re-creates one of America's most bizarre holdups -- one that began as a lark. On Christmas Eve 1927, four men set off to rob the First National Bank of Cisco, Texas. Soon the lark turned into a tragedy -- and at times a comedy -- of errors. The robbers did not realize the car they had stolen for their get-away was running on empty. The leader did not anticipate the attention his disguise would draw, even though it was a bright red Santa Claus suit. And they could not have known that all of Cisco would have guns at hand because the Bankers Association had offered a reward of $5000 for any dead bank robber, no questions asked. The Santa Claus bank robbery set off a chain of events that would lead to violence and the death of six men and launch the largest manhunt Texas had ever seen. A. C. Greene's factual account of the unusual crime reads like a novel -- fast paced, full of unexpected turns, and rich with the flavor of life in Texas at the beginning of the end of the Old West. This new edition contains an Afterword with photographs, some of them never before published, and follow-up information on the lives of the participants, including the surviving robber, witnesses and kidnap victims.