State Bank of East Fort Worth Robbery: J. L. Henson at Arraignment

Creator

Preview

Identifier

20127116

Description

Toy Pistol Bank Robber Held Under $10,000 Bond A $10,000 bond was set by U. S. Commissioner Van Orden Saturday for J. L. Henson, unsuccessful bank robber who Friday took $2,180 from the State Bank of East Fort Worth. Henson went to county jail in lieu of bond. The burly bandit nervously sucked at his thumb as the bond was set. He told the commissioner, "I don't have funds to get a lawyer." Henson was captured less than an hour after he held up the bank Friday. His downfall started when he dropped his toy pistol right in the middle of the robbery attempt. "I heard a rattle when it fell," explained Head Teller Frank Stidham, the victim. "I was pretty sure then that the pistol was a toy." Stidham disregarded the nervous robber's scrawled note instructing him to sit on the floor. He chased the bandit out of the bank, drawing attention to Henson's getaway in a pink automobile. Police captured Henson at his apartment three blocks from the bank. The loot, the toy pistol and the note were recovered. Stidham is an old hand at being robbed. Bandits using real guns took $3,325 from him at the bank in April. The men later were captured. "Some people go all their life without being robbed," Stidham mused. "It's happened to me twice in one year." In both instances, Stidham vaulted the counter and pursued the bandits. He admitted the action is strange for a bank teller. He added, however, that it works better than an alarm for attracting attention.

Archival Date

1958-12-26

Collection Name

Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection

Collection Number

AR406-6-182

Original Format

Negatives, Black & White

File Format

JPG

Rights

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License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Subjects

Robbery; Crimes