It was around 9:20am on Saturday, February 21, 1925 in the rural community of Millburg, Michigan, when a black Cadillac touring car with a group of young, well-dressed men in trench coats, pulled up to the State Bank of Millburg. Elizabeth Krietner and Ben Kral had just opened the bank when two men entered. One, armed with a revolver, jumped the cage and forced the two tellers into a back closet. The other hailed in two more men who looted the safe of $52,000 in bonds and $2900 in cash. While the actual robbery was over in a matter of minutes, the subsequent car chase, man hunt, and trial became one of the most dramatic crimes of the 1920s in Southwest Michigan.
The lock on the bank closet door was little to keep the cashiers restrained and they quickly notified the authorities. The Twin City “Hello Girls” went to work on the switchboards alerting police throughout the region of the fleeing bandits. Within thirty minutes roads across Berrien County were under guard as a posse armed with sawed-off shotguns and high powered rifles was organized. The robbers sped away from the scene at top speed heading first toward Benton Harbor before turning south heading toward the Indiana Stateline on icy rural roads.
A blockade was erected in the village of Galien by Deputy Sheriff Con Allen, and former Deputy Sheriff Floyd Lintner. The car stopped and the five bandits jumped out of the car as Lintner and Allen ordered them surrender. A gun battle ensued leaving Lintner shot in the right heel, severing a tendon. The bandit car then pulled onto a dirt side road and escaped toward Three Oaks and then over the state line into New Carlisle. Then at the farm of Jed Drollinger, seven miles southwest of New Carlisle, the bandits stopped to ask directions when New Carlisle Constable Elias Ackley and farmer Oscar Smith caught up to the bandits. Ackley began to question the men, but Smith did not hesitate to fire several rounds with a sawed off shotgun into the car. Four of the men abandoned their car and ran for the barn where they hid themselves in the barn and outbuildings. At this time the South Bend Police showed up to the scene and the outgunned men were rounded up.
Berrien County Sheriff Franz called them “the most desperate men ever jailed here,” for their willingness to shoot their way to freedom. The men were held under $100k bonds each and charged with Bank Robbery. The five men arrested were John Marshall, 26; Frank King, 31; James Long, 40; James Allison, 30; and Edward Summers, 25. They are all know by several aliases and were suspected in other bank robberies throughout Michigan. Sheriff Franz became so worried about the five gangsters having powerful criminal allies he purchased Berrien County’s first machine gun to guard the inmates.
The trial was moved to Kalamazoo in exchange for trying all five men together. At 5am on May 11 the defendants were shackled together in heavy steel cuffs and transferred to Kalamazoo County Jail. The trial was short with the only defense being that the men were bootleggers caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Convicted on May 16, 1925 as the jury was out but for a half an hour returning at 1:30pm with the verdict. A half hour after their conviction they were sentenced. All five were sent to Marquette prison. The court read this statement from Judge Weimer, “These men are potential murderers. From the time they left Millburg until the hour of their capture they did not hesitate to shoot at any or all persons who attempted to stop him. We do not hesitate in removing any person who has become a source of danger to peaceful citizens.”
While the stolen bonds were recovered from the Drollinger the majority of the cash remained unaccounted for. The mystery of the missing money was solved in 1929 when James Kane was arrested and convicted as being the sixth Millburg bandit who had escaped during the chase. Kane was also sentenced to life in prison.
Join us on Tuesday, February 21 at 7pm as Executive Director Alex Gates presents an in-depth look at this infamous crime.
