The First Bank Heist in America on This Day in History

 

This Day in History: What has been termed the first documented bank heist in U.S. history, happened when burglars stole $245,000 (1831 values) from the City Bank (now Citibank) on Wall Street happened on this day in 1831.

The amount stolen would come to over $52 million in 2013 currency. Initial reports variously reported the name of the culprits as Edward Smith, Edward Jones, James Honeyman and James Murray. A modern source, drawing on period newspapers, names James Honeyman and William J. Murray.

"The pair had gained entry with a set of duplicate keys carefully made from wax impressions of the door locks by Honeyman's brother in law, a locksmith. They emptied out the vault and some safe deposit boxes and disappeared undetected.

When the theft was discovered the next day, suspicion fell on the employees because there was no sign of forced entry." Source

Murray and Honeyman, who used both "Smith" and "Jones" as aliases, spent $60,000 before they were caught. Murray fled to Philadelphia while Honeyman remained in New York under an alias. Both were captured, convicted, and both sentenced to five years in Sing Sing prison.

While this is posited as the first bank heist in US history, there was actually an earlier one in 1798. Read more here.

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The "Baron of Bank Robbery" on This Day in History

 

Today in History: German-American bank robber Herman Lamm died on this day in 1930. Lamm is widely considered one of the most brilliant and efficient bank robbers to have ever lived, and has been described as "the father of modern bank robbery". By his death in 1930, his techniques had already been widely imitated by other bank robbers across the country including bank robber John Dillinger.

Lamm was a member of the Prussian army and after he was discharged, he decided that a bank heist needed military planning and training. His system (what became known as "The Lamm Technique") involved carefully studying a target bank for many hours before the robbery, developing a detailed floor plan, noting the location of safes, taking meticulous notes and establishing escape routes.

"Lamm assigned each gang member a specific job, along with a specific zone of the bank they were charged with surveying and a strict timetable to complete their stage of the robbery. Among the jobs he assigned to his fellow robbers were the lookout, the getaway driver, the lobby man and the vault man. He also put his men through a series of rehearsals, some of which involved using a full-scale mock-up of the interior of the bank. Lamm stressed the importance of timing during these practice runs, and used stopwatches to ensure the proper results were achieved. He only allowed his gang members to stay in a bank for a specific period of time, regardless of how much money they could steal." Wikipedia

Lamm is also credited with devising the first detailed bank robbery getaway maps. Once he targeted a bank, he mapped the nearby back roads to a tenth of a mile. He meticulously developed getaway plans for each of his robberies. Before every heist, Lamm obtained a nondescript car with a high-powered engine, and often recruited drivers who had been involved in auto racing. He would spend days doing practice runs.

Lamm's gang was considered the most efficient gang of bank robbers of the era. It all came to an end after robbing the Citizens State Bank in Clinton Indiana. However, it took thousands of angry Indiana citizens and 200 police (many newly deputized) to stop him. He shot himself rather than surrender to the mob.

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