Black Sheep Sunday: Police Lose Trail of Kokomo Bandit Gang, Blue Car Found

Source: Marion Leader-Tribune, Marion, Indiana, March 28, 1925, p. 1.


POLICE LOSE TRAIL OF KOKOMO BANDIT GANG, BLUE CAR FOUND


Marion police have been asked to aid in the search for bandits, who held up and robbed the South Kokomo bank of $4,000 in cash and a like amount in Liberty bonds yesterday afternoon, and whose trail was lost when the conspicuous blue car, used by the bandits, to make their escape, was found concealed in a slough five miles southwest of Kokomo.


A farmer reported he saw the bandits, about seven in number, change to two small cars, which were a coupe and a sedan.


Many Reports Received


In the meantime many reports had come from Grant, Madison and other counties telling of blue cars which had been seen.  This information became of no value when it was found the bandits had abandoned this car.


The bandits entered the bank singly.  While the first was having a $10 bill changed a second entered and waited at the cashier's window.


The third suddenly displayed a gun and ordered A.E. Gorton, cashier, Miss Winifred Dimitt, assistant cashier, and Miss Frances Gorton into the rear room. Gorton was forced, with a pistol at the back of his head, to open the inner vault.


"Speedy," a small terrier, boldly attacked the burglar's ankles, and was kicked into the basement.


The bandit's car was stolen from Ft. Wayne Thursday night, and carried the license plates of a phaeton belonging to Barrett M. Woodsmall of Indianapolis, stolen from there March 11, and found here riddled with bullets Thursday night.


Holdup is Watched


The holdup was watched by three young men in a drug store across the street from the bank, but they were prevented from calling police because of fear of a stranger who stood in the store and watched them closely.  The alarm was not sounded until the bandits had escaped with their money.


The bandits, at least several of them, have been seen twice in Kokomo recently.  They took lunch at a small cafe in the south part of town last Sunday, and previously tried to get rooms in the hotel above the restaurant.


Cashier Gorton had some difficulty in working the combination of the safe, and this angered the bandit who held the gun over him, and he threatened "to blow his brains out."  The men were in the bank about ten minutes.  Only one customer tried to enter, Vernon Shaw, and he was slapped by one of the men and later robbed of $18.


The bandits tore the telephone from the wall, and also broke a shotgun and took away the extra cartridges.


The impression was that the bandits had gone to Indianapolis, but after they abandoned the blue car it was difficult to determine which road was taken.  Reports came from many places of seeing cars travel at a fast rate of speed, but none were definite.


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This article is another in a series of follow-up stories to the robberies of the South Kokomo State Bank by a group of robbers, led by my paternal cousin, Harry PIERPONT (1902-1934).  Harry later became famous as a member of the "Terror Gang" with John Dillinger.  These earlier robberies terrorized Indiana during 1924-25.



Black Sheep Sunday – create a post with the main focus being an ancestor with a “shaded past.” Bring out your ne’er-do-wells, your cads, your black widows, your horse thieves and tell their stories. And don’t forget to check out the International Black Sheep Society of Genealogists (IBSSG). This is an ongoing series at GeneaBloggers.

Pierpont Family in Indianapolis, 1918

Polk's 1918 Directory, City of Indianapolis, Indiana

Continuing my research into the PIERPONT family in Indianapolis, the 1918 Polk's Directory at Archive.org listed the following PIERPONTS [h=house, b=boarder].   I've been hoping to find out more about the early days of Harry PIERPONT.

Pierpont Clarence M bench hd h1819 Southeastern av

Pierpont Edw lab h1747 Blaine av

Pierpont Elpha L furn rms 112 w North

Pierpont Ezra M mach h1036 Blaine av

Pierpont Fern M bkpr Fidelity Trust Co r1107 Blaine av

Pierpont Jno T wood wkr h1742 w Morris

Pierpont Macel r907 King av

Pierpont Raymond clk r2810 Schofield av

Pierpont Wm E lab r967 King av

Pierpont Wm R clk Merrill & Alford r2810 Schofield av

Harry's sister, Fern, is listed as the bookkeeper for Fidelity Trust Company and is living at 1107 Blaine Avenue, the same address she had in the 1916 directory.

The unidentified Clarence PIERPONT appears at the same address as the 1916 directory.


The Edward PIERPONT appears to be the same as Edward L. from the 1916 directory.  Believe he is the son of John T. and Hester PIERPONT, and a younger brother of Joseph Gilbert PIERPONT, Harry's father.


The Elpha L. PIERPONT is unidentified at this time.


The Ezra M. PIERPONT, a machinist, I believe is the brother of Edward and Joseph Gilbert PIERPONT, and son of John T. and Hester PIERPONT.


The John T. PIERPONT, residing at 1742 Morris was Harry's grandfather.


The Macel PIERPONT remains unidentified, as does the Raymond PIERPONT, who was listed as Roy in the 1916 directory.  The William R. PIERPONT at the Schofield address is likewise unidentified.


The other William, William E. PIERPONT is likewise unidentified.


There were multiple PIERPONTs in Indianapolis during this time period, all of whom were probably related, but at this point I haven't tied them all together. Since I'm primarily looking for Harry's family, I haven't spent much time sorting out the other cousins.


Where was Harry's father, Joseph Gilbert PIERPONT during this time?  Found him in 1912 directory, yet I'm not finding him listed in directories after that point until the 1920 census.

Previous posts regarding the directory finds regarding the PIERPONT family in Indianapolis can be found here and here.

No Marker ?

Sometimes there simply just isn't a marker at a cemetery for an ancestor.  Whether due to ravages of time, weather or vandalism, today it is possible that a marker from a few generations back might not be there anymore.  Religious beliefs may have precluded any time of marker, or the family may not have been able to afford to place one on the final resting place.


Recently, I had requested two photos of memorials at the FindAGrave website for my maternal 6th-great grandparents, Jacob SWAFFORD (1762-1845) and Sarah (LARKIN) SWAFFORD (c1772-1852).  Both are listed as being buried at the Brushy Cemetery in Bledsoe County, Tennessee.   There are several members of the SWAFFORD family with tombstone photographs in this cemetery.


However, a transcription of the burials at the cemetery at USGenWeb does not list Jacob or Sarah.  Other SWAFFORDS, however, are listed.


It is possible that whomever created the memorial in the database was in error, and they are simply buried elsewhere.