The Santa Claus Bank Robbery (A.C. Greene Series, No 1) - Hardcover

Greene, A. C.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1574410717 ISBN 13: 9781574410716

Publisher: University of North Texas Press, 1999

Synopsis

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 getaway 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 $5,000 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 followup information on the lives of the participants, including the surviving robber, witnesses, and kidnap victims.

About this title

From the Back Cover

The men were looking for an opportunity to improve their lot, and they had decided it was an opportunity they would have to make for themselves. They were driving south, this December midnight, from Wichita Falls, Texas, toward the smaller town of Cisco, where they believed an opportunity existed. Cisco was on the edge of the fabled Ranger oil field which had opened up that part of the world to its superabundant mineral wealth. At the top of the boom, thousands and thousands of men came rushing in to seek a fortune, and a good many of them succeeded. Now, although the boom days were over, it was still a fair territory.

But the men in the car were not headed for Cisco to challenge mother earth and the odds of the oil business. They were going there for a very special kind of employment, a get-rich-quick job with easy hours, high risks, and big returns.

They were going to rob a bank.

About the Author

A. C. GREENE was born in 1923 in Abilene, Texas and after service in WWII he graduated from Abilene Christian College. He served on the staff of the Abilene Reporter-News, ran his own bookstore and headed the journalism department at Hardin-Simmons University. He joined the Dallas Times-Herald, serving as book editor and editorial page editor before being awarded a Dobie-Paisano fellowship during which he wrote A Personal Country. He wrote a column for The Dallas Morning News and wrote more than 22 books. He published numerous articles in The Atlantic, Texas Monthly, Southwest Review, Southwestern Historical Quarterly, New York Times Book Review, and wrote and narrated many television shows for PBS. He was a Fellow in the Texas State Historical Association and the Texas Institute of Letters.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of North Texas Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 1574410717
• ISBN 13: 9781574410716
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 231