Robbery of the First National Bank in Lamar, May 23, 1928
Includes murder and trial information
September 10, 1928
Havre Daily News Promoter, Havre Montana
ONE OF THE LAMAR BANK BANDITS WHO SLEW FOUR IS IDENTIFIED
Ardmore, Okla., Sept. 10-Five citizens of Lamar, Colo.,
positively identified Floyd Jarrett today as one of the four men who robbed a
Lamar bank last May with a resultant loss of four lives, it was announced by
Sheriff Ewing C. London of Carter county, Oklahoma.
Sheriff L.E. Alderman, of Prowers county, Colorado, was in
Oklahoma City today arranging for an extradition hearing at which Jarrett's
return to Colorado will be sought. The hearing will be held before Gov. Henry S.
Johnston tomorrow morning.
At a habeas corpus hearing here Saturday, three witnesses
testified that Jarrett was in Ardmore and Carter county on the day the bank was
robbed. Jarrett's attorneys indicated that another attempt would be made to
obtain his release through habeas corpus action if the governor grants the
extradition.
August 30, 1929
Appleton Post Crescent, Appleton Wisconsin
LAMAR BANK JOB IS CLEARED UP WHEN BANDITS CONFESS
World Wide Search Is Instituted for Fourth Member of Gang
Lamar, Colo.-From the lips of the three of the men who did
it, has come the "inside story" of the worst crime in the history of the modern
west-the $238,000 holdup of the First National Bank of Lamar on May 23, 1928,
featured by the murder of four persons.
Three of the men arrested by Sheriff L.E. Alderman of Lamar
and Police Chief Hugh D. Harper of Colorado Springs in the course of a
sensational 15 months manhunt have confessed. They are Ralph Fleagle, of Garden
City, Kan., captured by Sheriff Alderman in Illinois; George J. Abshier,
Colorado oil driller and gambler and Herbert L. Royston, a trusted engineer in a
large cement plant at San Andreas, Calif.
$7000 REWARD FOR "KILLER"
With a reward of $7000 on his head, the fourth man, Jake
Fleagle-a brother of Ralph-is now being hunted throughout the civilized world as
the actual killer, with the Colorado State Bankers' Association determined to
effect his capture, dead or alive.
After sitting sullenly in his cell for weeks, Ralph Fleagle
confessed and implicated Abshier and Royston, who were quickly captured. Fleagle
broke down after officers had threatened to take an X-ray picture of an old
wound in his face to prove it was made by a bullet. Abshier and Royston, enraged
by having been "double crossed," then "told all."
According to their stories, it was Jake Fleagle who shot and
killed A.N. Parris, aged bank president, and his son, John Parrish, after the
elder Parrish had shot Royston in the mouth while resisting the holdup. With
E.W. Kesinger, bank employee whom they kidnapped, the bandits fled to Fleagle's
ranch near Garden City, Kan., using Kesinger as a humane shield when Sheriff
Alderman fired on them in hot pursuit.
Then Dr. W.W. Wineinger of Dighton, Kan., was decoyed to the
ranch by Jake Fleagle to treat Royston's terrible wound in the mouth. This
completed, Abshier says, Jake Fleagle shot and killed the doctor to silence him.
The body was thrown into a canyon, and the doctor's auto driven over behind it.
Meanwhile, Kesinger was kept bound and gagged in a shack on
the ranch. For two days, Abshier says, Jake and Ralph Fleagle argued over who
was to kill Kesinger. Finally, they both entered the shack together and a shot
was heard. Then they took Kesinger's body several miles away and dumped it
beside the road.
The bandits separated, but a fingerprint left on Dr.
Wineinber's auto by Jake Fleagle when he decoyed the doctor to the ranch proved
the clue that led to their undoing. It was by this means that Sheriff Alderman
traced the gang.
Abshier says that only $25,000 of the loot was in cash and
Liberty bonds, the rest being in non negotiable paper. The Fleagles, he said,
took $9000 each, leaving a little more than $6000 to be divided between Abshier
and Royston. And Royston says he paid out almost all his share to have his
wounded jaw treated at St. Paul, where he fled.
The three probably will go to trial in Lamar on Sept. 17.
Officers say they realized that they probably will be hanged for the crime.
Meanwhile the search for Jake Fleagle, who is said to have
planned the robbery and to have recruited the others, goes on.
October 1, 1929
Appleton Post Crescent, Appleton Wisconsin
THREE WESTERN BANDITS TRY TO ESCAPE GALLOWS
Bulletin
Lamar, Colo.-Because the signed confession of all three
defendants were given to the press yesterday, L.W. Cunningham of Colorado
Springs, attorney for George J. Abshier, Howard L. Royston and Ralph Fleagle,
charged with first degree murder, robbery and kidnaping in connection with the
hold up of the First National bank of Lamar on May 23, 1928, announced today he
would ask for a continuance and a change of venue.
Lamar Colo.-The climas of one of the west's most sensational
manhunts was in sight today as three members of the gang which in May of last
year made a bloody shambles of the First National Bank of Lamar, obtaining
approximately a quarter-million dollars in a wild shooting holdup, went to trial
with execution virtually certain for two of their number.
The three are George J. Abshier, Howard L. Royston and Ralph
Fleagle. Fleagle alone has real hope of escaping the gallows. All have pleaded
guilty to charges of first degree murder, resulting from the killing of three
bank officials and a physician, as well as to charge of robbery and kidnapping,
but Fleagle's confession was responsible for apprehension of the other two and a
prison sentence was promised him in return for the information he gave.
Eighty-eight veniremen have been chosen for the panel from
which juries for the three separate trials will be selected. Abshier's case was
the first to be called.
District Attorney Malcolm Erickson will ask the death penalty
for Abshier and Royston and in the case of Fleagle will ask the jury to sentence
the bandit leader to life imprisonment. While the prosecution's case is well
defined, plans of the defense depend wholly on developments.
Judge L.W. Cunningham of Colorado Springs, who will defend
the three men, said tonight a determined fight would be made to save the trio
from the noose.
The chief issue in the selection of the juries will be that
of capital punishment. As the three defendants have pleaded guilty, the question
regarding opinions in the case is immaterial. Judge Cunningham is opposed to
capital punishment but the penalty will be set by the jury.
October 5, 1929
Reno Evening Gazette, Reno Nevada
CHANGE OF VENUE ASKED OF COURT
Lamar, Colo, Oct. 5- Petitions for a change of venue for
George J. Abshier and Howard L. Royston, who have pleaded guilty to charges of
first degree murder in connection with the death of A.N. Parrish in the robbery
of the First National Bank of Lamar, May 23, 1928, were filed in Prowers county
district court today.
Judge A.F. Hollenbeck is expected to rule on the petitions
Monday.
The petitions filed by Byron G. Rogers, chief of the defense
counsel for the bandits, were accompanied by a number of newspaper articles,
most of which were printed in Denver, and which are offered in support of
argument that the defendants would not receive a fair and impartial trial by a
jury in Prowers county.
October 6, 1929
Havre Daily News Promoter, Havre Montana
Confessed Trio of Slayers Ask To Change Pleas
Judge to Pass on Request For Change of Venue and Switch in Pleas to Not Guilty
Monday
Lamar, Colo., Oct. 5-Attorneys for George J. Abshier and
Howard L. Royston, two of the confessed Lamar bank bandits, today asked Judge
A.F. Hollenbeck for permission to change their pleas from guilty to not guilty.
Petitions also were filled in the Prowers county district for a change of venue.
Abshier and Royston pleaded guilty to the murder of A.N.
Parrish president of the First National Bank of Lamar, when they were arraigned.
Parrish and his son, J.F. Parrish, were murdered May 2, 1928, in the holdup of
the bank, E.A. Kessinger, teller, and Dr. W.W. Wineinger of Dighton, Kan., were
murdered in Kansas by the bandit gang, one of whom, Jake Fleagle, is still at
liberty.
Ralph Fleagle, the ringleader of the gang, also has pleaded
guilty to first degree murder.
Rulings on the change of pleas and venue will be made Monday.
Abshier's trial has been set for next Tuesday, October 8 and
will be followed by those of Royston and Ralph Fleagle, the third member of the
gang held in jail here.
The petitions, filed by Byron G. Rogers, chief of defense
counsel for the bandits, were accompanied by a number of newspaper articles,
most of which were printed in Denver and which were offered in support of
argument that the defendants would not receive a fair and impartial trial by a
jury in Prowers county.
In asking that the trials of Abshier and Royston be carried
to some other county, Rogers states in the petitions that immediately after the
robbery of the First National Bank of Lamar a great many citizens were organized
into posses which scoured southeastern Colorado and parts of western Utah, all
seeking to capture the four men who participated in the holdup.
Threats of mob violence were made at that time, the petitions
set forth, "and public feeling in regard to the defendants has not entirely
subsided."
Rogers' petition also contends that the majority of citizens
eligible for jury service were engaged in the man-hunt and made, at one time or
another, threats against the life of the robbers.
Newspaper articles, printed at the time of and immediately
after the holdup, and shortly before Abshier's trial was to be started here
October 1, are claimed by the petitioners to have "inflamed the minds of
prospective jury men against the defendants."
October 9, 1929
Havre Daily News Promoter, Havre Montana
ABSHIER FIRST OF BANDIT TRIO TO FACE COURT
Motion For Change of Venue and Request to Change Plea Denied By Court
By Devon E. Francis, Associated Press Staff Writer
Lamar, Colo., Oct. 8-The first of three bandits who held up
and robbed the first National Bank of Lamar May 23, 1928, went to trial today in
district court on a charge of first degree murder growing out of the slaying of
A.N. Parrish, aged president of the institution.
A motion for a change of venue to try George J. Abshier and
Howard L. Royston, two of the three confessed members of the outlaw gang, had
been denied by Judge A.L. Hollenbeck, and the court had declined to entertain a
request for a change of plea. Abshier and Royston and Ralph Fleagle have all
pleaded guilty to the charge of first degree murder.
Four persons lost their lives during and after the hold-up.
Abshier is the first to face a jury which will fix the
penalty for his offense Arguing at length for a change of venue Monday, Byron G.
Rogers, contended that no impartial jury of 12 men could be obtained in Prowers
county for the trials of Abshier and Royston. Rogers represents these two while
L.W. Cunningham of Colorado Springs represents Fleagle.
Allyn Cole, deputy district attorney, contended successfully
that Prowers county was not inflamed against the three defendants and they would
receive justice. To this Judge Hollenbeck added that they would receive justice
because he would see that they would get it.
The extended arguments on the question of allowing the two
defendants to change their pleas to not guilty occasioned an exchange between
opposing counsel when Cole contended that to permit the change of pleas would
only burden the county with addition expense and lengthen the period of trial.
'If the trial expense is to stand in the way of inflicting
the death penalty," remarked Rogers ironically, "the court certainly should not
permit a change of plea. He contended that his clients "misapprehend the advice
of counsel in pleading while Cunningham was still acting as their attorney.
The shift in attorneys occurred when Cunningham asked to be
relived of the duty of defending Abshier and Royston, his remaining client,
Fleagle, confessed to the robbery, implicating his two accomplices. The fourth
member of the gang, Jake Fleagle, brother of Ralph, is still at large.
Rogers last night announced that Royston had named Ralph
Fleagle as the "king killer" of the bandit gang, and that Royston had told him
Ralph killed John F. Parrish, son of the president of the First National Bank,
as well as A.E. Kessinger, bank teller who was kidnapped as the holdups made
their getaway, and "probably" the elder Parrish. He was not sure. Jake has been
named by the three defendants as the slayer of Dr. W.W. Wineinger, Dighton, Kas.,
physician who was called to minister to the wounded Royston.
A confession made by Abshier at Colorado Springs related that
Jake had killed the elder Parrish, and that a moment before a bullet fired by
the bank president and intended for a member of the bandit gang had killed the
younger Parrish, his own son.
A panel of 84 ven-- men was drawn for the three juries.
At the very outset of the trial today Rogers asked for a
continuance, that he have more time to prepare his case. He suggested to the
court that the case of Ralph Fleagle, reputed "brains" of the bandit gang which
robbed the bank, go to trial first.
Judge A.F. Hollenbeck overruled Rogers motion for a
continuance.
Rogers then renewed his request that Abshier be allowed to
change his plea from guilty to not guilty. District Attorney Malcolm Erickson
entered objection and asked Rogers whether he had been wasting his time during
the additional days he had obtained last week.
The bench decided not to grant the request. Attorney Rogers
saved exceptions to both rulings of the court.
The names of the five newspaper men were endorsed by the
district attorney as state witnesses during the trial. They were Wallis M. Reef
of the Rocky Mountain News; Frank H. Frawley of the Associated Press; V.C.
Halloran, Fred Betz and I.J. Spitzer.
October 13, 1929
Lima News, Lima Ohio
NOTORIOUS BANK BANDIT DOOMED
Colorado Desperado Convicted of Killing in $219,000 Holdup
Lamar, Colo., Oct. 12-George J. Abshier, one member of the
bandit quartet which terrorized this little city one day in May, 2918, when two
men were shot down in the First National bank during a holdup, today stood
convicted of first degree murder by a verdict carrying the penalty of death.
Two other men were murdered by the gang, which robbed the bank of $219,000.
Abshier, first of three defendants to go on trial on the
charge of slaying A.N. Parrish, president of the bank, was convicted by a jury
in the Prowers co district court after slightly less than three hours of
deliberation last night.
"It's only what is expected." commented Abshier after the
verdict was read.
Howard L. Royston, another member of the bandit gang, will go
on trial Monday.
October 15, 1929
Reno Evening Gazette, Reno Nevada
CLAIM ROYSTON KILLED BANKER
Lamar, Colo., Oct. 15-A determined attempt by the state to prove that Howard L.
Royston fired the shot which killed A.N. Parrish, president of the First
National Bank, during the robbery of that institution, May 23, 1928, was
launched today by A.C. Gordon, special prosecutor, at Royston's trial on a
charge of first degree murder.
Gordon's endeavor to acutally place the blame for the killing
of the aged man was the first that had been made during the progress of the
trials of three members of the "Fleagle gang" which robbed the bank and escaped
with $219,00 in loot, leaving a trail of blood behind them as they fled to the
Fleague ranch near Marienthal, Kas.
During the trial of George J. Abshier, the first of the three
bandits to face a Prowers county jury, the state merely drew a word picture with
witnesses of the robbery and killings, as under the state law participation in a
robbery in which killings occur is sufficient to demand the death penalty.
Abshier last week was convicted of murder and sentenced to
hand for the crime.
WORK IN PROGRESS!!
©Shauna Williams