The Great Hartselle Bank Robbery
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Three Hours Required to Accomplish Heist

The Great Hartselle Bank Robbery, also, Three Hours Required to Accomplish Heist. . , The Great Hartselle Bank Robbery In the early morning hours of Monday, March 15, 1926, bandits pulled off one of the most brazen bank robberies in the history of Alabama. In a well-planned operation, a band of five to ten men took around $15,000 in cash, coins and gold bars from the Bank of Hartselle. It began around midnight when five men appeared in Hartselle and asked where they could purchase gas. Earnest Mittwede, a cashier from the nearby Farmers and Merchants Bank, led them to night policeman Les Williams. Producing pistols, the men directed Mittwede and Williams to the back room of the Bank of Hartselle. They tied the men up and unloaded tools, rifles and explosives from a nearby car. Meanwhile, bandits proceeded to the L&N depot where they captured station agent J.B. “Brad” Huie and passenger Oscar K. Williams. When the train stopped, conductor J.A. Taylor was puzzled to find no passengers or station agent. He soon discovered that the telephone lines had been cut., Three Hours Required to Accomplish Heist Conductor Taylor used an emergency line unknown to the robbers to contact authorities in Cullman and Birmingham. When the robbers' efforts to access the Bank of Hartselle vault through the wall proved unsuccessful, they placed explosive charges on the vault door. By some accounts it took eight charges to blow the door, wrecking the interior of the bank and sending debris on to the heads of the frightened hostages. Alarmed by the noise, many of Hartselle's citizens emerged from their homes to investigate and were met by gunfire warning them to keep away. The robbers took other citizens hostage, including Chester Young, Mack McGinnis and Bob Griggsby. Dr. J.D. Johnston, a local dentist, ventured too close and was shot in the thigh. After they had packed up their loot, the robbers got in their cars and vanished into the darkness. The robbery lasted more than three hours. Despite the efforts of local, state, and federal authorities, no arrests were ever made.