John Dillinger thought he would strike it rich in Sioux Falls, but instead he nearly got caught. You can see a reminder of his visit near GZ.
Three days after Dillinger's escape from the Crown Point jail, at about 9:45 a.m. on March 6, a vehicle (green 1934 Packard Super 8, 1934 Kansas license 13-786) filled with six members of the gang parked near the curb at the Security National Bank and Trust Company in Sioux Falls. One of the bank's bookkeepers, Mary Lucas, looked out the window and saw the Packard roll up the street. "If I ever saw a holdup car, that's one," she said to a bank stenographer next to her. The stenographer laughed, saying that she'd been hearing too much lately about bank robberies. Before they could return to their desks, Dillinger, Nelson, Green, and Van Meter had entered the bank and subdued both tellers and customers. Hamilton, the driver, stayed with the car, while Tommy Carroll patrolled outside the bank with a Thompson. Inside, Nelson spotted motorcycle patrolman Hale Keith who was approaching the bank on foot. He fired his Thompson at Keith through a plate glass window while standing on an assistant cashier's counter. Multiple bullets hit Keith in the abdomen, in the right leg, about six inches below the hip, the right wrist, and the right arm, just below the elbow, but he would survive. Nelson was reported to have laughed when Keith fell, then saying, "I got one! I got one!"
After gathering the cash and surrounding themselves with bystanders, the gang backed out of the bank to the Packard. No officers dared to shoot. The outlaws picked out five people to go with as hostages and commanded them to stand on the running boards of the Packard. The hostages were Leo Olson, a bank teller; Mildred Bostwick, Alice Biegen, and Emma Knabach, stenographers; and Mary Lucas.
As the Packard sped away from the bank, Patrolman Harley Chrisman managed to shoot out the radiator. Shortly after they left town, they swerved to avoid collisions with two horse-drawn milk wagons. Moments later, Dillinger released Olson, then made the women get into the car, which was already packed with the rest of the gang, their guns, extra gasoline cans, and the robbery loot.
Bill Conklin of the Wilson service station on South Minnesota Avenue saw the Packard coming down the street with smoke pouring from the hood and assumed the car was on fire. He ran into the station, grabbed a fire extinguisher and ran back out. One of the robbers said, "Get back in there" as they had slowed up for him.
The car eventually began to slow down right outside of town, giving three pursuing police cars time to catch up. Two miles outside of the Lakeland farm, the gang got out of the Packard and made the hostages stand around them, then opened fire on their pursuers. The three squad cars retreated. The gang then hijacked a car owned by local farmer Alfred Musch, and transferred the gas cans and money into it.
About 10 miles outside of Sioux Falls, the gang released the hostages and drove off. The hostages were eventually picked up by a passing motorist who drove them back to the bank.
The police scoured the highways by ground and by air over a 50-mile segment of territory south and east of Sioux Falls. The men they were looking for were believed to have ditched Musch's Dodge for "a big Lincoln" about two or three miles northwest of Shindler. From St. Paul came the assurance that 20 police cars were patrolling all roads heading into St. Paul and Minneapolis, but the gang made it safely back to the Twin Cities
At GZ you will see a plaque which recalls the Dillinger robbery you will need a number from this plaque for logging. Please follow the logging requirements and include a picture as noted below. For a Bonus if you walk to the corner there is another plaque announcing the Building's addition to the national register. If you look at the bottom left corner of the plaque approximately 1" You will see a bullet impact, Also about 8" below the ON in National there is a second impact, both from that robbery. Likely from "St Paul" Tommy's Thompson submachine gun
#1 For logging purposes please include one of the following in your log
- A photo of the geocacher at the location; a face is not required in the photo.
- A photos of a personal item at the location. Examples include a trackable or a piece of paper with the geocacher’s username.
- In either case please ensure the answer to the question below is not clearly seen in the picture.
#2 Please also send a message via the geocaching.com system with the amount that the Dillinger gang got away with shown on the sign. Interestingly this amount was the third largest total from any of the Gangs robberies.
Virtual Rewards 4.0 - 2024-2025
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between January 17, 2024 and January 17, 2025. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 4.0 on the Geocaching Blog.