On November 13, 1969 two brothers, John and James Pardue, placed a bomb outside the sheriff’s office in the Franklin County Courthouse as a diversion to their intended target two blocks away: The United Bank of Union. Whether intended or not, the bomb also knocked out the electrical system of the courthouse, which incidentally included the alarm system from the bank to the sheriff’s office. The two infamous brothers made off with $18,000 and made their getaway in a stolen car with Illinois plates, which they later abandoned on West Main Street near Highway 50.
Prior to the Union bank robbery, earlier that same year on May 9th, the two robbed the Pacific Citizens Bank. During that robbery, they fired machine guns inside the bank and at vehicles outside. No one was injured during that robbery.
The two fugitives had been living on a small farm west of Union with their father. According to authorities, James had gotten into a fight with his father and killed him with a sub-machine gun (probably the same one used in the Pacific robbery). Next he murdered his grandmother with a rile. Both bodies in a small trailer on the farm. After the Union bank robbery, they took the trailer, with the bodies inside, back East to where other relatives were living.
After a similar bank robbery in Danbury, Conn, the FBI put the pieces together and arrested both men. John was later killed in by a marshal after his wife managed to smuggle a fully loaded sawed-off rifle into the jail. James was first declared insane and sent to a mental hospital. He was released later in the 1980’s, but hung himself in 1991 after earlier being released, raping a Kansas City women, and then being re-incarcerated.
You can walk between the two WPs, but the final is a short drive from downtown.
The final is at N 38 27.ABC W 91 00.DEF
At WP1, the Franklin County House:
A = 3rd digit of the year the time capsule was placed.
B = Line # that describes the approximate years of the Shawnee Indians living in the Shawnee Town Ford.
C = Total numbers of "9"s to the left of Abraham Lincoln's name.
At WP2, the United Bank of Union (downtown branch):
D = 3rd digit of the year the building was erected
E = 3rd digit of the year the building was remolded
F = Total number of Directors, Chairmen of the Board, and Presidents from 1934-1984 (include duplicate names).
The checksum for all answers is 32.