As J.B. Herndon opened the doors of the Farmers and Merchants Bank on the morning of Wednesday, August 30, 1933, he had no idea of the drama which was about to unfold before him. Waiting for him was one Frank W. Elmore. The 31-year-old Elmore had visited in Dublin in 1930, arriving in the city both times in airplanes, an unusual and noticeable method of transportation at that time. He struck up a friendship with Lewis Clarke, with whom he shared a keen interest in aviation. This time Elmore inconspicuously entered the city and spent several days with Clarke in is home on North Jefferson Street. For days Elmore scouted the roads leading in and out of Brewton, Georgia. Elmore and Clarke devised a bold plan to rob the Farmers and Merchants Bank, which was an easy target in that secluded and unsecure realm of the county.
On Tuesday night August 29th, Elmore walked to town and stole a Ford coach, which was parked at the Fred Roberts Hotel. He drove the car through East Dublin and parked it off the Buckeye Road, just above the bridge and about a half Mile deep in the woods. The following morning, Elmore asked Clarke to ride with him to pick up a car. Elmore drove a Buick automobile past the site where he had left the stolen car, turned around and came back toward the bridge. Elmore got out of the car and directed Clarke to take the Buick to the Pritichett garage on the Irwinton Road. Elmore told Clarke that he was going to “skip the country.” Clarke followed Elmore’s instructions, gave the key to the car to Mrs. Pritchett and walked back down the highway to his home. Meanwhile, Elmore headed toward Brewton.
Lewis Blankenship and Frank Bullard were milling around the front of the Brewton Depot when they looked across Jackson Street and saw a man about six-feet one-inch tall and weighing about 175 pounds go into the bank. Though the man left the motor running in his car and donned a pair of long rubber gloves, their suspicions were not aroused for they felt that the man was a resident of Brewton.
Cashier Herndon was standing behind the grilled teller’s cage going about his daily routine, when he heard Elmore say “stick ‘em up!” Thinking it was a practical jokester, Herndon smiled as he turned around. Instantly as he was staring down the barrel of a “Tommy gun,” Herndon knew nothing about the command was funny.
Elmore ordered Herndon to lie down at first, but then directed the terrified banker to go to the open vault and fill a sack with all of the “greenbacks” he had on hand. Elmore spotted two high-powered rifles near the money and ordered Herndon to turn them over as well. The captor and his human shield marched out of the bank, with the nose of Frank’s “Tommy gun” in Herndon’s back. The robber, with about $7500 in loot aboard, directed Herndon to lie along the front fender of the getaway car. As Elmore sped off with Barton clinging to the front of the car, Blankenship and Bullard didn’t seem to notice the predicament Barton was in.
About a mile and a half down the road at the home of George Curl, Elmore stopped the car, ordered Barton to jump off, and dashed off toward Dublin. Rev. Brewton of the Brewton Methodist Church came along and found the dazed victim.
The men drove back to Brewton, where Barton began spreading the news of the robbery by telephone throughout the countryside. Law enforcement officials and curiosity seekers swarmed around the town like flies. In a mere instant, hundreds of men, armed with all sorts of weapons, began combing the countryside between Brewton and the Oconee River in search of the villainous criminal. When asked about his ride Barton said, “It was the longest I ever made.”
Elmore drove back to the site where he had previously hidden the Ford coach. Knowing that he would have to move quickly, Elmore dumped the rifles into the woods and hid the majority of the money, mostly small bills and some silver coins, in a hollow log, covering them with a pile of leaves and trash. He set out through the swamps toward the Oconee River. There he found a boat. Using a stick to paddle with, Elmore managed to navigate to the west bank, where he sank the boat. His next destination was the Pritchett home where he hid a bundle of money in a patch of weeds about fifty feet off the highway. Elmore continued his westward course until he arrived at the home of Irwin Montford on the Country Club (Claxton Dairy) Road. Little did Elmore know that deputies had found the Buick, which contained a certificate with a photo of Elmore and a statement certifying Elmore’s fitness as a sailor. A United States Navy officer’s uniform was also found in the trunk. The photograph was duplicated and disseminated to members of the posse. When some people heard that the robber had used a Thompson machine gun, they immediately reported their suspicions of Elmore’s involvement to the authorities.
Just before 5:00, Montford, D.C. Crafton and J.D. Evans were standing around a woodpile discussing the robbery, when they noticed a man approaching the front of the Montford house. The man, whom they did not recognize as Elmore, tried to open the front door and then skulked around to the garage in the back of the house, where he began eyeing two vehicles. When the men confronted Elmore, he told them that his name was “Miller” and that he had heard that there was a bank robbery and wanted to join the posse, but that he needed a ride into town to get his gun. Montford, suspicious of the man’s story, went into his house and got his gun, Before accepting Elmore’s offer of a dollar for the ride into Dublin. The robber appeared tired to Montford. Naturally he was tired. He had carried a lot of paper money and a thirteen-pound machine gun for several miles through the swamps and woods along the river.
Just down the road, the quartet came upon a road block. Montford, riding on the running board, signaled the driver Crafton to stop just beyond a small congregation of lawmen, including Sheriff Wiley Adams and acting Dublin Police Chief Frank Johnson. The lawmen were not suspicious of the men, whom they knew very well. Montford motioned Sheriff Adams to approach the car. He told the sheriff that he had a suspicious man in The car who might be the bank robber. Others approached the scene. Elmore told Adams that he worked for A. Lease & Co.
Knowing the man was lying and acting on Johnson’s preliminary identification, the Sheriff drew his pistol and ordered Elmore to get out of the vehicle. As Adams continued to interrogate the suspect, Elmore leaned back and said “Whew! It is not worth the trouble. I did it!” He directed the officers to where he had hidden the money. Elmore seemingly dismissed the robbery as a petty crime, and instead boasted of his exploits in Cuba, showing the officers how he had machine gunned Cuban soldiers with his gun. He told Adams he got the guns to use when running liquor. Elmore was wanted by Federal authorities in Miami, who stated that the fugitive had an airplane in storage there. He was also wanted by Jacksonville, Florida authorities and was the prime suspect in the theft of weapons from the R.O.T.C. Arsenal at the University of Georgia. With all but $511.00 of the money in hand, Elmore was taken into custody and transferred to a jail in Macon. Clarke was also arrested as an accessory to the crime.
On November 1, 1933, Judge J.L. Kent sentenced the confessed robber, represented by Lester L. Porter, to ten years in prison. Elmore’s accomplis Clarke was given 12 months and a $100.00 fine. Clarke, represented by Earl Camp and W.A. Dampier, maintained his innocence. Elmore recanted his story of Clarke’s lack of culpability in the caper. He testified that though Clarke did not participate in the robbery, he was involved in the planning of the crime. Mrs. Elmore came from her home in Americus and stood by her husband during his trial, but appeared highly and visibly perturbed at the sentence which was handed down by the jury.
Elmore was sent to the Montgomery County Chain Gang for a term of hard labor. The sly prisoner continued his ruse as a model inmate while in the custody of Montgomery County Sheriff Burch. The gloating of Elmore’s quick capture and conviction did not last long. On the evening of February 11, 1934, Elmore, using a hand made key, opened the door of his cell and his eight cell mates. The nine convicts stole a car and made it to Swainsboro, where their pursuers lost their trail.
Elmore was recaptured and taken to serve in the Hall County Chain Gang, from which he escaped not once, but twice. Following his capture by Federal agents, Frank Elmore’s state sentence was commuted and instead he was sentenced to serve ten years in the Federal pen in Atlanta.
The bank’s deposits were insured and no one lost their money. No one was hurt. The whole affair was over in less than nine hours, but to those who still remember the Great Brewton Bank Robbery, it will vividly remain in their minds.
The incident convinced the directors of the bank to close their doors and move to a more secure location in Dublin a few years later.
