'Bluffton has Public Enemy No. 1'

BLUFFTON — Facts make the news, but it's the legends that fascinate Fred Steiner. Take Aug., 14, 1933, for instance. That's the day John Dillinger and his gang robbed Citizens National Bank on South Main Street in Bluffton, making off with just over $2,000. "If every person who says they were on Main Street when Dillinger robbed the bank (was present), it would fill this room," he told a crowd gathered Monday for an "Our Version of Adult Learning" (OVAL) presentation at the Bluffton Senior Center. In reality, he said, there were fewer than eight people on the street when the robbery took place that summer's day. It's just one of the myths that Steiner, a Bluffton native, retired editor of the Bluffton News and the former editor of the Bluffton and Ada Icons, has collected about the crime over the years. "Every town has its claim to fame," he said. Kenton, for instance, is home to Jacob Parrot, the first Congressional Medal of Honor winner, said Steiner. William Bensinger and John R. Porter, two members of the Andrew's Raiders who helped captured The General locomotive during the Civil War, are buried in McComb Union Cemetery. Meanwhile, Findlay claims Tell Taylor, who wrote the song "Down By the Old Mill Stream," and longtime Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. "Bluffton has Public Enemy No. 1, John Dillinger, who at noon on Monday, Aug. 14, 1933, robbed Citizens National Bank of $2,100," said Steiner. Dillinger had been incarcerated at the Indiana State Prison and was paroled two months earlier. By August, he'd robbed one or two banks, said Steiner, and Bluffton's was either the second or third of his robberies. The gangster was killed by FBI agents in Chicago the following July. According to Steiner, the haul from Bluffton bank was the smallest of the 14 banks Dillinger was said to have robbed, a fact that apparently upset him. By today's standards, $2,100 was worth about $45,000, he said. Clarence "Ted" Biery was editor of the Bluffton News at the time. He was just exiting the post office — now the location of Roots by Strattons at 111 S. Main St. — as the bank robbery was happening, said Steiner. Biery ducked behind a car and watched the event unfold. His story appeared two days later in the Aug. 17 edition of the Bluffton News. Steiner related information from both Biery's news story and oral histories that he's collected over the years. Some of it is true and some of it is not, he said. "Some of them I call fables, or they're myths or they're legends. And I'm not making fun of them, but some of them are very funny," he said. "And I'm going to embrace these, because this is what really makes a small town interesting. But they didn't happen." One account came from a man who had heard the story from his dad. "He and some of his brothers got in trouble for throwing some tomatoes and apples at a car speeding down Main Street in Bluffton. They later found out the car was driven by John Dillinger and he had just robbed the bank and was being chased by the Bluffton police," Steiner recounted. "If you read Biery's story, you'll see that one of the gang members had a submachine gun sticking out the window. Now, if you had been him and somebody had thrown a tomato at you, there would have been a casualty," he said. Plus, the gang didn't take Main Street, having followed Jackson Street instead. "Thirdly, they didn't know it was Dillinger for a month. But OK, I love this story," Steiner said. Another tale was told by a man who was interviewed for a front-page story in the Lima News four years ago, said Steiner. The man was 7 or 8 years old in 1933 and recalled walking down Main Street where he saw a car parked in the alley beside the bank. He said all of the car's doors were open and he could see a man pacing back and forth while glancing at both ends of the alley. According to Biery's account, the car wasn't parked in the alley, the doors weren't open, and the driver was sitting in the car. The man also said he looked in the bank and saw a man with a gun on the teller. "The guy turned to me, pointed his gun, then turned back to cover the teller. Evidently John told him to leave me because I was just a child. I wasn't afraid," said Steiner, relaying the man's story. The gang then left by the back door, the man said. Steiner countered that the bank building has no back door. Biery reported that 20-30 shots were fired during the robbery. Later, bullet holes and chips were discovered in buildings along Main Street. Several windows were also shot out and an automobile was hit, taking off its gasoline gauge. Harvey Shine, of Toledo and formerly of Arlington, was waiting for a bus in front of the Presbyterian Church yard when two of gunmen shot at him five times, Biery reported. But no one was injured in the event that lasted no more than five minutes, said Steiner. One of the day's more humorous stories was told by D.C. Bixel, who had an optometrist office on the second floor of the bank, Steiner said. Upon hearing the gunfire, he opened the window and said, "Will you kindly keep it quiet down there." A week after the robbery, the bank took out an ad in the weekly town paper, assuring the public that patrons did not lose any of their savings. Banks were suspect in that day, said Steiner, explaining that two years earlier, two of the town's other banks closed their doors because of the Great Depression. If Dillinger hadn't come to town in 1933, Steiner said the year's big story would have been the new addition to the high school building. Parts of the Dillinger robbery are included in Steiner's book, "Bluffton Anthology: A Creek Runs Through It," released in 2020. He will present "John Dillinger in Hancock County" at 6 p.m. April 20 at the Findlay-Hancock County Public Library. Wolf: 419-427-8419