Bluffton man preserves stories of Dillinger heist

BLUFFTON — On Aug. 14, 1933, John Dillinger drove into Bluffton and robbed Citizens National Bank. It took the gang just five minutes to make off with $2,100 while leaving behind a trail of empty .45 caliber shells, shattered windows and countless tales from that summer day. Bluffton residents are still telling stories about that major event in the town's history that will observe its 90th anniversary next year. Fred Steiner is a collector of those narratives. "So now I'm getting second generation stories, people who say, 'Hey, my dad said that.' Man, I'm collecting them all, every one of them," the Bluffton native said. Steiner, 73, has compiled the genuine accounts in a booklet titled "Four guys walk into a Bluffton bank." He said this is the first time these stories have appeared together in one collection. "I've counted eight or less people on Main Street, but if you talked to people who said, 'I was there,' it would fill this room," he laughed. "Everybody was there and it's just funny to hear that." A Bluffton High School graduate, Steiner spent a year at Bluffton College then transferred to Bowling Green State University. After earning a journalism degree, he returned home and in 1978 became editor of the Bluffton News. He said anniversary stories of notable events were part of the job. "You do anniversary stories when there's a good athletic team. Twenty-five years later, you do a thing on that," he said. "I've done the tornado of 1965 anniversary, Dec. 7 (National Pearl Harbor Day of Remembrance); those kind of things." Steiner said 1983 marked the 50th anniversary of the Dillinger bank robbery in Bluffton. There were several eyewitnesses still living at the time, which prompted him to write a story. Dillinger was known as Public Enemy No. 1 at the time. He had been incarcerated at the Indiana State Prison and was paroled two months earlier. The haul from the Bluffton bank was the smallest of the 14 banks Dillinger was said to have robbed. By today's standards, $2,100 was worth about $45,000. Clarence "Ted" Biery was editor of the Bluffton newspaper at the time. Steiner said he was just leaving the post office - now the location of Roots by Strattons at 111 S. Main St. - as the bank robbery was occurring. Biery ducked behind a car and watched the event unfold. "Thank goodness he saw it because this is the best story ever written in the Bluffton News," said Steiner. "It's beautiful and he had to spend hours on it. So I based all my material on his and Harry Bogart's stories. So if they said something, OK, because there are all kinds of stories coming in. They're great stories but they didn't happen." Bogart, Steiner said, went to high school with his parents. "Everybody knew the guy. He was just one of the friendliest guys in town. And so he walked up and down Main Street with me, pointing things out because he watched it," he said. According to his account, Bogart was sitting out front of his dad's Dodge and Buick agency on Main Street, almost asleep when he heard "bam, bam." He remembered Edgar Hauenstein being there. "He was the only man with dignity. I can remember when he came across the street. He said something like 'we don't need any more excitement. Let's be calm.'" After that interview, Steiner said people started sending him their stories. Eyewitness Charles Triplehorn was just six years old at the time but remembered one of Dillinger's men standing in the intersection with a machine gun and spraying a few rounds to make sure no one interrupted the robbery. Steiner later interviewed Triplehorn when he came back to town for a high school class reunion and took his picture standing in the same Main Street doorway where he had watched the robbery years earlier. Biery reported that 20-30 shots were fired. Later bullet holes and chips were discovered in buildings along Main Street. Four bullet holes were later found on the Church Street outside wall of the Bluffton News. "The location of many of the bullets proved that the guy was not shooting at people. He was just trying to scare people," said Steiner, adding that no one was injured in the event. Dick Habegger, owner of the gas station on North Main Street, claimed that the gang filled up their tank, came into town, robbed the bank and on the way out of town, honked and waved to him, said Steiner. "I hope that happened," he said. "I have no idea. But if they filmed a movie, that's how it would end." He said it was six weeks before law enforcement figured out that it was Dillinger and his gang who had robbed the Bluffton bank. He was killed by FBI agents in Chicago the following July. Steiner said he's still looking for stories about the robbery. "Two weeks ago, somebody gave me a story and they're evolving and I love every one of them" he said. "And if you tell me a Dillinger story, I'm not going to say, you know, I don't think that happened. I'm just going to say, 'Really? Tell me about it.'" The 20-page booklet includes Biery's story, a downtown Bluffton map showing where bullets were lodged and where eyewitnesses watched. The cost is $10 each and books are available at the Bluffton Senior Citizens Center, 132 N. Main St., or by contacting Steiner at fsteiner@roadrunner.com