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The Santa Claus Bank Robbery
Master storyteller A. C. Greene re-creates one of America’s most bizarre holdups—one that began as a lark. On Christmas Eve 1927, four men set off to rob the First National Bank of Cisco, Texas. Soon the lark turned into a tragedy—and at times a comedy—of errors. The robbers did not realize the car they had stolen for their getaway was running on empty. The leader did not anticipate the attention his disguise would draw, even though it was a bright red Santa Claus suit. And they could not have known that all of Cisco would have guns at hand because the Bankers Association had offered a reward of $5,000 for any dead bank robber, no questions asked. The Santa Claus bank robbery set off a chain of events that would lead to violence and the death of six men and launch the largest manhunt Texas had ever seen.
A. C. Greene’s factual account of the unusual crime reads like a novel—fast paced, full of unexpected turns, and rich with the flavor of life in Texas at the beginning of the end of the Old West. This new edition contains an Afterword with photographs, some of them never before published, and followup information on the lives of the participants, including the surviving robber, witnesses, and kidnap victims.
A. C. Greene’s factual account of the unusual crime reads like a novel—fast paced, full of unexpected turns, and rich with the flavor of life in Texas at the beginning of the end of the Old West. This new edition contains an Afterword with photographs, some of them never before published, and followup information on the lives of the participants, including the surviving robber, witnesses, and kidnap victims.
231 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1972
About the author
A.C. Greene
32 books5 followersA.C. Greene (Alvin Carl Greene, Jr.) was an American writer — important in Texas literary matters as a memoirist, fiction writer, historian, poet, and influential book critic in Dallas. As a newspaper journalist, he had been a book critic and editor of the Editorial Page for the Dallas Times Herald when JKF was assassinated, which galvanized his role at the paper to help untangle and lift a demoralized city in search of its soul. Leaving full-time journalism in 1968, Greene went on to become a prolific author of books, notably on Texas lore and history. His notoriety led to stints in radio and TV as talk-show host. By the 1980s, his commentaries were being published by major media across the country. He had become a sought-after source for Texas history, antidotes, cultural perspective, facts, humor, books, and politics. When the 1984 Republican National Convention was held in Dallas, Greene granted sixty-three interviews about Texas topics to major media journalists. Greene's 1990 book, Taking Heart — which examines the experiences of the first patient in a new heart transplant center (himself) — made the New York Times Editors Choice list.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 22, 2020
An engaging story that seems to be more about giving you a feel of small town Texas in 1927 and also about desperate men and the cruelty of crowds than a traditional True Crime story.
The pacing is maybe slower than current true crime trends and it leans more in the “In Cold Blood” direction than in the Ann Rule genre. Actually the clarity of the dialog, which is perfect, is so well done that you have to think “How the hell did he know they said all that?”.
I wish there was a preface or afterward where Mr. Greene said how he knew what they said. BUT I kind of think he really wasn’t super interested in accuracy because he didn’t want the factual details to get in the way of his larger moral story, about the nature of individuals under stress and mob meanness.
Let’s put that aside for now.
The title tells the tale in that it is a bank robbery where one of the robbers had a Santa Claus Coat and mask on so the people wouldn’t recognize him since he had lived in the area before. We learn that even though this was in 1927 BEFORE the crash of ‘29 and the ensuing historic economic depression, things were really not booming for everybody. The roaring ‘20s did not lift all boats, especially for ex-cons.
Three ex-cons and one desperate family man conspire to rob a rural Texas town about 100 miles west of Fort Worth. Marshall Ratcliff hatched the plan because he knew the town and had robbed another bank back a few years before. Unfortunately he got drunk and bragged about it, so even somewhat successful criminals may not really be that smart. And that is also what A.C. Greene shows us, these guys were pretty bumblingly bad about bank robbin’.
They didn’t have a plan B. They forgot to fill up the getaway car with gas. They didn’t get the keys when they hijacked a second car. Their professional criminal 4th man got sick and they pulled in a civilian who was in no way prepared to be a bank robber. They left all their stolen money in the car they failed to hijack and only remembered when they were back in the almost out of gas first getaway car and the posse was hot on their tail.
Basically they were very UN-professional bad guys.
Then there is the blood lust of the townspeople that I am sure some modern readers with assault rifles slung over their shoulders, feel were totally justified. Apparently everybody in Texas in 1927 had a gun at the ready.
The best part is Greene describing the 3 robbers on the run after heist. Poor Louis Davis didn’t make it away from the bank before he was shot. Apparently the armed public and/or the the law did not have Louis’s reluctance to shoot to kill.
Anyway the threesome was quickly on foot in the brush and the impromptu posses was as inept as the robbers since those fleeing felons then on foot managed to evade capture for 7 days. Although by the time they were caught they were in very bad shape it was no easy time for them. And part of the story is how 1927 was still a time that was only almost modern, where few people had telephones and police radios were rare.
Two were sentenced to death and the other to 99 years, and the two death row culprits both tried to escape “the chair” by an obscure recently discovered, at that time, Texas law loophole that you could not execute an insane person even if they only recently became insane (I assume the post-crime insanity trick has been removed from the books). So these guys both became coo coo, but it didn’t work and one was electrocuted and the other was lynched by an angry mob that stormed the jail, dragged the babbling Ratcliff down the steps and strung him up near the town square.
Oh yeah, then there was the lynching. I know he was the mastermind of a poorly planned bank robbery where two policeman died. But still.
As they pulled him up:
All in all Greene paints an unflattering portrait of 1920’s Texan mobs who exhilarated in breaking the law to satiate their cruelest impulses. And not shockingly after the deed the once eager killers all denied participation.
Greene let’s us know how he feels about it when afterwards he has two Jailer’s argue about the nature of mobs and bring up a different incident where a mob burned down a jailhouse after getting the prisoner…
Now how did he know Pack “curled his lip”?
Postscript:
Interestingly this intersected with a some of Big Wonderful Thing: A History of Texas that I read a while back. The week before Marshall Ratcliff’s trial started the old court house was torn down and Ol’ Rip the horned Toad was found alive after 31 years sealed that was sealed up in the building’s time capsule corner stone.
For some reason this passage caught my attention.
[While on the run]
https://truewestmagazine.com/arbuckle...
Coffee. One of “civilizations” constants.
UPDATE: I just finished the short but informative Santa Claus Bank Robbery: A True Crime Saga in Texas by Tui Snider and while she seems particularly irked by some liberties A.C. Greene took with this story, she did reveal that A.C. Greene became friends with Robert "Bob" Hill, the only robber to survive.
Hill managed to get paroled sometime in the 1940's (the Internet failed me on the specifics) and A.C. Greene became friends with him him in the 1970's. AND I Greene dedicate the book to "Bob", and this Bob was Bob Hill. So maybe he did have an inside line on the dialog since Hill was part of almost all of it.
The pacing is maybe slower than current true crime trends and it leans more in the “In Cold Blood” direction than in the Ann Rule genre. Actually the clarity of the dialog, which is perfect, is so well done that you have to think “How the hell did he know they said all that?”.
I wish there was a preface or afterward where Mr. Greene said how he knew what they said. BUT I kind of think he really wasn’t super interested in accuracy because he didn’t want the factual details to get in the way of his larger moral story, about the nature of individuals under stress and mob meanness.
Let’s put that aside for now.
The title tells the tale in that it is a bank robbery where one of the robbers had a Santa Claus Coat and mask on so the people wouldn’t recognize him since he had lived in the area before. We learn that even though this was in 1927 BEFORE the crash of ‘29 and the ensuing historic economic depression, things were really not booming for everybody. The roaring ‘20s did not lift all boats, especially for ex-cons.
Three ex-cons and one desperate family man conspire to rob a rural Texas town about 100 miles west of Fort Worth. Marshall Ratcliff hatched the plan because he knew the town and had robbed another bank back a few years before. Unfortunately he got drunk and bragged about it, so even somewhat successful criminals may not really be that smart. And that is also what A.C. Greene shows us, these guys were pretty bumblingly bad about bank robbin’.
They didn’t have a plan B. They forgot to fill up the getaway car with gas. They didn’t get the keys when they hijacked a second car. Their professional criminal 4th man got sick and they pulled in a civilian who was in no way prepared to be a bank robber. They left all their stolen money in the car they failed to hijack and only remembered when they were back in the almost out of gas first getaway car and the posse was hot on their tail.
[Louis Davis guarding the customers to keep them in place] He would have tried to catch them with his hand but he had a gun in it. “Shoot. . . “ He heard.
“I can’t,” he explained alound. “I might hit...” pg 49
Basically they were very UN-professional bad guys.
Then there is the blood lust of the townspeople that I am sure some modern readers with assault rifles slung over their shoulders, feel were totally justified. Apparently everybody in Texas in 1927 had a gun at the ready.
It didn’t take more than three or four minutes before the word that the First National was being robbed was all over downtown Cisco, and nearly every man there was either running to get himself a weapon or was headed toward the bank with a gun in his hand. Pg 50
The best part is Greene describing the 3 robbers on the run after heist. Poor Louis Davis didn’t make it away from the bank before he was shot. Apparently the armed public and/or the the law did not have Louis’s reluctance to shoot to kill.
Anyway the threesome was quickly on foot in the brush and the impromptu posses was as inept as the robbers since those fleeing felons then on foot managed to evade capture for 7 days. Although by the time they were caught they were in very bad shape it was no easy time for them. And part of the story is how 1927 was still a time that was only almost modern, where few people had telephones and police radios were rare.
Two were sentenced to death and the other to 99 years, and the two death row culprits both tried to escape “the chair” by an obscure recently discovered, at that time, Texas law loophole that you could not execute an insane person even if they only recently became insane (I assume the post-crime insanity trick has been removed from the books). So these guys both became coo coo, but it didn’t work and one was electrocuted and the other was lynched by an angry mob that stormed the jail, dragged the babbling Ratcliff down the steps and strung him up near the town square.
Oh yeah, then there was the lynching. I know he was the mastermind of a poorly planned bank robbery where two policeman died. But still.
Dragging Ratcliff was a knot of boys and men, some fifteen or twenty, each holding on to some part of the man until his grasp slipped, then dancing back into the pack, attempting to grab again. The rest of the foot crowd came along behind a few yards,stopping when the leaders stopped, moving forward again when they they moved. They were in the alley directly .behind the theater itself when someone began shouting , “Let’s hang him here . . . let’s don’t wait. . . hang him here!” Pg 238
As they pulled him up:
There was another scramble to get a place along the end of the new rope . At two or three spots, father’s were reserving a small piece of hemp so their young sons could help and could say later that they had had a hand in it. Pg. 245
All in all Greene paints an unflattering portrait of 1920’s Texan mobs who exhilarated in breaking the law to satiate their cruelest impulses. And not shockingly after the deed the once eager killers all denied participation.
Greene let’s us know how he feels about it when afterwards he has two Jailer’s argue about the nature of mobs and bring up a different incident where a mob burned down a jailhouse after getting the prisoner…
“Now Pack,” the deputy said, “you know they burned down that jail down, up in North Texas, gettin’ to one of the prisoners. They were that determined”
“They didn’t burn down the jail because they wanted to get to some prisoner. They burned down the jail because they wanted to burn the jail. It was a chance to to get a little arson in they wouldn’t get otherwise get. They already knew they were going to get their prisoner. Burning down the jail was just getting a second helping of dessert.”
The deputy frowned, “There’s a streak of law and order in us that don’t like to see justice thwarted.”
Pack curled his lip.
“Son, you believe that and you’ve got a lot of goddamn learning to do.”
Pg 256
Now how did he know Pack “curled his lip”?
Postscript:
Interestingly this intersected with a some of Big Wonderful Thing: A History of Texas that I read a while back. The week before Marshall Ratcliff’s trial started the old court house was torn down and Ol’ Rip the horned Toad was found alive after 31 years sealed that was sealed up in the building’s time capsule corner stone.
For some reason this passage caught my attention.
[While on the run]
The cold was annoying as their hunger. Henry Helms said he’d personally give a flat hundred dollar bill for a pot of good, hot Arbuckles’ coffee like Nettie fixed. Pg 117
https://truewestmagazine.com/arbuckle...
Coffee. One of “civilizations” constants.
UPDATE: I just finished the short but informative Santa Claus Bank Robbery: A True Crime Saga in Texas by Tui Snider and while she seems particularly irked by some liberties A.C. Greene took with this story, she did reveal that A.C. Greene became friends with Robert "Bob" Hill, the only robber to survive.
Hill managed to get paroled sometime in the 1940's (the Internet failed me on the specifics) and A.C. Greene became friends with him him in the 1970's. AND I Greene dedicate the book to "Bob", and this Bob was Bob Hill. So maybe he did have an inside line on the dialog since Hill was part of almost all of it.
March 24, 2015
As much a meditation on the contagious nature of violence as a history of a bank robbery gone wrong. Greene mounts a subtle attack on trigger-happy posses and lynch mobs. There is a certain level of fictionalizing events as well (did a blind fiddler really play "Soldier's Joy" as the robbers sped away? Was Marshall Ratliffe truly disconnected from reality?).
I'm not sure I fully support Greene's emphasis, as opposed to his conclusions. Still, this is a thought-provoking work by a superb writer.
I'm not sure I fully support Greene's emphasis, as opposed to his conclusions. Still, this is a thought-provoking work by a superb writer.
November 20, 2012
"Why Santa? Why did you rob the bank? Sob." Some little kiddies from depression-era small-town Texas will never trust jolly old St. Nick again! Hard-headed bumbling burglars meet stubborn, bored civilians and crazed mobs. A true, sad story.
January 6, 2024
I've never read a local-press Texan history book before (I'm from Wisconsin, so why would I?), but I figured that a festively-flavored account of a bank robbery that I picked up at a summertime library sale would be a decent place to start. I'm a couple weeks removed from this read (and the holidays that were nipping at its heels), so I better document my thoughts on this text before too much more time passes. A bit of a disclaimer, first: I won't be afraid to spoil this book since you can Wikipedia all this history, so tread carefully if you want to experience this debauchery as purely as I did.
Another note on the work in general: instead of being a straight nonfiction book like I assumed it would be, it's actually narrative nonfiction, a work that reads mostly like a novel while being rooted in "truth"... as truthful as you can make prose, that is. I don't like this approach to nonfiction as much because it leads me to doubt what's being portrayed as it colors historical figures in a way that may not reflect who they really were. At least, in the case of some of these characters, I hope that's true...
This book is largely about the three criminals who escaped from a bank robbery that took place in Cisco, Texas on December 23rd of 1927. There was a fourth armed robber named Louis Davis who was really just a farmer who related to ex-con and participant Robert Hill through marriage who agreed to the robbery because his family was strapped for cash, but he was caught and later died from wounds sustained from the fight. The robbery had been planned at a boarding house ran by Josephine Herron (named Midge Tellet in the book, I assume for her protection), who lived with her husband and her teenage daughter. There's a weird scene where Marshall Ratliff, the mastermind, takes a Santa Clause costume that Josephine/Midge was sewing while one of the other criminals has a confrontation over the... use?... of her daughter with her husband, and the husband/father has his head on right but doesn't have the spine to back it up. And despite the offending criminal's detestable comments and motivation, after the robbery Midge is still calling the robbers "poor boys" after they shot at people and had made these weird manipulative moves on her daughter... I didn't love that. I did really enjoy the scenes leading up to the robbery, where Ratliff (dressed as Santa) is interrupted by a bunch of little kids on his way to rob the bank. That was funny. The robbery itself goes awry when a woman and her daughter are able to alert the town and summon a host of law enforcement and angry men with guns to the scene. The three criminals do escape and embark on the "largest manhunt in Texas" with a few hostages in tow, who are soon released only so they can take another person - a teenage boy - hostage alongside his dad's car a few days later. They avoid airplane searches while practically starving themselves, but they're officially taken into custody on December 30th in Graham, Texas while they searched for shelter.
The final act of the book is at least as interesting as the first and touches upon the death of the "Dead Bank Robber" reward, how both Ratliff and Henry Helms started acting insane and filed insanity pleas instead of being sent to Death Row while Robert Hill got away with a life sentence due to an emotional plea). We also see the vaguely-infamous lynching of Ratliff in Huntsville through the perspective of the local jailer after Ratliff attempts an escape. The mob is a horrible thing, but it was one of my favorite parts of the book, and - like the bits about insanity pleas - made me think about things which I don't normally think about when it comes to old-timey justice. Thinking about things I don't normally think about is one of the reasons I read nonfiction, so I quite appreciated them. Still, the book didn't expand my worldview overall that much, which is part of the reason I saw it and its prose-format a bit of a disappointment, but I can't fault the concluding sections.
I can still fault the prose-narrative, though (I know, I should give this dead horse a break). Maybe it would've been one thing if it was beautifully or even harshly written, but this really did feel like a journalist trying his hand at a novel; just because it is doesn't mean that that's what we want it to feel like. It's a bit blocky, but not to a level that takes away from your enjoyment. It's just... there, I guess.
The characters are also just *there*. The criminals are a bit tricky to tell apart and the women all come from out of this equal-parts pathetic and sympathetic mold that may have stood up in a novel from the 20s, but not in real life. I especially cite the boarding-house-keeper when it comes to these complaints, but the thinness really extends to all the characters, even the ones I got a kick out of reading like the sheriff during the lynching. I quite appreciated that perspective, even! But I wanted to read it from an intelligent historian's perspective, not that conjectured sheriff's. Still, I enjoyed this book; it was a good little brain-break while still submerging me in a different locale. I'd probably read more Greene if I ran across it here in the Midwest; I just wouldn't have the same expectations for it.
I'm giving this book a 6.5/10; I still enjoyed it, but it's got issues - flatness, etc. I will look back upon its lynching and solitary confinement fondly (that sentence just might be a first), but I also didn't remorse my moving on. If you read this book, just know what you're getting into, and you won't come off as jaded as I am, which I really shouldn't, because it is a *good* book and a *good* read; I just have to take my Goodreads-critic seat and type these reviews up. And if you liked this one, or want to see how I talk when I'm a bit more positive on what I read, check out my profile @ Darnoc Leadburger. Thanks for reading, and I'll catch you later.
Another note on the work in general: instead of being a straight nonfiction book like I assumed it would be, it's actually narrative nonfiction, a work that reads mostly like a novel while being rooted in "truth"... as truthful as you can make prose, that is. I don't like this approach to nonfiction as much because it leads me to doubt what's being portrayed as it colors historical figures in a way that may not reflect who they really were. At least, in the case of some of these characters, I hope that's true...
This book is largely about the three criminals who escaped from a bank robbery that took place in Cisco, Texas on December 23rd of 1927. There was a fourth armed robber named Louis Davis who was really just a farmer who related to ex-con and participant Robert Hill through marriage who agreed to the robbery because his family was strapped for cash, but he was caught and later died from wounds sustained from the fight. The robbery had been planned at a boarding house ran by Josephine Herron (named Midge Tellet in the book, I assume for her protection), who lived with her husband and her teenage daughter. There's a weird scene where Marshall Ratliff, the mastermind, takes a Santa Clause costume that Josephine/Midge was sewing while one of the other criminals has a confrontation over the... use?... of her daughter with her husband, and the husband/father has his head on right but doesn't have the spine to back it up. And despite the offending criminal's detestable comments and motivation, after the robbery Midge is still calling the robbers "poor boys" after they shot at people and had made these weird manipulative moves on her daughter... I didn't love that. I did really enjoy the scenes leading up to the robbery, where Ratliff (dressed as Santa) is interrupted by a bunch of little kids on his way to rob the bank. That was funny. The robbery itself goes awry when a woman and her daughter are able to alert the town and summon a host of law enforcement and angry men with guns to the scene. The three criminals do escape and embark on the "largest manhunt in Texas" with a few hostages in tow, who are soon released only so they can take another person - a teenage boy - hostage alongside his dad's car a few days later. They avoid airplane searches while practically starving themselves, but they're officially taken into custody on December 30th in Graham, Texas while they searched for shelter.
The final act of the book is at least as interesting as the first and touches upon the death of the "Dead Bank Robber" reward, how both Ratliff and Henry Helms started acting insane and filed insanity pleas instead of being sent to Death Row while Robert Hill got away with a life sentence due to an emotional plea). We also see the vaguely-infamous lynching of Ratliff in Huntsville through the perspective of the local jailer after Ratliff attempts an escape. The mob is a horrible thing, but it was one of my favorite parts of the book, and - like the bits about insanity pleas - made me think about things which I don't normally think about when it comes to old-timey justice. Thinking about things I don't normally think about is one of the reasons I read nonfiction, so I quite appreciated them. Still, the book didn't expand my worldview overall that much, which is part of the reason I saw it and its prose-format a bit of a disappointment, but I can't fault the concluding sections.
I can still fault the prose-narrative, though (I know, I should give this dead horse a break). Maybe it would've been one thing if it was beautifully or even harshly written, but this really did feel like a journalist trying his hand at a novel; just because it is doesn't mean that that's what we want it to feel like. It's a bit blocky, but not to a level that takes away from your enjoyment. It's just... there, I guess.
The characters are also just *there*. The criminals are a bit tricky to tell apart and the women all come from out of this equal-parts pathetic and sympathetic mold that may have stood up in a novel from the 20s, but not in real life. I especially cite the boarding-house-keeper when it comes to these complaints, but the thinness really extends to all the characters, even the ones I got a kick out of reading like the sheriff during the lynching. I quite appreciated that perspective, even! But I wanted to read it from an intelligent historian's perspective, not that conjectured sheriff's. Still, I enjoyed this book; it was a good little brain-break while still submerging me in a different locale. I'd probably read more Greene if I ran across it here in the Midwest; I just wouldn't have the same expectations for it.
I'm giving this book a 6.5/10; I still enjoyed it, but it's got issues - flatness, etc. I will look back upon its lynching and solitary confinement fondly (that sentence just might be a first), but I also didn't remorse my moving on. If you read this book, just know what you're getting into, and you won't come off as jaded as I am, which I really shouldn't, because it is a *good* book and a *good* read; I just have to take my Goodreads-critic seat and type these reviews up. And if you liked this one, or want to see how I talk when I'm a bit more positive on what I read, check out my profile @ Darnoc Leadburger. Thanks for reading, and I'll catch you later.
December 24, 2022
3.5 stars. I was surprised how this book was written, as it is supposed to be nonfiction. There is far too much dialogue between the bandits that no one could possibly know to call it that. Perhaps narrative nonfiction, think in cold blood. This story has a vibe somewhere between green mile and oh brother where are thou, but with a darker ending. I came across this story in a short video and wanted to know more as I had never heard of it before and have been on a true crime kick and it's almost Christmas. It was worth a read, it's always interesting to get a glimpse into life in a different time period. But if you just want to know the story, you can find much shorter condensed versions online.
July 26, 2020
This is a very interesting chapter in Texas history. Stranger than fiction comes to mind and explains it best. Very well researched and thoughtful. Greene doesny make the bad guys good guys and just tells it like it is. There are events in life where the lines between good and evil are blurred and as much as we'd like to believe otherwise justice isn't blind.
October 26, 2014
This is not a pleasant picture of society, collectively or individually,but presents a valid episode in Texas history.
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