Sidney Herald

All it took was 7 minutes to rob the Fairview Bank of $4,500. It was Thursday, May 2, 1929, around 4:20, just before closing time, when four bandits entered the bank. The Faiview Bank was located directly across the street from the Hotel Albert.

There were a few patrons in the bank lobby doing business and approximately $4,500 on the cashier’s counter. An exclamation by two strangers in the room, all eyes went up and then quickly, all hands went up. According to Kenneth Gardner, he and Thornton Dean had just walked into the bank when an unknown man pointed a revolver at them and a voice commanded, “Just lay right down there!”

After the bank officers and customers had been told to lay flat on the floor and the money was slushed into heavy bags, the robbers then rounded up the hostages and marched them into the vault. Just before the last hostage was filing into the vault, Mrs. Peter Berard walked in the front door. The gunman grabbed her by the arm and led her along with the rest of the group.

There were nine locked in the vault. They listened as the two gunmen walked out of the bank’s back door and got into the coupe and roared. First in the vault was W.L. “Bill” Thompson, followed by L.W. “Lew” Thompson, Glenn Davidsen, staff members, and then came Mr. and Mrs. Paul Gartner, Dogie Bill Raffaell’s daughter, Thornton Dean, Mr. Gardner and bringing up the rear was Mrs. Pete Berard. They stayed there until they heard someone shoot, “My God, they’ve been robbed.!” It was Bert Frankl who ran the drug store in the hotel. Frankl and D.R. Billington quickly released the occupants as the combination had not been turned.

The sheriff’s office in Sidney was notified along with neighboring towns.

They were on the lookout for the coupe. Ralph Johnston, part owner of the Red and White Service Station, saw the men leave by the side door with the heavy sacks. When the robbers turned the corner one block down, Johnston and Harry Anderson followed them east.

The “fleet three” and the coupe did not wait for the signal at the bridge. The first gate was open, and they smashed through the second gate without waiting to pay the toll. When Johnston reached the bridge, Wintermuth jumped on the car, and they continued the chase to Cartwright, N.D., where the two men found weapons. From there the bandits drove south, with a Whippet Coach chasing behind. A number of other cars also joined the chase out of Cartwright. Darkness overtook the “posse” in the vicinity of Skaar where they lost trace of the robbers. Authorities were notified, and all roads were immediately guarded.

Upon his return to Fairview, Johnston stated that the men were traveling in a blue Chevrolet coupe and could have been captured several times if he had possessed a gun. A number of times he slowed down to keep from getting within shooting distance of them. One of the robbers stayed on the running board of the Chevrolet with a gun in hand, and there was no use coming within range without defense.

Within a week after committing the crime, the bandits had been captured. A new record was established when Sheriff O’Brien and his forced captured and convicted the four men. All four pled guilty before Judge Lieper at a temporary hearing in Sidney the afternoon of May 9.

The four men, all residents of Glendive, were Oliver T. Gray, Herbert Gray, brothers Steward Gray and Arthur Baker. Herbert and Ollie Gray were employees of the Northern Pacific roundhouse at Glendive. Steward Gray believed to be the man who sat in the car, disguised only with blue glasses, was a barber by trade and gambler. Arthur Baker was a pool hall proprietor.

The hearing had been preceded by their confessions. According to their story, the robbery was planned about two weeks before the act took place. The gang drove into Dickinson, N.D., in a Steward Gray Ford coach and stole a blue Chevrolet coupe. Two of the gang drove it out of Dickinson to the badlands, and several trips were made by the gang to establish an escape route after the robbery.

Driving into Fairview, Steward Gray was left at the east end of the Yellowstone bridge, east of Fairview. He was to have the gate open when the trio was making their get-away. The Gray brothers were the men who entered the bank and committed the robbery while Baker remained at the steering wheel of the coupe with the motor running.

They picked up Steward Gray at the east end of the bridge where they had left him. When they drove past the toll station without stopping the tollman threw in the lever to close the gate, and their car struck it and swung it back.

According to the stories of the men, the stolen currency had been divided among the four while the gold, silver and travelers checks had been placed in a cache 10 miles east of Glendive. The sawed off shot gun carried by the bandits in the chase was also found in the cache.

Geroge Hagen, a Wibaux farmer, gave the officers the first clue to the identity of the robbers. He had remembered the license number of their Ford coach. Learning the number, Sheriff O’Brien phoned Deer Lodge and learned the car belonged to Oliver T. Baker, Glendive. This cinched the whole deal as it was known that the four men ganged together, and the officers planned their arrest. They staked out their residency, and when the car showed up the next morning with Steward driving, he was arrested. The other arrests followed without delay. Herbert Grey was arrested at the N.P. shops where he was employed, Oliver was later picked up on the street, and Baker was arrested in Miles City by Sheriff Edgar Taylor.

The Gray brothers and Stewart Gray were all sentenced to 40 years in the state penitentiary, and the fourth member of the gang, Arthur Baker, was sentenced to 20 years. Baker was given leniency for gaining the confessions from the other men by “coming clean” himself.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Information compiled from Fairview News, Ranger Review and Courage