Bank Heist on the Ohio River

By Devin Robinson, program developer at Lanier Mansion State Historic Site

On the morning of Tuesday, Feb. 28, 1844, Indiana financier James F.D. Lanier of the Lanier Mansion State Historic Site awoke to the news that one of his banks had been robbed of $27,370 — worth more than $1.2 million today. The only clue: a size 7 boot print near one of the windows. Sometime between 7-10 p.m. on Monday evening, the culprit — or culprits — opened the exterior door to the Second State Bank of Indiana’s Madison branch, accessed the contents of its double-locked vault and ran off with the money.

The audacious bank heist shocked the community. With no broken locks or windows, no leads and nearly no evidence at the scene of the crime, the case could have gone cold almost as soon as it was opened. Enter Richard Halloway, a convicted burglar who read about the robbery in prison and volunteered to tell Cincinnati police officer Jesse O’Neal what he knew.

Halloway claimed that in the summer of 1843, he heard his roommate David Root talking with a man by the name of “Buell” about a series of robberies he intended to commit at banks in Madison, Ind., Dayton, Ohio and northern Kentucky. Root had, by unknown means, gotten his hands on a set of keys he believed would open the doors to these banks. Later that year, Buell and Root traveled to Madison to attempt a robbery, but their keys didn’t work. After Buell made new keys to match the bank locks, they hid these keys on a sandbar along the Ohio River near Cincinnati.

That was all Halloway knew, but it was enough to get O’Neal started. O’Neal got in contact with a man identified in court documents as “Vines,” a known associate of Root’s, and convinced him to work with police. As this alliance formed, so did a rough timeline. The Friday before the robbery, Root was confirmed to be in Cincinnati. And in a letter Vines received from Root postmarked from Louisville the week after the robbery, Root detailed his plans to travel to New Orleans.

Given the time between the robbery and the location where Root’s letter was sent, it was plausible that he could’ve been in Madison the night of the robbery. With this new information, O’Neal and Vines devised a plan to travel to New Orleans. When they arrived, Vines would meet with Root to see if he could get any information on where the money was stashed. If Root divulged anything incriminating, it would be exactly what O’Neal needed to arrest Root and put him on trial in Madison.

But this plan was never put into motion. Shortly after arriving in New Orleans, Root was arrested as “a dangerous rogue” and imprisoned in a local workhouse. Despite O’Neal’s attempts to get Root released, jurisdiction conflicts got in the way, forcing O’Neal and Vines to leave empty-handed. After returning to Indiana, the two spoke with the president of Second State Bank of Indiana, James F.D. Lanier, who was intrigued by their story and suggested that they return to New Orleans. This time, Lanier would come along to pull out the big guns — a letter from the governor of Indiana demanding Root’s release.

It worked. Root was freed and Vines finally had the chance to talk with him. While Vines couldn’t ascertain where the money was hidden, he confirmed that Root was in Madison for two days before the robbery, sleeping on a boat on the river instead of a hotel to maintain his anonymity. With this confession, O’Neal arrested Root and put him on a boat back to Madison with himself and Lanier. Vines travelled separately to hide his involvement in the investigation. Root reportedly spent the trip home asking how they discovered it was him who robbed the bank and what his punishment might be. Lanier told Root that he would likely spend 10 years in the state penitentiary.

Facing his looming bank heist trial, Root began to share several different accounts of what happened at the bank that night. First, Root claimed he had planned to use the stolen money to support his son, Cyrus, who was attending college in Ohio. In reality, Cyrus Root was imprisoned in the same workhouse his father had been released from. Next, he claimed he’d never been to Madison, then admitted he was in Madison at the time of the robbery but he had been helping the Second State Bank investigate a group of counterfeiters.

His final story was the alibi he testified to back in Indiana. In this version of events, Root was on a steamboat in Kentucky the night of the bank heist. He admitted to jumping off the boat without paying his fare but insisted he wouldn’t have been able to rob the bank that night. Furthermore, he said he had no idea where the money was. The jury didn’t buy it. When a witness who was on said steamboat was called to support Root’s story, they couldn’t be sure that it was Root they saw that night. Another witness, the captain of a different boat docked near the one Root claimed to be on, testified that he saw Root jump off his steamboat that night.

The trial was muddied with a variety of conflicting witness accounts. Some said Root was in town alone, some said he was with two other men. One man named William Patrick asserted he guided Root and two unidentified men down the waterfalls of the Ohio River, in retrospect, not long after the robbery took place. For every indication that Root had to be guilty, there were just as many indicating he wasn’t guilty. The only clear-cut piece of evidence was the boot print, which the defense asserted was too small to belong to Root.

In the end, the mountain of circumstantial evidence placing Root in Madison was enough for the jury to find him guilty. No alleged accomplices were ever found. Root was sentenced to six years in prison and charged a $1,000 fine. The stolen money was never recovered. Despite the verdict, the trial left several questions unanswered. With the money still missing, the misfit boot print, confused testimonies and Root maintaining his innocence, many in Madison weren’t sure if the jury made the right choice. We may never know for certain if Root robbed Second State Bank, or if the perpetrator acted alone in the bank heist.

Among the theories about what really happened, one story purports that Root did rob the bank but didn’t act alone. In this theory, the heist itself was a methodically orchestrated con job butchered by a rushed, sloppy getaway. It’s important to start with the facts. First, several witnesses at Root’s trial placed him with two other men sailing into Madison not long before the robbery. That tracks with Vines’ claims that Root planned the robbery with Buell. Second, Root and Buell had a set of keys that were supposed to let them into each bank they planned to rob. Additionally, Buell was able to make new keys when their alleged first attempt failed.

How they got these keys in the first place is unknown, but their possession suggests some level of insider knowledge or cooperation. Third, William Patrick testified that he guided Root, two other unidentified men and their boat down the waterfalls along the Ohio River. Patrick claimed he strongly recommended that the trio walk along the riverbank while he brought their boat through the water, but they insisted on sailing through it with him. And as they traveled, Patrick noticed the boat seemed to be handling oddly, like something was off-balance.

The theory suggests the people Root was spotted with may have been Buell and Root’s son, Cyrus, with whom Root planned the heist and went on several scouting trips to establish the nighttime guard’s patterns. When the moment was right, two of the men entered the bank while the third kept watch. As they made their getaway, the theory continues, Root attached the money to the bottom of the boat without Patrick’s knowledge. And as the boat waded through the choppy waters, the thieves’ ill-gotten treasure shook loose and sank to the bottom of the river. Other theories have Buell, who was never found by law enforcement, backstabbing his group and stealing the cash again. Whatever truly happened that night in 1844, the people of Madison are left with a fascinating bank heist story.