The unresolved courthouse robbery of 1898

The Lucas County Courthouse in 1894.

For those who keep track of the anniversaries of memorable events, you might want to make note that Monday, Nov. 12, was the 120th anniversary of Lucas County's great courthouse robbery --- a case that never has been resolved.

To make a long story short, James W. "Will" Culbertson was county treasurer at the time and Henley G. Curtis, who formerly had served three terms as treasurer, his deputy. Nov. 12, 1898, was a Saturday and the Lucas County Courthouse was open for business. Nearly everyone worked six-day weeks back then and farmers and their families were accustomed to traveling into Chariton on Saturdays to do their trading and transact other business.

Culbertson and Curtis went out to lunch together just after noon that day, securing (they thought) the county's supply of ready cash --- $1,600 --- within in a safe inside a vault, then locked the office door behind them. When they returned just before 1 p.m., nothing seemed to have been disturbed, but the cash was missing.

Here's how The Chariton Patriot reported the robbery in its edition of Thursday, Nov. 17:

+++

About one o'clock last Saturday the town of Chariton was thrown into an uproar of excitement on learning that the office of the county treasurer had been entered and a large amount of money stolen.

When Treasurer Culbertson returned from dinner he proceeded to open the vault and safe to get the money drawer preparatory to commencing his afternoon business. Both the safe door and the vault door were securely locked with the combination, as he had left them when he put the money in before going to dinner, and nothing seemed out of place in the office, but when he opened the safe door, he was struck dumb to find that the money drawer containing about $600 and two packages of bills of $500 each were gone.

The alarm was at once given and telegrams and telephone messages telling of the robbery were sent in every direction. Suspicion at once fell upon some strangers who had been about town for several days, and who stayed at Northcut's hotel. Between one and two o'clock two men were seen to jump from a train at Whitebreast and take the road toward Oakley. Later a man who met them came to town and his description of them tallied with the description of the strangers.

Officers with blood hounds went in pursuit and tracked them through the fields toward Norwood, but darkness coming on the tracking by dogs was given up. A message came later from Milo saying that the men wanted had hired a buggy and driver there to go to Indianola. Word was immediately sent to the sheriff at Indianola to watch out and capture the men if possible. The sheriff assured our officers that the robbers could not escape, that he would get them sure, but he didn't. About nine o'clock, the buggy with the robbers went in one street as the sheriff and his men rode out another.

The robbers tried to get their driver to take them through to Des Moines, but he said he could not until he had telephoned his employer at Milo. So they drove up to Sweeny's livery barn. Here they were met by a crowd who endeavored to capture them without arms of any kind. Mr. Sweeny informed the men that they were wanted by the officers and that they must surrender to him. The robbers laughed and told Mr. Sweeny that he was mistaken; that he didn't want them at all, and convinced him by pulling revolvers on the crowd and requesting them to get into the barn. The request was at once complied with and the robbers easily made their escape into the darkness. The pursuit was begun again, but to no purpose.

The robbery was a most daring, and very cleverly executed piece of work. The doors of the courthouse are always open for people to pass through, but the building was probably deserted at the time the robbery was committed. It is thought the entrance to the treasurer's office was made through the transom over the door, and that the robbers escaped in the same manner, as the treasurer found the door locked when he returned. The men took dinner at Milthorpe's restaurant at twelve o'clock. The treasurer's office was entered; the vault and safe opened; the money secured, and the escape made before one o'clock.

The day previous to the robbery four strangers registered at Northcut's hotel. They came together, as one of the party registered the names of all. The appearances of two of this party correspond with descriptions of the men who escaped. No trace of the other two has been found.

It is a serious loss to Treasurer Culbertson and the sympathy expressed for him is universal. He at once replaced the money so that the public funds remain intact, notwithstanding the robbery.

+++

There are a number of mysteries here that never were resolved and some suggestions that that treasurer and his deputy simply had neglected to secure the safe and vault doors before leaving the office for lunch. Whatever the case may have been, Culbertson reimbursed the county for the loss out of his own pocket.

Six years later, Culbertson ---  by then cashier of Chariton National Bank --- died of cancer on Jan. 31, 1905, at the age of 45. His deputy, Mr. Curtis, had died on Feb. 29, 1904, also apparently of cancer, at the age of 56.

I wrote last week about Pvt. Fred Culbertson, one of Lucas County's World War I dead. He was Will Culbertson's son, a child at the time the robbery occurred. Fred, who died of influenza aboard ship en route to France during 1918, was buried in France once his ship reached its destination. His remains were not repatriated to Chariton and remain in France in large part because of the deaths of both his parents (his father, during 1905, and his mother, Hattie, in Chariton soon after news of her son's death reached her).