The Christmas Robberies of 1931

Today when reference is made to highway robbery our thoughts turn to the IRS, but once upon a time some genuine gun-toting bandits were terrorizing motorists on the roads of our county. From the front page of December 27, 1931:

Two more Montgomery County men furnished targets for would-be gunmen and highway robbers during the last week.

Henry Hedstrom was fired upon Monday just south of Morton Mills in broad daylight. He was on his way to the Lars Larson farm sale, and when he lowered his car window to throw out a cigar three men pulled alongside in another car and fired through the window, just nicking the top of the glass and barely missing the driver. The bullet went out the right window. Hedstrom did not stop and the robbery attempt, if that’s what it was, was unsuccessful.

Bernard Hully of Elliott was relieved of $10 and was hit in the thumb by a bullet during a hold-up Friday evening. Hully was on the road between Elliott and Grant when hailed by two automobiles parked in the road, and there was a third automobile at the side of the road. He did not know whether all three cars belonged to the thugs, or whether there were other victims.

The shooting occurred after Hully had brought his car to a stop and gave them his money and was evidently done for no reason at all. Although the robbery was reported to officers, Hully could not give a very good description of the men or the car, but believes a woman was in the party.

The motorists who shot at Hedstrom as he tossed a cigar out the window might simply have been pioneers of the anti-smoking movement, but the crime spree called the “Christmas Robberies” of 1931 was the real McCoy. The bandits, blocking roads and shooting thumbs and car windows, struck first in mid-December.

Sometimes accompanied by a woman, their MO was to pull alongside a moving vehicle, fire a shot or two and force the driver to stop, then relieve the occupants of their valuables.

Things reached the point that a number of local men, with blessings and best wishes from the sheriff, took to driving around looking wealthy and pitching cigars out the window while a partner crouched in the back seat with a shotgun.

But enough—our newspaper had some great articles on this and I figure to milk it for at least one more column.