The first Naional Bank in Harrisville, PA as it appeared in 1941
when it was robbed by three bandits.
The bank is on Route 8 in the center of Harrisville.
Benneman's was to the left (South) of the bank just off the picture.
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They robbed the bank in Butler County, the shoot-out was in Lawrence County, and their capture occurred in Beaver County.
The black, '39 Buick, club-coupe had been stolen in Cleveland two weeks before. It had the power and speed needed to carry three men bent on robbery. The three gunmen used the car on Monday night, September 15, 1941, when they broke into Rohrer's Gun Store down on Water Street in New Castle, taking 20 revolvers, several rifles and ammunition. Rex Hughes, city electrician, spotted the car behind the gun store and noticed the three digits, "283" on the license plate. He told Chief of Police, Willis G. McMullen, and Chief Detective, Ralph Criswell, who quietly notified his men to be on the lookout for the car. The trio had arrived from Cleveland the previous Thursday, planning a systematic plundering of small country banks and business establishments in Western Pennsylvania.
The three bandits, Albert Feelo, 26, from Republic, PA, Virgil Evarts, 27, from Smithfield, PA and Kenneth Palmer, 33, from Volant had spent time together in Rockview Penitentiary, near State College, PA and police had been keeping a quiet trace on their movements since their release from prison. They came together two weeks before in a bar in Uniontown, PA and Evarts, director and pianist of a small orchestra in Fayette County. told his relatives that Feelo was it Detroit booking agent and that he intended to go to Detroit and take a job with an orchestra. Since then the trio had held up and looted the safe of the Francke & Co. Insurance office in Farrell PA of $400, tying up several women and manager, Albert W. Snyder, in the process. Then on Monday night they broke into Rohrer's Gun Store in New Castle, taking $100 in cash plus the guns and enough ammunition to do bigger things. On Friday, September 19 th, two of the bandits entered the Harrisville Bank in Butler County just a few minutes before the 3 PM closing time. They asked Ass't Cashier, W. E. McBride, for $2 in nickels and as he finished wrapping them, one bandit said, "This is a stick-up. Don't reach for any buzzers or make a false move, or I'll blow your brains out."
John McBride, son of the late W. E. McBride, recalled his father saying when he looked up and saw the guns pointed at him he thought they were the largest and most menacing gun barrels he'd ever seen.
All the bank employees and the only-customer who happened to be present, Clair Glenn, a young Slippery Rock college student, were forced to lie face-down on the floor behind the bank counter. Sarah Sutherland Stewart, bank teller at the time and who still lives in Harrisville, recalls her nervousness and anxiety at being forced to lie on the floor and the harsh demands by the bandits to remain quiet.
Holding the bank employees at bay, they scooped up all the available cash, nearly $2,000. As they were leaving, Howard Cooper, employee of J. M. Hilliard lumber Company, entered the bank to deposit $350. He was forced to give up the money.
Next to the bank on the south side, but across a small side street called Prairie Street, was the Brenneman Hardware and Farm Equipment business, owned by Arthur Brenneman. Jim Bennett, age 73 and a long time resident of Harrisville, worked for Brenneman in 1937 for $7.00 a week and recalls the bank robbery clearly. Bennett said Brenneman was a fine, resourceful businessman and bought and sold anything, including Chevrolet automobiles, farm machinery and hardware and was known to take a horse in trade as the down payment on a new car.
Brenneman became suspicious of a car parked in front of the bank with the motor running and the driver intently scanning a newspaper. Seeing the men emerge from the bank with drawn guns, he called the police as the gunmen fled south on Route 8. A mile or so out of Harrisville, near what is now Willy's Smokehouse, they turned off Route 8 onto Browntown Rd. and headed west in an effort to stay on the back roads and avoid police. The exact route taken in their attempt to flee is not known, but they did proceed west, probably on Route 108, then turned onto Route 168 which is the West Pittsburg Rd. just south of the city of New Castle, PA.
A woman driving her husband to work on the West Pittsburg Rd. heard the alarm on her car radio and stopped to tell Patrolman Peter Hillers of the New Castle police they had seen the black Buick coupe, with Ohio license G283M, speeding along the West Pittsburg road headed towards Ellwood City. State and city police spread this information quickly via telephone and teletype, and phoned the Ellwood City Police Department Officers from Youngstown, Beaver Falls, New Castle, West Pittsburg, Butler and Wampum converged on the Ellwood City area.
Ellwood City Chief of Police, Ernest Hartman, took the phone call and hurriedly grabbed the 45 cal. Thompson sub-machine gun from its rack and leaped into his patrol car. He drove to the north end of the Fifth Street bridge where the Wampum Road intersects the bridge. He parked his car along the curb, got out and awaited developments not knowing for certain the bandits were headed into Ellwood City. Suddenly he saw the bandits' car approach.
He stopped the car. "Come out with your hands in the air." he asserted, sensing they intended to resist. "They pulled revolvers as they raised their hands," Hartman declared, and bullets blazed from their guns.
Hartman brought the tommy-gun into action. It barked out bullets that hit all three. Even with a three to one advantage the bandits were out gunned for the machine gun held 100 rounds and Hartman emptied the drum as he blazed return fire at the robbers. The exchange was at close quarters, "One of them fell. I think it was Evarts who died later. Palmer dragged him into the car while firing." Hartman stated. The entire episode, stopping the bandits' car, the exchange of revolver and tommy-gun bullets and the dash of the bandits for freedom consumed only a few minutes. A close accounting of the incident later showed that 17 bullets had been fired at Hartman in that exchange. Luckily he was unscathed. As the bank robbers got under way one of the bandits poked a rifle out the rear window; however, no shots were fired.
"As I followed the bandits car, people attracted by the shooting directed me along the route taken by the bandits," Hartman said. "They went south on Fifth Street to Crescent Avenue, west on Crescent to Ninth Street, north on Ninth to Lawrence and west again on Lawrence towards Koppel and the Belton Road. People who saw the car leave the Fifth Street bridge and go careening on its way at full speed claim the bandits had so hurriedly dragged their accomplice into the auto his foot still protruded out the half-open door.
Meanwhile, unarmed off-duty policeman, Edward
Shaffer, heard and witnessed part of the fight on the bridge.
He got into the car of James Pasta, a drug store clerk, and together
they whirled toward Park Gate and the Belton Road. The bandits,
bleeding profusely, continued their wild flight in attempted escape.
They roared through Park Gate where the pavement ended and the
road became dirt. Quickly they flashed past the Koppel Bridge
turn-off and the small hamlet of Belton, in Beaver County leaving
a tornado-like cloud of dust in the rear and onto the rock-
ribbed Belton Road.
The driver, believed to be Evarts, apparently became weakened by the loss of blood that oozed from his riddled body and lost control of the car. Five miles from Ellwood City and a mile or so past Belton it careened off the right side of the road and down a steep embankment. Instead of catapulting upside-down, it was arrested by underbrush and a tree.
Palmer and Evarts crawled from the car and climbed up the 10 foot embankment to the road. They saw the car of Angelo DeCarbo approaching. In his car was Mrs. Laura Kash, of Franklin Ave., in Ellwood City. She had stalled her own auto farther west on the Belton Road and DeCarbo had given her aid.
DeCarbo and Mrs. Kash were quickly forced out of their car and ordered at gun point to help carry the wounded bandit, Feelo, to the DeCarbo car. Just then, Shaffer and Pasta, both of whom were unarmed, arrived in Pasta's car.
Evarts and Palmer leveled their guns at the special police officer and Pasta and ordered them to get out of their car and forced them to help carry Feelo into the DeCarbo car, planning to continue their flight to freedom.
"Get into the front seat!" snarled Evarts.
"Do you want me to drive?" asked Shaffer. "No!" the band snapped. However, that was when Evarts made a fatal mistake - he laid his rifle on Palmers' lap as he went around to the driver's side of the car.
Quick as a cat pounces on a rat, Pasta acted. He seized the rifle and pointing it at Evarts, shouted "Don't move!"
"Get that gun out of the (glove) compartment." Evarts yelled to Palmer. Shaffer and Palmer both reached for the compartment.
Pasta shot through the open car window at Evarts, hitting him in the mouth. Evarts fell backwards tumbling down the bank, stopping as he hit the thick underbrush below. He struggled to get up, but Pasta ran down the hill and hit him on the head with the butt of his rifle putting an end to Evarts for good.
Palmer then picked up a wrench in the car and struck Shaffer below the left eye. The blow caused a bad laceration. Mrs. Kash joined in the fight. She struck Palmer with another wrench.
Shaffer and Pasta grappled with Palmer, and Shaffer wresting the wrench from him, beat Palmer over the head hard, battering him into submission and subduing him. Chief Hartman arrived on the scene at this moment.
Feelo, who had been put into the DeCarbo car, got a gun from somewhere and was about to shoot when Chief Hartman disarmed him. It was all over.
"When I arrived at the wreck, Pasta and Shaffer had captured the bandits, I did no shooting at Belton Road." he said. Other police arrived from New Castle as well as the PA State Police and loaded the living bandits and dead accomplice into a vehicle and took them to the Ellwood City hospital. Evarts had been shot with slugs from Hartman's tommy-gun in the left shoulder near his neck. Pasta's rifle bullet struck Evarts in the mouth, medical reports stated.
Feelo was shot in both lungs and spine paralyzing his legs. He was in critical condition and could not be questioned by police at Belton. When one of the officers held him up, he asked to be laid down again on his back. He died the next day at 7:41 a.m. in the Ellwood City Hospital.
Kenneth Palmer, sole survivor of the escapade, was shot in both legs and suffered a badly battered head from the wrench beating by Shaffer. He was placed under heavy guard at the hospital for fear some of his Rockview Penitentiary pals might attempt rescue. He had only been released in June from serving a 7 year term for robbing a bank in Volant, PA. The bodies of both dead bandits were taken to the W. D. Porter morgue on Fourth Street in Ellwood City.
Among the evidence found in the bandit's car was a map with various towns marked on it indicating the bandits planned to pull off other jobs. In the bottom of a golf bag, authorities found three revolvers and a set of Ohio license plates. Much ammunition was also found in the car. The revolvers were on the Rohrer list of weapons stolen on September 15th, and matched the serial numbers, make and caliber.
Later, Chief Hartman declared his car was not blocking the bridge, but was parked to one side and he was standing near the intersection with his Thompson sub-mahcine gun in his hands. He saw a black car approaching, he said, the license number corresponded with the one on the bandit car. However, the car was a sedan, not a coupe. "There were three people in it instead of two as I'd been informed, and one had glasses on which did not fit the description." Also, the car did not have white side wall tires as he'd been told. The chief hailed the car but could not open fire as he was not sure but that he had the wrong party. He put his gun on semi-automatic so if he had to shoot he would not spray any other cars or pedestrians who might happen into the path of his bullets. He only opened fire when the bandits pulled their guns on him, and then he switched to "fully automatic."
One of the revolvers fired by the bandit at the Fifth Street bridge encounter was found by Ernest Frank Clark of' Crescentdale, who saw the gun battle while standing on the corner of Warnpum and Todd Ave. He turned the gun over to police.
Showing the quickness with which the local police acted, it was learned that from the time the telephone call was received by Hartman in his office until the shooting at the Fifth Street bridge, just 7 minutes had elapsed.
Chief Hartman's cool courage and personal bravery, and Office Shaffer's and Jiminy Pasta's efficient and capable assistance are the pride of' all our citizens. They stand out as genuine heroes, proving again if society makes a serious effort to be free of crime, it takes fortitude and courage from us all.
Following the bandit capture, a testimonial dinner sponsored by the local Chamber of Commerce was held in the Calvin United Presbyterian Church basement honoring principals Hartman, Pasta and Shaffer. Attendees from Harrisville, Ellwood City, New Castle and surrounding communities filled the hall to overflowing.
Plaques and gold wrist watches were awarded to each of the principals by the community for their courage and valor in capturing the bandits. Mrs. Kate Pasta still has the plaque awarded to her husband. When I inquired about the watch, she said, "It was a beautiful, gold, Gruen wristwatch with a leather strap, but it never ran. It was lovely, but when Jim took it to the jewelers to be repaired, they said there was nothing wrong with it and couldn't explain why it wouldn't run." So much for courage and valor.
The Thompson sub-machine gun is in the Ellwood City Police gun room in fine condition and ready to fire. It has been well maintained and was completely reconditioned a few years ago, Two drums are fully loaded with .45 caliber ammunition along side the gun rack. A short sketch describing the events of that day is given to school children who visit the police department and want to see the gun.
Dick Walter, a teenager at the time of the holdup in Harrisville and now residing in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, was the only newspaper boy in the town. His view of the event differs from the norm. "While the bank robbery was a terrible event for the town, it was a great benefit to me." he said in his telephone interview with the writer. "The demand for newspapers more than doubled and I sold out every paper the publishers sent to me which was about twice the normal allotment and I turned the event into a handsome profit."
Souvenir hunters recovered some of the spent .45 caliber' slugs from the face of the Red Hot Hotdog stand at the end of the Fifth Street bridge. They were dug from the wooden siding and door frame of the store. One of the spent slugs is still preserved by the Ellwood City Historical Society and will be a part of the exhibit planned in the future History Center.
Ernie Hartman served on the Ellwood City Police force for almost 18 years, having been appointed Chief in May of 1940. He retired from his police job and took up selling insurance, then switched to selling and servicing Maytag appliances which he continued to do for 38 years, finally giving up his franchise and quitting for good in 198 1. His Maytag store was located at 207 Fifth Street. People forgot about his courage and fortitude and Ernie never boasted about his part in the capture. Ernie Hartman died at 4:05 p.m. on Sunday, January 29, 1980 in the Ellwood City Hospital after being ill for only 17 days at age 83. His wife, the former Verna M. Hasewell, still lives in Shadyrest Franklin Township.
Kenneth Palmer, sole survivor of the bandits, was convicted of bank robbery and sentenced to return to Rockview prison. He was released in 1945 after serving only 4 years and it weighed heavily on Pasta that he might come back someday for revenge, but of course he never did. Once around the Maypole with Jim Pasta was enough for Palmer.
Jim Pasta went on to become sales manager for a local furniture store and later became head of the Sons of Italy Lodge in Ellwood City in 1961. He died at 8:30 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 22,1994 in the Ellwood City Hospital following a five week illness. He was 75 years old. His wife, Catherine, lives in Ellwood City on Center Ave.
They were brave men, and their courageous response in a critical situation sets them apart from the average. Fate calls when least expected and how we react often determines the final outcome. These men responded with determination and dedication to duty as it was expected of them as members of the police force or a private citizen and set an example for all of us. I wonder if we would react the same, under similar circumstances, as Ernie Hartman, Ed Shaffer and Jim Pasta did on that fateful day in 1941.
This article was researched in the Ellwood
City Ledger, New Castle News, Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh Post
Gazette, Butler Eagle, Oil City Derrick and Ellwood City Police
records. Personal interviews with surviving witnesses include
Mrs. Sarah Sutherland Stewart, former teller, and Dick Walter,
Harrisville news-boy, Clair Glenn, college student and customer
during the robbery. Others interviewed: John McBride, son or WE.
McBride, assistant bank cashier, Mrs. Kate Pasta, widow off Jimmy
Pasta; Lemoyne French, local historian, Lester C. Vogt, store
owner at the scene of the shooing, .Jim Bennett, Harrisville resident
and former employee of Brerneman and Duane Shull son of bank teller
Howard Shull. Old photographs of the interior and exterior of
the bank at the time of the robbery were graciously loaned to
the writer by Jackie Isacco. manager of the Harrisville office
of Mellon Bank. Special thanks to Ellwood City Police Chief Joe
Santillo, for allowing us to photograph the machine gun. The author
wishes to express his sincere appreciation to those interviewed,
all of whom were helpful in giving their personal recollections
of the events.
by Robert Barensfeld
Ellwood City, PA June 6, 1995