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December 27: America’s Sherlock Holmes

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In the days when the Wild West was still wild, organized gangs roamed the frontier, holding up trains and stagecoaches, and targeting banks. One of the earliest documented bank robberies occurred in 1866, when Frank and Jesse James robbed the Clay County Savings Association in Liberty, Missouri, escaping with sixty thousand dollars. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid led the Wild Bunch into the early 1900s. While they primarily robbed trains, the Wild Bunch was also responsible for several bank robberies, including one in which they took over $32,000.

When a reporter asked why he kept robbing banks, “Slick Willie” Sutton responded, “Because that’s where the money is.” Trains and stagecoaches were moving targets, while banks were stationary and could be robbed at night with no witnesses. North Dakota had its share of bank robberies. In the early hours of 1913, robbers broke into the bank at Alice. They blew open the outer door of the safe but failed to breach the inner door. While the robbery was unsuccessful, the American Bankers Association took the attempt seriously and called in the Burns Detective Agency.

William J. Burns earned a reputation as a top detective. The New York Times called him “The greatest detective America has produced,” and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle referred to him as “America’s Sherlock Holmes.” President Theodore Roosevelt tasked him with investigating federal corruption, and Burns served as Director of the Bureau of Investigation, the forerunner of the FBI. Burns was involved in many high-profile cases, known for his knack for tracking down clues and his love of the limelight. He led the investigation into the Teapot Dome scandal during President Harding’s administration and also investigated the 1920 Wall Street bombing.

Burns’ Detective Agency worked on numerous cases in North Dakota. In 1911, the agency investigated the Scandinavian American Bank, and in 1912, his detectives looked into potential voter fraud in the state. North Dakotans were as interested in the American Sherlock Holmes as the rest of the country, and his name often appeared in the newspapers. Despite his fame, however, the Burns Detective Agency never solved the case of the attempted bank robbery in Alice.

Dakota Datebook by Dr. Carole Butcher

Sources:

Dakota Datebook is made in partnership with the State Historical Society of North Dakota, and funded by Humanities North Dakota, a nonprofit, independent state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in the program do not necessarily reflect those of Humanities North Dakota or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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