3/23/2013:
The dangers of an active imagination came to light on this date in 1921.
Reports came from Minnewaukan that a bank in the small community of Tokio, ND, in Benson County, was held up by eighteen-year-old Loraine Nolan.
Another lad tipped off the police after Nolan bragged about the robbery. Nolan was arrested and soon confessed. He had taken an old revolver, walked into the bank, and shouted at the cashier, “Throw up your hands!” He took $250, leaving the cashier and his wife locked in the vault.
He reportedly got the idea from reading novels and attending “wild west” movies. So that’s what can happen when your youth start reading dime novels in the corn crib.
Dakota Datebook written by Sarah Walker
Sources:
http://www.webfamilytree.com/North_Dakota_Place_Names/T/tokio_%28benson_county%29.htm
Bismarck Tribune, March 23, 1921