The Holden–Keating Gang was a bank robbing team, led by Thomas James Holden (April 22, 1895 – December 18, 1953) and Francis Lawrence Keating (January 3, 1899 – July 25, 1978), which was active in the
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...
from 1926 to 1932. Holden was described by a spokesman for the FBI as "a menace to every man, woman, and child in America" and was the first fugitive to be officially listed on the
FBI's Top Ten Most Wanted List in 1950.
History
Early years
Thomas Holden and Francis Keating began robbing payroll deliveries, and then train and bank robberies, before becoming one of the most notorious holdup teams by the end of the 1920s. Their most successful heist was the 1926 hijacking of a
U.S. Mail
The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal servi ...
truck at
Evergreen Park, Illinois
Evergreen Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. In 2020, the population was 19,943. The village shares a border with Chicago on the north, east, and south sides; while also sharing a border with Oak Lawn on the west side.
H ...
; they escaped with $135,000. They eluded capture for two years before they were finally arrested by federal officers. In the end, Holden and Keating were both convicted on May 25, 1928, and each sentenced to 25 years in prison.
[Newton, Michael. ''The Encyclopedia of Robberies, Heists, and Capers''. New York: Facts On File Inc., 2002. (pg. 137-138) ]
Escape from Leavenworth and Midwest crime spree
Sent to
Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary, they spent two years there before escaping on February 28, 1930. They were helped by fellow inmate
George "Machine Gun" Kelly who supplied them with forged passes. Holden and Keating fled to Chicago, and from there to
St. Paul, where they quickly formed a new gang who were recruited from the city's thriving underworld. This gang included
Frank "Jelly" Nash,
Harvey Bailey, and George Kelly. All were career criminals. The gang committed a series of major daylight robberies during 1930 and 1931, during which several minor and one-time members were killed.
[
The gang's first robbery occurred on July 15, 1930, when they robbed a bank in ]Willmar, Minnesota
Willmar ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Kandiyohi County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 21,015 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census.
History
Agricultural expansion and the establishment of Willmar as a division ...
and stole $70,000. Harvey Bailey, George Kelly, and Vernon Miller participated in the robbery along with at least four other men. Three of these alleged gunmen, Mike Rusick, Frank "Weinie" Coleman, and Samuel "Jew Sammy" Stein, were later found shot to death at White Bear Lake. Reportedly, this occurred during a dispute with the unstable Vernon Miller.[
Lawrence De Vol joined the next robbery, which netted $40,000 from a bank in ]Lincoln, Nebraska
Lincoln is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska. The city covers and had a population of 291,082 as of the 2020 census. It is the state's List of cities in Nebraska, second-most populous city a ...
on September 9, 1930. Eddie Bentz joined with the gang in its next two robberies, first stealing $24,000 on September 19, 1930, and then, in their most successful heist, stealing $2.6 million in securities from a safe. The gang immediately went into hiding, but Holden and Keating resurfaced several months later and robbed $58,000 from a pair of bank messengers in Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth ( ) is a Port, port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of St. Louis County, Minnesota, St. Louis County. Located on Lake Superior in Minnesota's Arrowhead Region, the city is a hub for cargo shipping. The population ...
on October 2, 1931. That same month, they joined Charlie Harmon and Frank Weber and robbed a bank in Menomonie, Wisconsin
Menomonie () is a city in and the county seat of Dunn County, Wisconsin, United States. The city's population was 16,843 as of the 2020 census.
Menomonie forms the core of the United States Census Bureau's Menomonie Micropolitan Statistical A ...
, taking away $130,000. James Kraft, a cashier and son of the bank president, was taken as a hostage during the escape and later was found shot to death outside the town. The bodies of Harmon and Weber were also found by police, both similarly shot to death and believed at the time to have been killed by their partners for the murder of Kraft. One of the suspects of the Menomonie holdup, Bob Newbourne, later confessed to the robbery and was sentenced to life imprisonment.[
]
Time with the Karpis-Barker Gang
After the Menomonie heist, Holden and Keating joined the Alvin Karpis- Barker Gang. On June 17, 1932, they joined a gang made up of Karpis, Fred Barker, George Kelly, Harvey Bailey, Lawrence De Vol, and Verne Miller and robbed a bank in Fort Scott, Kansas
Fort Scott is a city in and the county seat of Bourbon County, Kansas, Bourbon County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 7,552. It is named for Gen. Winfield Scott. The cit ...
for $47,000. Not only did they escape, but Frank Sawyer, Jim Clark
James Clark (4 March 1936 – 7 April 1968) was a British racing driver from Scotland, who competed in Formula One from to . Clark won two Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles with Lotus, and—at the time of his death—held the ...
, and Ed Davis, who were arrested and convicted of the robbery, did as well.[
Less than a month later, Keating and Holden were arrested by federal agents while playing golf with Harvey Bailey in ]Kansas City
The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...
, on July 7. The fourth robber, Bernard Phillips, slipped away during the confusion, but was later killed in New York City. It was reported that he was murdered by Frank Nash and Verne Miller, who suspected that he was an FBI informant.[
]
Return to Leavenworth and final years
Holden and Keating were returned to Leavenworth, where they remained for nearly two decades. Holden was paroled on November 28, 1947. Two and a half years later, he killed his wife and two of her brothers during a drunken family argument in Chicago on June 6, 1949.[
In March 1950, Holden was announced as the first fugitive to be listed on the FBI Ten Most Wanted List. Fifteen months later, on June 23, 1951,] Holden was spotted in Beaverton, Oregon
Beaverton is a city in the Tualatin Valley, located in Washington County in the U.S. state of Oregon, with a small portion bordering Portland. The city is among the main cities that make up the Portland metropolitan area. Its population was ...
, by a local resident and acquaintance who had seen his picture in ''The Oregonian
''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the West Coast of the United States, U.S. West Coast, founded as a weekly by Tho ...
'', a local newspaper, on June 20.[ Holden had been living in the area for some time under the name John McCullough. He was arrested at his job site where he worked as a ]plasterer
A plasterer is a tradesman who works with plaster, such as forming a layer of plaster on an interior wall or plaster decorative moldings on ceilings or walls. The process of creating plasterwork, called plastering, has been used in buildin ...
. After being extradited to Chicago, he confessed the murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment. He died in prison two years later.[
Keating returned to St. Paul and lived in retirement until his death from heart failure on July 25, 1978.][
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holden-Keating Gang
American bank robbers
American gangsters of the interwar period
Fugitives wanted by the United States