Pleasantdale
Robbery
Unsuccessful
Attempt
to
Rob
First
State
Bank
at
Pleasant
Dale
Tuesday,
October
20,
1903,
two
or
three
people
attempted
to
rob
the
First
State
Bank
at
Pleasant
Dale
at
4:00
a.m.
Pleasant
Dale
is
located
fourteen
miles
west
of
Lincoln.
The
robbers
used
a
skeleton
key
to
enter
the
bank
through
the
front
door.
They
then
picked
the
lock
on
the
vault
to
get
to
the
safe
in
which
the
money
was
kept.
Nitroglycerine
was
poured
in
a
hole
that
was
drilled
in
the
safe
door.
The
explosion
broke
the
windows
out
of
the
front
of
the
building
and
jarred
every
house
within
several
blocks
of
the
bank.
The
safe
was
destroyed
but
the
money
was
not
exposed.
Mr.
Ackerman,
an
officer
of
the
bank,
was
awakened
by
the
noise.
Mr.
Ackerman
and
several
of
the
neighbors,
armed
with
shotguns
and
revolvers,
rushed
to
the
bank.
As
the
men
ran
down
the
street
of
Pleasant
Dale,
they
saw
a
team
and
buggy
going
very
fast
for
the
outskirts
of
town
to
the
west.
The
men
started
chasing
the
team
and
buggy.
The
men
cut
across
a
vacant
lot
and
reached
the
road
just
as
the
team
rushed
by.
The
men
shouted
for
the
team
and
buggy
to
stop,
but
the
driver
shouted
to
the
horses
to
speed
up.
As
the
horses
ran
faster,
someone
gave
the
command
for
the
men
to
fire.
The
citizens
fired
about
a
dozen
shots.
The
men
didn't
know
if
any
of
their
shots
hit
the
people
in
the
buggy.
The
people
in
the
buggy
didn't
return
any
shots.
Some
of
the
men
continued
to
follow
the
trail
while
the
others
went
back
to
town
to
spread
the
alarm
and
investigate
the
work
of
the
robbers.
Because
it
was
too
dark
for
the
men
to
follow
the
trail
for
any
great
distance,
there
was
nothing
to
do
but
to
wait
until
daylight.
In
the
morning
Mr.
Ackerman
reported
that
the
robbers
didn't
get
any
money
because
the
town's
people
were
at
the
scene
shortly
after
the
explosion.
The
explosion
tore
a
big
hole
in
the
safe
and
had
scattered
some
paper
around
the
vault
floor.
The
explosion
hadn't
cracked
open
the
safe
but
had
badly
torn
and
twisted
it.
Apparently
the
thieves
were
afraid
to
stay
any
longer
to
attempt
to
get
the
safe
open.
Mr.
Ackerman
said
he
thought
he
could
open
the
safe,
but
the
insurance
company
said
he
was
to
wait
until
an
expert
came
to
count
the
contents
of
the
safe.
Later,
it
was
learned
that
the
people
in
the
buggy
were
not
bank
robbers
but
people
on
their
way
to
Lincoln
from
Milford.
They
were
driving
rapidly
through
Pleasant
Dale
when
the
posse
caught
sight
of
them.
An
order
to
halt
was
given.
The
people
in
the
buggy
thought
the
citizens
were
highwaymen,
and
they
whipped
their
horses.
The
people
in
the
buggy
must
have
thought
the
town
was
full
of
robbers,
and
when
the
command
to
halt
was
given,
they
chose
to
lash
at
their
team.
None
of
the
bullets
reached
the
people
in
the
buggy
because
of
the
darkness.
The
citizens
and
bank
officials
scouted
around
the
area
and
discovered
the
unsuccessful
robbers
had
their
headquarters
in
a
corn
crib
down
by
the
depot.
There
was
a
lawn
tennis
court
behind
the
bank,
and
the
footsteps
of
the
men
from
the
crib
to
the
bank
went
across
the
lawn
tennis
court.
The
story
that
the
robbers
had
been
surrounded
in
a
strip
of
woods
some
miles
away
proved
to
be
false.
The
woods
were
thoroughly
searched
and
there
were
no
robbers
in
that
area.
Source:
Lincoln
Evening
News,
Tuesday,
October
20,
1903,
pg.1,
columns
6
&
7
