CRIME SPREE IN NORTHWEST IOWA ROBBERY AT WESTFIELD, MURDER AT LE MARS, CAPTURE IN MAURICE

Westfield, Le Mars and Maurice captured headlines across the region and the country in October and November 1919. The area gave America a preview of the later crime sprees by the likes of Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, and Bonnie and Clyde.

The story begins in Sioux City on Oct. 21, 1919, when 19-year-old Culver Kennedy leaves home to supposedly conduct some business for his father in Hawarden. An employee of his father’s, Lee Barrington, asks to ride along; and they are joined by Barrington’s friends, Barry W. Smith, W. Cullon and James O’Keefe. The three friends are dropped off in Akron while Kennedy and Barrington spend the night in Hawarden. The next morning (Oct. 22), they return and pick up the three others near Akron. That’s when the excitement begins.

Omaha World Herald: WESTFIELD, IA, BANK

ROBBED BY 5 BANDITS. “Five automobile bandits robbed the bank at Westfield, Plymouth County, Iowa, and, after locking the cashier and assistant in the vault, drove toward Sioux City in a highpowered car.”

Kansas City Star: CATCH IOWA BANK ROBBERS.

“Men Who Fled With $4,500 Intercepted at Sioux City.” While the robbers had made a clean getaway, they failed to cut the phone lines going out of town. The mayor of Westfield called the Sioux City Police who were waiting for the outlaws on the outskirts of the city. “The capture was made without firing a shot.”

Winside Tribune, Winside, Nebraska: HOLD BANDITS

ON BONDS OF $7,000. “The five men charged with robbing the Westfield Bank were brought (to Le Mars) in automobiles from Sioux City, Thursday afternoon and lodged in the county jail.” Claiming he was forced to be the driver, Culver Kennedy was released on bond. “Local authorities believe Lee Barrington is the brains of the gang. He is well dressed and well educated and makes a pleasing appearance.” Also transferred to the jail in Le Mars was William Convey who was under arrest for the attempted murder of Plymouth County Sheriff

For many years, the town of Westfield was reported in news accounts across the nation in connection with a crime spree that began there. These are the headlines from the Omaha World Herald on October 23, 1919.

Hugh Maxwell in a ‘booze runner’ gun battle earlier in the summer.” (Elsewhere, it was reported the sheriff’s daughter, Fern, had shot Convey in the June episode.)

Denver Post: SHERIFF AND SON SHOT AND WIFE

BEATEN BY ESCAPING PRISONERS. “William Maxwell, son of Sheriff Maxwell was probably fatally wounded … when he was shot by escaping prisoners in the Plymouth County jail. His father, Hugh Maxwell also was shot; his mother was stunned by a blow over the head and his two sisters were locked in the jail. The men who escaped were Lee Barrington, Harry Smith, W. Cullon and James O'Keefe, captured by Sioux City police after robbing the Westfield bank …”

Seattle Times: JAILBREAK . The escape was staged “while Sheriff Maxwell was carrying in supper to the men. Smith leaped behind the sheriff and shot him in the back. Will Maxwell, son of the sheriff, rushed to the aid of his father and was shot twice, in the eye and back. His condition is critical, Sheriff Maxwell will recover. After shooting down the men, the bandits stunned Mrs. Maxwell with a blow from a chair leg and locked the sheriff's two daughters, Clara and Fern, in a cell. They … escaped from town in a stolen automobile.”

Pueblo Chieftain, Pueblo, Colorado: PRISONERS SHOOT SHERIFF AND ESCAPE FROM COUNTY JAIL “Citizens of Le Mars, Iowa, today raised $2,500 reward for the capture ‘dead or alive’ of the five prisoners who escaped from the Le Mars county jail last night (Nov. 15, 1919) after one of their number shot and wounded Sheriff Hugh Maxwell and his son, William. Posses were searching northwestern Iowa today in the hope of complying with the terms of the reward, but no trace of the men had been found up until noon.”

Omaha World Herald: RUSH BANDITS TO JAIL IN FEAR OF

LYNCHING. The criminals were re-apprehended on Nov. 17. “Two of the prisoners, Barrington and Convey, were captured in a box car in the railroad yards at Maurice, Iowa, twelve miles north of LeMars, by Peter Vandriel, a farmer. Vandriel was out with a party searching for the men when he saw them in the railroad yards … They surrendered without resistance, though both were armed. These two prisoners, believed to be the most desperate of the five, were brought direct to

Sioux City, as the officers feared lynching if they were taken to Le Mars … The other three – O'Keefe, Smith and Cullon – were sighted by a posse out hunting for them near Sioux Center.” (The Maurice Times reported the local posse initially included VanDriel, Andrew Hop, Ira Hop, F.W. Holt, M. VanGorkom, Paul VanOort, E.C. Cole, Dick Smith, and Phillip Deutchler. Joining the posse from Le Mars to help capture the second group were Mayor George Eilers, Mark Ryan, E.T. Crowley, E.H. Pierson, R.L. Lobdell, A. Jackson and H. Renner.)

Omaha World Herald: DRIVER OF BANDIT CAR INDICTED AT LE MARS. “The Plymouth County grand jury at Le Mars, Ia., has made public three indictments against Culver Kennedy … who was captured driving the bandit car following the daylight robbery of the bank at Westfield, Ia. Young Kennedy was indicted for entering a bank with intent to rob with larceny and with conspiracy with intent to commit a felony.” (Kennedy later pled guilty and was sentenced to five years in the state reformatory at Anamosa.)

Fast forward to 1921 … Miami District Daily News, Miami, Oklahoma: FUGITIVE SLAYER IS UNDER ARREST

“Harry Smith, one of a gang of five bank robbers who were sentenced to life terms for the murder of William Maxwell, son of Sheriff Hugh Maxwell, at Le Mars, and who later effected his escape from Fort Madison, has been re-arrested and is being held in the Ward County jail at Minot, North Dakota, for the murder of a deputy sheriff in Kenmare, N.D.” Smith is returned to the Iowa penitentiary.

Fast forward to 1925 … Des Moines Register: LE MARS MURDERERS ESCAPE PRISON. On Christmas Day of 1925, “James O’Keefe, Harry Smith and W. Cullon, members of the notorious Le Mars gang, serving life terms for first degree murder … escaped from Fort Madison penitentiary … A rope secured by Smith, who had been working in the prison kitchen, afforded the means for scaling the 22-foot wall.” They are all re-captured and returned to the Iowa penitentiary.

Fast forward to 1938 … Omaha World Herald: BARRINGTON GETS PAROLE. “Lee Barrington, sentenced to life imprisonment for a Plymouth County murder, was granted a parole today by the Iowa parole board. Barrington will be released in February … The five participants were tried, convicted and sentenced. Two are now in Fort Madison with Barrington. One is in the criminal insane ward at Anamosa reformatory and the fifth was killed after escaping in 1920.”

Sources

• Most of this information was gathered by volunteer historian Mary Kay Krogman and published at www.genealogytrails.com.

• Additional material from www.newspapers.com.