Evening star., 1945-12-09
Wahngons Daring Good Friday Robbery Was Perfect CrmeAmos
By George Kennedy

ny 1COI
Good Friday, March 30, 1945, will
never be forgotten by Arthur L. Phillips
and T. Gray Woods, tellers in the Ma
tional Bank of Washington. Both men
are approaching SO with many years Of
service in the bank behind them. On
the morning of that day they were set
upon by thugs while bringing $24,600
across Market space from the bank to
the S. Kann Sons store.
Mr.. Phillips, who was carrying the
money in satchel, was hit over the
head with lead pipe and temporarily
blinded by the flow of blood from a
scalp wound. He could not remember
much beyond stepping off the curb. Mr..
Goode heard the running footsteps be-
hind him. He turned in time to see his
companion slugged and to look into the
muzzle of gun held by second man.
The two robbers grabbed the money
satchel and ran to an automobile parked
right around the corner of the bank on
Indiana avenue. Witnesses said a third
man was at the wheel, cunning the
motor. AS the car started, the man who
slugged Mr.. Phillips jumped in with the
money satchel. The man who held up
Mr.. Goode was almost left behind. He
shouted, wait for mel" The car slowed
down. He jumped in also. Then the
car roared east, turned to the right on
Sixth street, block away, and disap-
peared.
A young Coast Guardsman named
Tielke ran after the robbers and noted
the Maryland license of the getaway
car. A lookout flashed by radio to po-
lice squad cars and motorcycles in the
city and by teletype to police of neigh
boring States failed to stop the escape
car. 1t was found Easter Monday, four
days later, when policeman chased a
dog into Seaton court near North Capt.
tol street, only eight blocks from the
bank. Twenty-one policemen of the
first precinct were charged with neglect
Of duty for not finding the car. They
were exonerated later at police trial
Car Stolen Day Before
The automobile had been stolen the
day before the crime from parking
ramp at Ninth and H streets NV. Theft
of the automobile had been reported
that day. But the criminals had driven
1t Immediately to repair lot in the
second block of H street NE. beyond the
underpass. There they ripped a tag
from car wrecked in collision. They
changed the tag of the stolen car. The
theft of this tag-a Maryland license
tag-was not noticed until after the
crime.
The two te1lers were unable to identify
rogues gallery pictures shown them.
This led Capt. Clyde Strange, then
acting chief of detectives, to make a
clairvoyaft statement. The job he said,
was pulled by three out-of-town men,
but Washington man had put the
finger" on it. Police then began the
tedious work of running down worthless
steers supplied by the G-2 of the Metro
politan police and the FBI-the network
of informers that makes the known
criminals life horrible one of constant
distrust and fear of betrayal.
One circumstance offered hope that
the brutal robbery would not be added
to the list of unsolved crimes: The ship
ment of money to Kann's had contained
600 new 81 bills-right from the Treas
ury with the serial numbers in sequence
The FBI transmitted the serial numbers
to city police departments.
BY the middle Of the next week, there
occurred break too good to be hoped
for. Police of Newark, N. j., notified
the FBI that they had package of
money containing 200 of the 81 bills
They further supplied the name of a
gangster who had carelessly abandoned
it in avoiding arrest. This is what
happened:
On Easter Sunday morning, April /,
two detectives from the Essex County
sheriff's Office in NeWark-Michael T.
Carr and Arthur Huebner-turned their
automobile into Mott street near the
railroad tracks about o'clock. They
we're checking 68 Mott street where the
mother of a gangster named Charles J.
Bronco" Skiskowski lived. For year
they had been watching the place wait
ing for Skiskowski to return. They had
a bench warrant charging him with an
assault on a 15-year-old girl. 1t hap
pened that during much of the year
Skiskowski was living around the corner
only block and half away. The
detectives did not know that. They did
know that he ducked in and out of his
mothers heuse at times.
Just as they turned into the block on
Easter morning, they saw Skiskowsh
coming out of his house. There was an
automobile in front of the door. Skis