- Hardcover: 231 pages
- Publisher: University of North Texas Press; New edition edition (July 1999)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1574410717
- ISBN-13: 978-1574410716
- Product Dimensions: 23.7 x 16 x 2.2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 653 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
"A chronicle at once grim and hilarious...a choice bit for collectors of Americana." -- Book-of-the-Month Club
From the Publisher
Master storyteller A.C. Greene re-creates one of America's most bizarre holdups-one that began as a lark. On Christmas Eve 1927, four men set off to rob the First National Bank of Cisco, Texas. Soon the lark turned into a tragedy-and at times a comedy-of errors. The robbers did not realize the car they had stolen for their getaway was running on empty. the leader did not anticipate the attention his disguise would draw, even though it was a bright red Santa Claus suit. And they could not have known that all of Cisco would have guns at hand because the Bankers Association had offered a reward of $5000 for any dead bank robber, no questions asked. The Santa Claus bank robbery set off a chain of events that would lead to violence and the death of six men and launch the largest manhunt Texas had ever seen. A.C.Greene's factual account of the unusual crime reads like a novel-fast paced, full of unexpected turns,and rich with the flavor of life in Texas at the beginning of the end of the Old West. This new edition contains an Afterword with photographs, some of them never before published, and follow-up information on the lives of the participants, including the surviving robber, witnesses and kidnap victims.
"What truly distinguishes the book is Mr. Greene's feeling for that distant, almost 19th-century time...of that vanishing, hellfire, Church of Christ, still faintly frontier place." - The New Yorker
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
A fascinating look at rural Texas at the dawn of Depression.,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Santa Claus Bank Robbery (Hardcover)
Late on the chilly Texas evening of December 22, 1927, four men drove calmly away from Wichita Falls in a stolen Buick bound for Cisco, 200 miles to the southeast. They were going to rob a bank. "The Santa Claus Bank Robbery," by noted Texas author/historian and newspaper columnist A.C. Greene, was first published in 1972 by Alfred A. Knopf. A new University of North Texas Press edition has just been released. Tracing the lives and ultimate fates of the doomed quartet, "The Santa Claus Bank Robbery" is a fascinating new look at this classic example of a botched holdup, deadly gun battle, bungled getaway, and the unprecedented manhunt that followed. At 24, Marshall Ratliff was already a veteran crook who should have known better than to hit a bank in a town where he was well known on sight. He should also have guessed that wearing a Santa Claus suit on December 23 would not make him invisible to the droves of busy Christmas shoppers crowding Cisco's bustling main street.Robert Hill and Henry Helms also should have known better, being ex-convicts themselves. When they planned the bank job in a Wichita Falls boarding house, they were fully aware that the Texas State Bankers Association had recently announced a five thousand-dollar bounty for every dead bank robber caught in the act, but "not one red cent for a hundred live ones." But Helms had a wife and children and needed the money, while Hill hungered for the acceptance, adventure and noteriety. Louis Davis, though, was desperate for cash and had no idea what he was getting into when he saw a tempting opportunity to provide a decent Christmas for his huge Wichita Falls family. His first brush with crime became his last when he died from his multiple bullet wounds on Christmas Day. As written, "The Santa Claus Bank Robbery" is also a fascinating glimpse of common life in North Texas at the dawn of the Great Depression. Utilizing a highly detailed novelization technique to recount documented history, Greene makes the era come alive like few authors are able to do, especially in his portrayal of the tough breed of people populating the vast, lonely Texas plains. When Eastland County citizens finally lost patience with Marshall Ratliff and lynched him, after Ratliff shot and mortally wounded a popular Deputy in a failed jail break, their grisly mob actions actually make a certain sense in the face of the otherwise likeable criminal's ruthlessness. That's tough! With a generous selection of photographs, newspaper clippings, and updates on the main characters involved in the infamous crime, including a touching account of Bob Hill's last days before his death in 1996, "The Santa Claus Bank Robbery" is a must-read for anyone interested in those wild Bonnie and Clyde/Pretty Boy Floyd days.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.0 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews) 13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A fascinating look at rural Texas at the dawn of Depression.,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Santa Claus Bank Robbery (Hardcover)
Late on the chilly Texas evening of December 22, 1927, four men drove calmly away from Wichita Falls in a stolen Buick bound for Cisco, 200 miles to the southeast. They were going to rob a bank. "The Santa Claus Bank Robbery," by noted Texas author/historian and newspaper columnist A.C. Greene, was first published in 1972 by Alfred A. Knopf. A new University of North Texas Press edition has just been released. Tracing the lives and ultimate fates of the doomed quartet, "The Santa Claus Bank Robbery" is a fascinating new look at this classic example of a botched holdup, deadly gun battle, bungled getaway, and the unprecedented manhunt that followed. At 24, Marshall Ratliff was already a veteran crook who should have known better than to hit a bank in a town where he was well known on sight. He should also have guessed that wearing a Santa Claus suit on December 23 would not make him invisible to the droves of busy Christmas shoppers crowding Cisco's bustling main street.Robert Hill and Henry Helms also should have known better, being ex-convicts themselves. When they planned the bank job in a Wichita Falls boarding house, they were fully aware that the Texas State Bankers Association had recently announced a five thousand-dollar bounty for every dead bank robber caught in the act, but "not one red cent for a hundred live ones." But Helms had a wife and children and needed the money, while Hill hungered for the acceptance, adventure and noteriety. Louis Davis, though, was desperate for cash and had no idea what he was getting into when he saw a tempting opportunity to provide a decent Christmas for his huge Wichita Falls family. His first brush with crime became his last when he died from his multiple bullet wounds on Christmas Day. As written, "The Santa Claus Bank Robbery" is also a fascinating glimpse of common life in North Texas at the dawn of the Great Depression. Utilizing a highly detailed novelization technique to recount documented history, Greene makes the era come alive like few authors are able to do, especially in his portrayal of the tough breed of people populating the vast, lonely Texas plains. When Eastland County citizens finally lost patience with Marshall Ratliff and lynched him, after Ratliff shot and mortally wounded a popular Deputy in a failed jail break, their grisly mob actions actually make a certain sense in the face of the otherwise likeable criminal's ruthlessness. That's tough! With a generous selection of photographs, newspaper clippings, and updates on the main characters involved in the infamous crime, including a touching account of Bob Hill's last days before his death in 1996, "The Santa Claus Bank Robbery" is a must-read for anyone interested in those wild Bonnie and Clyde/Pretty Boy Floyd days. 6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Humdinger,
By R. D. Morgan - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Santa Claus Bank Robbery (Paperback)
Excellent story-telling. Superb true-life tale of a band of rural 1920s bank robbers vs peace-officers, bankers, and well-armed vigilantes.Fast-paced narritive.Good read.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Home Town Girl,
By tapem - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Santa Claus Bank Robbery (Hardcover)
My childhood WAS Cisco, Texas and I had heard this story all of my life, as well as, seeing all the displays at the bank. I visited there shortly after the book was first published, fully expecting every store in town to have copies for sale. What a shock - not one store had the book for sale and I was told not one store planned to sell it, that I might find it in Abilene. My older brother purchased a copy in the Dallas area for our mother and me. My Mother read part of it and quit. I read it - laughing all the way - not only for the bungled robbery and aftermath - but, realizing the language had made it a 'no-no' for my Mother and my hometown. Oh yes - it is a great read.
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