Rains Co.TX1916 Bank Robbery and Murder Never Solved
Go to Part 2 --- The WitnessesClarence A. Glass was a son of a prominent family in Rains County and was active in many areas of his community. Yet, someone ruthlessly took his life one winter night in 1916 in what was apparently a robbery of the First State Bank at Point. The case remains unsolved eighty-four years later.
Clarence was repeatedly lauded by his fellow citizens. As a teenager, his name appeared in the 1904 "Roll of Honor" for Emory Public School of those pupils who had regular attendance, good deportment, and a close application to study. His wedding announcement in April 1909 described him as "a promising young man with exemplary habits." A few years later, in 1911, Clarence was entrusted with the responsibility of being an agent for the Katy Railroad in Emory. In 1912 he served ably as Rains County Clerk. He also served as an officer during the latter half of 1912 in the esteemed I.O.O.F. Lodge (Independent Order of Odd Fellows) in Emory. In early 1916 Mr. Glass made the fateful decision to change vocations...a decision that would cost him his life just eleven months later.
"In our last week's issue we noted that Mr. C.A. Glass had been offered the cashiership of the First State Bank at Point; we can state now that he has accepted the place, rolled up his sleeves and gone to work. Mr. Glass is a fine young businessman, a good citizen; and we regret to lose him and his estimable wife as citizens of our little city but join with friends in wishing them abundant success in their new field of labor and glad that we are not to lose them from the county." (The Rains County Leader, January 21, 1916)
Clarence moved with his wife to Point the last of January 1916. (The Rains County Leader, January 29, 1916) Yet at the same time, the people from his hometown of Emory still sought his involvement in their affairs as shown when he was chosen to serve as a Director of The First National Bank of Emory along with other leaders of the community.
"The First National Bank of Emory held its annual stockholders meeting here Wednesday night. Out-of-town stockholders in attendance were Messrs. F.J. Phillips, C.B. Jones and J.B. Clayton of Greenville and W.A. Fitzgerald of the Elm community. Directors elected were F.J. Phillips, C.B. Jones, W.A. Fitzgerald, C.B. Johnson, T.N. Tackett, E.L. Allen, C.A. Glass, S.K. McCallon and O.H. Rodes. (The Rains County Leader, January 29, 1916)
Apparently Clarence Glass had every intention of settling for many years in Point and serving the First State Bank because just six weeks after moving to Point it was noted in the local paper that "W.Y. Adams has bought the C.A. Glass residence on Planters street, the consideration being $1500. Mr. Adams is having another room and a gallery added and will occupy the property himself when completed." (The Rains County Leader, March 3, 1916)
"On the night of Thursday, December 7, at approximately 9:00 p.m. Clarence Glass, cashier of the First State Bank, was working at his desk, writing letters in his office at the bank when an unknown assailant noiselessly entered the unlocked doors. The intruder forced him to empty the cash drawers that contained about $240 and attempted to force Mr. Glass to open the safe within the vault. After three futile attempts to open the timed lock, the gunman ordered Mr. Glass to turn his back and throw up his hands. The gunman then pumped him with steel bullets from an automatic pistol. The first shot entered the body near the collar button (of his shirt) and felled the cashier; two succeeding shots entered his back near the left lung and in his left arm. Cashier Glass crawled some three hundred yards to the nearest home, that of Constable Will Thornton. Mr. Thornton assisted the fatally wounded Mr. Glass to his own home. Physicians were summoned. It was thought, at first, that the young man would, but the flow of blood could not be checked and just six hours later, Mr. Glass died early in the morning hours at 3:00 a.m. on Friday, December 8. Before he died, Clarence Glass made the statement,
"The party entered the door and was at my side before I knew anyone was near. The party was dressed in a gray colored suit, was some five and one half feet tall and rather heavy built. He was masked with a brown mask of some sort, stated he had come for the money in the bank, and ordered me to hand the same over to him. I told him the safe was time-locked and he requested what money there was in the drawers, which amounted to $240; this amount he ordered, at the point of a gun, wrapped and tied up for him and his orders were obeyed. The robber left the bank by the front door of the bank, and immediately the buzz of an auto was heard." The Lone Oak News issued an extra edition at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, December 8, headlining and detailing the tragic event." (reprinted in The Rains County Leader, March 29, 1979)
"State Bank Examiner Curry arrived at the scene of the crime early the next morning. His theory was that the robber was evidently an amateur, else he would not have pressed his request for Mr. Glass to open the safe door, being time-locked. The only clue to the combination bank robbery and murder at the time was a report as witnessed by several Point citizens, that on Thursday afternoon, a Negro man and a white man had driven into Point in a car. The Negro left the car, walked over to the front of the bank, viewed the situation, and returned to the auto to hold a consultation with his companion. He then returned to the bank, walking along the north side of the building. After a second consultation, both parties walked to the front of the bank where they talked and then returned to their car and left. This same automobile was seen passing east of Point about 10:00 p.m. Thursday night. A posse from Lone Oak and Point joined the Rains County law officials in a manhunt for a man wearing a gray suit and carrying a small satchel, who had reportedly been seen walking near the McLeroy farm east of Point early Friday morning." (reprinted in The Rains County Leader, March 29, 1979)
Even in death Clarence's name and character were valued highly, as shown by the public statement made by Virgil Williams of Point:
"I should feel derelict to a sacred obligation did I not add this last word to the valued memory of my martyred friend, Clarence Glass. Than whom no son of Rains County soil has more deservedly won the title: 'A good man'. Towering high in the estimation of the best citizenship of the country, he grew from childhood to manhood. Acquitting himself with integrity while employed at the First National Bank of Emory, he won the business confidence of the patrons, as well as the love and business fellowship of Cashier McCallon and son. His new field of labor and profitably practiced in shaping the policies of the First State Bank of Point for 1916. The short year spent in this latter position was probably the most active year of his useful life, having the care and responsibilities of an institution struggling to pull itself out of the business reverses of two hard crop years. We mourn him because he was faithful unto death.
Virgil Williams, Point, Texas, Dec. 31, 1916"
(The Rains County Leader, January 12, 1917)---To be continued next week: Detective's report
"Mr. R.P. Etter of Lone Oak, Clarence Glass' father-in-law, immediately hired special detectives from Dallas and Houston to work on the case. Expense was no object. A reward was offered by Mr. Etter as well as citizens of Point and Lone Oak." (reprinted in The Rains County Leader, March 29, 1979)
P.R. Schumacher, detective and manager of the Burns National Detective Agency of Dallas visited Point the morning of December 8, the day after the crime was committed and made a thorough investigation of said crime, and reported the following facts and circumstances in connection therewith:
He endeavored to get in touch with the officials of the bank at Point where the crime was committed; he did get in touch with Cashier Dunn and made arrangements to meet the president of the Bank later. He had Mr. Dunn open the vault; he made an examination of the vault, and with some measurements, found it to be five by four feet. Mr. Dunn told him that a number of people had visited the vault. Detective Schumacher then examined the shelving of the bank and found a deposit box with a bullet hole in it, which he laid back in order to have witnesses to the opening of the box. In the presence of Mr. Bowers and Mr. Dunn, Detective Schumacher opened the box and found a bullet in perfect condition, that appeared to be an ordinary 38 caliber bullet. The bullet had gone through the box and some papers that appeared to be deeds to land or something of that kind; however, the bullet was in perfect condition, and in going through the man killed, it possibly turned and hit the box in that way. Detective Schumacher's opinion was that the bullet was fired from an ordinary 38 caliber Smith & Wesson cartridge that was used in a cheap gun, the old black barrel system, or the old time revolving system. He, together with said Dunn and Bowers, put the bullet back in the box.
Detective Schumacher and Mr. Boyd had the bullet weighed and then secured different calibers. Mr. Boyd had the balls removed from the different guns and those bullets were weighed. The one that came out of the box weighed exactly 146 grains. Prior to going over to the bank, Detective Schumacher and Mr. Boyd, together with Mr. Will Thornton, Mr. Rucker, Claud Branch and Joe Humphreys, were in the hotel and carefully examined a gun that had been taken from another party suspected of this crime; that gun was a five shot, black barrel or cylinder Ivery Johnson revolver. On examining it, Detective Schumacher found that four cylinders had been discharged recently; and that the gun had been discharged prior to that but never re-cleaned. Three of these chambers appeared that the shells had been recently exploded, and the fourth showed that it had been exploded sometime prior to the three. From Detective Schumacher's knowledge of firearms, it appeared that the three fresh shells had been fired recently. Detective Schumacher also found one chamber of the gun that had not been exploded at all, not since it had been cleaned. Detective Schumacher then secured cartridges with bullets in them from the home of another party suspected of this crime, being the same party to whom the gun here referred to belonged. He weighed the bullets from the cartridges so secured; the one which he found in the box in the bank and these cartridges weighed identically the same. From his knowledge of guns, Detective Schumacher concluded that a 38-caliber ordinary Smith & Wesson cartridge would fit and shoot in an Ivory Johnson pistol of the kind and character that belonged to and was found in the possession of the other party suspected of this crime; but a 38-caliber ordinary Smith & Wesson cartridge would not fit and shoot in a 38-caliber Colts revolver, which was the kind of revolver found in the possession of the defendant at the time he was arrested in Alexandria, La. and taken from this defendant by one, W.A. Boyd.
Detective Schumacher then made an investigation of some tracks leading from the bank at Point where the crime was committed, through some fields leading toward the home of the other party suspected of committing this crime. He, together with Mr. Will Thornton, walked from the rear of the bank at Point to a road which runs parallel with the bank building at about 60 yards from the bank and entered a corn field. About 300 yards from the bank, the footprints commenced in the light sandy loam of the cotton field and were plainly visible. Detective Schumacher then secured the shoes worn by the other party suspected of this crime on the day of the murder; the shoes which were cheap rubber sole tennis shoes or slippers, fitted the tracks found in the cotton field exactly. The tracks, where they first started, showed to be a pretty good distance apart and showed all the appearance of the steps of a man running; after these tracks had continued some distance, they showed that the man had stopped and turned around and looked back, and from then on the tracks had the appearance of a man walking.
Detective Schumacher then interviewed the other party suspected of this crime and questioned him very closely as to where he had been and his whereabouts on the day of the crime. This party had told the Detective that he came to town early that day and had remained in Point all that day and that he attended the Holy-Roller meeting that evening in Point and remained until the services were over and then went home, going a different route than the one where the tracks were found that his shoes fitted. This party told Detective Schumacher he had visited Point nearly every day that week before the crime was committed. In the course of the investigation, the other party suspected stated to Detective Schumacher that he had the Ivory Johnson 38-caliber pistol in his possession, that he bought it from some young fellow there in Point, or had borrowed it and was going to buy it, if it suited him, but that he had not intended to buy it. The other party suspected of this crime first denied that he had the pistol in question, but later stated that he had it at home hanging behind a picture and that he had taken it out and shot it a few times. After interviewing the other party suspected of this crime, Detective Schumacher visited the house or home where such party was then living, which was within a few miles of Point and there talked with the man and wife of the home where the other party suspected of this crime resided. Detective Schumacher was informed by them that the other party suspected of this crime had returned home from Point on the night of the crime at some time between 10:00 and 11:00 pm. that night. When the other party suspected of the crime came home that night, he had inquired of the man and wife at said place if they were asleep, and to which they replied, "No"; after ascertaining that they were still awake, he remarked to them that he had remained in Point later than usual on that night on account of attending the Holy-Roller church or meeting. The wife of the party at whose residence the other party also suspected of the crime was living then told Detective Schumacher that she noticed on the morning after the crime was committed a bad scratch on the left ear of the other party suspected, and that she had asked him how this scratch occurred. He had replied that he had scratched his ear on a barbed wire fence that he was getting through on his way home from the Holy-Roller meeting.
The wife of this man first told Detective Schumacher that she supposed the other party suspected of this crime had left the Ivory Johnson pistol in question at home on the morning of the day the crime was committed and did not take it to Point with him on that day. However, after the Detective had left the house and gone several hundred yards therefrom, the man of the house came and called him back to the house again. Then the wife of this man said that the other party suspected of this crime did in fact take the pistol here in question away with him that morning when he left the house for Point. In leaving the house that morning, he had remarked he was going to leave Point. When she asked him if he really meant what he said, he replied, "Sure I do." while at the same time waving this pistol over his head out on the gallery in her presence, and remarking, "See my gun?" She then saw him replace the pistol in his inside coat pocket and walk away in the direction of Point.
After having the conversation with this man and wife at whose house the other party suspected of this crime was then living, Detective Schumacher immediately went and interviewed the other party suspected of this crime and inquired of him about this pistol. The other party at first denied leaving the house at all with the pistol; but that after having been questioned by the Detective for some three-quarters of an hour, he admitted that he did have the pistol in his possession when he left the house on Thursday morning, the day of the murder, but stated that he had hidden the pistol under a tree at the edge of the farm where he was living, and that he then came on to Point, without it He stated that he had returned home directly after the Holy-Roller meeting but could never explain just when he had taken the pistol from under the tree and re-placed it at home.
This same other party suspected of this crime was arrested in Dallas, Texa, or apprehended by officers on or about the 2nd day of July 1917 in connection with this crime, and in the presence of Detective Schumacher there was found upon his person a purse containing a large number of nickels. On this occasion in Dallas, Detective Schumacher asked the other party suspected of this crime what he had done with a certain grip that he had left Point with; the other party suspected replied, "I gave it to a friend in Greenville." The other party suspected could not or would not give the name of the "friend in Greenville" that he had given the grip to.
(Rains County District Court trial file)To be continued next week : The arrest
The Arrests
A notice addressed to any Sheriff of any state was issued on December 12, 1916, less than a month from the date of the crime and murder, and commanded the arrest of J.W. Bergen. The man named Bergen was captured in Alexandria, Louisiana, and brought to Rains County on Christmas Day to stand trial; he w"The deliberations of the Grand Jury are always secret, and on what evidence they returned this indictment we do not know, but we are informed at the Sheriff's office that Bergen has made no effort yet to get ut on bond, which could only be accomplished by an examining trial, and it is generally supposed that he will be kept in jail until the next term of District Court, which will be in May. He was charged with the murder of Clarence Glass on December 7, 1916; the charge read "Grand Jurors present that J.W. Bergen on the 7th of December in 1916 with force and arms did unlawfully and with malice aforethought kill and murder C.A. Glass by then and there shooting said C.A. Glass with a pistol; said murder being committed by said J.W. Bergen while he, the said J.W. Bergen, was then and there engaged in the perpetration of the offense of robbery by the use of firearms." Judge Pierson ordered J.W. Bergen transferred to Hunt County jail for safe keeping and Sheriff Whittle carried him to Greenville on January 4, 1917. (The Rains County Leader, January 5, 1917)
The following week "L.L. Browning and C.D. Doleman, druggists, and P. Engle, a clothing dealer, all of Mineola, were in Emory to go before the Grand Jury in connection with the Glass murder case. They were supposed to try to identify the man, Burgen, who was brought here from Louisiana." (The Rains County Leader, January 5, 1917)
Later in January 1917, "officers carried J.W. Bergen to Dallas last week to have him 'mugged'. Bergen is being held at Greenville for the murder of C.A. Glass at Point, and the word 'mugged' means taking his picture. There are no new developments in this case, so far as we can find out." (The Rains County Leader, February 2, 1917) Mr. Bergen was indicted by the Rains County Grand Jury soon after his arrest.
However, Mr. Bergen claimed to be innocent of the crime for which he was charged. "It has become known that the man Bergen, who was placed in jail here following his indictment by a Rains County Grand Jury charging him with the killing of Cashier Glass and the robbing of the State Bank of Point, is seeking to establish an alibi. It is understood that he claims that he ate breakfast with a crew of the Interstate Commerce Commission at Peelers, near the line of Texas and Louisiana on the morning of the murder, and it is claimed if this be true he could not have been in Point that night. It is also understood that the crew differs as to the date some man ate with them, but that Bergen is the man cannot be said at present. Bergen is reticent about himself and his life. He says nothing to persons in and about the jail and nothing is known of what he expects to set up in his own behalf when his trial comes on.----Greenville Banner" (The Rains County Leader, February 9, 1917)
In May 1917, a special term was called for the District Court and Grand Jury to deliberate the facts. T.N. Tackett, owner of the firm Tackett & Allen in Emory, serving as foreman of the Grand Jury, reported, "We have been investigating every clue we could find relating to the robbery of the Point bank and the assassination of Mr. Glass, the cashier of the bank, but we have been unable up to the present time to complete our investigations along that line and we believe a special term of the District Court should be called for completing the investigation we have begun." (The Rains County Leader, May 25, 1917) The verdict of the Grand Jury was rendered one week later and printed in the June 1, 1917 issue of The Rains County Leader, noting that suspicion had arisen as to the possibility of the crime having been committed by a "local" person; their report stated, "We, your Grand Jury for the Special Term in Rains County, Texas, submit to you the following report stated: We have been sitting six days and have worked out every proposition that had any bearing on the murder of Clarence Glass at Point, Texas, which has resulted under the developments of clarifying suspicion as regards the perpetration of it by a local person. While we have no positive evidence to convict any person; yet we have developed some circumstances, which may be worked out in a more satisfactory way in the future. In presenting to you this report of our efforts, while we return no bill of our own, yet we do not find it expedient to undo or interfere with the finding of the previous Grand Jury. In sifting out every possible chance of information touching this matter, we regret the necessity of incurring a heavier expense than we would have liked, but, believing the enormity of the crime justified every method we have employed, we have no fears of criticism. We have taken all testimony in writing, making it slow and tedious, yet we now have a permanent record of it all, which should be of value in further procedure and save time and expense. During this special session, we have examined 54 witnesses and the above is the result of our investigations. We now make this our final report and beg that we may be discharged. With high esteem and respect for your honor, we are yours sincerely, T.N. Tackett, Foreman" "J.W. Burgen, the man arrested in Louisiana on charge of killing Clarence Glass at Point and robbing the bank there was allowed bail in the sum of $5,000 by Judge Pierson. The case was transferred from Emory to Greenville by Judge Pierson. ---Greenville Messenger" (The Rains County Leader, June 15, 1917)
One week later the LEADER reported that "Yesterday Sheriff Akers found a bar partly sawed in two in the cell in which he keeps the prisoners at jail. It appears that Deputy King got an inkling that something was not going right in the regular routine, perhaps some noise which sounded like an attempt to get away. This led the Sheriff to investigate closely and he found the bar partly sawed away. There were two prisoners concerned in this attempt to get out, Charley Southwick, charged with pandering, and J.W. Bergen charged with the murder of Clarence Glass at Point last December. The sawing was done with tobacco cans which were mashed together and notched and a case knife which had been taken in with a dinner a few days ago. The work of getting out was slow but for vigilance it could have been accomplished after a time." (The Rains County Leader, June 22, 1917)
One month later in July 1916, another suspect was arrested in the murder case of Clarence Glass. "Will Thornton of Point brought Charley Carter, whose arrest was reported at Dallas last week, to Emory Tuesday evening to have him put in jail but Sheriff WHittle refused to receive him. We were informed by Deputy Bevers that it was because his arrest was not considered legal. Thornton carried Carter back to Point the same eveing where he was held until Wednesday morning. SHeriff WHittle, Judge Rabb and Attorney Shipp went to Point Wednesday where an examining trial was to be conducted, but for some reason it was postponed for a week, and the officers went to Dallas, carrying Carter with them, to make a search for the latter's grip." (The Rains County Leader, July 13, 1917)
Constable Rucker brought Charley Carter down last Friday evening, arrested on new evidence developed in the Glass murder case and had him placed in jail to await his examining trial before ‘Squire Rushing, set for Thursday of this week. Ex-District Attorney Clyde Sweeton and Ex-Judge R.L. Porter were the prosecuting attorneys in the case and Judge Shipp of Emory represented the defense. Through a message from Point on Thursday evening at 2:30 o'clock the LEADER was informed that the trial was just beginning, and it was not thought that it would be finished before some time Friday. (The Rains County Leader, July 20, 1917)
"Charlie Carter, whose examining trial was conducted at Point last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, resulted in the defendant being granted bail in the sum of $5,000. He is charged with the murder of C.A. Glass, cashier of the Point State Bank last December. The bond was filed yesterday morning with Rufe Carter, R.M. Pollard, J.M. White and L.J. King as sureties." (The Rains County Leader, July 27, 1917) No further record of proceedings concerning Charlie Carter have been located. Mr. Bergen was tried in May 1918.(Source: The Rains County Leader and Rains County District Court trial file)
cont'd - next week: The Witnesses