Dillinger’s Bluffton Bank Robbery Topic Of Museum Lecture

(From the Hancock Historical Museum)

Pack a lunch and head to the Hancock Historical Museum for its monthly Brown Bag Lecture Series at 12 p.m. Thursday, April 4th discussing “Four Guys Walk into a Bluffton Bank…”, the story of Public Enemy Number 1, John Dillinger’s raid on a bank in Bluffton, presented by Fred Steiner, author, and retired journalist.

Fred says Dillinger and his gang robbed Citizens National Bank of Bluffton of $2,100 on August 14th, 1933, and that the five-minute episode became the story of the century for Bluffton residents. Fred will talk about the robbery, share eyewitness accounts and other stories that have evolved into oral history form and some that have stretched the truth.

Fred Steiner is a life-long Bluffton resident and Bowling Green State University journalism graduate. He is author of five Bluffton history books. For over 25 years he edited the Bluffton News, and later created the Bluffton Icon and Ada Icon, both community journalism websites. He retired in 2021. His website Bluffton Forever.com includes over 500 history-related photos and stories of Bluffton. He is a member of the Hancock Historical Museum, Swiss-American Historical Society, and the Bluffton Swiss Community Historical Society.

This is Fred’s third Brown Bag Lecture. Scheduled at noon on the first Thursday of each month featuring a variety of topics relevant to Hancock County and Ohio, the museum’s Brown Bag Lecture Series is free to members and regular museum admission for nonmembers. No registration necessary. For more information, visit Hancockhistoricalmuseum.org or call 419-423-4433.