Newspapers / The Transylvania Times (Brevard, … / March 22, 1934, edition 1 / Page 3
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Banghart Led Colorful life Among North and South Carolina Mountains The following interesting story was written by a member of The Col““" bia (S. C.) Record staff, am* <ical® with Basil Banghart, "hose case has been watched with interest in this section. Banghart is now facing a 99-year sentence for kidnaping, while his paramour, Mae Blalock, is being held in Asheville Jail and will stand trial for her part in the Cnat lotte mail robbery. The $25,000 robbery of the South Carolina State bank at Pickens July 21, 1952, was plotted in the federal penitentiary at At*aata’ aI}1*. ®a?' Banghart, the “Owl,” lived in the mountains nearby for a year befoie he and four others swooped down on the unsuspecting little community to perpetuate the daring crime. South Carolina officers definitely link Banghart with the robbery and tince his r.rrest in Baltimore, 1Md.. i n February 12 for the $105,000 Charlotte mail robbery they are wil ling to brill* to light the inside -toy of the Pickens looting. Banghart, although he faces trial for the Charlotte hold-up. and proba bly for his alleged part in the Roger Touhv gang kidnaping of Johr (“Jake tho Barber”) Factor, may some day be brought to South Caro iim» to ho tried. Rangfowt Denies He admitted in Baltimore that au thorities had ‘‘enough to send me np for <>r> years,” but he denied to State Constable W. Fred Newman that he had any part in the Picken# robbery'. Niwman, who identified Banghart as the same '‘Kelly” whol served in the penitentiary and lived| in the mountain home of B. B "Bunk" Hendricks, went to Balti more to question him when he w as arrested there. The Pickens bank was looted near noon of a hot summer’s day by rive men who descended in a high-power ed automobile from their mountain retreat One man remained at the wheel and another in the rear scat holding a machine gun while three of the party held up bank employes. Thev took $26,000 but over looked $9,000 in the vault. Banghart was the gangster who wielded the machine gun in the rear <eat officers im fairly certain. One mao’ was arrested for taking part u the dime Robert McGill, of Green ville, but later released on bond al ter being livid tor a time in the state ponitontia • for safe keeping. Ho was identified by several Pickens citizens as the driver of the ear. Pickens Bank Case McGill is a relative of ‘‘Bunk Hendricks, at whose home Banghart lived under the name of “Kelly” but I he ' ly of the Pickens bank rob bery goc- back even further. Of ficers at the time of the robbery j * expressed the belief that the bandits “were professionals who came fiomj outside the state to hold up the bank.” Banghart was not originally a “Carolina” mountaineer, but an adopted son of the wild coves in the country »u>rth of Pickens. Lieuten ant .bud D. Townsend, of the state highway patrol, who knows the Caro-, line mountains and was one of the officers assigned to investigati the , use. knows better of the “Owl’s earlv history-. “ilunk” Hendricks, a typical moun tain boy, six feet tall and weighing clo^e to 200 pounds, served a five year tirir. in the Atlanta penitents ut'y for the illegal manufacture at whiskey and h;s relative McGill. Time will tell — wear SUNDIAL SHOES THE FASHION. Brevard NOTICE OF SALE OF LAND Under and by virtue of the au thority conferred by deed of trust executed by Hazel Scott Stokes and husband, Robert L. Stokes, dated the 1st day of August, 1929, and re corded in Book 27 Sec. 2, Page 19, in the office of the Register of Deeds for Transylvania County, Jef ferson E. Owens, Substituted Trus tee. will at twelve o'clock Noon on MONDAY, APRIL 10th, 1934 at the Court House Door of Tran sylvania County in Brevard, North Carolina sell at public auction for cash to the highest bidder the fol lowing land, to-tvit: A certain lot or parcel of land in or near the Town of Brevard, North Carolina. BEGINNING on an iron stake on the East margin of South Bread Street. R. R. Deavcr's Northwest corner, and runs thence with said R. R. Deaver’s line North 87 de grees East 512 feet to a stake in Jumping Branch; thence with said Jumping Branch, North 45 degrees West 190 feet to a stake in said Branch, Osie Minor’s Southeast cor ner; thence with said Osie Minor’s line, South 87 degrees West "77 feet to a stake in the East margin of South Bvoad Street, Osie Minor’s Southwest corner; thence with said East margin of South Broad Street, South 3 degrees East 1-35 1-2 feet to the BEGINNING. And being all of that certain lot of land described in deed from Jen nie E. Godfrey and Elizabeth A. Godfrey to Hazel Scott Stokes, dated the 2nd day of April, 1929, and iccorded in Book Cl, Page 240 of the records of deeds for Tran-] sylvania County, N. C. This sale is made on account of default in payment of the indebted ness secured by said deed of trust. A five percent (50) cash deposit will be required of the highest bid der at the sale. This the 8th day of March, 1934. JEFFERSON E. OWENS, Substituted Trustee. LOAN No. 3530. March. 22-29 Apr. 5-12. pent some time there too. They became acquainted with a shady fel ow named Kelly from the Tennessee nountatins and formed a friendship. Kelly had been convicted of a post ffice robbery. Soon after Hendricks left the pen tentiary, Kelly escaped and came o live with him at his home in Table Rock cove. And soon after hat Kelly began importing G. M. C. rucks and a Packard automobile ver the mountain trails. He was '.crested under the national motor chide theft act, regulating the mov ing of stolen vehicles from one state ►o another, tried in United States district court at Anderson but ac luitted on a flaw in the indictment. Knew the Reads About this time Hendricks moved t-rom this state to Reedy Cove in Transylvania dounty, North Caro ! lina. The bandits who robbed the bank it Pickens knew their highways and nountain trails. They first made a oop around Pickens, traveling down he Pumkintown road to its intersec ion with the Greer highway and ’ork that road towards Greenville. Near Cleveland they made another loop on the Jones Gap road and came back into the Greer highway mar the North Carolina line. From here they went directly to Hen dicks’ home in Reedy Cove, across the North-South Carolina line. The trail of the bandits was not definitely mapped out until later, but officers under the direction of Sheriff John B. Craig, of Pickens, moved on the road leading from he Geer highway to Rosman, N. C., ■•ure as to the destination of the rob bers. State Constable Newman, who was in charge of patrolmen and de tectives on duty at Arcadia Mills in Spartanburg, where a strike was in nrogress, and other South Carolina 1 fficers joined in the chase and join* I ;d forces with Sheriff Ed Patton, j tr., of Transylvania county. The combined forces held a brief •onference near the state line after night fall and then moved in the di rection of the small road leading nto Reedy Cove. When they arrived there about 1 o’clock they found a "read of new tires on the road. fln(l Machine Gun By this time the officers knew I that the bandits had a machine gun. Roy Jones, highway maintenance superintendent, had observed the group for several minutM when they stepped where he and his forces were repairing a bridge. Sheriffs Patton and Craig declin ed to let the men enter the cove un less they were armed to combat the gang. So part of the group re turned to Greenville to get a | machine gun. The remainder blocked ithe road. j When Sheriff Craig, Lieutenant Kinsey of the highway patrol, and Chief Powers of the Hendersonville police, returned with the rnechine gun, reinforced by Sheriff Cliff Bramlett, of Greenville, the group laid plans to enter the mountain stronghold. They drew up to a po sition near "Bunk" Hendricks' block ing the road completely with two pi the automobiles. They lay in wait for dawn. "It was 2 o’clock in the morning and we nearly froze although it was the middle of July,” Townsend re lates. Our teeth chattered and our nerves were on edge as we waited for daybreak." Officers Deploy When the sun began to peep oyer the hills, the group, deployed _ into squads, anxiously watched n e n dricks’ house as the crowing ot game chickens echoed through tne hills. Twenty-five sawed-off shot guns bristled through the brush tor the machine gun was primed for ac “Bunk" Hendricks opened his front door, yawning, with leggins ana shoes under his arm. He sat down on the edge of the porch to put them The indomintable Sheriff Craig was determined to advance on the house and he called for volunteers to accompany him. Seven men join ed him, everyone aware that per haps within the house were five desperate men armed with a ma chine gun, rifles and pistols who wouldn’t hesitate to shoot to kill. Highway Patrol Lieutenants Kin scv and Townsend, Patrolman Boyles and J. W. Coleman, Deputy Sheriffs Clio Findley and Henry Cureton of Pickens county, and Deputy Sheriff Tom Wood of Tran sylvania county, now the sheriff, were ready. They pleaded with Sheriff Craig not to go himself but the sheriff said “Hell, no.” “Just as Kendricks finished, we raised up under the direction of Sheriff Craig.” Lieut. Townsend tells, “There were 25 shotguns and a machine gun staring Hendricks in the face. Very coolly and deliberate ly he spoke to Sheriff Craig. Officers Ready “ ‘Hello, John’,” he said. _ i “ * Bunk,’ said Sheriff Craig. “Stand still and don’t move. Tell those fellows in the house not tc make any move as I have them completely surrounded, and if thej refuse to do that, call your wif< and children out of the house as 1 came for the men and would jusl as soon jiake them dead as alive but I don’t want to hurt your wife or children.’ “ ‘John, I’ll tell you they-vs gone,1 Hendricks answered. ‘They ate sup per and left between 9:30 and- 1C o’clock. My wife fixed supper for them.’ "It was just 10 o’clock when we blocked the road. The gang had left just before we arrived,” Lieut. Townsend added. The officers made a thorough search of Hendricks’ home and out buildings and the surrounding ter rain but failed to find a trace of the stolen money. They did find hid den in cut pine boughs an almost new automobile, which had been stolen from Tennessee and had been left there by Kelly, Hendricks said. "No names were mentioned when Sheriff Craig and Hendricks talked,” said Townsend, ‘but each knew whom the other was talking about, Banghart was known as Kelly until then but later records in the peni tentiary revealed his real name. Hendricks said the men stayed there the night before the robbery and had supper and breakfast the next morning. immediately auer completing wieu search for any money that might have been hidden, the officers again spread out to scour the highways. Returning to the road leading in to Reedy Cove, the morning re vealed an outgoing track hidden in the grass in the darkness. They had missed the bandit gang by only a few minutes. All that day and into the night the search continued. The 25 of ficers picked up the trail again but lost it at Highlands, N. C. They con tinued to scour the surrounding country but the bandit gang had too long a lead. For four long days and nights the officers never once re moved their clothes and slept only in restless snatches. The slim, fair-haired “Owl” had escaped. Banghart, Basil Hugh, to be exact is described in a recent bul letin of the department of justice’s bureau of investigation as 6 feet, 8 7-8 inches tall, and weighing 138 pounds. He has blue eyes, light brown hair and a fair complexion. The federal government at the time the bulletin was issued wanted him for kidnaping and motor vehicle theft. No poorer music than singing your own praise. NERVIS ARI IMPORTANT TO WITH...SO I SMOKI BUT CAMELS. I THEM STEADILY. THEY NEVER GIT ON MY NERVIS I The silkworm industry is carried on in more than 2,000,000 Japanese farm houses. I There are about five to lix million red blood cells per cubic centimeter I in the blood of a grown man. [^OVER40ol PICTURES Picture! tell the etory. 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The Transylvania Times (Brevard, N.C.)
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March 22, 1934, edition 1
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