On the night of September 26, 1922, five men were camped in the woods on the hill near where the Mount Air Court is now located, well hidden from the traffic on U. S. Highway 62. Sitting around the camp fire were Si Wilson, Marcus Hendrix, a 21-year-old Indian, a man named Cowan, and the two Price brothers, Charlie and George. They were desperate Oklahoma outlaws from the Cookson Hills, remnants of the old Henry Starr gang. Their business at Eureka Springs was to rob the First National Bank.

Sitting around the bed of coals this September night, the outlaws discussed their plans. Charlie Price, the leader, did most of the talking. He outlined the plan for the robbery on the morrow at 12:05 P.M. when practically all business houses would be closed for the lunch hour. Hendrix was to remain in the car at the front of the bank, ready for a quick getaway.

“I guess you fellers know what you’re doing,” said Wilson, who had recently joined the gang. “But don’t forget what Sam Lockard and Henry Starr said. They warned you that Eureka Springs was a deathtrap.”

Price laughed and said that it would be easy because everything was well planned.

“We’d better hit the hay and get some sleep,” said Charlie. “Big day tomorrow.” As he rolled into his blankets he remembered to wind his watch. He turned the stem carefully in the darkness but fate took a hand and a little extra pressure sent the hands around one revolution without his knowledge. His faithful old watch had played a trick on him.

At exactly 11:05 A.M., mistaken by the bandits to be 12:05 P.M., a car drove up in front of the First National Bank on Spring Street. Hendrix remained at the wheel while the four others entered the bank. The story of the robbery and its tragic aftermath has been told in newspapers, by Horace H. Brown in Startling Detective Magazine, and by Cora Pinkley Call in her book “Eureka Springs—The Stair-Step Town.”

Members of the bank staff on duty on September 27, 1922, were: Tobe Smith, cashier, Fred Sawyer, teller, Mrs. Maude Shuman, Miss Loma Sawyer and Miss Jewel Davidson. Customers in the bank when the robbers entered were: Sam Holland, Robert Easley, John Easley and Luther Wilson. Others who walked in while the holdup was in progress were: John K. Butt, Claude Arbuckle and Bob Bowman, clerk at the Basin Park Hotel.

Tobe Smith saw the four men enter the bank and when they drew their guns he stepped on the burglar alarm which had connections at the Bank of Eureka Springs, a block up the street, and the Basin Park Hotel, the same distance in the other direction. The robbers did not know this but lined up the occupants of the bank, face to the wall, and proceeded to scoop up all available cash and bonds. While doing this Charlie Price noticed the clock on the wall. The hands stood at exactly 11:10 A.M. Time had played its trick.

In the meantime the alarm had caused a furor of excitement in town, and C. E. Burson of the Bank of Eureka Springs had sent a bullet from his pistol that punctured a rear tire of the bandit’s car. Young Hendrix, getting excited, started the car slowly down Spring Street but a bullet struck him as he reached the junction with Center Street and he turned the car into a railing at the head of a stairway. He was captured without offering resistance.

By this time the four bandits had left the bank with the money in a sack, taking two of the bank employees as hostages. They knew they would have to fight their way out and sought to escape down the stairway by the Times-Echo office which leads to Center Street. Guns were popping and bullets flying everywhere. Si Wilson was killed instantly, George Price died a few minutes after being taken to Dr. R. H. Huntington’s hospital, Charlie Price died from his wounds a few days later.

Cowan was wounded. He and Hendrix were sentenced to terms in the state penitentiary.

Eureka Springs citizens who battled with the outlaws were: Ernie Jordan, Joe McKimmey, Jess Littrell, Robert Bowman, Homer Brittan and Sam Harmon. The story of their courage in defeating this desperate gang without loss of a man was told in newspapers throughout the country. None of them were wounded except Ernie Jordan who received a powder burn in the face. F. O. Butt, Eureka Springs attorney, was president of the First National Bank at that time. He had his office over the bank building. He was glad to see the sack of money and bonds returned without loss. It had been dropped on the Center Street stairway during the fight.