Cosmos Bank Robbery

Around 1:00 a.m. on August 20, 1924, four unidentified men came to Cosmos, Minnesota. Quietly, they cut the town’s telephone and telegraph lines and made their way to the First State Bank of Cosmos. They entered through a basement window and found their way to the safe. Using nitroglycerine, the men blew open the safe. Inside, they found two smaller compartments. They blasted their way into the bottom compartment, but before they could do the same to the top section, they were interrupted.

Across the street, Emil Hackbarth had woken up, hearing noises from the bank. He grabbed his gun, and upon seeing movement in the bank, began shooting. The robbers returned fire, leaving eight bullet holes in Hackbarth’s wall. Bank employee John Jerabek lived next door to Hackbarth and was also woken up. He too headed towards the bank but withdrew when he was shot at by the retreating robbers.

First State Bank in Cosmos, MN

The robbers, or “yeggman” as the papers liked to call them, escaped to their waiting car and the men disappeared into the foggy night. The townspeople tried to organize a chase, but with the town’s communication lines having been cut, they were unable to quickly alert the Meeker County Sheriff and other communities to be on the lookout. 

One can imagine the worried bank employees sighing with relief when they discovered the robbers were unable to complete their evil deeds. The safe’s lower compartment contained only paperwork. The upper compartment, still securely locked, contained over $5,000 in cash, about $85,000 in today’s money. The money had recently arrived at the bank and was the payroll for the creamery.

The Cosmos robbery was the second in a series of four local bank robberies. Earlier, a similar robbery had taken place at the State Bank of Prinsburg, about 10 miles southwest of Willmar. The robbers got away with $1,200 in cash and left behind a great mess at the bank. Shortly after the Cosmos robbery, Svea (south of Willmar) and Brownton (south of Hutchinson) were also hit. At Svea, the men got away with around $600 and left $3,000 in damages. The Brownton robbery, like Cosmos, was interrupted by a heroic citizen who fired at the bank, sending the robbers running.

Based on the proximity of the crimes and similarities in the methods used, law officials believed all four robberies were committed by the same crew. William West and James Steele, were eventually convicted in the Svea robbery. They were arrested in southern Minnesota while trying to purchase dynamite to continue their crime spree. West was sentenced to five years in the Stillwater Prison. The aptly named Steele managed to escape by sawing through the jail bars and remained at large for several months. He was eventually arrested in Florida and sentenced to seven years in prison. While it’s quite possible these two men were part of the Cosmos bank robbery, the crime remains unsolved and the details lost to history.