The Hundred-Year-Old Heist
Editor’s note: This is the first in a two-part series detailing the 100th anniversary of “The Great Castle Shannon Bank Robbery.” Be sure to pick up the July/August Nostalgia Issue on July 5 for the conclusion.
Castle Shannon used to have a zoo.
That nugget might be of interest to South Hills residents who’d prefer not to have to drive to Highland Park for a firsthand look at lions and tigers and bears. But while digging into the details of the onetime animal showcase, Edd Hale discovered the tip of a much more intriguing historical iceberg.
“I came across this paragraph that said, ‘This is where one of the bank robbers was killed.’ What bank robbers? What the heck were they talking about?” he recalls. “I started to research this, and I start to come across all this incredible information about this incredible bank robbery.”
The events of May 14, 1917, had faded into obscurity by the time the now-retired Keystone Oaks School District history teacher enlisted the aid of veteran journalist Roger Stuart to learn more. That involved reading contemporary news articles, poring through 1,500 pages’ worth of trial transcripts and scrutinizing handwritten notes from a coroner’s inquest.
And best of all: “Stunning both Roger and I, we came across an eyewitness who was still alive at this time, and we interviewed her.”
Hale often brings the story of what he calls the Great Castle Shannon Bank Robbery to life in an enlightening and entertaining manner that, as he tells it, convinces audience members it would make a great movie. And, in fact, he’d love to write a screenplay.
In the meantime, let’s imagine going back a century, to a small, quiet farming and coal-mining community where the roads are made of dirt and most of the trees have been cut down and taken to nearby sawmills.
Along Willow Avenue – it now is Poplar – stands the First National Bank, a stately Greek Revival-type structure complete with columns.
“They purposefully built banks in this time period to look like that,” Hale explains, “because they looked strong and secure, and your money was safe.”
On the other hand, they also attract all kinds of attention.
Meet Mike Titov, a Russian immigrant who’s traveling from his boarding house in Pittsburgh’s Soho neighborhood to Monongahela, with a stop for lunch at the Hotel Waterman, at the current site of Mindful Brewing Co. on Route 88.
“He looks out the window – remember, there are no trees -and there’s the bank. And he thinks to himself, I’m out in the middle of nowhere. That bank is just sitting there waiting to be robbed,'” Hale reports. “We don’t know when or how, but he eventually relays the information to his three friends and says, ‘How would you like to rob a bank?'”
Meet Titov’s roommate, John Tush, and fellow Russians Sam Barcons and Haraska Garason, whom Hale doesn’t hesitate to refer to as “bad guys.”
And then there’s Nick Kemanos, who agrees to drive the crew to Castle Shannon in his new Maxwell touring car.
“I’m going to tell you straight up front: I don’t believe that Kemanos had anything to do with the bank robbery,” Hale says. “I don’t think, from start to finish, he had any clue that they were going to be robbing a bank.”
Speaking of which, ringleader Titov decides that May 17, his birthday, is as good a day as any. He, Tush, Barcons and Haraska manage to polish off a bottle of whiskey by 11:30 a.m. before departing for the scene of the crime.
Working there is 32-year-old First National Bank assistant teller Frank Erbe.
“On the morning of the bank robbery – I’m not (in to) premonitions and all that kind of stuff – he got up and was eating breakfast, and said to his mom, ‘I have a bad feeling about today. I’m going to take my gun to work.’ And he did.”
Also present, but apparently unarmed, is the head teller: Daniel H.A. McLean, 45, a widowed father of three and Sunday school teacher.
And as the robbers enter the building, the only other person on hand is a South Hills Building Supply former named Stanley Rawa, who is cashing a $100 check and also happens to be the only Castle Shannon resident who speaks Russian.
“The more we read through the trial transcripts, the more doubt we had about Stanley,” Hale says about him possibly being in cahoots with the criminals. “In every trial transcript, and we have four, his testimony was different.”
As the crime unfolds, Tush tells Rawa in English, and then in Russian, “Go sit in this chair. I’m going to tie you up.”
“And miraculously, out of his pocket, Tush pulls a length of rope” Hale recounts. “Who carries a piece of rope, going to a bank robbery, unless this is part of a plan?”
Meanwhile:
“Frank Erbe is standing at his window realizing something’s not right, grabs his gun out from underneath his window, and dives behind his desk. And the shooting starts,” Hale says.
“As that is happening, Daniel McLean comes walking out of the vault, and he’s carrying a ledger book. He sees what’s going on and he throws the book up in front of his face. They shoot him. The bullet goes through the ledger book and hits him in the forehead, and he goes down.”
The resulting cacophony draws the attention of people nearby, including Justice of the Peace George Beltzhoover, who insists the townsfolk call him “Squire.” As a couple of men approach bearing firearms, he at first commandeers a pair of pistols before taking a shotgun for himself.
He then approaches the bank.
“George walks up to the front door, looks in to see what’s going on, backs to the bottom step and stands there, waiting. Inside the bank, the four men come rushing out,” Hale says, describing the ensuing scene as something out of “True Grit”:
“He’s standing there and he looks at them, and he says, ‘Throw up your hands, you sons of bitches!’ And they look at him and just start shooting.
“George, according to his testimony, says; ‘I snapped the trigger, and nothing happened. I throwed it back three times, and nothing comes out of it.'”
Yes, he had traded two loaded pistols for an empty shotgun.
“Meanwhile, four drunks are standing five steps away from him, blazing away. They all miss him.”
With other gun-toting vigilantes blazing away at the bank robbers, they decide to make a run for it. Two head for Kemanos and the getaway vehicle, and two head for where there once was a zoo.
And that’s where we’ll leave you in suspense until the next issue of South Hills Living.