August 14, 1933 was a day Bluffton will never forget.
That's the day John Dillinger's gang robbed Citizens National Bank in Bluffton, spraying downtown with machine gun fire as they made their escape. Bluffton historian Fred Steiner told us that there were only eight people on Main Street when the robbery occurred, but if everyone claiming to be on Main Street during the robbery was actually there, they would fill the Civic Center, and everyone had their own story to tell. The facts were: the robbery occurred at noon and took about five minutes. It's estimated that 40 shots were fired from both revolvers and sub-machine guns. The gang got away with $2,100, approximately $40,000 in today's money. It wasn't until four weeks later that it was learned that the robbery was staged by Dillinger's gang. Dillinger was caught and locked up in the Allen County jail. Four days later, on October 12, 1933, his gang broke him out, killing Sheriff Jess Sarber. On July 22, 1934, Dillinger was shot and killed in Chicago.
Also at Monday's meeting, we inducted three new members: Jessica Trinko, Executive Director of Lima Convalescent Home; her husband David Trinko, Editor of The Lima News; and Todd Benz, General manager of The Lima News. Please make them welcome!
