Joseph
Edward Earlywine
The
burglary of the State Bank of Lapel, Lapel, Indiana,
on the night of December 2, 1937, during which time
the paltry sum of $5.45 was surreptitiously stolen,
led to the slaying of William
R. Ramsey, Jr., a Special Agent of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI), United States Department
of Justice, the death of Joseph Earlywine, a twice-paroled
convict who in cold blood killed Agent Ramsey, and
the apprehension of Fred Steffler and William Hulett,
two other paroled convicts.
On
the morning of December 3, 1937, the cashier of the
State Bank of Lapel telephoned the Indianapolis,
Indiana, Field Division of the FBI and advised that
the bank had been burglarized on the previous night.
In view of the fact that deposits of this bank were
insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation,
the burglary was in violation of the Federal Bank
Robbery Act, and a crime within the investigative
jurisdiction of the FBI. The Bureau commenced an
immediate investigation which disclosed that the
burglars gained entrance to the bank by loosening
a grate over a rear window and sought to gain access
to the safe with the aid of an acetylene torch. However,
apparently becoming disturbed, the burglars departed
abandoning an acetylene torch and equipment in the
bank and stealing the small sum previously mentioned.
In cooperation with the Indiana State Police, information
was developed indicating Earlywine, Steffler, and
Hulett were involved in this burglary and in other
robberies in the State of Indiana, and were engaged
in the theft of certain acetylene torches and other
burglar equipment. During the investigation of this
burglary, the First State Bank and Trust Company
of Indianola, Illinois, and the State Bank of Oakwood,
Illinois, were burglarized on the nights of March
3, 1938, and April 29, 1938, respectively. The State
Bank of Lapel was also the victim of a second burglary
on the night of April 25, 1938.
An
investigation was conducted by the FBI in regard
to these burglaries and it was found that the modus
operandi employed by the burglars in each case was
similar to that used in the burglary of the State
Bank of Lapel, Indiana, on December 2, 1937. In investigating
the second burglary of this bank on April 25, 1938,
it was ascertained that a night watchman, in making
his round, had noticed unusual activity in the bank.
However, he was apparently seen by the burglars and
before he could summon aid the burglars had fled
from the bank abandoning an acetylene torch and equipment
in the vicinity of the bank. The night watchman later
identified Fred Steffler as being one of the perpetrators
of the burglary. After this information was obtained
the efforts of the FBI and the cooperating local
law enforcement officers were directed toward the
location and apprehension of Earlywine, Steffler,
and Hulett.
A
federal warrant was issued on May 2, 1938, for Steffler
charging him with violation of the Federal Bank Robbery
Statute in connection with his participation in the
burglary of the State Bank of Lapel on the night
of April 25, 1938, and state warrants were issued
for the arrest of Earlywine and Hulett upon charges
of theft of acetylene equipment used in some of the
above-mentioned bank burglaries.
The
investigation resulted in the location of Earlywine
and Hulett on a farm near Penfield, Illinois, and
after observing the activities of Earlywine and Hulett
for several days in an effort to ascertain the location
of Fred Steffler, it was decided that Earlywine and
Hulett should be taken into custody. Accordingly,
Agent Ramsy, together with another Special Agent,
the local sheriff, and members of the Illinois and
Indiana State Police, approached the farmhouse for
this purpose. Upon reaching the farm, Hulett was
seen plowing in the field and was immediately taken
into custody. Agent Ramsey accompanied by two Indiana
State officers and the sheriff entered the house
while the other FBI Agent and local officers waited
outside to prevent the escape of anyone within the
house. Upon gaining entrance to the house, Earlywine
was identified and advised of his arrest. Instead
of submitting to arrest, Earlywine whipped out a
gun and shot Agent Ramsey several times. Agent Ramsey
returned the fire and a bullet struck Earlywine in
the forehead, killing him instantly. Agent Ramsey
was mortally wounded by Earlywine's bullets and he
was immediately taken to a local hospital where he
died early the next morning. In his mad frenzy, Earlywine
fired wildly and recklessly with no regard for even
the lives of members of his family. During the shooting,
Earlywine's seven-year-old son, Virgil, rushed excitedly
into the room and was wounded in the chest by a bullet
from his father's .45 caliber automatic.
In
a subsequent search of Earlywine's farmhouse many
burglars' tools and equipment, such as acetylene
and oxygen gas tanks, gauges, torches, dynamite,
and hundreds of items of loot of various types and
varieties were discovered, all of which gave positive
proof of Joseph Earlywine's activities as a burglar.
On
the afternoon of May 2, 1938, Special Agents of the
FBI and local law enforcement officers apprehended
the forty-one year-old, hazel-eyed, scarfaced Fred
Steffler as he was entering his residence at 210
Stroup Street, Danville, Illinois. A search of Steffler's
dwelling resulted in the recovery of a .45 caliber
Army Model Colt revolver, the numbers of which had
been filed off and completely destroyed so that the
gun could not be traced, and three ounces of nitroglycerin
were found. Immediately, Steffler was incarcerated
in a local jail where he was interrogated by Special
Agents of the FBI.
During
this interrogation Steffler furnished a lengthy signed
statement in regard to his criminal activities. Steffler,
in commenting on his recent criminal activities admitted
that he, accompanied by Joseph Earlywine, burglarized
a safe of an automobile agency in Muncie, Indiana,
in the fall of 1937, and obtained approximately $900,
and blew another safe of a theater at Petersburg,
Indiana, and obtained $245 soon after. Early in 1938,
he and Earlywine robbed a safe in Mattoon, Illinois,
and obtained approximately $500. Later, he alone
burglarized a safe at Bloomington, Illinois, and
obtained $300. According to Steffler, on the night
of March 3, 1938, he and Earlywine burglarized the
First State Bank and Trust Company of Indianola,
Illinois, but were forced to abandon the bank before
opening the safe because a gas bomb exploded in the
bank. Although Steffler did not admit that he burglarized
the State Bank of Lapel on December 2, 1937, he admitted
Joseph Earlywine had informed him that he, Earlywine,
had committed this crime. Steffler also advised that
Hulett did not assist in these burglaries and in
view of the lack of evidence indicating Hulett participated
in these crimes, he was not prosecuted in Federal
Court. Hulett was tried on August 17, 1938, in the
State Court at Danville, Illinois, on the charge
of receiving stolen property. However, he was acquitted
on this charge. On June 27, 1938, a Federal Grand
Jury at Indianapolis, Indiana, returned an indictment
against Steffler charging him with violation of the
Federal Bank Robbery Statute by unlawfully entering
the State Bank of Lapel, Indiana, on the night of
April 25, 1938, and the next day, June 28, 1938,
he was arraigned in Federal Court, entered a plea
of guilty, and was sentenced to serve fifteen years
in a Federal penitentiary. At the direction of the
Attorney General of the United States, he was sent
to the United States Penitentiary at Leavenworth,
Kansas, to serve this sentence.
The
files of the Identification Division of the FBI reflect
that Earlywine, Hulett, and Steffler had become entangled
in the meshes of the law on numerous occasions prior
to becoming involved in the burglary of banks in
the states of Indiana and Illinois.
In
1921, Earlywine was arrested at Frankfort, Indiana,
on a charge of stealing chickens. He was given a
suspended sentence of one to eight years in the Indiana
Reformatory. In 1922, he was arrested at Noblesville,
Indiana, for rape, and acquitted by the jury. He
was received at the Indiana State Reformatory, Pendleton,
Indiana, on February 19, 1926, after having been
convicted on a charge of grand larceny, to serve
a sentence of from one to fourteen years. He received
a parole from this institution March 11, 1927. On
July 27, 1934, he was received at the State Prison,
Michigan City, Indiana, to serve a sentence of from
two to fourteen years upon a charge of conspiracy
to commit a felony. However, he was paroled on December
23, 1935.
John
William Hulett was another recipient of parole. His
criminal record indicates that he was received at
the Indiana State Reformatory, Pendleton, Indiana,
on July 28, 1934, to serve a sentence of from one
to ten years for grand larceny. He was paroled June
27, 1935.
The
third person involved who had also been granted clemency
by a parole board was Fred Steffler. On June 27,
1916, Steffler was received at the State Farm, Greencastle,
Indiana, on a charge of petty larceny to serve 215
days. He escaped on July 4, 1916. He was arrested
for theft of a motor vehicle and received at the
Indiana Reformatory, Jefferson, Indiana, to serve
from six months to five years on November 11, 1917.
Here he was paroled and turned over to the Indiana
State Farm on July 12, 1918, to serve a two to five
year sentence for escaping from the institution.
On May 14, 1919, he was paroled.
Steffler
was received at the United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth,
Kansas, on June 19, 1920, for violation of the National
Motor Vehicle Theft Act, to serve a sentence of five
years. On December 9, 1924, he was incarcerated at
the United States Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas,
to serve four years for unlawfully breaking into
and entering a United States Post Office. He was
transferred to the United States Penitentiary at
McNeil Island on October 6, 1926, and released on
January 7, 1928. On January 22, 1928, Steffler was
received at the Washington State Penitentiary, Walla
Walla, Washington, on two charges, burglary and grand
larceny, to serve not less than fifteen years on
each charge. He was paroled on April 3, 1933. On
January 6, 1934, he entered the Indiana State Prison,
Michigan City, Indiana, to serve from two to fourteen
years. However, he was paroled on February 7, 1936.
On November 5, 1936, he was declared delinquent for
failure to report and being suspected of safe cracking.
A warden's warrant was issued for his arrest but
he was not located until apprehended by Special Agents
of the FBI and local officers on May 2, 1938, on
the bank robbery charge for which he received a fifteen-year
sentence previously mentioned.
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