Monday, June 17, 1929 at 10:45am two armed men (later identified as Hillary Litton, 35, of Terre Haute, Indiana and Thomas Herndon, 19, of Mt. Gary, Kentucky) stepped up to the teller window at First National Bank of Sumner and told the four employees that were present to: "Stick em up!!" One of the employees made a motion to draw a gun and Litton fired at him from close range. The bullet struck one of the half inch steel bars and glanced off.
The employees then complied with the order to hold up their hands and three of the employees were told to lie down on the floor while the last employee was ordered to bring the money from the vault. Hastily scooping the money into a large grain bag, the robbers left the building as quickly as they came. Once outside they joined their accomplice (later identified as Harley Cochran of Lawrenceville, Illinois) who was waiting in a Chevrolet that they had stolen the night before.
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The bandits headed north to the edge of town where they left the stolen Chevrolet behind and switched to Cochran's Oakland sedan. They then fled to Indiana where they divided up the loot and went their separate ways. The robbers made away with $8,338 which would be worth almost $136,000 in todays dollars (January 2022). Litton and Herndon were captured in Terre Haute, Indiana the day after the robbery with their share of $5,000 still in their possession. The two plead guilty to the the robbery and were sentenced to one year to life in prison.
The third man, Harley Cochran, who was the mastermind behind the robbery managed to evade arrest for five months. Following the robbery, he returned to Illinois where he abandoned his Oakland sedan that was used in another bank robbery in Danville. He then went to St. Louis by bus and from there he went to Salt Lake City where he purchased a Ford and drove to Texas where he remained until the beginning of November when he returned to Illinois. He had squandered all of the money and was planning to steal an automobile and drive south of Hammond, Indiana where he could get a job shucking corn.
It was during this attempted carjacking on November 13, 1929 when he was captured and charged with assault, intent to rob, intent to rape, and intent to kill. While in jail for this crime, he admitted to his involvement in the Sumner bank robbery. He was sentenced to life plus 25 years in prison for his crimes.
Lawrence County News - June 19, 1929
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