1. So this tale flowed by on social media, but a direct link might not hold so I'm posting the entire text researched and written by Bob McNulty, November 12, 2016.
2. Some of you might find 'caper' inspiration, for both the thieves and the bankers/cops.
3. Paragraph separations below for the actual incident, followed by 'rest of the story' details.
4. Those of you familiar with 21st century urban crime might find this eerily familiar reading.
On June 30, 1922, the 2700 block of N. 4th Street was the scene of a wild gunfight when eight members of the Lone Star Gang attempted to rob $16,000 from three representatives of the Textile National Bank and their police escort. About 100 shots were fired during the five-minute battle, and six people were wounded.
In 1920, Joseph Bollendorf of 1913 East Albert Street was laid off from his job as a machinist at Cramp's Shipyard, so he secured a position working as a guard for the Textile National Bank located on the northeast corner of Kensington Avenue and Huntingdon Street. One of his duties was to escort messengers as they delivered payroll money to the nearby textile mills.
On June 30, 1922, at 9:15 a.m., Bollendorf left the bank, along with messengers Theodore Wolfe and Joseph Jones, tasked with delivering $16,000 to the Stead and Miller Drapery Manufacturing Company at 4th and Cambria Streets. The three men crossed Kensington Avenue and walked up B Street, passing Episcopal Hospital on their left and Visitation Church on their right. They then crossed Lehigh Avenue and waited for a trolley in front of Bromley's Carpet Mill.
After exiting the trolley at 4th and Lehigh, they were met by Patrolman John C. Mitchell of the Front and Westmoreland Station House. Mitchell was formerly a fireman and had joined the police force four months earlier. He was assigned to the Textile National Bank detail to provide extra protection due to a rash of robberies plaguing the district over the previous few months.
The quartet needed to walk the money bag two blocks up 4th Street to Cambria Street, where Stead and Miller stood. Jones, Wolfe (who was carrying the cash), and Mitchell walked up the west side of 4th along the Quaker Lace building while Bollendorf slightly trailed them on the east side of 4th. They could not see the danger lurking ahead as they approached Somerset Street. Lying in wait for them just out of view on the southwest corner of 4th and Somerset were seven members of the Lone Star Gang.
The Lone Star Gang was a band of young hoodlums who were wanted by the police for committing 22 robberies during the first six months of 1922. Their leaders were Adam Pietrowicz (alias Adam Star), age 22, of 2621 E. Schiller Street, and Joseph Skadzien (alias Stanley Dean), age 21, of 129 Monroe Street. The two young bandits first met while serving time at the Pennsylvania Industrial Reformatory in Huntingdon, Pa. They were mentored by the oldest member of the gang, Jack Rodgers (alias Stanley Patski), age 26, of 2831 E Indiana Avenue, who taught them how to steal automobiles.
Other members of the gang included:
Edward McDonald (alias Donald Brannigan), age 25, of 3247 N. 6th Street,
Edmund Agger, age 22, of 878 N. 20th Street,
James Fee, age 21, of 3014 Rorer Street,
Joseph Adams, age 19, of 2971 Richmond Street, and
Stephen McKiernan (alias James Bradley), age 18, of 2051 W. Somerset Street.
The Lone Star Gang arrived at 4th and Somerset in a maroon sedan stolen two weeks earlier from Sidney Scott of Wilmington, Delaware. They had used the same automobile the previous Saturday to rob George W. Lefferts of $2600 outside of his worsted yarn mill on the northeast corner of Moyamensing Avenue and Moore Street. While one of the gang stood watch, peeking down 4th Street, the others leaned against the car, with four of them holding packages wrapped in newspaper.
At 9:30 a.m., the bank party was spotted, and the signal was given. The newspaper was pulled from the packages to reveal four sawed-off shotguns (loaded with birdshot). Two others drew revolvers.
Wolfe, Jones, and Mitchell were about 100 feet south of Somerset Street when the bandits turned onto 4th Street. Without warning, they opened fire. Wolfe took a shotgun blast to his legs and went down, dropping the money bag. Mitchell ran to the bag and picked it up, and as he did so, he was peppered from head to toe. Though dazed, he held onto the bag and spied Henry J. Smith, an employee of Quaker Lace, motioning for him to come and take cover in the boiler room (known as the coal hole). Mitchell drew more gunfire as he ran through the doorway, and Smith was struck in the arm and shoulder.
Jones helped Wolfe get up, and they both made it to the safety of the boiler room. Catherine Schlegel, an elderly lady living at 2733 N. 4th Street, heard the racket outside and went to investigate. As she opened her front door, she was hit in the hip with stray birdshot.
While his three companions were scrambling for the coal hole, Bollendorf covered them with a .45 caliber revolver blazing away in each hand. His only cover was a telephone pole which took the brunt of the battle. Despite being wounded in the arm, side, and leg, Bollendorf would not back down and kept the desperados from advancing. Mitchell knew they would charge them once Bollendorf needed to reload, so despite his wounds, he returned to the fight.
Mitchell and Bollendorf continued to keep throwing hot lead at the bandits. During the fiercest part of the battle, one of Bollendorf's slugs finally found its mark and hit one of the young thugs (Agger) in the chest. This took the vinegar out of their fight, and the Lone Star Gang retreated back to Somerset Street.
The maroon sedan backed up into the middle of the intersection. While two gang members provided cover fire, the others drug their wounded comrade to the car, threw him onto the floor, and then piled in themselves. The car began to pull away, leaving behind the two who had supplied cover. They bolted for the vehicle; one hopped onto the running board while the other jumped onto the spare tire rack.
Bollendorf charged them and blew a hole in the driver's side rear door, just missing the fella on the running board. The one hanging onto the tire rack busted out the back window with the butt of his revolver and threatened to kill the wheelman if he didn't stop and let them into the car. This was done at Lawrence and Somerset, and they then sped off, heading west on Somerset.
Bollendorf commandeered a light delivery van and gave chase. Shots were exchanged, and Bollendorf was grazed across his right temple. The van couldn't keep up with the car, losing it near Broad Street. Two hours later, it was found abandoned at 12th and Sedgley. Inside the vehicle, the floor was stained with blood. The only item left behind was an empty shell box.
Mitchell, Bollendorf, Wolfe, Smith, and Mrs. Schlegel were all taken to Episcopal Hospital, where they were treated and released, except for Mitchell, who had more than 100 minor wounds and had to stay overnight.
Despite dozens of witnesses, no one could give a good description of the bandits. Besides the bank detail, two men had watched the gunfight from a cigar store at the northeast corner of 4th and Somerset, and employees of John J. Campbell's wool dyeing factory at the southeast corner observed from the upper windows. However, everyone agreed they were all young, about age 20, well dressed, and wore caps. Bollendorf, who got closer to them than anyone, could only describe the one who jumped onto the running board.
The police, however, knew who they were looking for and were closing in fast. The day after the robbery, they got a tip that Skadzien was at his mother's house at 129 Monroe Street. They found him in the back bedroom, reading about the robbery. His shirt was covered in blood (not his) which he tried to explain away as melted chocolate ice cream. In his jacket pocket, they found a box of shells (ten were missing) that matched the box they found in the car. He was arrested and identified by Bollendorf as the one on the running board.
Eleven days after Skadzien's arrest, Pietrowicz, McKiernan, and Fee were located hiding out in a boarding house near 16th and Huntingdon. They were taken alive after a short gun battle.
On the night of July 18, Rodgers and Adams stole a "Dealer" license plate from a car owned by Fred Garnett, who lived at 3350 Rand Street (his dealership was at 5th and Berks). The following morning, Garnett went to the police station at Front and Westmoreland to report the crime. He then picked up his insurance agent, William Kalbacher, who lived at 816 E. Hilton Street. As luck would have it, while they were driving to Kalbacher's office, Garnett spotted his stolen plates on a new sedan on Kensington Avenue. In the sedan were Rodgers and Adams, who had stolen the vehicle a few nights earlier in Germantown.
Garnett and Kalbacher followed behind them on Kensington Avenue, Frankford Avenue, and then Ruan Street. As they approached Paul Street, Kalbacher spied Officer Hendrich, the turnkey at the Ruan and Paul Street Station who was walking to work, and yelled for him to climb in. They apprised Hendrich of the situation as they continued to follow, now on Paul Street. They got close behind the stolen car, and Hendrich yelled for them to pull over.
Rodgers and Adams realized the bad spot they were in and sped up. As they crossed Church Street, Adams threw his gun out the window into the Presbyterian cemetery (it was later recovered). They suddenly stopped the car at Orthodox Street and attempted to run away. Adams made a break for it up Paul Street while Rodgers found himself surrounded by their three pursuers.
Rodgers hit Garnett with the butt of his pistol and attempted to do the same to Officer Hendrich but was stopped cold with a powerful right cross to the jaw (which broke one of Hendrich's fingers). Kalbacher picked up Rodgers' gun and chased after Adams, who he captured at Hedge and Plum Streets. Rodgers and Adams were taken to City Hall for arraignment.
The next gang member to be arrested, Edward McDonald, was not the sharpest tool in the shed. For some reason, he felt compelled to go to City Hall for the arraignment of Rodgers and Adams. McDonald figured he would be invisible, blending in with the hundreds of people in the crowd. He was wrong. A detective recognized him immediately and placed him under arrest.
The final member of the gang to be apprehended was Edmund Agger (the one who had been shot). He was arrested on August 9, 1922, at Pennsylvania Hospital, where he sought treatment for his now nearly six-week-old gunshot wound.
Only Skadzien was charged with the gunfight on 4th Street, as none of the others could be positively identified. However, six of them were connected to other crimes the gang committed.
Joseph Skadzien was convicted of assault and battery with intent to kill. He was sentenced to 8 to 12 years at Eastern State Penitentiary. He was paroled on October 3, 1930. After his release, he changed his name to Stanley Skadzien and worked as a stevedore on the docks in South Philly, living at 1738 E. Moyamensing Avenue. Skadzien died at age 65 in January 1966.
Adam Pietrowicz was convicted of assault and battery, robbery, and larceny. He was sentenced to 7 to 10 years at Eastern State Penitentiary. He was paroled on August 24, 1929. After his release, he worked as a truck driver and married Anna Wieglas. They lived at 3412 Kensington Avenue. After their four-year-old daughter, Loretta, died in 1938, Adam and Anna divorced. Pietrowicz died at age 46 of pneumonia on March 11, 1946.
Jack Rodgers was convicted of assault and battery, robbery, and larceny. He was sentenced to 12 to 15 years at Eastern State Penitentiary. He was paroled on December 21, 1932. He died at age 85 in July 1981.
Joseph Adams was convicted of assault and battery with an offensive weapon and larceny and was sentenced to 12 to 16 years at Eastern State Penitentiary. He was paroled on September 29, 1931. He was returned to Eastern State the following year for a lengthy stay after robbing the Lehigh National Bank, 23rd and Lehigh. His date of death is unknown.
Edward McDonald was convicted of stealing a Yellow Taxi Cab and was sentenced to 2 to 3 years at Eastern State Penitentiary. He was paroled on August 22, 1924. He died from a skin infection at age 30 on March 14, 1928.
James Fee was convicted of assault and battery, and robbery and was sentenced to 4 to 5 years at Eastern State Penitentiary. He was pardoned on February 27, 1925. After his release, he married Frances Kowalchuk. James worked as a rigger, and they lived at 2632 Kensington Avenue. He died on February 7, 1964.
Stephen McKiernan was convicted of robbery, larceny, and assault, and battery. He was sentenced to 3 to 5 years at Eastern State Penitentiary. On May 25, 1924, he was transferred to Rockview State Prison, where he served out the remainder of his sentence. After his release, Stephen became a steamfitter and moved to 236 W. Grange Street. He died of meningococcal meningitis at age 43 on September 5, 1947.
Despite his unexplained gunshot wound, Edmund Agger could not be positively identified by Bollendorf and was not charged. He also could not be connected with any of the gang's other crimes and was the only member not to serve time in prison. He later moved to Detroit, working as a grinder at the Budd Wheel Company. He died at age 80 in Florida on September 18, 1980.
After the gunfight on 4th Street, Bollendorf quit his bank job and returned to being a machinist. Sadly, his wife Isabella died of jaundice at age 39 on March 7, 1924. In his later years, Bollendorf suffered from dementia. He was sent to Ancora Psychiatric Hospital in Ancora, New Jersey, where he died at age 88 on April 29, 1963.
John C. Mitchell was a Philly cop for 25 years. For most of that time, he worked as a patrolman, but at the end of his career, he was stationed in City Hall, room 225 (today, that is the Mayor's Conference Room). He died suddenly at home (6117 Shisler Street) on November 10, 1953, just two weeks after his 65th birthday.
News & Blogs
Home
Posts
Recent Posts
Help
Business Directory
Calendar
Advertising Rates
Contact Us
Login
Register
