Three men armed with sub-machine guns robbed the First National Bank in Smith Center on Friday, February 1, 1935. They entered the bank at about 3:00 P. M. and yelled "This is a hold-up. get your hands up". The patrons were herded into a corner of the room. Two of the robbers held guns on everyone and the third robber gathered up the currency. Then. they took the bank force with them as they escaped. One of the employees had stepped on a silent alarm which notified the State Bank across the street. The hostages were Mac Hill, R.W. McLeod, A E. Otteman, Alta Brown Hamlin, Mildred Ford Cook and Gerald Conn.

The girls were ordered inside the car and the four men of the bank rode on the running boards. The bandits drove south down Main Street but their direction was changed by a train blocking the street so they turned around, drove back through town and headed east. They released the men near the Rock Island Lake Dam. They drove east to the Sheddy Road and turned north where they could not pass a house being moved down the road. The house was being moved by Leonard and Arlie Peterson. Arlie said that the robbers called for them to move the house off the road or they would "blow their heads off " and showed the Peterson brothers their guns. The building was soon moved out of the way.

The girls were released a little further down the road and Roy Bolton, who was following the bandit car, picked them up.

The robbers got $2,500 and Mac Hill's diamond ring. Two of the robbers were caught and imprisoned but the third one has never been apprehended.

One amusing recollection of the robbery was that of Mrs. Roy Bolton. She was on her way into the bank just as the robbers were escaping with their hostages. Mrs. Bolton said she beat a hasty retreat to their store. She frantically told her husband Roy, that the bank was being robbed; he called the sheriff who had been notified by the State Bank.

Roger Headley and Nate White armed themselves with high-powered rifles and headed out southwest of town while the bandits went northeast. To this day, people can't decide whether they were hunting the robbers or were just "chicken"

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