The Numismatic Bibliomania Society

PREV ARTICLE       NEXT ARTICLE       FULL ISSUE       PREV FULL ISSUE      

V18 2015 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 18, Number 16, April 19, 2015, Article 31

THE RAND BROTHERS, BANK ROBBERS

bank robbery street scene

Hubert Walker of CoinWeek writes:

A couple weeks ago we excerpted the New York and VA bank robbery articles from The E-Sylum. A gentleman named Jerry Kuntz left comments that I thought I'd pass along.

Thanks. Here are Jerry's notes. -Editor

"The 1852 Portsmouth robbery was the work of the Rand brothers, Abram, Richard, and most of all, John W. (Jack) Rand. In a nation that celebrates infamous criminals, the Rands have been sorely neglected. They were born in New Hampshire, but were longtime residents of Massachusetts–but ranged far and wide to commit robberies. Jack Rand voluntarily appeared and testified at the Portsmouth robbery trial of his brothers, knowing full well that doing so would incriminate himself. He even was grudgingly complimented in newspapers for giving himself up.

Jack Rand, it should be said, wasn’t very fearful of jail. He was convicted in October, 1852 and escaped from jail a couple of weeks later. It was a trick he repeated several times."

Jerry adds:

"I did make one error--brother Richard Rand had been implicated in a Quincy, Mass bank robbery in 1843 that John was convicted for; however, Richard was already dead by the time the Portsmouth bank robbery occurred. It was another brother, Oliver H. Rand, that was tried along with Abram Rand and John Rand.

"One other footnote: Oliver H. Rand, one of the brothers implicated in the Portsmouth bank robbery, was, at the time, the superintendent of construction of the Washington Monument. No surprise: he had to resign."

Yes, I'm annoyed every time I see references to American bank robberies originating with Western outlaws. There were many bank robberies before the 1860s--and many professional bank thieves."

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
NEW YORK'S FIRST BANK ROBBERY (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v18n12a32.html)
EARLY BANK ROBBERIES IN VIRGINIA (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v18n13a32.html)

To read the earlier CoinWeek article, see:
Excerpts from the E-Sylum: First American Bank Robberies – March 29, 2015 (www.coinweek.com/paper-money-2/paper-money-us/excerpts-from-the-e-sylum-first-american-bank-robberies-march-29-2015/)



Wayne Homren, Editor

Google
 
NBS (coinbooks.org) Web

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com

To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum

PREV ARTICLE       NEXT ARTICLE       FULL ISSUE       PREV FULL ISSUE      

V18 2015 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

Copyright © 1998 - 2020 The Numismatic Bibliomania Society (NBS)
All Rights Reserved.

NBS Home Page
Contact the NBS webmaster
coin