One hundred years ago, the First National Bank on Poplar Avenue in Castle Shannon was robbed and two bank cashiers were killed in a gunfight that has been compared to the 1892 shootout with the infamous Dalton brothers in Coffeyville, Kan.
To observe the 100th anniversary of what has been dubbed the “Great Castle Shannon Bank Robbery,” the borough will hold a re-enactment of the heist that took place on May 14, 1917.
The Aug. 18 event will consist of a free walking tour starting at the brick building with white columns that once housed the bank and still stands today. The tour will end at Myrtle Avenue Elementary School, where one of the robbers will stand trial.
Volunteers and members of the South Hills Players community theater group will act out scenes from the robbery, using a script that David Grande of the South Hills Players wrote based on a 1,500-page document from a transcript of the actual trial.
“At the end, we will have a verdict,” Mr. Grande said, adding that someone from the audience will be selected to read the verdict aloud.
“We’re encouraging people to come in costume if they can,” borough Councilman Mark Warhold said, adding that dressing for the 1917 time period will add authenticity to the re-enactment.
The event will include a barbershop quartet and other entertainment.
According to accounts of the crime, the robbers were Mishka Titoff, a Russian immigrant who worked in a McKeesport plant, and his accomplices, Sam Barcons, Haraska Garason and John Tush.The getaway driver was Nick Kemanos.
Bank cashiers Daniel H.A. McLean, 45, and Frank Erbe, 32, were shot to death in a failed attempt to shoot back at the gunmen.
Kemanos, who owned the 1917 Maxwell getaway car, was paid $7 for his part in the heist and claimed he was just the unsuspecting chauffeur in the job. He was ordered by the rest of the crew to park in front of Dr. Louis Brown’s home on Castle Shannon Boulevard.
According to local historian Edd Hale, the town had no local law enforcement at the time. So, hearing the gunfire, residents quickly armed themselves and formed a posse to try and catch the culprits. The posse included George Beltzhoover, a local justice of the peace, and J.J. Doyle, a local pharmacist.
After being chased, the four robbers split into two pairs. Barcons and Tush headed toward the then-Castle Shannon Golf Club, which is now the Mt. Lebanon Golf Course, cutting through neighborhood yards on the way.Tush ended up killing himself, and Barcons ran toward the Sleepy Hollow area of Castle Shannon, where he was trapped by the neighborhood group.
Barcons tried to kill himself, but the bullet went straight through is brain and exited out of the top of his skull. He lived, and the group took him back to town.
The other two bandits, racing toward the getaway car, exchanged gunfire with resident Nicholas Yost. The pair got away in the car, eventually going their separate ways from their driver, Kemanos, and escaping with $9,000.
Kemanos was eventually caught on Greentree Road and returned to Castle Shannon.
Barcons, in critical condition from shooting himself, was taken to South Side Hospital. He would later plead guilty to first-degree murder for the deaths of the two bank cashiers and was executed on Jan. 13, 1919, at Rockview Penitentiary in Bellefonte.
Kemanos was tried separately for the two slayings and was acquitted in one but convicted in the other. He tried appealing the decision to the state Supreme Court but died of influenza before the court could rule.
Sign-ups for the Aug. 18 walking tour will begin at 6 p.m. at Poplar and Willow avenues. Tours will run every 15 minutes, from 6:15 through 7:45 p.m., with the event culminating with the trial around 8:15 p.m. in the gym at Myrtle Avenue Elementary School.
Local videographer Charles Christ has been documenting the planning for the re-enactment, which has been going on for months, and has created a teaser trailer to promote the event.
Deana Carpenter, freelance writer: suburbanliving@post-gazette.com.
First Published: August 4, 2017, 3:08 p.m.
