Ask Mr. Answer Person: "When was the last bank robbery in Winneshiek County?"

David e-mails: "When was the last time a bank in the Decorah area was robbed?  I've lived in the area for most of the past 60 years and I can't remember one."

Mr. Answer Person says: The Winneshiek County Historical Society is of the opinion that the last bank robbery in Winneshiek County occurred 84 years ago.  Here are the facts:

On Wednesday, April 22nd of 1931, two robbers entered the Burr Oak Savings Bank.  The robbers tied up the three people who were in the bank--and tied up another five people who entered the bank as the holdup was on.

The robbers took around $1,000 in cash, ran out of the bank building and made their getaway in a car parked one block away.

Here's where the story gets interesting.  A report of the bank robbery came into the First National Bank of Mabel nearby.  Two employees of the bank--Elbertus White and his brother, C.M. White, left the bank and headed to the biplane that they owned, which was parked nearby.

At that time in 1931 it was unusual to see airplanes.  So it must have been quite a sight when the two brothers raced around Northeast Iowa and Southeastern MInnesota at speeds up to 100 miles an hour, searching wooded areas and roads, looking for the bank robbers and their getaway car.

The two bankers flew a total of around 150 miles looking for the robbers--but didn't have any success.

But because Burr Oak Savings Bank employees were able to provide police with a good description of the robbers, the two suspects were eventually located in Wausau, Wisconsin.  They were returned to Iowa and eventually were sentenced to life in prison.