Date: March 20, 1831
On this day with SHAC: the first bank robbery ever reported in America occurred. The robbery took place in New York City, and an estimated $245,000 was stolen by the perpetrators. Late that night, two men with a set of homemade keys approached the City Bank of New York. The keys, which had been made from wax impressions of the door locks, made it possible for the men to let themselves into the bank and then proceed to lock the doors behind them.
What happened that night is often considered the first real bank robbery in the United States, as it was an organized heist, rather than a stickup at the counter during operating hours. The two men – James Honeyman and William J. Murray – emptied the vault and several safe deposit boxes. By the morning, they had filled multiple bags with their take: approximately $245,000 in bank notes and coins. The amount stolen, if pulled off today, would be the equivalent of $52 million. Of course the press jumped on the robbery, and a $5,000 reward was rushed into the next edition of The Post.
The two men escaped the next morning, as the sun rose and the city’s night watchmen went off-duty. Carrying the loot under large capes they were wearing, they hurried away from the scene of the crime and divided the money. Honeyman took his money to a boarding house and to his brother-in-law’s home, however this behavior incited suspicion from his landlord. With his history of being involved in other robberies, it wasn’t a stretch that he was a suspect, especially once the Chief Constable in New York, Jacob Hays, heard of the heist. He immediately went to Honeyman’s residence, and confirmed his suspicions when he wasn’t there.
On March 24, Hays was summoned to the boarding house by the landlord, and after finding the rest of the money, arrested Honeyman that same day. After more investigating, the accomplice, Murray, was identified and apprehended, before being sent back to New York from his safe hold in Philadelphia. The two were sentenced to five years in New York’s Sing Sing prison.