Muhlenberg County Kentucky

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News

Robert Bennewitz, Guffy Childers, &c.

11 March 1928

Herrin Youth Held as Suspected Robber

Centralia, March 11 - Robert Bennewitz, Herrin youth held by county officers under suspicion of being one of the three unmasked robbers that held up George Brewers in a pool room at Glen Bridge last Sunday, was released from the Marion county jail at Salem Saturday under $2,000 bond.

Brewers was shot and seriously wounded during the holdup, but is expected to recover.

The car which Bennewitz was driving when arrested, was positively identified by witnesses as the machine used by the robbers, though they failed to identify the driver.

2 January 1934

Woman Arrested In Bank Robbery

Greenville, Ky., Jan. 1 - Ollie Ortkiese, 22 years old, a pretty blonde who is accused of being an accessory to the holdup of the Citizens Bank of South Carrollton last November 20, was arrested today at Cloverport by Deputy Sheriff W.C. Pate of Breckinridge County, and delivered to County Judge Peck O'Neill here tonight.

The Ortkiese woman is the fifth person under arrest in the bank robbery. Robert Bennewitz and Guffy Childers of Muhlenberg County were arrested December 2. Bennewitz was at Wilkinsburg, Penn., at the time of his arrest and Childers was in Muhlenberg County. One week later, Voris Frye, 34, who gave his home address as Memphis, Tenn., and Claire McAlister, 26, were arrested at Akron, Ohio. The McAlister woman said her home was in Prentice, Wis.

In the bank holdup, two men held up the cashier and bookkeeper while a third man remained in a car in front of the building. Approximately $1,400 was secured by the bandits.

19 January 1934

Three are indicted in bank robbery
Three men charged with holding up and robbing Citizens Bank, So. Carrollton
Two women are involved

Indictments against three men, charging them with bank robbery in connection with the holdup and robbery of the Citizen's Bank, at South Carrollton, last November 20, and against two women, accusing them of banding and confederating together for the purpose of committing a felony, were returned by the grand jury. The five will be given trials in the Muhlenberg circuit court Wednesday, January 24.

The men indicted for the bank robbery are Robert Bennewitz, 35, and Guffy Childers, 25, both of Muhlenberg county, and Voris Frye, 34, who gave his home address as Memphis, Tenn. The women, who officers believe aided the three alleged bank robbers to get out of Muhlenberg county immediately after the robbery, are Mrs. Ollie Ortkiese, 22, of Muhlenberg county and Clarice McAllister, 26, who gave her home address as Prentice, Wis.

Three unmasked men held up Irvin Barnes, cashier of the bank and Lilburn Noffsinger, bookkeeper, and escaped with about $1,150. Two of the robbers went inside the bank, while the third said to have been Childers, remained on the outside. After taking money, the robbers forced Noffsinger to get into their automobile with them. They carried him about a mile from So. Carrollton, in the direction of Central City, and put him out of the car.

Bennewitz and Childers were arrested last December 2. Bennewitz was at Wilkinsburg, Pa., and Childers was at Martwick, Muhlenberg county. One week later Frye and the McAllister woman were taken into custody at Akron, Ohio, and Mrs. Ortkiese was arrested at Cloverport, January 1.

Bennewitz and Frye were identified as two of the robbers by Barnes and Noffsinger, and Childers was identified by two South Carrollton citizens who saw him standing outside the bank, while the robbery was in progress.

26 January 1934

Draws 13-Year Term.
Tennessean Pleads Guilty of Having Robbed Bank.

Greenville, Ky., January 25 - - Morris Frye, 34 years old, who gave his address as Memphis, Tenn., pleaded guilty of bank robbery when arraigned in Muhlenberg Circuit Court today and was sentenced to serve 13 years in the state penitentiary.

Frye, with Robert Bennewitz, 35, and Guffy Childers, 25, of Muhlenberg County, were indicted in the hold-up of the Citizens' Bank at South Carrollton last November. The robbers escaped with about $1,150. Bennewitz and Childers are scheduled for trail this week. Mrs. Ollie Ortkiese, 22, of this county, and Clair McAllister, 26, who gave her address as Prentice, Wis., are held on charges of having aided the hold-up.

21 April 1934

Nine-Year Term Is Fate.

Third Man Convicted in South Carrollton Bank Robbery.

Greenville, Ky., April 20 - - Guffy Childers, 25 years old, of Muhlenberg County, was convicted of bank robbery in connecton with the hold-up and robbery of the Citizens' Bank at South Carrollton, by three men last November 20, in Muhlenberg Circuit Court today and sentenced to nine years in the penitentiary.

Robert Bennewitz, 35, of Muhlenberg County, already is serving 17 years, and Voris Frye, 34, Memphis, Tenn., 13 years, in the same case.

Childers, said to have remained outside while the robbery was in progress, was identified by two South Carrollton citizens.

Two women, Claire McAllister, 26, Prentice, Wis., and Mrs. Ollie Ortkiese, 22, of Muhlenberg county, charged with having aided in the robbery, have not been tried.

6 May 1934

Four Flee From Jail.

Greenville, Ky., May 5 - Four men, two of whom are under sentences for bank robbery, escaped from Muhlenberg County Jail here tonight by sawing away part of the bars. Among those who escaped are Robert Bennewitz, 35 years old, and Guffy Childers, 25, convicted at the January term of Muhlenberg Circuit Court on a charge of having held up and robbed the Citizen' Bank of South Carrollton of $1,500 in November.

6 May 1934

4 Men Escape From Jail at Greenville
2 Convicted Bank Bandits in Group Sawing Way Out.

Greenville, Ky., May 5 - Four men, two of whom are under sentences for bank robbery, escaped from the Muhlenberg County Jail here tonight by sawing away some of the bars on the “bull pen” window on the ground floor of the building. Immediately after the break was discovered, county officers, assisted by the Greenville town marshal, started a search for the men.

Those who escaped were:

Robert Bennewitz, 35 years old, convicted at the January term of Muhlenberg Circuit Court on a charge of holding up and robbing the Citizens Bank of South Carrollton of $1,500 last November, and sentenced to seventeen years in prison.

Guffy Childers, 25, convicted last week of having taken part in the South Carrollton bank robbery and sentenced to nine years in prison. At the January term of court Childers was convicted on a storehouse breaking charge and sentenced to seven years in prison.

Owen Blake, 23, who was being held on an automobile theft charge.

Osby Shelton, 19, convicted last week of housebreaking and sentenced to two years in prison.

Bennewitz was arrested at Wilkinsburg, Penn., last December and Childers was arrested in Muhlenberg County on the bank robbery charge. A third man, Voris Frye, Memphis, Tenn., was arrested at Akron, Ohio, and now is in the Eddyville Penitentiary serving a thirteen-year sentence for robbery.

2 June 1934

Officers Seek Trio Wanted for Murder.

Morgantown, Ky., June 1. - - One of the most intensive man hunts ever conducted along Green river in Butler, Ohio, and Muhlenberg counties continued tonight for Robert Bennewitz, 35; Guffy Childers, 35, escaped Muhlenberg county bank bandits, and their woman companion, Mrs. Ollie Ortkiese, an attractive blonde, who are wanted for the murder of one man and serious wounding of another near Mining City late Thursday.

While the body of one of the victims, W.P. Minnick, 60, a farm employe, lay unclaimed in an undertaking establishment here, and the other victim, Jeff Doolin, 40, farm owner, remained in a critical condition from shotgun wounds in his face, neck and shoulders, about 125 officers from the three counties and possemen followed the trail of the alleged killers today. Tonight approximately half that number remained on the job.

This afternoon the officers located an automobile in which the trio fled from the scene of the shooting.

5 June 1934

Escaped Bank Bandit Gives Up In Slaying
Guffy Childers put in Muhlenberg jail; Robert Bennewitz still sought.

Greenville, Ky., June 4 - Tired and hungry after hiding out in the Jacob Creek Bottoms of Muhlenberg County since Friday, the day after he and a companion are accused of fatally shooting W.P. Minnick, 60-year-old Butler County farmer, and wounding another man seriously, Guffy Childers, escaped bank bandit, surrended to C.F. Lewis, a private citizen of Cleaton, and was delivered to the Muhlenberg County Jail here tonight.

Childers was accompanied by his attorney, W.O. Smith, Central City, who had gone to Childers' hiding place at the latter's request and urged him to surrender.

Robert Bennewitz, 25, accused jointly with Childers of murder, remains at large. He was wounded, supposedly seriously, in the exchange of shots which resulted in the death of Minnick. Information that Bennewitz is alive has been received here. Mrs. Ollis Ortkiese, alleged to have been a companion of Childers and Bennewitz, who was arrested Saturday, said Bennewitz was injured crritically and expressed fear he had succumbed.

Officers at Morgantown were expected to come here for Childers tomorrow.

Bennewitz and Childers sawed their way out of the Muhlenberg County jail on May 5. They were awaiting delivery to the Eddyville Penitentiary to serve sentences for the robbery of the Citizens Bank of South Carrollton last November.

5 June 1934

Bank Robber, Slayer Sent to Eddyville

Greenville, Ky., June 5 - Guffy Childers, alleged bank robber and slayer, was sent today to the penitentiary at Eddyville to serve a bank robbery sentence. He surrended at Cleaton last night after several days hiding in Jacob Creek bottoms.

Robert Bennewitz, wanted with Childers in the fatal shooting of W.P. Minnick Thursday, remains at large.

28 January 1936

Escaped Convict Going Back to a Cell, Despite His ‘Death’
Fugitive Bank Robber Is Betrayed by an Informer

Robert Beck, tall Kentuckian who returned to life from an official “death,” will go back to Kentucky to serve a seventeen-year prison term for bank robbery.

Records of Kentucky police state that Beck was killed in 1932 in a gun battle with a posse of farmers after escaping jail at Greenville, Ky.

An informer betrayed Beck's secret Sunday, and he was arrested by police of the McClellan Station. His identity was established through fingerprints and a scar.

Information from Kentucky revealed that Beck, alias Bennewitz, and two companions had been convicted of robbing a bank in Morgantown, Ky.

Beck told Detroit police that after the jail break, he was badly wounded in the fight with the posse and one of the farmers was killed.

He and the other two stole an automobile to complete their escape, but when his companions discovered he was so seriously hurt, they dumped him out of the car.

After his recovery, he made his way to Detroit, where he has lived for three years. He was employed at a wheel factory. Beck waived extradition.

The others were recaptured and returned to prison. One of them was given a ninety-year terms for shooting the farmer. Beck, who denies the bank robbery, said that the farmer was shot by another member of the posse.

2 Feb 1936

Robert Bennewitz, convicted of robbing the Bank of South Carrollton in 1933, who escaped from the Greenville jail, has been arrested in Detroit. He was under a seventeen-year sentence.

Updated April 5, 2024.

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