This woodcut of the west side of Adel’s downtown square was made shortly before the robbery of the Adel State Bank on March 6, 1895. The bank is depicted in the center and Thornton’s Drug Store is the small building next to it. The restored bank front can be seen today. Photo courtesy of Mike Flinn
March/April 2025 (Volume 17, Issue 2)
By Mike Flinn
At approximately 8:45 a.m. on March 6, 1895, two men drove their team and buggy into the town of Adel (population 1,051). Holding the reins was Orlando Poe Wilkin, a rough and hardened man who had earned the nickname “Rowdy.” He had just been released from the Minnesota State Prison after serving four years for grand larceny. Prior to that, Wilkin, 31, had spent time in the Dakotas and Montana as a cattle rustler and vagabond.
The other man was Charles Crawford, Wilkin’s callow and naïve 19-year-old cousin. Both men were residing, at the time, in the small town of Patterson in Madison County.
“There’s our bank,” Wilkin exclaimed as they passed the ornate Adel State Bank building, located on the west side of Adel’s courthouse square. “How’s your nerve?”
“Not very good,” Crawford admitted. Crawford had probably not realized what he was getting into when Wilkin convinced him to go along with him. This was the third day the two men had been traveling in search of the right bank to rob. They first set out for Indianola and intended to rob, or “go through” as Wilkin put it, a bank there. Crawford was reluctant, however, claiming that he had an aunt in town who might recognize him. They moved on to Summerset where they spent the night. The next day found them in Norwalk, which had a prosperous bank that Wilkin thought might yield them $5,000. Crawford’s lack of nerve once again caused them to move on. After an overnight stay in a barn near Van Meter, they made their way to Adel.
Newspaper headlines, like this one featured on the back cover of author Mike Flinn’s book, “Most Exciting Day,” caught the attention of readers across the nation. The shotgun used in the robbery is on display at the Adel Historical Museum although the wooden part of the gun was destroyed in the fire at the barn. Also in the museum is the front of a teller’s cage that came from the Adel State Bank.
The two bank robbers drove south past the bank to the corner of 9th and Court streets where they tied their team of horses to the rack. It was a pleasant early spring morning with the smell of wood and coal burning in heating stoves and of grain being milled a few blocks away at the mill on the Raccoon River.
With Wilkin carrying a Spencer Model 1882 slide action shotgun under his coat and Crawford carrying a cloth grain sack to put all the money in, they walked the half block back up 9th Street to the bank. S.M. Leach, the teller, and C.D. Bailey, a town merchant, were the only people in the bank. Bailey was standing at a desk on the south side of the room when the two strangers walked in. Leach had just opened the vault and was ready to carry the money for the day’s business to the counter. There was only a small sack of mostly coins already on the counter.
“I want to make a deposit,” Crawford told Leach. Leach replied that he would wait on him in a minute. Wilkin then spoke to Crawford, who turned and looked at him. Wilkin then ordered Leach to “Fill up the sack and be quick about it.” Leach misunderstood and supposed that he was still addressing his remarks to Crawford instead of him, Bailey recounted later. When Leach hesitated, Wilkin shot him. Leach was three or four feet away from the barrel of the shotgun and was struck in the left shoulder. Wilkin then turned and shot at Bailey, hitting him under the chin and on the top of his left shoulder. As Bailey was falling to the floor, Wilkin quickly worked the slide of the shotgun and fired again. The shot perforated Bailey’s neck, exposed the jawbone, and nearly annihilated his collar, tie and shirt bosom.
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