Darlington - bank - robbed
Source: Lafayette Journal and Courier Mon 9 March 1970 p 1
Darlington – A bank president, locked by robbers in a vault with three employees and a woman customer today was able to shout to another customer how to open the door. Mike Cohee, Darlington mechanic freed the prisoner about 15 minutes after two gunmen fled with a brown cloth bag full of money. Cohee entered and found the Darlington Farmer & Merchant State Bank deserted then heard pounding on the vault door. President PH Larrick, customer Mrs. Herbert Royer of Darling and the three bank employees were not in the vault long enough to suffer any discomfort. Larrick said two, 6’ men entered the bank at 9:15 a.m. 15 minutes after it opened and one said, “This is a holdup.,” He said both were armed with 45 caliber pistols. Darlington is about 7 miles northeast of Crawfordsville. Montgomery County Sheriff Clarence Demoret said a check of funds showed that $4,091 was copped from cash drawers. The bank safe is on a timed device and had not opened. Other employees locked in the vault with Larrick were Miss Marirovene Thompson who is the Journal and Courier’s Darlington correspondent; Elizabeth Love, assistant cashier and Ernest Coffing. State police and FBI agents found a red car used in the robbery abandoned several miles from here. It carried a license plate said to be stolen from a Thorntown man. Authorities said a local man passing the bank saw the two robbers enter the bank and recorded the license plate number from the car they parked nearby.