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September 7, 1893 -
Farmers & Merchants Bank Robbery
On September 7, 1893
the McCarty brothers, Tom and Bill, along with Bill’s son Fred rode into
Delta, Colorado to rob the Farmers & Merchants Bank. It would be the
last trip father and son would ever make, and Tom McCarty would be haunted
by the events for the rest of his life.
Once they reached the
bank, Fred stayed outside with the horses while Tom and Bill entered the
bank. When the cashier, Andrew Blachly, looked up and saw the two armed
bandits inside the bank he immediately screamed for help. Tom McCarty
leaped over the counter and slammed his gun into Blachly’s ribs,
silencing any further pleas for help. Blachly’s assistant, H.H. Wolbert,
wisely remained silent from the moment he saw the outlaws.
The McCarty’s went
about gathering the money when, against all logic, Blachly started yelling
again. This time he was silenced…permanently. Tom McCarty was not a man
to cross twice, when he yelled the second time McCarty shot Blachly and
Wolbert. Though badly wounded, Wolbert would live to see another day,
Blachly died on the spot. The McCarty’s ran out of the bank, mounted their
horses and made a run for it.
Hearing
the gunshots, Ray Simpson of W.G. Simpson & Son Hardware rushed outside with his rifle. As the outlaws rode
past, Simpson took careful aim and shot one of the robbers square in the
temple, killing him instantly. The dead bandit, said to be Bill
McCarty,
slumped over his horse, but managed to stay on for a short distance before
falling to the ground. His son, seeing that his father was in trouble,
paused as if to turn back and help his dad. That was all the time needed
for Simpson to fire another shot, hitting Fred McCarty in the forehead.
Father and son died minutes apart. Meanwhile Tom McCarty never stopped,
never looked back and raced out of town. After escaping a pursuing posse,
McCarty left the outlaw life that took his brother and nephew and lived as
a virtual recluse for the rest of his life.
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