Rebecca Bradley – Girl Bandit was called Miss Modesty in High School. Her mother Grace was employed by the State Department of Insurance and had been a Deputy Sherriff in Fort Worth for four years while Rebecca was in High School. Rebecca graduated with a BA in History in 1925. All she needed at this point was a thesis on American History to receive her Masters. Rebecca was the stenographer for the Texas Attorney General Dan Moody, who would be the Governor the following month.
To rob the Farmer’s National Bank of Buda, Rebecca posed as a newspaper reporter, chatting freely with the customers and bank officials asking questions about the local cotton crops and other farm activities, taking notes all the time. She got behind the cage with the excuse of borrowing their typewriter, held up Cashier F.A. Jamison and Bookkeeper Wayman Howe at gun point and left with $1,000.00 in $5 bills.
She then locked the two men in the vault, after telling them she hoped that they had enough fresh air. She left taking the back roads back to Austin. About 5 miles out from Austin her car got stuck and Dairyman Frank Hill, pulled her out with a team.
She washed her car and returned to her mother’s home where she took $910.00, the automatic pistol, which she emptied of cartridges, but not the bullet in the firing chamber and mailed them to herself in Austin in care of the University office. Rebecca registered the package with a value of $5. At 5:00 pm she returned to the car wash to pick up her car and was arrested.
“That was a nice little girl when I left her. I talked to her for 10 or 15 minutes. I asked her if she was single, she said she was. She appeared to be 18 or 19 and had a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eyes.” stated J.J. Lauderdale, one of the bank customers that she interviewed.
“Yes, I’d call her pretty. Now, I don’t what kind of clothes she wore. I couldn’t even tell you how short her dress was. She was neatly dressed — I guess that tells it. She kept looking over there at Wayman Howe, behind the counter and smiling. So, I said to her, You kinda like that boy, don’t you? ‘Yes, he’s good looking.’ Then I told her he had another asset that he was pretty well fixed. ‘Well, she smiled, that’s the kind to get!”‘
“She was pretty good at the typewriter. She’d make a good stenographer. I guess she had written on a page when I stepped over into the vault for something. “F.A. Jamison told the press.
All three of the men that talked to her described her as between 18 and 20, 5’2, has a round face and weighed about 115 pounds. The men were in the vault for about 10 minutes.
One of them found a screwdriver and began hammering on the door. L.L. Carter the manager of the Independent Gin company entered the bank heard the tapping went over to the vault and tried to open it. When he couldn’t he telephoned W.M. Woods the former president of the bank who came over to the bank right away and opened the vault.
The bank was insured so will suffer no loss. This was the second time that the bank was robbed. It had been robbed at night a few years earlier when a gang captured the night watchman and made him open the vault, so Rebecca Bradley – Girl Bank Robber wasn’t the only one who found it to be an easy mark!
Rebecca had been charged with robbery with a firearm. She was taken to the Buda City Hall where she was identified by Jamison and Howe.
John Cofer her attorney was described often in the newspapers as youthful and flashily dressed. Cofer received a writ of Habeas Corpus from the court of appeals at 1:00 am. Cofer and Grace rushed to San Marcos, arriving at 3:00 am.
Chief Deputy Sherriff R.F. Magruder had to be wakened up and finally appeared and started going through all the paperwork. Finally, the paperwork was sent to County Attorney Neighbors who refused to go to the Police Station in the middle of the night.
The sheriff tells Cofer that he’s too late. He has the money, the gun, and the confession. Although Rebecca was short $71.70 of the money. She told the Sherriff that she had gotten herself into trouble and she would get herself out of it. She didn’t want her mother spending any money on her. “That girl sure has spunk!” the Sherriff told the attorney.
At 6:00 am Cofer and the Sherriff went into the conference room to discuss Rebecca’s release. Cofer threatened to call the judge in Austin to begin contempt proceedings. Finally, the Sherriff left to get Rebecca. Grace was called from the automobile. As she walked into the police station she was confronted by a reporter. She told him, “I cannot, have not, and will not talk to any newspaperman. I wish to speak with my daughter.”
Rebecca, Grace and Cofer then went into the conference room. Rebecca and Grace were told by Cofer to talk to no one. It should be noted that Rebecca wore a felt hat, a brown coat, a simple Scotch plain dress, black silk hose, mud-smeared black satin slippers, and no make-up. Although called the “Flapper Bandit” by the Press Rebecca has never used rouge or lipstick, never smoked a cigarette, never rolled her stockings. She was very naïve and unaware of the seriousness of her position.
Becca refused to leave the jail in Hays County when her mother, Attorney John Cofer and R. Early Wilson showed up with the bail to free her until the Hearing. “I’m where I belong. I’ll look out for myself and get out of this the best way I can.” Finally, her mother convinced her to go home to Austin with her. Her bond was set at $5,000.00 which was paid by Mayor P.W. McFadden of Austin and Charles Ramsdell, Professor of History at the University of Texas, from where Rebecca had graduated.
So, with all this drama going on, more pops up! Otis Rogers an attorney from Amarillo was headed for Austin. On the way he stopped at a newspaper office and asked if there was any news on the “Flapper Holdup Case”. He then told the reporters that his name was CJ Morris, but one of the reporters recognized him as Otis Rogers an attorney in Amarillo. “I’m her husband” he told the press.
Grace was totally surprised when this newspaper called her for confirmation! “This is a terrible mistake, that couldn’t be!” She left the phone for a few minutes probably to consult with Rebecca and returned to tell them that it was a mistake. She declined to let Rebecca speak to the reporters.
Rebecca denied that she was married to Otis Roberts or anyone else. She told the reporters, “They are dragging my friends into it now. I have gone with four or five other boys, and suppose they’ll be dragging them in some way or another. There’s certainly some error about this marrying business.”
Otis Rogers spoke with the Associated Press and told them that he was married to Rebecca. He was sitting in John Cofer’s office at with Rebecca at the time. Grace told the press that it was a complete surprise to her.
Otis’s statement to the press read, “Rebecca Bradley is my wife. She and I were secretly married October 28, 1925 at Georgetown, Texas. She and I were students at the University of Texas at the time, and I later received my law degree on June, 1926 and went to Amarillo to start the practice of law. She did not go with me because I was just beginning my practice and was financially unable to provide her a home there. She remained in Austin to finish her work toward her M.A. degree. As soon as I heard of the charges against her I came immediately to Austin to assist her.”
Otis had also attended High School in Fort Worth and he and Rebecca were High School sweethearts. Rebecca told the reporters, “I am glad to see my husband.”
“She did not even send a telegram that she was in trouble,” Otis replied.
“Well, you didn’t send me any telegrams, like some of my ex-beaus did.” she quipped.
“Darn the ex-beaus, I came instead of sending a telegram,” Otis replied with a smile.