31 Aug: America’s First Bank Robbery
The Bank of Pennsylvania opened to discover that an astonishing $162,821 (around $3 million today) had vanished without a trace on 31st August, 1798.
With no smashed windows, and no blown-apart safes, suspicion naturally fell on someone with inside knowledge.
But Suspect #1 in America’s first bank robbery – Patrick Lyon, a highly respected blacksmith who had recently worked on the vault’s locks – was, in fact, completely innocent. He knew who he thought the culprits were, but his decision to head to the authorities and inform them turned out to be a tragic error…
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain why the yellow fever epidemic haunted Lyon throughout; consider the naivety of the true criminal, Isaac Davis, who attempted to deposit the stolen money into his own account; and reveal how Lyon used his eventual compensation to settle some scores…
Further Reading:
• ‘A Foolish Decision Made By America’s First Bank Robber Led To His Confession’ (Grunge, 2022): https://www.grunge.com/892487/a-foolish-decision-made-by-americas-first-bank-robber-led-to-his-confession/
• ’The first major bank robbery in America happened in colonial Philadelphia and the wrong man was blamed’ (PhillyVoice, 2023): https://www.phillyvoice.com/first-bank-robbery-us-philly-carpenters-hall-patrick-lyon/
• ’The First Bank Robbery in the US Was Also the Stupidest’ (Andy J Lang, 2024): https://www.youtube.com/shorts/v-kXTgFpa7s