Last year I wrote about two bank robberies in Shelby County in 1931 and 1932. I've also written about the infamous 1926 bank robbery in Hartselle, which has never been solved. Now it's time to take a look at another 1932 bank robbery in Shelby County. All of these posts align with a longtime interest of mine in the history of crime in Alabama and the Deep South. I've even published a book about it, Criminal Activity in the Deep South: An Annotated Bibliography, 1700-1930 [Greenwood Press, 1989].
So let's see what happened at the Columbiana Savings and Trust Bank on November 3, 1932. I found an article about the crime in an old Birmingham News issue I had; that's the first one below. I found others via Newspapers.com
Early that Saturday morning the bank was robbed of $16,575.00. Luckily the financial institution was insured and promptly paid for the loss the following week.
Sidney M. Bird, 22, had worked as a bookkeeper at the bank for some 15 months in place of regular employee L.G. Lutton, who had been out sick. After the robbery, Bird told authorities he arrived at about 7 A.M. and was met by a man in a blue shirt and overalls and pointing a pistol. The man forced Bird to open the vault and then knocked him out with a blow to the head.
Actually, Bird was not being quite truthful.
The young man had set the bank vault timer to open at 4 A.M. After taking the money and hiding it under his house, he returned and hit himself a light blow in the head with a hammer.
Bird continued working at the bank, and on December 15 took the money and hid part as he drove to Birmingham to take a train to Memphis. In that city he deposited some in a bank in the form of bonds and then the remaining amount in a St. Louis bank.
He was eventually arrested in St. Louis in February 1933 and returned by officials to Columbiana. Bird had been watched and followed since the robbery. His confession helped authorities find all of the stolen money. Interest on the bonds made up for money Bird had spent.
In December 1933 he pled guilty to embezzlement and sentenced to at least seven years in the penitentiary and not more than eight. The judge suspended the sentence until January 1.
One of the articles below notes that "Bird is a member of a prominent Shelby County family and is married." Records at Ancestry.com and Find-A-Grave tell us more about Bird [1910-1999] and his family. Sidney married Mavoureen Seale [1912-1999] in Birmingham on April 20, 1931. A son Sidney Maurice Bird, Jr., was born in Columbiana on September 27, 1932; the couple had a daughter Martha Jean Bird later.
I've yet to find how long Sidney actually served, but the family remained intact. The 1940 U.S. census lists them in Calera and Sidney as working as a salesman for a paper company. The 1950 U.S. census lists Sidney as manager of a hardware and appliance store in Calera and Mavoureen as bookkeeper. In addition to the two children, her father Arthur F. Steele also lived with them. Sidney is buried in Columbiana and his wife in Calera.
The son Sidney Jr. [1932-2018] had an outstanding life. He attended Auburn and graduated from pharmacy school in 1954. After active duty with the U.S. Army, he returned to Calera and opened Bird Building Materials. He is buried in the Alabama National Cemetery in Montevallo.
Sidney's crime took place in the depth of the Great Depression, not long after his marriage and just over a month after the birth of a first child. Could financial desperation have been a factor?
Shelby County Reporter 14 December 1933
