Book Review – Santa Claus Bank Robbery by Tui Snider

I decided I would really love this book from the very opening when the author talked about going to that delightful restaurant that serves family-style meals. She and her husband sat down next to a cowboy who passed them a bowl of fried chicken and told them that they had to try the fried squash, too. “It’s grown fresh by the owners outback.”

One can learn so much about a place by sitting down at a restaurant like that.

When first hearing about this book, I thought it was going to be a farce, or perhaps a fun illustrated children’s book, and what a surprise it was to find out that it’s based on real incidents. The author did extensive research to ferret out the story of the robbery and the attempts to catch the robbers.

More bank robberies occurred during the 1920s than in the era of the Wild West

While the book focuses mainly on one robbery, Santa Claus Bank Robbery has other interesting historical facts about bank robberies in Texas, one of which is the fact that more bank robberies occurred during the 1920s than in the era of the wild West. I did not know that. The legend of Jesse James and his gang  had me believing otherwise.

Scattered throughout the book are images of clippings from newspaper stories about different bank robberies, as well as photographs of key people involved with either one of the gangs or somebody who worked in law enforcement at the time.  These images add another layer of interest, especially for people like me who love to dig through musty old photographs to see the people and places of long ago.

In addition to all the fascinating glimpses into what life was like for the people of the time, was reference to the book by A.C. Greene, written about the robbery and events surrounding it. Tui Snider points out that much of Greene’s accounting was fictionalized, and he failed to include important facts in his recounting of the robbery.

According to documentation that the author found, the Santa Claus Gang was comprised of four men, and the leader wore a costume to look like the Jolly Old Elf when robbing banks. A six-year-old girl and her mother foiled one robbery when they came into the bank and the mother saw what was going on. The mother continued to walk toward the back of the bank, ignoring the shout from one robber to stop. When guns were pulled, the girl cried out, “They’re going to shoot Santa Claus.”

Continuing to ignore the robbers, the mother walked through the bank and out the back door. She told people on the street that the bank was being robbed, and those people ran to get help. Afterward, the little girl told reporters that she knew, “That wasn’t really old Santa Claus, for I saw his pants and they were just like Papa’s.”

I thoroughly enjoyed the Santa Claus Bank Robbery.  It has the history that always interests me, and the added element of looking at a true crime. Readers who enjoy the same elements in a book, will want to grab this one. And don’t forget to enter the giveaway.