Creative History

  In the darkness before dawn on October 27, 1878 a group of armed masked men stormed into the lobby of the Manhattan Savings Institution located on the corner of Broadway and Bleecker Street. The robbers held janitor Louis Werckle and his family, who resided overnight on the bank’s premises, hostage.  While Werckle’s wife and mother-in-law are held at gunpoint the janitor is forced to use his keys to open the outer door to the bank’s vault. After gaining access to the vault the masked gunmen hogtie and gag Werckle and the women and set to work using an advanced set of safe cracking tools.  Within moments the largest bank robbery in the history of the United States is over.  The group of masked gunmen quietly slip away through a back door to the bank carrying with them money and securities valued at an astonishing $3.5 million dollars! Only hours later the blaring headline on the frontpage of The New York Times for October 28, 1878 reads:  A GREAT BANK RO...