DONNIE JOHNSTON: The Strip Poker Robbery
Recalling an unsolved mystery from the 1960s.
By Donnie Johnston
COLUMNIST
The few people who still remember the incident call it the “strip poker robbery,” and it has become a local legend.
One hot summer night in the late 1960s, eight guys were playing cards in the back room of a local tavern. It was a regular weekly game and the participants included an elderly doctor, several local businessmen, and the owner of the establishment.
About 10:30 p.m., remembered one of the card players years later, two armed men wearing ski masks slipped in the side door and approached the game. One was wielding a sawed-off shotgun while the other pointed a pistol at the group.
The man with the shotgun lightly tapped one of the players on the head with the gun barrel and said, “Put it all on the table!” Then the man handed the shotgun to his accomplice and began raking up the money.
The robbery was going pretty much as planned until the owner’s son-in-law, who had living quarters in the back of the building, heard the commotion and got up to see what was going on. He grabbed a pistol and headed into the game room with the intent of stopping the robbery.
The robber with the pistol heard him coming and hid behind the door. The son-in-law instantly saw what was happening, but could not shoot for fear of hitting one of the card players. When he hesitated, the robber behind the door hit him in the head with his pistol, sending blood running down his face.
At this point the man with the shotgun gave a stern-faced warning to the others in the room. “I do this for a living,” he said, meaning that they had better not try anything else.
Now the man with the shotgun demanded that all the card players take off their pants and put them on the table. When they had complied, the robbers bundled up the pants, cards, and money, and prepared to leave. The card players were ushered into a small back room and told to stay put. Then the robbers left.
There they were—a group of prominent citizens in their underwear wondering what to do. They couldn’t call the police because they were participating in an illegal poker game. And most had their car keys in their pants pockets so they were stranded.
Well, somehow they all managed to get home, and those with wives had a lot of explaining to do when they walked into the bedroom at midnight wearing no pants.
One wife, however, said she was not overly concerned when her husband showed up pantless.
“There was so much smoke in that room where they played that many times I’d have my husband take off his pants in the kitchen when he got home,” she said. “I didn’t want those smelly things in the bedroom.”
My buddy, who provided me with all the details, remembered that he was not too worried until the robbers hit the son-in-law in the head. Then the incident became deadly serious.
“I figured if we gave them the money, they’d leave us alone,” he said. “As far as I was concerned, they could have the money.”
The best estimate is that between $1,500 and $2,000 in cash was stolen that night, plus the value of the pants. No official report was ever made concerning the robbery, although the police found out about the robbery and attempted to find the culprits. They never did.
Only one or two of the participants would ever discuss the robbery and the man who was hit over the head said that he had nightmares about the incident the rest of his life.
Sixty years later, just who committed the great strip poker robbery remains an unsolved mystery. It probably always will.
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