From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)
Negro and Blackface Bank Robbers in Kentucky: 1919, 1921, and 1953
(start date: 1921 - end date: 1953)Prior to the 1960s, it was exceedingly rare for an African American to be accused, arrested, and sentenced for robbing a bank in Kentucky. There were three incidents between 1919 and 1953.
The first, in September of 1919, occurred at the Smith Mills Deposit Bank in Henderson County, KY. The bank clerk, Miss Margaret Lilly, said that she was alone in the bank when two men entered the bank. The white man pointed a pistol at her and she as placed in the vault. When Libby was rescued from the vault, she said that one of the men was white and the other may have been a Negro because he had a black face, or his face was painted black, or he had a black mask over his face. The bank was robbed of $3,670 in cash and $1,500 in war bonds.
The police arrested 23-year-old John Dossett, who was seen leaving the bank at the time of the robbery. Dossett had been Ms. Lilly's boyfriend. She told the press that she was sure that Dossett was innocent and it had been the Negro who robbed the bank. A day or so after the robbery, John Dossett returned the money and bonds and confessed to robbing the bank. There was no evidence of a Negro accomplice. After two years of undecided deliberations, the grand larceny charges against John Dossett were dismissed.
The second bank robbery incident occurred in Greensburg, KY, at the Greensburg Deposit Bank in 1921. Earl Chaudoin, an 18-year-old African American, pled guilty to the indictment charge of breaking into the bank. Chaudoin was sentenced to two years in prison. It was only the beginning of his many run-ins with the law. Earl Chaudoin was the son of Thomas and Janie Durrett Chaudoin. Earl Chaudoin died in 1937 from a gunshot wound to the chest.
The third bank robbery occurred in Mayfield, KY, at the Bank of Farmington. Hubert Johnson, from Wingo, KY, was arrested for the robbery and placed in the Graves County Jail. Johnson was said to have admitted to the robbery, and led police in the retrieval of $870 remaining from the $950 stolen from the bank. The assistant cashier at the bank, Mrs. Connie Pierce, identified the robber as a Negro or as a man with a blackened face who pointed a pistol at her and asked for the cash.
The police were said to have found Johnson's car on the side of the highway, and when they compared the license plate on the car to the license plate number reported to have been on the getaway vehicle, the police were led to Johnson.
Hubert Johnson was not an African American man, though newspapers continued to identify him as a Negro. He pled guilty at his arraignment and told how he had blackened his face before entering the bank with a .32 caliber pistol. After the robbery, the police found Johnson in Water Valley, he was in a gravel pit with his hands bound. Johnson told the police that a Negro had stolen his car and bound his hands. Johnson later admitted the story was a hoax and led police to Bush Creek Bridge where the $870 were found, as was the pistol used in the bank holdup. Hubert Johnson was sentenced to life in prison.
The question of why there were so few African American bank robbers in Kentucky was published in The Mayfield Messenger newspaper, 27 August 1934, front page. "Have you ever stopped to think that you rarely hear of a negro bank robber or car stealer or moonshiner?"
According to the 1984 Federal Statistics Bulletin, "The typical bank robber is a young, unemployed male recidivist, somewhat more likely to be black than white." As the number of bank robberies overall began to increase, so too has the number of African American bank robbers. There is not a statistical breakdown of how many bank robberies in Kentucky were committed by an African American person (male or female).
At this time, there is no comprehensive historical data on bank robbers who wore blackface paint, black makeup, or had their face covered in a blackface mask. Though, there continue to be reports in modern day media of bank robbers wearing these types of disguises. There is the question: Has the blackface disguise contributed to the assumption that more African Americans rob banks in the United States than persons of other races?
Sources:
"More about bank robbery, Smith Mills." Henderson Daily Journal, 05 September 1919, front page & p.3; "Smith Mills bank robber locked up his best girl's heart in 1919." The Gleaner, 01 September 2019, p.6A.
"Negro bank robber sentenced." The Courier-Journal, 09 December 1921, p.4; "Bank robber gets off with two years in pen." The Lexington Leader, 09 December 1921, second section, p.8; Earl Chaudoin, Kentucky Death Certificate, File no.18327 (Ancestry.com)
"Negro bank robber is caught, $870 recovered." Kentucky New Era, 10 November 1953, front page; "Bank Robber." Image caption in The Mayfield Messenger, 10 November 1953, front page; "Farmer - Bank Robber gets life sentence." Kentucky New Era, 14 December 1953, front page.
Federal Statistics Bulletin - Bank Robbery, NCJ Number: 94463, 1984 (online abstract). U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs; The Losers' Game: A Sociological Profile of 500 Armed Bank Robbers, by James Francis Haran. ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI8219245. (online); Nasya Hammond-Watson and Verneda P. Hamm Baugh. "Racial Bias in Offender Identification," Modern Psychological Studies, v.21, no.2, article 12. (online at University of Tennessee Chattanooga Scholar).