293 - Prairie Posse Gazebo

It had been nearly fifty years since a bank robbery was reported in Nelson County. And if one robbery wasn’t enough to rattle their quiet corner of the Upper Midwest, they endured a string of robberies over the course of three months. Imagine the uneasiness and shock the community felt when a ski mask wearing man with a gun, knocked off three of the county’s six banks, one of which was robbed twice in less than two weeks. Needless to say, people in Nelson County got angry.

Captain Harold Spruell was captured after holding up the bank in Aneta, a rural crossroads that, at the time, was home to 300 people. By this time, the residents were plum tired of being robbed. Several angry citizens took off after the fleeing suspect in cars and pickup trucks. When Captain Spruell was finally arrested nearly 65 miles away, the pursuers had snowballed to include more than 100 people, including volunteers, law enforcement officers, and farmers, a chase that points to local pride and protecting beloved communities.

The spree of bank robberies began in October of 1982 when more than $7,000.00 was taken from the tiny bank in Michigan. A month later, the bank in Gilby was robbed. Then, the Aneta bank was hit, once on December 22, 1982 and again on January 4, 1983, with more than $11,000.00 taken from the two holdups. Captain Spruell was charged with all but the Michigan bank robbery, though, according to police, he was their only suspect.

The Prairie Posse Gazebo memorializes those volunteers, who, because of community pride, bravely pursued the suspect.