The Journal-Record - Bicentennial Edition Thursday, July 1, 1976 Section D, Page 10 MARION COUNTY BANKING ROBBED IN OCTOBER OF 1973 [Editor's Note: Below is an account of the robbery of Marion County Banking Company in Hamilton in October of 1973.] In a statement from WOOD, the following is what occurred. Mr. and Mrs. WOOD had attended church in Hamilton Methodist Church Sunday night and as they returned they noticed the door from the garage into the house was unlocked. He thought he might have forgotten to lock it or pull it closed when they left. As they entered the house, two hooded men took charge of he and his wife and carried them into the utility room where they were tied and their eyes taped. According to WOOD, they were then taken into the living room and their feet were untied. This was about 8:30 p.m. Some time later, their son, Freddie, a Senior at Hamilton High School, came home and although WOOD could not see him, he entered the room and he told him to do whatever the men told him to do that this was "one of those situations we have talked about happening." A third man joined the two holding the family hostage and they stayed the night. WOOD said they were told by the armed men that if they cooperated they would not be hurt. He also said there was no harassment or threats. At about 6 a.m. Monday, one of the men took Mrs. WOOD and Freddie out of the house. About 15 minutes later, WOOD was instructed to drive to the bank, which he did with one of the armed men lying on the floorboard in the front of the automobile and the other in the rear seat. At the bank, the robbers had to wait on the time vault to open shortly before 8 a.m. Hightower MILLICAN, was the first employee to arrive for work that morning. As he and each of the other employees arrived, they were placed in the bank's luncheon area and told to remain there. At five minutes before 8, the vault was opened and the two armed men forced two bank employees to take the money in sacks and place it in the waiting car. When this was done, they left WOOD at the bank and set out for their rendezvous with the man holding the hostages. Details are not clear as to how the meeting of the two robbers and their accomplice with Mrs. WOOD and Freddie came about. However, it is believed they met at North Fork Creek, where Mrs. WOOD and Freddie were taken in the trunk of an automobile and later put out in the woods, still loosely tied and with their eyes taped. They managed to free themselves and walk t the highway (43 North) where they were picked up by a State employee traveling into Hamilton and arrived home unharmed. Officers said vehicles involved were a 1972 Chevrolet later found abandoned at North Fork, a 1973 Oldsmobile, and at last report the trio was believed traveling north on Highway 43 in a Pontiac. WOOD, who has been in the banking business for 19 years, said this was the first time anything like this had happened. Like most bankers, he said he had always lived with the knowledge that it could happen and had tried to "discipline himself for such a situation." He also praised Birmingham Trust for immediately coming to the bank rescue with money to operate. The bank remained closed Monday while investigators and auditors worked there throughout the day. Marion County Banking Co. is located on highway 278 west in downtown Hamilton, and is a member of the Alabama Financial Group. HOSTAGES RETURNED Gene EMERSON resident of Hamilton and an employee of the Alabama State Highway Department, was one of the state employees who had to report to work in Florence Columbus Day as luck would have it though, when he arrived, he was given the remainder of the day off. As he crossed North Fork Creek Bridge and started up the hill and around the curve, he noticed a woman and a teenage boy coming out of the woods near an old logging road. They flagged the vehicle down and told him what had happened and asked him to take them back to their home. EMERSON said at the time young WOOD still had tape across the bridge of his nose where his eyes had been taped by one of the bank robbers and was in the process of trying to get it removed. EMERSON said his first thought when he saw Mrs. WOOD and her son was that they had been in an automobile accident and needed help. He said he was just glad that he happened along that highway when he did and could help them. Mrs. Emma McKENZIE, who's son owns the Hamilton Holiday Motel across the street from the bank, was on her way from her to the motel that morning and saw two bank employees bringing sacks of something and putting it in a car at the bank. She thought surely they most be taking money to the Guin bank for change. She said later when she learned the bank had been robbed, she realized she had actually seen it taking place.