This story could easily be the basis for a television program. It brings to mind a typical 1960s “western.” The good guys: Charles C. Sanderson, described as a village lawyer; J. S. Hunt, private detective The bad guys: Langdon. W. Moore and Charles B. Haight, burglars from New York; Truman F. Young, burglar from Nashua, NH.

No available information has indicated how a New Hampshire thief and New York “safe crackers” came to join forces to rob a small-town bank in Maine. The bank these experienced thieves would rob was the fledgling Norway Savings Bank which had its humble beginning as a safe in the store of Mixer, Favor & Co. at the corner of Bridge and Main Street. Now you know the players and the scene of the crime.
Young came to town in advance of the robbery to become familiar with the new bank’s location and its surroundings. The store looked easy to break into. He estimated that the bank held funds between $5,000 and $10,000. The actual total taken was just short of $4,000. He contacted Moore, whose experience placed him among the most skilled burglars in the country according to History of Norway. Haight was included as Moore’s assistant.

The three met up in Portland. Young had arranged transportation to take them beyond Gray. Unnoticed by any of the bank robbers was the unusual shoe on one of the horse’s hooves. That hoof left a telltale mark on the ground. Before reaching Norway the trio hired another horse that, strangely enough, had the same type of shoe on the same foot. What are the chances? The reports are a bit unclear as they seem to have hired a team but only changed out one horse.

Around 10 p.m., the three arrived in the village and put the horses in the shed at the Congregational Church. There was a bright moon that night and they waited until the streets were empty. When it appeared that the population had gone to bed, the thieves headed toward the bank. Along the way, the night watchman at the woolen mill came out, looked along Main Street, and returned to the mill. Dr. Evans was making a house call on a sick patient and saw the three in the area. Another resident remembered seeing a man enter the store around midnight. Obviously, none thought anything was suspicious.

As they approached the Mixer, Favor & Co. store, Young took up a position across from the building to keep watch from behind a tree. Moore and Haight then entered the building by breaking a window and then covering it with a cloth to hide their activities. They started by attempting to drill out the keyhole. When that proved unsuccessful, a hole was bored just under the lock; the void there was filled with a pound of powder, and a fuse was inserted. At this point, they left the building to check with Young to be sure all was still quiet in the street. It was and they returned to the store, unlocked front and back doors to ensure an easy escape, and checked for anyone who might be sleeping there; how very thoughtful of them. The fuse was lit and the two again left the building to observe. There was an explosion and a puff of smoke came from the broken window. Only one town resident claimed to have heard the noise, but thought nothing of it. Seriously? A small, quiet town and she thought nothing of an explosion in the middle of the night. They certainly needed a neighborhood watch.

The thieves quickly emptied the safe’s drawers and headed for the church to get the team of horses. Off they went through Welchville and on to Gray and then Portland. Along the way, they traded horses again and the original horse with an odd shoe returned to the team.
Early the next morning, the burglary was discovered by Charles C. Sanderson, a village lawyer and businessman. He immediately took up the chase following the tracks left by the horse with a special shoe. Sanderson tracked the trio to Portland where he reported the incident to the city marshal’s office. The next day he headed to Boston, where he engaged J. S. Hunt, a private detective.

The burglars had split up the loot and gone separate ways. Young was later arrested, along with different thieves, for robbing a bank in Cornish. He was sentenced to prison in Thomaston where he “spilled the beans” on the other two. Moore and Haight spent some time keeping a low profile but were eventually apprehended after robbing the Rockland bank. They too were convicted and sentenced to seven years at hard labor. Moore later served thirteen years in a Massachusetts prison for burglary. Eventually, through a negotiator, the stolen money and papers were returned to the Norway bank. The perpetrators were never prosecuted for this criminal activity.

Come into the Norway Museum and Historical Society and read more of this story in the Whitman History of Norway and the Oxford Democrat of September 27, 1867. The museum is open Tuesday from 1-4 p.m. and Saturday from 9-12.

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