Roto Rooter

Headline from Aug. 10, 1937, New Castle News, New Castle, Penn., after the capture of Clair Ralph Gibson. Among the robberies Gibson confessed to was the April 1933 robbery of the Kaylor bank. There are no further reports on who among Gibson’s gang may have murdered Fred Voll.

THE SUSPECTS WERE EASILY CONFUSED WITH BONNIE AND CLYDE

More about the accused: The Strain brothers were originally from Milbank where distant family still reside, but around the time of the robbery they were frequently in Sioux Falls. Floyd, Tony and Mildred were easily confused with Clyde and Buck Barrow and Bonnie Parker in their appearance and family composition, but they did not suffer the same gruesome end. In the Kaylor trial, 18 eyewitnesses testified and the jury found the Strains guilty. But the verdict was ultimately overturned on a technicality – because testimony supportive of Floyd’s alibi had been improperly excluded. The Strains did end up serving prison time after being found guilty for a robbery in Okabena, Minn., which occurred a few weeks after the Kaylor robbery. The Strains always maintained their innocence for both the Kaylor and Okabena bank heists. Floyd, Tony and Mildred Strain were all paroled in the 1940s and lived ordinary lives into old age – yet young Freddie Voll lay in his grave in the St. John's Lutheran Cemetery outside Kaylor. It seems there was no justice for Freddie and his family. The Strain trio were also suspected of robbing banks in the South Dakota towns of Canova, Vermillion and Huron, as well as the Minnesota towns of Chandler, Ihlen, Madison, Russell and Westbrook. However, research has cast a cloud on the conclusions of “whodunnit” in various robberies in the upper Midwest – including the Kaylor and Okabena robberies. Through meticulous tracking of their travels and alibis, researchers have shown conclusively that the Strains did not commit the robbery in Okabena, Minn. It really was done by the infamous Bonnie and Clyde. So, if there was mistaken identity in Okabena, what about Kaylor? Amateur and professional sleuths have spent countless hours unraveling the crime trail of Bonnie and Clyde and other famous gangsters, including persons who were frequently mistaken for them.

WERE THE STRAIN BROTHERS JUST PETTY CRIMINALS AND NOT KILLERS?

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In the winter 2010-11 edition of the Minnesota History Journal, St. Cloud State University professor Brad Chisholm laid out research related to the alleged intersecting crime sprees of Bonnie and Clyde and the Strain gang. What follows is a synopsis of his findings. Tony and Floyd Strain were admitted criminals. They both served six-month prison terms for stealing a load of grain from a neighbor in 1924. Floyd served a second prison term for abandoning his wife and children. And both brothers were guilty of illegally transporting liquor for area bootleggers. And even though the Strains were let off on a technicality in Kaylor and were wrongfully convicted in Okabena, surely they were still members of the notorious gang that robbed a spate of banks in the Sioux Falls area? In his Minnesota Journal of History article, Chisholm states: “As a matter of fact, they were not. The Minnesota State Prison inmate files contain the proof that there never was a Strain gang. The robberies which occurred near Sioux Falls in 1933 were largely the work of three gangs unknown to the authorities until after the Strains were put in prison.”