In this first mid-month issue of Vintage Crime Gazette: A deadline for the writers; hapless thieves get their gals; and we dust off a vintage tale about Dead Woman’s Crossing in — where else? — Oklahoma.

We are Dan Williams and M. J. Van Deventer, authors of the historical true crime book Madeline Gets Life, coming May 2027 from Level Best Books.

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AUTHOR NEWS

Unlucky in Crime, Lucky in Love?

Who says failed bank robbers can’t find love?

Just before 3 p.m. on March 16, 1954, Billy Bruce and Henry Smith burst into the Ozona National Bank in West Texas.

One held a gun, the other a large suitcase.

They herded seven employees and a customer into a side room, locked the front door, and got busy stuffing the suitcase with banknotes from the teller stations.

They left Junction in Billy’s car and made a wide detour north to San Angelo to buy the .22-caliber pistol.

They arrived in Ozona on the morning of the 16th, a Tuesday, and cased the bank while getting change for a dollar bill.

When they returned in the afternoon, they parked the car out front to ensure a quick getaway and went inside.

What Billy and Henry didn’t count on was Byron Williams. The 29-year-old oilman and Navy veteran wondered why the bank was closed, so he peered inside and saw one of the robbers filling the suitcase.

Williams sounded the alarm and found a deputy sheriff, borrowed a .45 pistol, and ran back to the bank – where a crowd of Ozonans was gathering.

Byron Williams, left, and Dick Henderson, right, look on as Crockett County Sheriff V. O. Earnest displays the .22-caliber pistol used in the attempted robbery of Ozona National Bank. (Photo by Boyd Lovelace)

Hearing the growing hubbub, Billy and Henry made to dash out to their waiting car, but the sight of 15 to 20 citizens – most of them armed – changed their minds.

They ran out the back, climbed to the top of the bank and scampered over rooftops to make their getaway. They left behind the suitcase and $10,000 in cash ($80,000 today).

Williams spotted the two up above and gave chase, joined by rancher Dick Henderson, 27, who had armed himself with a wrench.

When Billy and Henry ran out of rooftops and dropped to the pavement, Henry fractured his foot. Considerably slowed, the two made for a dry riverbed in the distance.

And that’s where Williams and Henderson caught up with them. The would-be bank robbers surrendered without a fight. They were convicted in state court and sentenced to five years each.

Betty Lou and Henry had three boys and a girl and stayed together for 31 years until Henry’s death in 1988 at age 55.

Billy and Willie Marie had two daughters and a son before they divorced in 1978. Billy died in 1991, aged 58.

Both women remarried.

(Photo by Billy Hathorn)

Fun facts: Ozona calls itself “The Biggest Small Town in the World.” It gets its name from “ozone.” The word was often used in the early 20th century to describe high-quality air.

Dead Woman’s Crossing

Odd place names also abound in Oklahoma. There’s Gotebo in the southwest and Slapout in the Panhandle. And don’t forget Bug Tussle near McAlester in the southeast.

But the oddest spot on the Oklahoma map is way out west near the town of Weatherford — Dead Woman’s Crossing.

We’re opening the Vintage Crime Vault to bring you the murder it was named for, and the twists and turns that bedeviled the case through the years.

Click here!

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