Episode 77

bank robbery roundup 2 | june 11, 2025 | 31:00

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

Dumbline discusses two jaw-droppingly dumb crimes, 200 years apart, in Pennsylvania.

Hosts

Greg Caputo

Maria Raha

Jason Schell

Topics

• This week’s headline: NBC News, Tyler, Texas, April 25, 2025

• Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

• Patrick Lyon

• Carpenters’ Hall

• Clifton Earl Johnson

• McArthur Wheeler

• Dunning-Kruger effect

Additional Resources

• Avery, Ron. “America’s First Bank Robbery,” Carpenters’ Hall. https://www.carpentershall.org/americas-first-bank-robbery

• Eds. “Davis, Isaac,” Carpenters’ Company Digital Archive and Museum,” Carpenters’ Hall. https://archive.carpentershall.org/items/show/25963

• Eds. “‘Pat Lyon at the Forge,’” Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. https://www.pafa.org/museum/collection/item/pat-lyon-forge

• Eds. “Arrest in Bank Robbery,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. April 21, 1995, page 35.

• Eds. “Robber Sentenced,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Oct. 28, 1995, page 32.

• Eds. “Lemon Juice Didn’t Work; Robber Went to Jail,” Centre Daily Times. Jan. 6, 1996, page 7.

• Fuoco, Michael A. “Trial and Error,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. March 21, 1996, page 37. 

• Goode, Erica. “Among the Inept, Researchers Discover, Ignorance is Bliss,” The New York Times. Jan. 8, 2000. https://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/18/health/among-the-inept-researchers-discover-ignorance-is-bliss

• Hunt, Kristin. “ The First Major Bank Heist in America Happened 225 Years Ago in Philly — and the Wrong Guy Went to Prison,” Philly Voice. Aug. 31, 2023. https://www.phillyvoice.com/first-bank-robbery-us-philly-carpenters-hall-patrick-lyon/