The Biggest Bank Robbery in New Hampshire History

Humans are sometimes twisted. According to an Edison Research article, 84% of the U.S population consumes true crime media (in the form of podcasts, TV, documentaries, etc).

One of the most common, yet always thrilling, true crime scenarios is the bank robbery. There is something about seeing or hearing about a true crime bank robbery that captivates us. At some point in everyone's life, you think about robbing a bank - mostly just for a funny conversation around a fire - but we have all thought of it one way or another.

READ MORE: These are the 3 Deadliest Criminals in New England History

Biggest Bank Robbery in New Hampshire History

According to a Milford History Online article, the great bank robbery of 1874 in Milford, New Hampshire, is widely considered to be the biggest ever done in the Granite State.

Six strangers hopped out of a covered wagon near the Souhegan National Bank on Nashua Street and followed the bank's cashier, Frederick T. Sawyer, back to his home. In the middle of the night, the gang of six broke into Sawyer's house, forcing his wife and children into closets. Gagged and choked, the men took Sawyer to the town hall where duplicate bank keys were stored.

After getting a spare key, the thieves were able to take over $100,000 in 1874. If you put that into an inflation calculator, $100,000 in 1874 would be equivalent to $2.8 million today. $2,800,000!

The robbery hurt the small town of Milford and many of its leaders. After years of suffering, William Towne, the bank's president, went to Baltimore to where the thieves were supposedly living. (This part of the story is hairy, as it has been passed down for years.)

Although Towne, the bank's president, was able to recover some of the money lost, he later killed himself, likely due to the hardships of his life after the robbery.