A cold January night in Brooklyn, New York. At the Roulston grocery shop on Seventh Avenue, there was little sign of the hustle and bustle of this Saturday. The six employees were already starting to tidy up when the shop bell rang. A petite young woman with cropped hair, dressed in an elegant fur coat, approached the counter and asked for a package of eggs. While the desired item was being wrapped up for the lady, the bell above the door rang again and a man entered. He gave the woman an inconspicuous sign. When the shop assistant turned back to his customer a moment later, he was already looking down the barrel of her gun. A few moments later, the cash register had been looted and the couple had disappeared into the night. The question that preoccupied New York the next day: Who is the bandit with the bob hairstyle?
Despite Prohibition, many New Yorkers celebrated the year 1924 in a festive mood. The world was slowly recovering from the aftermath of the Great War and in the United States in particular, the growing economy and increasing prosperity put the population in a celebratory mood. Consumer goods were no longer in short supply and the ever-growing media landscape ensured that desires were awakened. The instalment model was launched, enabling people on a budget to purchase luxury goods for which only a down payment was initially due. The rest could be paid off in instalments. It may come as no surprise that many people became heavily indebted as a result of this new financing method.
Celia and Ed Cooney, a young married couple who lived in a small flat in Brooklyn, also lived beyond their means. Ed wanted to fulfil his wife's every wish and often gave her expensive gifts, which he paid for on credit. However, his salary as a car mechanic was barely enough for such purchases and when it became clear that there would soon be three of them, Celia had to give up her job as a laundress and money began to tighten. Coming from a humble background herself, Celia wanted a better life for her child, a proper home rather than a single furnished room. The financial worries became so great that the couple argued more and more frequently. Ed finally promised his wife that he would find a solution to the problem...
On 5 January, a plan was made. Ed had purchased pistols and rehearsed the robbery with his wife at the kitchen table. The detective novels Celia liked to read served as a source of inspiration for the exact sequence of events and what they wanted to say if things got serious. Organising a getaway car was no problem thanks to Ed's work in the garage. He even thought about changing the number plates so that the car could not be traced if it was spotted. Thus prepared, the couple set off late on Saturday evening in search of a suitable shop to raid and quickly found one at Roulston. Despite their initial nervousness, everything went like clockwork and before they knew it, they were back in their small flat, 600 dollars* richer.
When Ed Cooney picked up the newspaper the next morning, the headline read Woman with gun holds up six men. The press was fascinated by Celia's elegant appearance and her active part in the robbery. Even though the role of women in society had already undergone significant changes by the early 1920s, there was still much debate about what rights and freedoms a woman should and should not have. One controversial topic was cutting hair short and what participation in public life should look like. Until then, restraint and passivity had been considered socially acceptable female characteristics. Celia's dominant demeanour and the fact that she was apparently the one in charge was a sensation that the newspapers jumped on. The story was embellished even further and Celia was portrayed as a hardened girl bandit. Ed's role was demoted to that of a simple companion. Her short hair, in particular, eventually earned her the nickname by which she would soon become known everywhere: The Bobbed-Haired Bandit**.
She bobbed her hair
Then got a gun
And robbed a drug Store of its mon.
There are some girls
Who always will
When they go out
Be dressed to kill***
(Tom W. Jackson, from a newspaper article in the Brooklyn Standard Union)
Intoxicated by their success, the Cooneys started looking for a flat the following day. A short time later, they found what they were looking for near Ed's garage and rented two floors in a well-kept old half-timbered house. The two then visited furniture shops to equip their new home appropriately. Unaccustomed to having so much money at their disposal, the couple overstretched themselves with the cost of the flat and the many purchases, so that just a week later they were forced to plan another robbery. Again they chose Saturday night and again they chose a grocery shop, this time the Atlantic and Pacific Chain Store. As with the first robbery, Celia first demanded a packet of eggs, then pulled out her revolver and forced the baffled shopkeeper to put his hands up while Ed emptied the register. This time, however, the loot was far less than expected, so the two spontaneously decided to rob another shop a few streets away.
The next morning, the newspapers were again full of sensational news: Bobbed Haired Girl Bandit Terrorises Brooklyn. or Pretty Girl Robber Raids Stores were the headlines. The police, who had been incapable of enforcing Prohibition for years and were now unable to prevent a flapper girl from robbing several shops in a row with impunity, received the full gloating of the press. However, the police reacted quickly and posted patrol officers on every street corner in Brooklyn over the next few weeks. Just two days later, there seemed to be a hot lead. A young man who had been in the vicinity of the robbed shops for a suspiciously long time was arrested and stated during interrogation that he knew the identity of the Bobbed-Haired Bandit. Following his tip, Helen Quigley, a 23-year-old dancer from Brooklyn, was arrested a short time later. Despite protesting her innocence, Quigley was identified by some of the victims of the robberies as the bobbed-haired bandit and was subsequently taken into custody.
In the days that followed, there was another robbery. This time, a message was left that read like a challenge to the police:
You dinty fish-peddling bums, leave this innocent girl alone and get the right ones, which is nobody else than us. Also ask Bohaks Manager did I ruin his cash register. also I will visit him again as I broke a perfectly good automatic on it. We defy you fellows to catch us.
- The Bobbed-Haired Bandit and Companion
But Helen Quigley remained in custody for the time being, as the police speculated that there had to be two female bandits, or even a whole gang. This theory was supported by several robberies and criminal offences that took place at the same time in New York and were also committed by women with short hair. The fact that these were copycat offenders played no role, especially for the press, and the myth of the Bobbed-Haired Bandit only grew with each new robbery.
The ever-growing media attention, the increased police presence and Celia's progressing pregnancy made things more and more difficult for the couple as time went on. The initial highs were over and by the time The Bobbed Haired Bandit - Dead or alive or shoot on sight was announced, things were finally getting very serious for the Cooneys. All they wanted was to get out of New York and start a new life in a safe place. But this dream could only come true with one last big coup.
The target of this last big robbery was to be the payroll office of the National Biscuit Company warehouse. Ed had grown up in the neighbourhood and had often observed how much cash went in and out of the office every day. They rented a hotel under a false name, scouted out the building and the surrounding area beforehand and arranged for ship passage to Jacksonville, Florida, a city Ed knew from his military service. But despite good preparation, the raid was chaotic and did not go as planned. In her usual manner, Celia first interacted with the cashier, only to hold the gun up to him the next moment. As the Cooneys set about clearing out the tills and the safe, the cashier tried to play the hero and pushed Celia aside. Ed then fired a few shots and both panicked and left the building without any loot.
The couple managed to get to Jacksonville untroubled and rented a shabby hotel with the little money they had left. But the police were now hot on their heels like never before. Ed had been recognised by a few employees of the National Biscuit Company and soon their names and photos were plastered all over the newspapers. The situation became increasingly dramatic as Celia was about to give birth and Ed was unable to take a job because of the manhunt. When the child finally arrived, it only survived a few days. The Cooneys spent the last of their money on the funeral and then could only wait for their arrest. This came shortly afterwards and brought them both back to New York by train to great public sympathy. There was huge interest in the Bobbed-Haired Bandit, with crowds of people waiting at every railway station along the route to catch a glimpse of the famous bandit.
The Cooneys' trial was followed with no less public interest. The press wondered whether Celia was a drug addict or had been forced by her husband to commit the assaults. Reduced sanity due to her pregnancy was also considered a possible cause. Depending on the newspaper, Celia was either admired or pitied in the weeks following her arrest or portrayed as a cold-hearted, pleasure-seeking flapper. The two were eventually sentenced to 10 years in prison, but the fascination with her role as a bandit did not end even after the judgement. None other than newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst paid her 1,000 dollars for the publication of her memoirs, which were soon to be read all over the USA.
The couple were released after seven years, but Ed died of tuberculosis shortly thereafter in 1938. Celia married a second time, worked as a secretary and lived inconspicuously until her death in 1992. It was only later that her sons accidentally came across documents that revealed their mother's incredible story.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I hope I was able to get you out of the November doldrums a little with this exciting story about The Bobbed-Haired. If you would like to find out more, I recommend the book The Bobbed-Haired Bandit - A True Story of Crime and Celebrity in 1920s New York by Stephen Duncombe and Andrew Mattson.
As always, yours,
Marleen Tigersee
*adjusted for inflation, that would be around 10,000 dollars today
** sometimes also Bob-Hair-Bandit or Bobbed-Hair Bandit
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