Mary Eliska Girl Detective & The Santa Claus Bank Robbery

Mary Eliska Girl Detective and the Santa Claus Bank Robbery: Two days before Christmas, 1927, Santa Claus walked into the First National Bank of Cisco, Texas, followed by several delighted children who had seen him on the street. Then Santa pulled out a gun and robbed the bank. "Santa" was Marshall Ratliff. The bank, despite its impressive name, was nothing more than a glass-fronted store. Ratliff and three accomplices stuffed their Santa sack with over $12,000, but they were seen through the windows. The police and a number of armed Cisco townspeople arrived and began blasting away. It didn't help that the Texas Bankers Association had made it known that it would pay $5,000 to anyone who shot a bank robber. Amazingly only three people were killed -- two of them police officers -- although there were at least 200 bullet holes in the bank. A plaque, "Scene of daring Santa Claus Bank Robbery," recounts the details. Marshall Ratliff survived, but not for long. A mob, angry that the phony Santa had been spared the death penalty, dragged him from his cell in the nearby Eastland County Jail and hanged him from a telephone pole. Mary Eliska Girl Detective's Seven Stricklin Sleuths become involved in this fictional version of the nonfictional Santa Claus Bank Robbery.

Two days before Christmas, 1927, Santa Claus walked into the First National Bank of Cisco, Texas, followed by several delighted children who had seen him on the street. Then Santa pulled out a gun and robbed the bank. "Santa" was Marshall Ratliff. The bank, despite its impressive name, was nothing more than a glass-fronted store. Ratliff and three accomplices stuffed their Santa sack with over $12,000, but they were seen through the windows. The police and a number of armed Cisco townspeople arrived and began blasting away. It didn't help that the Texas Bankers Association had made it known that it would pay $5,000 to anyone who shot a bank robber. Amazingly only three people were killed -- two of them police officers -- although there were at least 200 bullet holes in the bank. A plaque, "Scene of daring Santa Claus Bank Robbery," recounts the details. Marshall Ratliff survived, but not for long. A mob, angry that the phony Santa had been spared the death penalty, dragged him from his cell in the nearby Eastland County Jail and hanged him from a telephone pole. Mary Eliska Girl Detective's Seven Stricklin Sleuths become involved in this fictional version of the nonfictional Santa Claus Bank Robbery.

Nonfictional Mary Eliska Stricklin's father is the writer William A. Stricklin whose Mary Eliska Girl Detective stories give a fictional life to his daughter Mary Eliska whose life was unduly cut short in an auto accident. William Albert Stricklin's Honors Philanthropic Affiliations and Awards • Order of Golden Bear to promote statewide unity of University of California campuses • Chair, University of California Alumni Association, Washington DC 1960-61 • Listed in National Trust for Historic Preservation Directory of Historic Preservation Lawyers • Chair, Hawai'i Advisory Committee, American Arbitration Assn 1975 to 1985 • Master Mason 3° Berkeley 363 Blue Lodge 1959 • Scottish Rite 32° Mason Oakland Temple 1959 • Hawai'i Shriners Temple 1968 • Hawai'i Shriners Hospital Clown Corps • Hawai'i Opera Theater Board of Trustees • Hawai'i Ballet Board of Trustees • National Board of Trustees, American Arbitration Assn, New York, 1990-1994 • Santa Barbara Board Trustees, Planned Giving Chair, American Red Cross 1998-2000 • Member Santa Barbara Board of Trustees, Catholic Charities, 1998-2000 • Member Santa Barbara Board of Trustees, Cottage Hospitals, 1998-2000 • Elected Member of Montecito Santa Barbara All Saints by the Sea Episcopal Church Board, 2000-2002 • Hawai'i's "Mediator of the Year" 1989 American Arbitration Association • Robinson Cox Visiting Fellow, Law School, University of WA (Perth) 1989 to 1990, teaching dispute resolution to the Law Society and students • Facilitated the Australian Minister of Land's return of land the size of Rhode Island called Silver Plains Station Queensland to the traditional owners, Lama Lama Peoples • Charter Member Founding Secretary, Hawai'i Lambda Alpha (Land Economics Honor Society) • Confrere Order of Knights of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, appointed by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to help serve medical needs of children of all faiths caught up in the wars of the Middle East