The Last of the
Ghost Gang

A NEW BOOK FROM THE HISTORY PRESS

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“We’re tough and we’re going to get the money”

In 1934, a band of desperadoes known as the Ghost Gang terrorized bankers across the state of Nebraska with a series of daring robberies. A posse of lawmen traced the gang to a Gage County ghost town, and the hideout was raided on a cold November night. One by one, all the members of the gang faced prison or death, until only Maurice Denning remained at large. Denning, the son of a respectable farm family, had drifted into bootlegging and, ultimately, bank robbery.

FBI wanted flyer
Maurice Denning mugshot

“One of the most notorious bank robbers at large.”

FBI Memorandum, July 18, 1936 – “The Federal Bureau of Investigation is today issuing 250,000 wanted circulars concerning Maurice Denning, who is presently one of the most notorious bank robbers at large. He is under indictment in Federal courts for five national bank robberies and is suspected of participating in a number of other national and state bank robberies.”

Security National Bank, Superior, Nebraska

“They said they were going to shoot me if I didn’t get the safe open.”
—Paul Schmeling, cashier of the Security National Bank

On the afternoon of November 22, 1934, the Security National Bank in the sleepy little town of Superior, Nebraska, was robbed of $7,929.15 by a gang of four men. In making their getaway, the gang took three bank employees hostage. The robbers released their hostages unharmed about a mile outside of town and disappeared without a trace.

Ghost town hideout, Kinney, Nebraska

“Tell them we have the place surrounded by eighteen officers, ready to shoot on sight if those fellows want any trouble.”
—Gage County Sheriff Tom Dunn

Eight days after the Superior bank robbery, a force of eighteen officers raided a house in the ghost town of Kinney, Nebraska. The house was being used as a hideout by the four men who robbed the Superior bank. One member of the gang was killed in the raid, and the others were eventually apprehended—all except Maurice Denning, who managed to slip away.

FBI wanted flyer for Maurice Denning and Evelyn Bert

“I would certainly like to get my hands on that fellow Denning. He has outfoxed us long enough.”
—FBI Agent Werner Hanni

For over ten years, Maurice Denning was at the top of the FBI’s list of Public Enemies, but incredibly, he was never found. Nor was his beautiful blonde girlfriend, Evelyn Bert, who was wanted for harboring him on a farm near Riverton, Nebraska. Although rumors about their whereabouts swirled for decades, their final fates remain a mystery.

In this book, writer and researcher Brian James Beerman brings the fascinating true story of the most wanted man in Nebraska back to light and recounts the circumstances surrounding his mysterious disappearance.

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