New Glarus Bank Robbery Hideout
A 1979 bank robbery ended hours later in New Glarus, where two suspects slipped into a village home and hid in a basement crawl space as police closed in.
The trouble did not begin in New Glarus.
It began 35 miles away, inside a small-town bank, where two young suspects allegedly walked in on a Thursday afternoon in February 1979, threatened a teller with what they claimed was a bomb and escaped with nearly $3,000.
By evening, the story had moved into the hills and quiet streets of New Glarus.
The car had been seen. The description had gone out. Police were looking. And somewhere in New Glarus, two suspects in a bank robbery were trying to disappear.
According to newspaper accounts from the time, Hugh Patrick Nicely, a young man from Beloit, and a 15-year-old juvenile were accused of robbing the bank on Feb. 8, 1979. Reports differ slightly on Nicely’s age, listing him as either 22 or 23, but they agree on the main details: The suspects were accused of taking $2,925 after one of them presented a note demanding money and claimed a box contained a bomb.
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