The Santa Claus Bank Robbery: This Texas Town’s Bloodiest Crime

Locals decided enough was enough. A crowd of over 1,000 people demanded the jailers give up the homicidal, bank-robbing Santa Claus. The mob rushed the jail and drug out Ratliff. Their first try at lynching him from a power pole was a failure when the knot came loose, and Ratliff slammed to the ground. The knot held on the second try, and Ratliff became the sixth person to die as a result of the Santa Claus bank robbery.

Today, if you visit Cisco and are curious about the Santa Claus bank robbery, a plaque on the side of the former bank site, on Conrad Hilton Blvd., commemorates the event. The First National Bank also has a painting of the robbery in its new location, at 2006 Conrad Hilton Blvd. While in Cisco, be sure to visit the Lela Latch Lloyd Museum. A treasure trove of local history, the museum is named after a witness to the robbery. Author A. C. Greene also wrote a non-fiction book about the event, available at this link.