Skagit River Journal

of History & Folklore
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Noel V. Bourasaw, founder Sedro-Woolley, Washington, 98284 Home of the Tarheel Stomp Mortimer Cook slept here & named the town Bug
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Carl Strom

Carl Strom and the fatal 1933 Bingham Bank robbery

When we think of bank robberies in Sedro-Woolley, the one that gets most attention is the First National Bank robbery in 1914. There was another robbery in 1933 of the Bingham Bank that was much more controversial and resulted in the death of policeman Carl Strom. Strom finally received honors for his death in the line of duty. He was featured in the 2002 book, Century of Honor, by Rae Anna Victor, and he received a posthumous state medal.
Night marshal Strom was killed in the early morning hours of Saturday, April 15, 1933, after he discovered a gang of robbers who were attempting to drill open the safe of the Bingham bank in downtown Sedro-Woolley. He was fatally shot and left in a storage shed across Woodworth street. His job was described as special policeman or night watchman. He patrolled the buildings downtown and assisted the one city policeman on duty at night. Merchants underwrote the position.
Victor's book honors policemen who fell in the line of duty all over Washington in the 20th century. Ms. Victor knows the dangers of the profession first-hand, having served as both a reserve and patrol officer and now involved in dispatch communications. She is also an adjunct professor for the Community Colleges of Spokane.
The 1933 robbery scene was discovered hours later at 8 a.m. on Saturday morning. A janitor had actually cleaned up after the burglars at 5 a.m. but did not connect the mess with a robbery. Strom was found in an oil shed behind Fritsch Brothers Hardware, across Woodworth street, two hours later. A bottle of nitroglycerine was found behind the bank and a buzzer system was found wired to a lookout station in a doctor's office above the bank. The robbers used an electric drill to drill a hole in the corner of the bank safe and were just minutes away from opening the safe, where there was about $1,000 in silver. The bank was located just one block west of the new city hall and police station, which were built in 1930.
The sheriff's department immediately notified law enforcement all over the state. Two ex-cons were detained in Kelso after a high-speed chase following another burglary. Two other ex-con safecrackers were also detained here in Skagit County. But all were eventually let go and no one was ever prosecuted for the murder. Rumors circulated through town for decades about various theories, from cover-ups in the police department to the robbery being a put-up job. Some old-timers still can't agree on what really happened.
Strom was buried on April 18 in the Sedro-Woolley Union cemetery. Nearly 700 attended his funeral, including police and firemen from all over the state, the largest funeral ever held in this area. The state highway patrol provided a 18-man guard of honor. He had been on the job less than a year, being appointed on January 1 that year.
Strom was born March 28, 1899, and was the eldest son to Mr. and Mrs. Wilhelm Strom in the Utopia district, five miles east of town. He lived here his whole life, working most of the time as a logger until the Great Depression of the 1930s. He was appointed night marshal on Jan. 1, 1933. He left a widow, Nan Strom. His niece now lives on the old Strom family farm about a mile east of the old Skiyou school. Old-timers will remember Carl's late brothers: Otto continued on the family farm and Harry worked for the old Stave's Service Station at the corner of Third and State streets. He was also survived by his sister, Mrs. Ellen Anderson, and his grandmother, Mrs. Matilda Olson. He was related to the Skaglund family of Darrington.
We were proud to supply the basic information needed to honor Carl Strom in Mrs. Victor's book and for the paperwork needed to qualify him for a state medal of honor. Police Chief Dave Cooper of Sedro-Woolley sponsored the paperwork and the medal was struck in Strom's honor in the year 2000. You can order Ms. Victor's book online at www.authorhouse.com

This is one of many stories we have researched in connection with the section we are building on Utopia, the district east of Sedro-Woolley between Skiyou and Lyman. We need your help in compiling memories, documents and scans. We are looking for information on these families: We are looking for: Betscharts, Kings, Seversons, Powells, Atwells, Leggetts, Reisches, Johnsons, Silverthorns, McDougles, Marchants, Giffords, McConnells, McCalibs, Minklers, the George Arnolds, Daesners, Behrens and any others who lived there. Please email us if you have information. Thank you.

Links, background reading and sources

Portal section to all our Upriver and Utopia features
Was Carl Strom related to famous Sam Strom of Monte Cristo mines? We hope a descendant reads these Strom stories and can provide genealogy.
Our four-part Bingham Bank feature.

Story posted on Sept. 21, 2002, and updated on August 15, 2004, updated June 2016
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