George Anderson (criminal)
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George "Dutch" Anderson (1879 – October 31, 1925) was a Danish criminal and, with American bandit Gerald Chapman, co-led a Prohibition-era gang during the late 1910s until the mid-1920s.
Born Dahl von Teller to Danish nobility in 1879, Anderson graduated from the University of Uppsala and Heidelberg studying music, literature and several languages before emigrating to the United States around the turn of the century. Although attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison for a time, Anderson eventually dropped out and, by 1907, had begun committing petty theft. He was in and out of prisons in Illinois, Ohio and Wisconsin until 1914.
In 1917, Anderson was arrested by police in Rochester, New York and convicted of a burglary charge in 1913. Sentenced to five years imprisonment in Auburn State Prison, Anderson became acquainted with bank robber Gerald Chapman. Following both men's paroles in 1919, they began bootlegging operations in Toledo, Ohio, Miami, Florida and New York City, New York over the next two years.
In late 1921, along with former Auburn inmate Charles Loeber, Anderson and Chapman began committing armed robbery when, on October 21, the three men forced a U.S. Mail truck to stop at gunpoint on Leonard Street successfully taking with them $2.4 million in cash, bonds and jewelry. Eluding capture for more than eight months, the three were eventually arrested by New York police on July 3, 1922, after being betrayed by a police informant. Anderson and Chapman were both sentenced to 25 years imprisonment at the Atlanta Federal Prison.
Anderson escaped from prison on December 30, 1923 and was suspected by authorities to have rejoined Chapman in several hold ups (Chapman had escaped six months earlier on April 5).
Chapman was recaptured on January 18, 1925, in Muncie, Indiana, due to informant Ben Hance, also of Muncie, Indiana. Both Hance and his wife were found dead eight months later on August 11. Authorities suspected their deaths may have been attributed to Anderson as retribution for betraying Chapman to police (Chapman had been sentenced to death in Connecticut for the murder of a policeman).
Traced to Muskegon, Michigan passing counterfeit money, Anderson was killed along with the arresting officer, a Det. Charles DeWitt Hammond, on October 31, 1925.
[edit] References
- Newton, Michael. Encyclopedia of Robbers, Heists, and Capers. New York: Facts On File Inc., 2002.
