Trio Accused in Brockton of Payroll Holdup Attempt

​In the end they were caught. A revolver and a sawed-off shotgun were recovered. The weapons had been secreted away in a backyard shed and a cellar. The $6000 payroll at Steadfast Rubber was safe. The crime had all the classic elements- conspiracy to steal, attempted armed robbery, stolen weapons, a getaway car, and three not too capable robbers.
It was 1937 and Myron Williams, paymaster at Steadfast Rubber, was taking the payroll from the First National Bank on Main Street in North Easton to the nearby rubber company when he was accosted. The robbers had a loaded revolver and shotgun, both stolen from the home of the night watchman of the Chelsea Building Wrecking Company, where the three of them worked.

It was March 20, 1937, when the attempted holdup took place. The robbery failed and the three crooks made their escape to Brockton where, according to an unnamed witness, they left the getaway car at the place where it had been (reportedly) stolen from earlier and drove off in their own car. Felix Robillard, Roger D’Auteuil, and Authur Andrian, all of Brockton, were quickly found and two of the men signed confessions the next day. The getaway car had allegedly been stolen from a Wilfred C. Pellitier, who was charged as an accessory after the fact, although he denied he had any knowledge of the plan. Felix Robillard, Roger D’Auteuil, and Authur Andrian were charged with conspiracy to steal and attempted armed robbery.
Interestingly, the police wondered if someone on the ‘inside’ could have helped them with the plan. Instrumental in gaining the confessions were Chief Elisha T. Ellis of North Easton and Sergeant John P. Sullivan of the Bridgewater State Police barracks.
 I am left with questions which I will try to answer next time. Why did the robbery fail? Was an insider found to have helped? How much time did each spend in jail? Until next time :)
 
 
 Anne Wooster Drury
[email protected]

Sources:
>Easton Historical Society and Museum Special Dispatch to the Globe, Daily > >Boston Globe (1928-1960), March 21&22, 1937, ProQuest Historical Newspapers, The Boston Globe, p. A12