It was March 1934. Bonnie and Clyde were terrorizing small-town banks around the state, but the pair had not yet been mentioned in the Alto Herald. Alto had its own two gunmen to deal with.

As the editor of the Alto Herald told the story “It was more than a thousand wonders that both of them were not killed along with Messrs. Rounsaville, Shattuck and Earle, as there were more than 50 shots fired with a minute’s time all but two in the wide open street.”

It seems the two robbers, who gave their names as Leo Spencer and Fred McClure, stole a car at Rusk on Sunday night, drove it to Alto, hid it in the woods and slept in it. Monday morning the car wouldn’t start. They had to hand-crank it and buy a new battery with their last five dollars. The battery cost $4.95.

They parked between the two banks on Commerce Street headed toward San Antonio Street for a fast getaway. (No one-ways streets in Alto then)

Fred went in the Continental State Bank to “case the joint” pretending he wanted to cash a check. Satisfied with what he saw he returned to car to get Leo and their weapons, unaware that a suspicious Gus Rounsaville was watching his every move through the side window of the bank.

When they walked into the bank brandishing their guns, Mr Rounsaville came out of the vault with his shotgun. He fired at Spencer, but he had to shoot high to keep from hitting Mr Shattuck. The robbers turned and fled to their car, with Rounsaville and his shotgun and Shattuck with a .45 pistol following them. Quite a gun battle ensued, with one of McClure’s shots going through the bank window and hitting Mr Will McCuistion, a customer in the bank. The bullet hit McCuistion’s watch in his watch pocket, and did not harm him.

Meanwhile City Marshall Cal Earle heard the commotion, ran into his Shoe Shop grabbed his pistol and joined the fray. He emptied the pistol, ran back to the shop and got a high-powered rifle. Now the robbers and their car were being attacked on 2 fronts.

“After about 40 shots had been fired, McClure decided he could not win. He got one foot on the running-board of the car when one of Earle’s bullets got him”

When he fell, his partner took off out Highway 21 East. City Marshall Earle and merchant Harvey Treadwell commandeered the Brooks & Pearman wrecker and started in pursuit. With the help of a flat tire on the car and Treadwell’s pistol, they were able to capture the surviving gunman and turn him over to authorities.

Three weeks later an update reported that the names the robbers gave were both fictitious. Apparently Fred McClure is a fairly common moniker. Both the Alto Herald and the El Paso newspaper received requests for copies of the story from readers named Fred McClure.