Borough to re-enact fatal 1917 bank robbery, shootout, trial

Actors will perform during walking tour

One hundred years ago, the First National Bank on Poplar Avenue in Castle Shannon was robbed, and two bank cashiers were killed during a gunfight that has been compared to the 1892 shootout with the infamous Dalton brothers in Coffeyville, Kan.

To observe the 100th anniversary of what has been dubbed the “Great Castle Shannon Bank Robbery,” the borough will hold a re-enactment of the heist that took place on May 14, 1917.

The Aug. 18 event will consist of a free walking tour starting at the brick building with white columns that once housed the bank and still standstoday.

The tour will end at Myrtle Avenue Elementary School, where oneof the robbers will stand trial.

Volunteers and members of the South Hills Players community theater group will act out scenes from the robbery, using a script that David Grande of the South Hills Players wrote based on a 1,500-page document from a transcript of the actual trial.

“At the end, we will have a verdict,” Mr. Grande said, adding that someone from the audience will be selected to read the verdict aloud.

“We’re encouraging people to come in costume if they can,” borough Councilman Mark Warhold said, adding that dressing for the 1917 time period will add authenticity to the re-enactment.

The event will include a barbershop quartet and other entertainment.

According to accounts of the crime, the robbers were Mishka Titoff, a Russian immigrant who worked in a McKeesport plant, and