Tom Slaughter and his partner, Fulton Green, robbed the Peoples’ Bank of $8,500 on April 6, 1920. Slaughter walked into the bank at noon and ordered Caldwell to open the safe and give him the money. He then locked Caldwell in the bank safe and joined his partner, stationed at the door. The two men escaped.

Several months later, Slaughter and Green were captured in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Slaughter was wanted for numerous crimes, including murder, in several states. Mr. Caldwell went to Arkansas for the Slaughter trial and identified him as one of the two men who held up The Peoples’ Bank. Slaughter was convicted and given a life sentence at the Arkansas State Penitentiary.

Many years earlier, another bandit, the infamous Jesse James, made a raid at Cave City. Sam McCoy was driving a stagecoach from Mammoth Cave to Cave City on September 3, 1880. Two men with drawn guns stopped the stagecoach at a desolate place in the road, near Little Hope Church, and ordered all the passengers out except the elderly Judge R. H. Rountree and his daughter, Lizzie.

The crooks ordered the passengers to hand over all their valuable belongings. Taken from Judge Rountree was a gold watch that had been given to him by Governor J. Proctor Knott, and from his daughter they took a diamond ring. Just before they left, the two bandits made all the passengers take a swig from a bottle of whiskey they passed around. Leaving the scene, the robbers encountered a second stagecoach and robbed it as well.

A posse was formed at Cave City to trail the robbers but was unsuccessful. Lt. Governor James E. Cantrill and Judge Rountree each offered a reward of $1,500, together with a reward offered by the stagecoach company.

Because of the rewards, many people were interested in capturing the wanted men. A few days after the stagecoach robberies, G.W. Bunger, a deputy sheriff of Ohio County, arrived in Cave City with T.J. Hunt, a man who fit the description of one of the robbers. When his trial was held, the passengers on the two stages were the witnesses. Four witnesses identified Hunt as one of the bandits. The judge found him guilty and sentenced him to three years in the State Penitentiary.

A few months later, Jesse James was shot by a member of his own gang in St. Joseph, Missouri. Judge Rountree recognized Jesse’s picture in the paper after the famous outlaw’s death. Judge Rountree’s watch was on Jesse at the time of his death, and Jesse’s wife was wearing Lizzie Rountree’s diamond ring. Also, members of the James gang made statements saying that Jesse and Bill Ryan were the two stage robbers.

An appeal was made to the governor for Hunt, and he was pardoned in 1882.