In this special Christmas edition of Signal 51 Chronicles, John Henry and retired Fort Worth police sergeant Jake White dive into one of the most infamous Texas true crime cases: the 1927 Santa Claus Bank Robbery in Cisco, Texas. A man in a Santa suit—ex-con Marshall Ratliff—walks down Main Street with kids in tow… then steps into the First National Bank of Cisco and detonates chaos. What follows is a bloody gun battle, hostages used as human shields, a stolen-car escape, and what newspapers called one of the largest manhunts in Texas history—including posses, Texas Rangers, and pursuit by airplane.

Plus: the holiday “police blotter” kicks off with a modern-day crime spree involving $1,700 worth of stolen brisket, porch pirates as “gamblers,” and the kind of petty theft stories that make law enforcement sigh into their coffee. If you love Texas history, true crime, bank robbery stories, and old-school lawman cases, this episode is your next listen.

Chapters

00:00 - Signal 51 Christmas Special Begins: “Santa Claus Bank Robbery” 00:49 - Remote Recording + Holiday Banter: “Technology Is Driving Us Apart” 01:35 - Christmas Shopping Confessions: “Tick Tock… Ho Ho Ho” 03:33 - Police Blotter: The $1,700 Brisket Crime Spree (Buda/Kyle/Manor/Austin) 05:35 - HEB Talk + Small-Town Police Reality Check 07:18 - Jake’s Grocery Store Bust: The “Worst Thief Known to Man” Cigarette Grab 09:10 - Porch Pirates Are Gamblers (And You’re Not Getting a MacBook) 11:18 - Holiday Theft Stories: Ribs, Self-Checkout, and “People Gotta Eat” 12:54 - Today’s Case Setup: “We Got Bank Robber… It’s Santa” 13:35 - Cisco, Texas 1927: Santa Walks Main Street Before the Bloodiest Bank Robbery 14:22 - Marshall Ratliff Identified: Ex-Con in a Santa Suit + The Plan Unfolds 15:13 - Cisco Boomtown Backdrop: Oil, Growth, and Tension in the 1920s 16:30 - $5,000 Dead-or-Alive Bank Robber Reward: Why Robberies Turned Lethal 17:19 - The Crew: Huntsville Ties, Ma Ferguson Pardons, and a Last-Minute Sub 18:57 - The Santa Suit Origin Story: Borrowed in Wichita Falls (Suspicious Landlady) 19:42 - Inside the Bank: “Get ’Em Up” — Guns Drawn, Vault Forced Open 20:21 - Escape Sparks the Shootout: Hostages, Human Shields, and Gunfire in the Alley 22:16 - Getaway Collapses: Flat Tire, Wounded Davis, and the 14-Year-Old Who Took the Keys 23:29 - Texas Manhunt: Posses, Rangers, Winter Flight, and Arrests Near South Bend/Graham 24:42 - Ratliff’s Aftermath: Trial, Insanity Act, Escape Attempt, and Rising Public Fury 25:20 - Mob Justice: The 1929 Lynching and the Fort Worth Funeral Watch 28:23 - Robert Hill’s Escape and Capture: Mexico, El Paso, and “My Ears Got Me Caught” 31:07 - Sentencing + Redemption Arc: 99 Years, Conditional Pardon, Full Pardon (1964) 32:47 - Case Closed: Christmas Farewell + A Reminder That Reform Can Happen

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