Officer Glen Elsworth Bond
(Oct. 26, 1897 -- Feb. 20, 1924)

In response to a series of bank robberies in Los Angeles' downtown area in the early 1920s, the LAPD assigned undercover officers to some of the banks. On Wednesday, Feb. 20, 1924, Officers Fred Forbes, 31, and Glen Bond, 26, were assigned to the Merchants' National Bank, at 7th and Hoover streets. Forbes and Bond were both members of the LAPD's new "Crime Crusher" squad, a group of about 300 officers assigned to fight the growing threat of organized crime in the city.

At about noon, Forbes and Bond were sitting in the private office of Bank Manager Wilbur E. Zimmerman when three armed men entered the bank. Two of the gunmen approached Zimmerman at his desk, just outside his private office, pointed their guns at him and informed him that the bank was being robbed. The third gunman rounded up the assistant manager and three other bank employees, and warned them to remain still and keep quiet.

One of the gunmen at Zimmerman's desk heard a noise coming from the private office, and opened the door to investigate. When he discovered Forbes and Bond, he immediately opened fire. Bond was hit twice in the chest as he was standing up and reaching for his gun. Forbes was grazed on the head, but was able to draw his gun and return fire. A customer who was standing near Zimmerman's desk when the gunfire started immediately dropped to the floor, and wasn't hurt.

The three would-be robbers gathered in the bank lobby and backed toward the door while exchanging gunfire with Forbes, with an estimated total of 18 shots fired. None of the bank employees or customers were injured, but a man standing on the sidewalk outside the bank was hit in the leg by two bullets that crashed through the glass door. Although the three gunmen escaped, one of them was believed to have been wounded in the gun battle.

Bond was taken to the Central Receiving Hospital, where he died that evening.

Bond was born Oct. 26, 1897, in Vevay Park, Illinois, about 200 miles south of Chicago and 130 miles east of St. Louis, Missouri. He was the first child of John Madison "Jay" Bond and Mary Elizabeth "Bessie" Rooks Bond. Shortly after Glen Bond's birth, the family moved to East St. Louis, Illinois, where Jay Bond worked as a day laborer. Bond's younger brother, Russell Raymond Bond, was born in 1904.

By 1910, Bond's parents were divorced. Bond was sent to live with his grandparents, Frank and Ellen Rooks, on their farm in Rose Hill, Illinois, while his younger brother, Russell, lived with his mother and stepfather about 10 miles away, in Hunt City, Illinois.

By 1918, the 20-year-old Bond moved to Fleming, Colorado, where he worked as a carpenter. Two years later, he was a soldier in the U.S. Army, serving at Camp Eustis, in Warwick, Virginia. (In 1923, Camp Eustis was renamed Fort Eustis, and was a military installation until 1931, when it became a federal prison, primarily for bootleggers arrested during Prohibition.) Following his military service, Bond moved to Los Angeles, where he joined the LAPD.

Funeral services for Bond were held at the Bresee Brothers' chapel, 855 S. Figueroa St., on Monday, Feb. 25. He was buried in Macedonia Church Cemetery in Casey, Illinois, a few miles from his birthplace.

About 15 minutes before the attempted robbery at the Merchants' National Bank, there was a successful robbery about three miles away, at the Security Trust and Savings Bank, at West Adams Street and Halldale Avenue. Two gunmen entered the bank, handed a note to a teller, and escaped with $1,000. Police speculated that the first robbery may have been an attempt by the gang members to divert police attention away from their real target.

At about 2 p.m., two hours after the shoot-out, a surgeon was called to an apartment on South Olive Street, to treat a gunshot wound. Based on information provided by the surgeon, police surrounded the apartment building, but the wounded man and two other men had already left in a taxi cab.

Police found the cab driver, who said he dropped the three men off at 4th and Cummings streets, in the Boyle Heights area. An estimated 200 officers were sent to the neighborhood and, after about an hour of door-to-door searching, they found and arrested the wounded man in an apartment. His two companions were gone, but one of them was picked up a few hours later near 3rd and Olive streets. The third gunman was arrested three days later when he was found working in his father's shoe shop in San Diego.

A fourth man, the older brother of the injured gunman, was arrested about a week later, at a hotel at 10th and Los Angeles streets. He was originally thought to have been the getaway driver at Merchants National Bank, but he was later identified as one of the two gunman who held up the Security Trust and Savings Bank -- the decoy robbery. The second gunman at that robbery was later determined to be the man who was shot later at the Merchants' National Bank. All four men were between 18 and 22 years old.

The three men involved in the attempted robbery and shoot-out at Merchants' National Bank were all charged with first-degree murder, tried, convicted and sentenced to death. Less than 15 months after Officer Bond was killed, all three were hanged on July 10, 1925 -- two at San Quentin State Prison and one at Folsom State Prison.

The robber of the Security Trust and Savings Bank was found guilty of robbery, and received a sentence of five years to life in prison. He served his time at San Quentin, and was paroled in December 1933. He died less than a year later, at the age of 32, in San Francisco.

Bond's sign is located on the southwest corner of 7th and Hoover streets.

Back to main LAPD page