Our Arklahoma Heritage: Twenty-seven year-old Sulpher Springs bank robber paid the ultimate price in 1925
- Dennis McCaslin
- Apr 10
- 4 min read
In the summer of 1925, Benton County, was rocked by a violent bank robbery in Sulphur Springs that left banker Lou Stout dead.
Four young men from Indiana--Tyrus Clark, 27, John Burchfield, 28, Elva McDonald, 21, and Boyd Jewell, 2--faced the county’s fury, tired of robberies and unwilling to forgive murder.
The crime, trial, and aftermath, culminating in Clark’s execution on January 8, 1926, reveal a community and justice system driven by resolve and retribution.
On June 11, 1925, the gang of four white men camped along the White River east of Rogers, drove a Ford to Sulphur Springs after robbing the Seligman train depot two days earlier for $60 and a shotgun.
Burchfield, a recent escapee from the Arkansas prison system, parked away from the bank, and he and McDonald, pistols tucked in their pants, entered the Bank of Sulphur Springs.
Assistant cashier Miss Ambercrombie, alerted by prior robbery attempts, spotted them and ran to warn Stout, the bank’s president, at his nearby store. Inside,
Burchfield and McDonald drew their weapons, forced cashier Storm Whaley to hand over $900, and locked him and a customer in the vault.
As the robbers exited, Stout and his son, armed with shotguns, confronted them. Gunfire erupted--witnesses said the first shot came from the Ford, where Clark and Jewell waited. Stout fired five times before a bullet struck him in the abdomen, killing him.
His son grabbed the gun and kept shooting. Nearby, Marjorie Bryant, parked in a Nash Touring car, heard the chaos. A bullet grazed her car as she sped away with her family.
The robbers fled in the Ford, but missed a turn and crashed into a tree. Burchfield and Jewell were captured on the spot. Clark and McDonald escaped into the woods, sparking a manhunt led by Sheriff Joe Gailey.
A posse chased them near Maysville at dawn, wounding two members in a skirmish. Clark was caught on Sunday near Catoosa, Oklahoma, hiding in a thicket. McDonald was nabbed the next day, asleep under brush, likely drawn out by a $1,000 reward from the Benton County and state bankers’ associations.
A special circuit court session, called by Judge W.A. Dickson on June 18, convened a grand jury that indicted the four on June 30 for bank robbery, burglary, and murdering Lou Stout “by shooting him in the body with a certain gun loaded with gunpowder and leaden balls.”
The indictment named Clark as the shooter. The Rogers Daily Post blamed lax parole systems, noting Burchfield’s 1920 escape from Arkansas Penitentiary and Clark’s recent jailbreak in Indiana.
McDonald’s trial came first. After sifting through 137 jurors--56 opposed capital punishment, 28 held firm opinions--a panel was seated. McDonald denied shooting, but Judge Dickson instructed that accomplices bore equal guilt.
Witnesses, including Stout’s widow, pointed to the Ford as the source of the first shot. Despite prosecutors J.S. Combs and John W. Nance, hired by the bankers’ association, pushing for death, the jury chose life imprisonment.
Burchfield’s trial was delayed when witnesses failed to appear. His attorney, Wythe Walker, later claimed Burchfield had a skull injury from childhood that made him susceptible to “wicked influence.” Burchfield, who said he drove after the robbery and didn’t shoot, was convicted on July 18 and sentenced to life. Two women, both claiming to be his wife, wept in court.
Jewell struck a plea deal, pleading guilty to second-degree murder, robbery, and burglary in exchange for testifying. He claimed Clark handled the guns, though he admitted driving.
Judge Dickson sentenced him to 21 years for murder, 21 for robbery, and seven for burglary, to run consecutively.
Clark’s trial began July 14, with attorney W.H. Spencer unable to secure a venue change. After questioning 107 jurors, a panel was selected. Witnesses, including Jewell and Stout’s widow, tied the fatal shot to the Ford.
Clark insisted he didn’t fire, claiming three wounds and fear of a “mob” kept him from surrendering.
The jury asked about sentencing options; Dickson clarified that without leniency, death was mandatory. They found Clark guilty of first-degree murder.
On July 20, Dickson sentenced Clark, stating, “The proof was conclusive… it was you that killed Lou Stout outright.” He condemned the gang’s “expedition of robbery, larceny, and burglary” into “peaceful” Benton County, ordering Clark’s death by electrocution.
Spencer’s appeals failed, and despite Clark’s claim that his shotgun malfunctioned, the state Supreme Court upheld the verdict.
In November, Jewell recanted, admitting he, not Clark, shot Stout. Over 4,000 residents, including nine jurors, signed a petition for clemency, delivered by attorney Vol Lindsey and clergymen.
Governor Terral, reportedly pressured by bankers, denied it. Clark, maintaining his innocence, was executed on January 8, 1926--the only 20th-century death sentence from a Benton County jury at the time. His last words: “God help them for all this.”
Burchfield’s fate turned darker. In May 1926, he tried escaping prison and was shot dead by authorities. Jewell’s plea likely spared him harsher punishment, though his exact fate after sentencing is unclear.
McDonald, a model prisoner, saw his life sentence commuted to 21 years by Governor Harvey Parnell in 1930. Released on December 22, 1931, he served just over six years.
The Sulphur Springs robbery, now a century old, exposed Benton County’s resolve against crime.
Clark’s execution, Burchfield’s death, Jewell’s betrayal, and McDonald’s release reflect a justice system that balanced severity with selective mercy, shaped by a community’s demand for retribution.
