in Their Own Words - The After School Gang (M/Fmf)

[KP Presents]

For this special edition of In Their Own Words, we have a collection of testimonies around one of the most notorious gang of thieves in Mid-America during the early 1970s. The group, known over time as the After School Gang, would take over the homes of businessmen and hold their families hostage in the hours between 2 and 4, before forcing them to hand over money and goods after their businesses had closed.

The first report concerned the Harris family, whose father was the general manager of a supermarket. Brenda Harris, who was 44, tells the story…

I could never forget that day – I worked in the mornings as a receptionist and got home with the groceries just after two in the afternoon. I was wearing a blue patterned dress – like a waistcoat and skirt put together – over a long-sleeved white jumper, and black heels, and I had just put the cans away when there was a knock on the back door.

When I opened it, I was pushed back inside by one of four men – all of them were wearing boiler suits, gloves, and black balaclavas masks so I could only see their eyes and mouths, and one of them pushed a gun into my stomach as he growled about being quiet and doing what he said. Well, I was too scared to do anything but that, as he marched me into the front room, made me close the drapes across the windows, and then sit down with my hands on my lap.

It was about an hour later when I heard the front door open and close, and my two younger girls came home from school. They were ten-year-old twins – Debbie and Maggie – with short brown hair. Debbie was wearing a tartan dress with a white yoke collar, and Maggie a peach dress with short sleeves, while they both had on black socks and shoes – and they would have screamed if one of the men had not put their gloved hands over their mouths.

I told them to keep calm, and not to struggle, but it took a while before the man let them come over and sit with me. I hugged them both another man took their hands behind their back and tied thin cord round their wrist to hold them together, then he knelt on the floor in front of us and used more of the cord to make sure their ankles stayed together.

I kept talking to them, kissing them and keeping them calm, until their older sister Alice came home. She was three years older and was wearing a brown floral print mini dress with a white collar, as well as black socks and shoes – and like her sisters, she screamed when she saw what was going on.

The man dragged her over to an armchair, telling her to shut up or he would hurt her, before he crossed her wrist on the wooden armrest and tied them together and down against the wood. He then tied her ankles together, while the man who had the gun literally growled at them all to shut up.

It was about 4.30 when he made me call my husband and tell them we were being held hostage and he had to do what the men said, or we would be hurt. The girls could not say anything – they had pushed wads of cloth into their mouths to keep them quiet.

When I put the phone down, the man pulled my hands behind my back, and I felt the thin twine biting into the flesh of my wrists as he bound them tightly together. I was then pushed into an armchair and watched as he tied my ankles together as well, then pushed a rolled-up cloth into my mouth as well before all four of them watched us. Eventually, the telephone rang twice, then three time, then once – and that was a signal to him, because he pulled the wire out of the wall before they left us all to try and escape…

It was another hour before the Harris family were rescued.

A few weeks later, Laurie Baines and her younger sister Ethel were home, recovering from the flu, when they had some surprise visitors…

I was eleven then, and Ethel was nine. We had both been off school with the flu and were still spending most of the day in bed – we shared a bedroom then. We were both wearing matching pyjamas, with almost see through collars and arms – mine were light blue, and Ethel’s were pink.

Anyway, it was about three in the afternoon, and Mom had just brought up a plate of milk and cookies for each of us. I remember she was wearing a black slip mini dress with red geometric shapes on it, and a longer jacket with the same shape on the lapels, as well as black high heels. We thanked her, and she went back downstairs -and then there was the doorbell.

I could hear her going to the door – and then Ethel and I looked at each other when we heard her scream, and someone running up the stairs. Before we could do anything, however, the bedroom door burst open and two men ran in, looking at both of us. They had black masks over their heads, and one of them had a gun in his hand – the other one told us both to keep quiet, and not make a noise, and we wouldn’t get hurt.

The second man closed the door and then pulled a belt from Ethel’s dressing gown, before he used it to tie her wrists together, then took them above her head and tied them to the headboard. I was too shocked and scared to do anything, as he then grabbed the belt from my dressing gown and tied my wrists to the headboard of my bed in the same way.

Ethel an dpi looked at each other as one of the men strode with the gun, the other one grabbing a sheet from the laundry basket and tearing it into strips before he used them to tie our ankles together and to the foot of the bed, and then pulled a strip between our lips and tied it so tightly round our heads my cheeks were pushed in.

I was trying not to cry as I looked at Ethel, but I could see she was crying, so I tried to tell her we would be all right- it came out muffled, but she looked over and nodded as if she had understood me. I was listening to Mom, who was speaking to someone, and then she fell silent as well.

All we could hear was the sound of birds outside, and then our friends coming home from school. I could feel the cloth in my mouth getting wetter and wetter, but there was a man with a gun in the room…

The next thing we heard was the telephone ringing – a funny ring, and then the two men walked out. Leaving us alone as we both heard the door open and close. We just looked at each other for a few minutes, before we both started to twist round and try to get free - with little luck.

I stopped when I heard someone coming up the stairs -very slowly, thump thump thump… And then Mom jumped in, her hands behind her back, cords round her ankles, and a white scarf between her lips – well, it was grey at the corners of her mouth. She looked at us and jumped over, sitting on my bed and saying “hmsshhrrhhrhuhhlrht” to both of us. We could see how scared she was, so we both nodded…



Nanette Brooks brought her six-year-old daughter home from school to find some unexpected guests…

I drove onto the driveway and got out, Bobbie getting out from the other side. She was wearing a red dress, white tights and shoes, while I had come from the hotel I worked at in my own red dress and shoes.

But when we walked in, I was grabbed from behidn and a leather gloved hand clamped over my motuyh, while i saw a man in a blakc boiler suit and a mask covering his head grabbed Bobbie and stopped her with a gloved hand over her mouth as well.

A third man appeared – he had a gun – and told us to stop screaming and struggling, and then to come into the front room. I tried to calm Bobbie down as we walked into the front room, the curtains closed and made to sit next to each other on the long couch.

There was a fourth man there as well, who used a roll of white tape to bind Bobbie’s wrists and ankles, and then pressed a strip over her mouth as the armed man told me what was going to happen…

A half hour later, Cassandra and Eleanor came home from middle school. Cassandra was wearing a grey checked pinafore dress over a white blouse, and Eleanor a purple tartan dress with white lace details- and both screamed when they saw me and Bobie. I told them to be quiet – the man more roughly – before they were pushed over and sat on the couch, their wrists taped together in front of them, their ankles taped together, and tape over their mouths.

The man then told me I was going to call my husband at the bank, tell him we were being held hostage and he had to do what he was told to do. I nodded slowly -and then looked at the girls, telling them to stay calm and try not to cry.

He ten made me go to the phone and make the call, before he talked to my husband and then I was sat back down, my wrists and ankles taped, and tape over my mouth. We ad to watch in silence before the phone rang three times, and then the gang just left…


By this time, the police were aware of the modus operand of this gang but had little idea of when or where they were going to strike. The next victims were a mother and three girls, whose father and husband owned a jewellery store – and it was school photo day. Jackie Cole, the youngest of the three sisters, tells the story…

The three of us had been allowed to wear our party clothes for the photo, so Mum had helped us all to get dressed. Fiona was twelve at the time and was wearing a white peasant top with flowers printed on it, a red bow at her throat and a red cord tied round her waist, a long red skirt and her chocolate brown leather boots. Yvonne was a year younger and had her red-brown hair longer than both of us. She had chosen to wear her brown dress. It had a floral print to the waist, a string bow at her throat as well and a thin belt round her waist, the skirt first striped and then dark with lighter dots, while she also had her favourite boots on – these ones dark brown.

I was a year younger than Yvonne, and I was wearing a long-sleeved white blouse with a short chocolate brown suede skirt – and my own matching boots which came up to my knees.

Anyway, we had our photos taken, and then we took the bus home and walked into the house - and into a nightmare. Mom slowly stood up as we came into the front room – and we all saw the four masked men who were standing there as well, one of them armed.

Mom was wearing a pink patterned dress that came to below her knees, dark hose and black heeled sandals – and she came over, looking at us and telling us not to make any noise. She said the men had arrived half an hour earlier, and they wanted her to ask our father to do something but then she said we had to be very brave and sit on one of the dining room chairs.

I had seen four of them set out in a row, and I asked Mom why we had to. She swallowed, and then said we were going to be – tied up on the chairs? That frightened me, but she put her hands on my shoulders and said she knew it was scary, but it was what we had to do – and she would be doing the same later.

Fiona looked at the men, and then at us, and told us we would get through this together, so we pushed ourselves onto the chairs., Mom sitting back in the armchair and watching as two of the men walked behind us. I looked at Fiona as she grunted slightly, and then I felt my own arms being taken behind my back and through the openings in the chair back, before the rope as my wrists were tied tightly together and then to the chair back. They di the same to my sisters, before both of us had ropes wrapped round our upper bodies to hold us against the chair back.

We twisted round, the wood creaking, but then the men knelt in front of us and used more rope to tie our ankles together and we heard the squeaking sound as the rope rubbed on the leather, and our legs rubbed together as well. They also tied a length of rope from our ankles to the wood between the front legs of the chair, so that we could not really move them either.

I then saw one of the men tear a strip from a roll of sticking plaster and shook my head. He looked at me, and the armed man came over - but then Mom said I came out in a rash if I used sticking plaster, and that would hurt me. The masked man nodded d- but Fiona and Yvonne both had brown fabric plaster pressed down over their mouths, while the second man went into the hallway and came back with one of Mom’s headscarves, rolling it into a band and then pulling it between my lips to keep me quiet.

The three of us looked at each other, too scared to move as the armed man made Mom stand up and walk into the hallway. We could hear her talking to Pops, telling him what had happened and pleading with him to do as the men say, and then saying she loved him – the handset was put down, and then Mom started mumbling.

When she came back in, she also had brown fabric plaster covering her mouth, and her hands were behind her back – and there was white rope holding her arms against her sides. The men walked her over to the long couch and made her lie on her side, two of them tying rope round her ankles and her legs while the armed man checked the ropes holding us into the chairs.

She looked at us and mumbled something, her head resting on the arm of the couch, and we could only nod back in response as I felt the cloth in my mouth getting damper and damper. We had to stay there, the men watching until the phone rang, and then the masked men left us to try and get free.

With no success…


There were several occasions when the gang would visit the home of grandparents instead. Jo Evanier was eight years old, when the After School gang visited her grandmother…

We always went to our gran’s home after school – our parents worked in the local hospital, and Gramps ran a chain of hardware stores. That particular day I had drama club after school, so I was a little later than Tom and Queenie getting to Gran’s.

I knew something was wrong as soon as I walked I n- the television was not on, and in fact there was no noise at all. I called out for gran, and she came out of the front room, wearing a brown striped blouse and lime green pants – but there was a man behind her, a black balaclava over his head which only allowed me to see his eyes and thin mouth.

I asked what was going on, and Gran asked me to just put my books down on the floor. As I did so, a second man came down the stairs, and Gran told me to go with him – Tommy and Queenie were in her bedroom. Something was obviously wrong, but I went up with the man - and gasped when I saw my brother and sister.

Tom was wearing a grey jumper and blue jeans with white socks, while Queenie was wearing her orange short sleeved blouse with diagonal stripes, pink pants and white socks – but they were lying on Gran’s bed, and I could see they both had a rope which was tied round their arms, wrists, legs and ankles as well as something sticking out from between their lips. A third masked man was in the room, playing out a long rope as he told me to be quiet, and stand with my wrists crossed in front of me.

Tom nodded as I swallowed, and then watched as the man made a lasso with re rope, and passed it over my head, pulling it tight round my arms so that I could not move them. He then knelt in front of me and started to wrap the rope round my bare wrists – I was wearing a white round necked top with cap sleeves, black pedal pushers and long white socks.

When he had taken the rope around and between my wrist, I could not move them – even more as when he took the rope down and ted it round my legs below my knees, and then around my ankles. One long rope – all I could do when he had finished was twist my body round.

He then told me to open my mouth, and I saw he had two handkerchiefs balled up in his gloved hand. I had no choice - I had to let him push them into my mouth, before he lifted me up and dropped me on the bed next to Queenie. She looked at me and mumbled something like “hrruhlhrrht?” and I nodded in response.

We had to listen to everyone playing outside – Tom was getting angrier as he looked at the two men in the room – and then they put a gloved finger to their lips as we heard Gran on the phone. There were then footsteps coming up the stairs, before Gran walked n- her arms and wrists tied in the same way as ours, but she had a black cloth sticking out from between her lips. She was walked over to the bed and made to lie next to me, before the man wrapped the rope round her legs and ankles, and then they all watched us.

It seemed to be for an eternity, and then the telephone rang a few times -and the men just up and left the room. We all listened to them leaving the house, before Gran opened her mouth and slowly pushed out from there a black scarf.

“Are you all all right?” she said as she looked at us, and when we nodded, she said “good – push those hankies out of your mouths with your tongue. We may not be able to move, but I want us to talk.” As we did so, she told us she had had to phone Gramps and tell him we were being held hostage, and to let someone take all the money from the safe in the store…


Karen and Richard Millner were twelve and eight when the gang visited their home – only it was not to make their father do something for them. It was to force their mother…

My father had died, and for the last six months Mom had hired Jill to be like a housekeeper for Karen and me. The day this all happened, there had been a dance at our middle school and Jill had come to pick us up in her car. She was wearing a black sleeveless top and a long patterned skirt with white sandals, while Karen was wearing a long sleeved white and blue pattered dress with long white socks and sandals.

Me? I was being cool – a purple sleeveless safari style jacket and pants, with a lighter purple striped shirt, and black shoes. Jill had this open top Chevy, as we drove back, the wind blowing her dark brown hair and Karen’s blonde hair as we talked.

When we got back to our house, Jill opened the door and let us in – and then screamed when she saw the masked and armed man who came out. We were struck dumb as the door was slammed shut behind us, and the man warned us not to say a word or we would get hurt – and then told us to come into the front room.

There were three more masked men in there – one of whom walked behind me and pulled my hands behind my back before if let some sort of rope rubbing no my wrists, forcing them together. I looked at Karen and said this must be a robbery, as she bit her lower lip while the man bound her wrists behind her back as well.

“Smart kid,” I remember the man saying before he told us to sit back-to-back on the floor. When we did so, another masked man took a longer rope and used it to tie the two of us together, my head resting against Karen’s back. The first man took more rope – I saw now it was brown – from a bag and crossed my ankles before he tied them together, and then used another length to tie my legs together below my knees.

I could hear Karen sobbing behind me, so I found her hand and gave it a squeeze – and smiled as she squeezed my hand in reply. I then heard a ripping sound and saw the man had torn a length of silver tape from a roll – and then pressed it down over my mouth so I really could not talk at all.

I heard Karen say “please, dhnnhthttt” and then she was quiet, holding my hand as we both looked at Jill. She was sitting on the long couch, looking at the man as he said she would have to call our mother in a little while - and give her a very particular message…

We were both too scared to move or indeed do anything. Seriously – Jill was also sitting quietly, trying not to cry as she looked at us on the floor. The tape was pulling on the skin round my mouth, but I didn’t want to upset Karen or Jill, so I just sati still until the armed man made Jill walk into the hallway, and we heard her tell Mother what was happening.

She was then walked back in and forced to lie face down, one of the men crossing her wrists behind her back and tying them together with rope while the other one crossed and tied her ankles together, then pulled her ankles back and tied them to her wrists. She then rolled onto her side as the silver tape was pressed down over her mouth, and she could only nod and try to talk to us.

An hour or so later, the phone rang several times, as the man pulled the wire from the wall, and they all left us there. It was another hour before our mother ran in and hugged us all before the police cut us free…


The last report of this gang was in a small country town, where the family of the local building firm was held hostage. Nancy was ten years old at the time…

It was almost the end of the year, and I was coming home from school on a warm day. I was wearing a white sleeveless dress with a short, pleated skirt, and white knee length go-go boots. The only thought I had really was getting changed into some shorts and playing outside.

The school bus pulled up outside my home and I jumped out, carrying my books and coming inside, wondering what the little terror I call my brother was up to. I found out when I walked into the front room – Eddie was sitting with my mother, and she had her arms round him as she looked at me. I wondered what was going on – and then there was a gloved hand over my mouth, and a rough voice telling me to keep quiet.

Eddie was wearing a vest top with a white to half and a peach bottom half, a red fish at the divide, and matching peach shorts with white ankle socks and brown sandals. Mom was wearing a brown buckskin waistcoat over a long-sleeved white blouse, a short dark brown suede skirt, dark hose and knee length white leather boots. But she was really scared as she asked whoever was holding me not to hurt me.

I then saw a masked man with a gun come in, and he told me if I didn’t scream, I could go and sit with my mother. I nodded and the hand was taken away, so I ran over and sat next to Mom, holding her as she put her arms round me.

The man then said we were going to be held hostage while my father did something for them – and that we were all going to be tied up. Eddie shook his head, but the man just said it was going to happen – as a third man came in, with a canvas bag which he put on the floor and opened to takeout white ropes. He knelt in front of Eddie, smiling at him as he doubled over the first length and tied it round his ankles holding them tightly together. Mom asked him if it hurt, and Eddie shook his head as the man took a second length and tied his legs together below his knees.

He then knelt in front of me and tied my ankles together – the rope and my boots made a funny noise as the rope got tighter – and then he tied my legs together below my knees as well. I twisted my legs round as Mom kissed us both on the head and told us we were being very brave.

We both nodded as the man walked behind us, and then took my hands behind my back. Eddie watched as I felt the rope holding my wrists together and bit his lower lip – so I told him it felt just like our ankles and legs, even thought it felt a bit strange on my bare wrists.

Mom told Eddie he was a very brave boy as his wrist were tied together behind her back. We then watched as another masked man peeled a length of white tape from a roll, and pressed it down over my mouth, before another strip was pressed down over Eddie’s.

Mom told us to be calm, relax, and breath through our noses as she stared at the armed man – but he just laughed and told her to stand up, it was time to make a call. She slowly took her arms away from us and stood up, her heels clinking on the wooden floor as she walked into the hallway, and we looked at each other.

I could hear her talking, and then a few minutes later she came back in. She now had the white tape over her mouth as well, and her hands were behind her back – and when she turned round to sit down, we both saw the white rope that held her crossed wrists together.

She looked at both of us as the same man who had tied rope round our legs knelt down and did the same to her, round her ankles and her legs below her knees, while Eddie allowed himself to fall onto his side with his head on Mom’s lap. He turned and looked up at her, a smile under the tape as I put my head against her arm – and the masked gang waited for what seemed like an eternity.

They left after the phone rang – Eddie had fallen asleep, so we really could not even try to move…

This has been In Their Own Words – until next time…

[60Cancer]

A lot of good stories. We need more.

[Detective-Gag]

Oh, a new group of kidnappers, I believe!

More straightforward, too…certainly not gentlemen.

Makes the tales a bit more harrowing.