- Ten year old Grady Parrish was instrumental in foiling an attempted
bank robbery
- The intended robbery was at the Tropical State Bank
- This mural is painted on the spot where the Tropical State Bank was
located
The mural depicts the first bank robbery in Lake Placid. It happened in
September, 1931. Ten-year-old Grady Parrish was waiting for a haircut in
R.T. Morgan's Barber Shop. Mrs. T. W. Loftin, Sr., getting her hair cut,
pointed out two men passing by the shop wearing wigs, one red, one black.
Young Grady waited as long as he could before curiosity got the best of him,
and he went outside to follow what he thought were men from the circus. By
that time, the men had entered the Tropical State Bank, next door, and were
holding up the bank manager, B.F. Williams, and tellers Myra McAuley and
Helen Thomas. Young Parrish ran to tell his Daddy, O.C. Parrish, Sr., who
told him to "Go get Tom". Tom was Town Marshall Tom Bozeman. As Grady raced
to the Bozeman home, Tom responded to his shouts and came out the door
strapping on his weapon. Stopping by the town office, he picked up a shotgun
and proceeded to the bank, accompanied by the senior Parish. Arriving at the
bank as the hold-up men were trying to make their get-a-way, guns cocked,
Bozeman was forced to shoot one of the robbers before both were captured.
Later Bozeman was given $100.00 by the bank owners for capturing the
bandits, and Grady was rewarded $10.00 for his part in foiling the crime.
The mural is painted on the spot where the Tropical State Bank was
located. The original building was destroyed in a 1991 fire, which ravaged
most of the buildings in the block of Main Street from Interlake Boulevard
to Park Avenue. |
