Holdcraft produced another gun and discharged it, hitting Trahan in the heart, causing him to collapse to the ground. Then he turned the firearm on Villien and fired, hitting him slightly above the heart. Holdcraft instructed Villien to retrieve the money, despite his injuries and bleeding.

There was a bag filled with silver, but he didn’t want that, so I emptied the bag and put the currency in it,” said Villien. “I didn’t give him all of it. I left $5,000 in the vault.”

Holdcraft grabbed the money, cut the phone lines, and ran to the taxi parked outside the bank, speeding off.

The Chase Begins

Back In Town

On the Road Near the Vermilion-Lafayette Parish Line.

Early Wednesday morning, Blackie Cormier spotted an Oldsmobile parked on the highway’s shoulder. Several hours later, when he realized the car was still there, Cormier reported it as abandoned to the State Police. He remained with the vehicle while a state trooper and a wrecker were dispatched to investigate. When the trooper and Cormier briefly left the car to locate the lost wrecker, Holdcraft appeared and exchanged the taxi for the Oldsmobile.

As the trooper and Cormier returned to the car, they noticed the Oldsmobile speeding past them. Trooper Edwin Guidry pursued the vehicle while hearing news reports about the bank robbery unfold on his radio. Attempting to apprehend Holdcraft, Guidry called for backup and coordinated with another trooper to block the narrow road ahead.

Realizing he was trapped, Holdcraft abandoned the Oldsmobile at Cypress Island and desperately attempted to escape through a canal, clutching his rifle and a bag of stolen money. He fired a few shots at the troopers, grazing the patrol car’s windshield. The troopers repeatedly commanded Holdcraft to halt, but he continued to flee, prompting them to return fire.

Holdcraft dropped the money bag near a fence and attempted to flee along a levee. Additional officers arrived at the scene and opened fire on the bandit. Holdcraft collapsed to the ground, having been struck by gunfire four times.

After the encounter with Holdcraft, the troopers identified the robber and searched the abandoned Oldsmobile. Their search revealed a bag weighing approximately 250 pounds, containing coins and a second bag with $15,000 in cash that may have been stolen from a Lafayette grocery store. Additionally, they discovered a letter addressed to Holdcraft’s wife. In the letter, Holdcraft confessed his intention to rob a bank and that he expected to be killed. “Please raise my son to be a good boy,” the letter stated.

In addition to being a father of three, Holdcraft attended LSU and worked as the manager of a loan office in Baton Rouge. He later relocated to Lafayette to work at another loan office.

As the investigation progressed, authorities started to establish connections between Holdcraft and other robberies that had taken place in the vicinity. Eventually, the FBI arrested Earl Randolph on suspicion of being an accomplice in the bank robbery. Randolph was allegedly responsible for parking the getaway car used by Holdcraft during the crime.

The robbery and chase unfolded within approximately 45 minutes, leaving a lasting impact on the small community of Maurice. As onlookers observed the events unfolding at the bank, one bystander was overheard expressing surprise, remarking, “You read about robberies every day in the papers in big cities, but who would think a little town like Maurice would have one.”

On February 19, 1954, it was reported in several newspapers how a 29-year-old Lafayette man was arrested and charged with participating in the $20,500 holdup of the Maurice bank and was killed, and the bandit later was trapped. The teller was shot down by state police, as reported by the FBI.

The suspect was identified as Earl Clayton Randolph, 29, assistant manager of a finance company at Lafayette. The FBI said that Randolph admitted that he assisted Kenneth C. Holdcraft in parking the getaway car on a country road south of Lafayette before the robbery. He also confessed he took Holdcraft from Lafayette to New Iberia the day of the robbery, “knowing that he intended to rob the bank.”

Holdcraft, a 30-year-old former law student, was killed in a gun battle with state troopers in a south Louisiana swamp shortly after he held up the Maurice branch of the Abbeville Bank and Trust Co.

The teller, Phillip Trahan, 57, was killed, and the bank president, Dr. J. A. Villien, was critically wounded by Holdcraft during the robbery.

The FBI said a federal complaint was filed against Randolph, a college graduate and father of three children. The complaint charged him with conspiracy before U.S. Commissioner Lawrence Sandoz of Opelousas to violate the bank robbery statute and aiding and abetting Holdcraft. The bond was set at $20,000, equivalent to over $230,000 in today’s dollar value.

Vermilion Parish Sheriff in 1954 was Maxie Landry