100 years ago in Eastern Washington: A bank robbery in Medical Lake was believed to be the work of a ‘girl bandit’ mastermind

The ringleader of the robber gang that held up the First National Bank of Medical Lake was not any of the five men arrested – it was Ollie Hill, a 19-year-old “girl bandit.”

At least, that was one theory of the police detectives. Hill was arrested at the Leonard Hotel in Spokane. In her room, officers found hundreds of dollars in loot stolen in various robberies and burglaries.

“She’s a wildcat and a bad one all around,” said one officer, who was still smarting from a previous run-in with her at the Seven-Mile Roadhouse. He said Ollie “kicked, scratched and bit” him when he arrested her that time.

She was only slightly more cooperative during this arrest. She refused to pose for her mug shot “and two deputies were called in to hold her.”

Investigators believed Hill was the “brains” behind the Medical Lake bank robbery. They said she had ventured out with the male members of the gang to case several banks. She suggested that they try the Medical Lake bank, because it was “easier pickings.” Five men were arrested two hours after the bank robbery, but Hill was not with them.

Police believed the gang was plotting an even more audacious heist: “a $20,000 job” at a Seattle bank. But the arrests quashed that plan. Four of the five male robbers had pleaded guilty and were sentenced to the state penitentiary. Police were on the lookout for several other members of the gang.

Hill told reporters that she was an orphan. Her parents died when she was 7, and she was raised by a half-sister in Medical Lake. She had worked at times as a chambermaid and a waitress. She had only one eye, the other having been destroyed by an infection after she was bitten by a spider.