A retired sheriff from a sleepy little town in East Tennessee told us this story of the famous Greenback Bank. Yes, that is really its name, and the bank was famous for it. It was also famous for the apparent ease by which it could be robbed. The bank had been hit so many times that at one point they had considered installing a revolving door. Several sweet older ladies worked there, and they never put up a fight or made a fuss, so the bank was famous among criminals for being “easy pickings.”
But although the Greenback Bank was easy to rob, it was not that easy to get away from. You see, the bank stood on the main road, and that road was the only way in or out of town. Those sweet older ladies would give the robber the money, then just watch which way he or she went. The police would have a roadblock up and the money back in the bank before the frustrated robbers could think of three ways to spend it.
Well, knowing this, a local fishing guide decided he would try a new approach. He would rob the Greenback Bank on foot, and by the time the police arrived he’d be long gone.
So he did. And he was. The fisherman-robber actually got away clean.
Now, knowing the area like he did, he believed that he had found the perfect hiding place for his loot. He stashed the money in the hollow of an old tree that had grown for years by the riverbank.
He decided to wait until spring before retrieving the stolen loot so that no one would suspect when he “came into some cash.” Snug in his cabin, he watched the snow and ice come and then melt away, completely unaware that his money was gradually being withdrawn from the “creek bank.” All that thawing had caused the river to rise and flood the riverbank. Now the current was gradually washing away all his money.
That spring provided a bonanza for trout fishermen downstream, who were amazed to begin reeling in truly “big ones.” The fishing guide’s business, on the other hand, quickly slumped. Who needed a guide when everyone in town could tell where to catch twenty, fifty, and hundred-dollar bills?
Before long, the river was filled with would-be trout fishermen who had learned of the unusual way the stream had been stocked. But the authorities eventually found the source of the muddy money and put two and two together. The robber was eventually caught and convicted.
Unlike the money that went downstream, he went up the river.