CULLMAN – Catherine Clark Voss was no ordinary woman. Not only was she very beautiful, but she was also very smart, stubborn and had nerves of steel. Her story is one of bravery and strength. She worked with her father at the bank as a teller. One fateful day, she was involved in an incident that proved just exactly how brave – and stubborn – she really was.
The year was 1936 and Cullman’s State National Bank was really small at the time. There were just two employees, Mr. Rene Clark, manager, and his daughter, Mrs. Catherine Clark Voss. In order to be open all day, the father/daughter duo had to take separate lunch breaks.
On December 10 between 11 a.m. and 12 noon, Mr. Clark went out to lunch as usual. Catherine was by herself in the bank when a young man entered the bank. Acting a little shady, he checked to see if there was anyone else in the bank other than himself and Catherine. They were completely alone.
“Give me money!” he demanded.
“No!” She crossed her arms. “I will not help you. If you want the money, you’ll just have to get it yourself,” she said very boldly.
The thief, a little thrown off by Catherine’s response, walked across the room and went behind the counter. He went into the teller cage and helped himself to about $1,200 cash.
“You know how wrong this is? You are stealing and that is a sin! God’s gonna punish you!” Catherine huffed. Meanwhile, the man just ignored her and quickly filled his sack with money.
When the robber went toward the change drawer and other small bank receipts, Catherine pushed him away.
“You’ve got enough money!” she spat and before she knew it, the two began to scuffle.
During the fray, Catherine’s glasses were knocked to the floor and the robber lost his gun. But both the glasses and gun were quickly recovered.
“Get in the vault and lie down, or I’ll kill you,” the man said, aiming the gun right at Catherine. But she refused to move.
“I’m telling you, woman; you get into that there vault and lie down – or I’m gonna kill you!” He threatened again, and again she refused to budge.
Then he shot her. The bullet went into her shoulder, struck the bone and was diverted upward. It then came out the back of the shoulder and stuck into the ceiling. The force of the shot threw her to the floor and knocked her unconscious momentarily. But just as the man ran from the bank, Catherine came to and began screaming.
The men across the street heard her. They ran to G.W. Johnson’s Hardware Store and got guns and began running after the robber. When the guns were gone, other men grabbed rakes and hoes from a barrel in front of the hardware store and they ran after the others.
The thief was caught about three blocks away from the bank. He had stopped long enough to hide the money in a garage behind Ms. Katie Azar’s house. Thankfully, it was all there.
The men who had chased the robber were all riled up and rowdy. Dr. C.E. Herrin, the local eye, ear, nose and throat doctor, was so mad, he tried to get a group of men to take the robber out and hang him right then and there.
Meanwhile, Catherine recovered after spending a week in the hospital. Then, about a month later, she received the Gold Medal of Valor from the National Surety Corporation for her courage.
Catherine Clark Voss was one tough cookie. Not many people would have the courage to do what she did all those years ago. She is just one of the many people in Cullman’s rich history considered to be a true hero.
