The Fall of Lawrence Pope: Banker, Publisher, Robber
Thu, 11/20/2025 - 6:33am
Residents across Central Texas once followed the case of Lawrence C. Pope, a former banker whose sudden slide into bank robbery drew broad attention. Pope, 42, had been a bank examiner and later held responsible positions in Dallas and Abilene before becoming president of the West National Bank in 1958. That bank’s ownership had been tied to businessman C. L. Bridges, whose insurance companies collapsed in the late 1950s. When the Bridges firms failed, the bank stock shifted to new owners who disagreed with Pope over policy. He resigned on Sept. 1, 1960, the same day he sold his controlling interest in another institution, the First State Bank of Avalon. Soon afterward he purchased two weekly newspapers printed in Giddings.
