Ruby Carder was a teller at First National Bank in Thomson in 1979 when Arthur Hastings Wise slipped her a note demanding cash.BOB RIVES/STAFF

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By Paul Garber
Staff Writer

THOMSON - Ruby Carder looks back at the brief time she and Arthur Hastings Wise stood face to face as the most frightening moment in her life.

It occurred on the morning of Sept. 21, 1979. Ms. Carder was a teller at First National Bank in Thomson. Mr. Wise was out of money and soon after the bank opened that morning, he slipped her a note demanding cash.

``The note said `I have a gun. Give me your money,''' Ms. Carder recalled. ``He handed me a clear plastic bag to put the money in so he could see the cash.''

Mr. Wise, 43, has now been charged with one count of murder, and other charges are pending, relating to Monday's shooting spree at the R.E. Phelon Co. plant in Aiken that left four people dead.

Ms. Carder said she had worked as a teller at First National Bank on Main Street since 1974 and it had never been robbed.

Mr. Wise never showed her a gun and she thought about not giving him any money. But she decided not to risk it and gave him about $1,500.

``I was very frightened. I felt like fainting and I wish I had,'' said Ms. Carder, who has since retired and now works for SunTrust Bank part-time.

One week after the robbery, authorities got a tip that the Thomson bank robber was staying at the Ramada Inn hotel on U.S. Highway 1 in Aiken.

Mr. Wise first denied that he was the robber, but he later confessed to passing the note to Ms. Carder. He told investigators that he wrote the note in his car on a piece of paper he found on the sidewalk using a pencil he borrowed from a stranger.

``He said he was living out of his car, didn't have a job and was about to lose the car,'' said McDuffie County District Attorney Dennis Sanders, who handled the case 18 years ago as an assistant district attorney. ``He said he made his money shooting pool or by borrowing it.''

Mr. Wise told authorities that he spent the morning of the robbery walking around downtown Thomson trying to build up his nerve, according to court documents.

Mr. Wise first approached another bank on Main Street, but decided there were too many people inside. He later went inside First National Bank (now SunTrust Bank) and spoke to an employee about opening an account. He told the employee his name was Hank Williams.

He said he had to get his identification from his car and left the building. He gave the note to Ms. Carder when he came back in.

``It all happened without even the girl next to me knowing what was going on,'' Ms. Carder said. ``He didn't say a word and neither did I.''

Mr. Wise was back in Aiken by 11 a.m. He later told authorities he used the money to make a car payment, buy clothes and take his girlfriend out to dinner. He also had the car worked on and lost some of the money gambling.

He told authorities he had been unemployed for about two months and was due to get his unemployment check that week.

Why did Mr. Wise pick a bank in Thomson?

According to court documents, Mr. Wise said at the time that he had about half a tank of gasoline in his car, an Oldsmobile 98. He said he planned to drive until he had used half the gas, rob a place at that point and use the rest of the gas to return to Aiken.

``We never did find a gun and we still don't know if he had one,'' Mr. Sanders said Wednesday.

Mr. Wise pleaded guilty to robbery on March 17, 1980. The Georgia Department of Corrections was unable to verify details of his incarceration.

In 1992, Mr. Wise was convicted of receiving stolen property and interstate transportation of stolen property. He told a neighbor and others that he spent 15 years in prison.

Mr. Sanders remembers Mr. Wise as being quiet.

``In court, he did not appear to be an intimidating person,'' Mr. Sanders said. ``He said he was real scared.''

But Ms. Carder carries a much different memory.

``He looked so big. It was very intimidating,'' she said. ``You never forget it when somebody tells you to give him the money.''