The Black Haired Bandit: How Esther Newberger Led a Roving Ring of Upper Midwest Automobile Thieves in the 1920s

Discover the story of Esther Newberger, the 21 year old ringleader who led a gang of car thieves across the Midwest in the 1920s before her arrest in Fargo.

By: AXL Media

Published: Apr 2, 2026, 4:29 AM EDT

Source: Information for this report was sourced from Inforum

A Bold Daylight Attempt in Downtown Fargo

Esther Newberger’s criminal reputation was solidified on July 30, 1926, during a brazen attempted theft in a residential Fargo neighborhood. Byron Hanson, a local resident, confronted Newberger after hearing her engage the starter of his vehicle parked outside his home. When caught, Newberger fled to a getaway car driven by an accomplice, Raymond Brady. What followed was a cinematic pursuit through the city streets. As Hanson chased the pair to record their license plate number, Newberger reportedly leaned out of the passenger window and fired multiple shots at him. This violent defiance of authority was characteristic of the woman newspapers described as a "black haired bandit."

The Fall of the Automotive Theft Ring

The duo’s run ended a month later following a crash in Breckenridge, Minnesota, involving a different stolen vehicle. Newberger and Brady were tracked to Sibley, Iowa, where they were apprehended and extradited back to Cass County. During the subsequent trial in Fargo, Newberger was convicted of grand larceny and received a seven year prison sentence. Investigators soon discovered that her operations were far more extensive than a single vehicle theft; she was simultaneously wanted in Sioux Falls for robbing a road construction crew and in Dickinson County, Iowa, for a filling station holdup.

A Career Criminal in the Prohibition Era

Newberger’s conviction in North Dakota was neither her first nor her last encounter with the law. Just over a year prior to the Fargo incident, she had been paroled from a South Dakota facility after serving time for federal charges related to the interstate transportation of stolen cars. Her criminal methodology remained consistent: targeting high value automobiles and utilizing armed force to evade capture. Even as women were gaining new social and political footings in the 1920s, Newberger carved out a unique and dangerous niche as a female ringleader in a predominantly male criminal underworld.