I'm writing a treatment for a western. My idea is this: a good outlaw
(we'll call him Frank) deposits money in a bank in a small town. A few
months later, the bank is ripped off by a band of bad outlaws (we'll
call
them the Pervis Gang.) Frank -- unaware of the robbery -- a
year or so later goes to collect his money. But he can't get his money
because (a) the bank is either closed for good or (b) the bank is open
but the bank president says he can no longer get his money. So the
rest of the film is about Frank tracking down the Pervis Gang in order
to get his money back.

So my question is this: in the days before the FDIC insured your
deposit (pre-1933, as I understand it) how did banks operate? Would it
be believable for a bank in a small to town to say, sorry kiddo, but
we were robbed and you lost your money? (I assume the banks held gold
-- or converted their cash into gold -- and the gold was used to
somehow balance out the cash.) Did banks in the early 1900's
frequently close after a robbery and set up shop somewhere else -- in
another town, another county, another state?

Were they privately run? (And would a robbery mean a bank could be put
completely out of business?)

Is there a good history of banking in 19th and early 20th century
America? (I'm especially interested in how banks worked in the border
tows and in the lawless regions of the American west. Who assumed the
risk in banking? And why would they assume it? What sort of profits
could be expected from a 19th century bank?)