One successful train holdup deserved another. On April 27, 1887, Doc Smart and his band robbed a train near Pantano, AZ. The bandits uncoupled the...
They Didn’t Call Him Smart for Nothing
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Train robber
An Explosive Robbery
Two outlaws discovered how not to stick up a train. On January 30, 1895, Joe George and Grant Wheeler, a couple of unemployed cowboys, held up the...
The Big Payday
The Reno Gang struck it rich in train robbery. May 22, 1868. Outlaw Frank Reno leads a group of men to rob an Ohio & Mississippi train at...
A Hot Stash
A savvy messenger put the loot in the stove. On the evening of April 27th, 1887, the Sunset Express was making its run toward Tucson when a man...
Train Robbers Get Their Start
The Burrow Gang’s first train robbers is a qualified success. December 1, 1886. Jim (photo) and Rube Burrow hold up a train at Bellevue, Texas. They...
The Wild Bunch’s Big Haul
But what happened to the train robbery loot? August 29, 1900. Kid Curry (photo) leads Bill Cruzan, Ben Kilpatrick and another unidentified man in...
Evans and Sontag: Finis
The final shootout in central California. June 11-12, 1893. A posse takes on train robbers John Sontag and Chris Evans at Stone Corral, an abandoned...
The Big Score
The Reno Gang’s last robbery is their largest. May 28, 1868. Just two months after breaking jail, the Reno Gang makes its biggest score. Some 12...
They Went Thataway
One of the Old West’s zaniest train robberies occurred near the Arizona town Willcox on the evening of September 9th, 1899 when constable Burt...
Stagecoach and Train Robbers
How common were train robberies & holding up passengers & stagecoach holdups? They were pretty common, especially in remote places. Between...
In His Brother’s Footsteps
Jim Burrow robbed Texas trains. Jim Burrow was an Alabama native who followed his brother Rube into the train robbery business. The outlaws pulled...
Bounties
How was reward money collected in the Old West? Was it paid out by local law enforcement, banks, the court system, or did it come from some other...