The train robbers are taken down by a California posse. June 10-11, 1893. Train robbers John Sontag and Chris Evans are taken down by a posse...
Evans and Sontag: End of Trail
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train robbers
They Didn’t Call Him Smart for Nothing
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...
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...
Renegades of the Rails
Railroads were open season for Oklahoma and Indian Territory outlaw gangs. Glenn Shirley, the late historian of Oklahoma’s frontier history of...
The Train Business
Ketchum catches the railroad bug. May 14, 1897. Tom Ketchum--already, mistakenly, being referred to as "Black Jack"--goes into the railroad...
The First Train Robbery
But it didn’t happen in the West… May 5, 1865. About a dozen men derail and hold up an Ohio and Mississippi train at North Bend, Ohio. They rob the...
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...
Stagecoach and Train Robbers
The late Frank McCarthy was a member of the Cowboy Artists of America and a great painter. He’s probably best-known for his action-packed renderings...
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...
The Case of the Vanishing Train Robbers
On the evening of April 27th, 1887 southern Arizona’s only passenger train, the Sunset Express, was making its run toward Tucson. The train was...
The Iron Horse and Kit Carson
While innumerable stories about trains, train robberies and the famed trailblazer appeared in True West during its 70-year history, they were rarely...