Howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas!
Well, if you've been reading my series about America's Old West outlaw Cole Younger then you know that his gang, the James Younger gang, had been robbing banks at will for 8 years now with no end in site. They were a wiley bunch.. clever, very smart and strategic. Plus they had the local people in their area covering for them.
The Boys heard about a successful train robbery by another gang so they thought they should try that tactic. It would help to shift the attention of the lawmen and Pinkerton detectives away from the banks and possibly make themselves richer at the same time.
The perfect train
It's not clear where they got their information but they heard there'd be a large gold shipment being sent by rail from Omaha, Nebraska to Chicago, Illinois. Frank James and Cole went to Omaha to snoop around and find out about it. I'm not sure how they accomlished this task but they came back with a date and an amount which was $75,000.
This was great news so they studied the railroad line and found an indeal location to do the heist. It was a curve in the track which they knew the train would have to slow down for and they removed the spikes from one of the rail sections and tied a rope to it. The rope led to an embankment which they would hide behind and when the train approached they would pull on the rail causing the train to derail.
The train wreck
It was the perfect plan. At least on paper but these guys weren't exactly train engineers. The night of the robbery came and they were in place. When the train approached they pulled the rail out of line but when the train hit that section the engine flipped over on it's side killing the engineer.
Here is a photo of that wreck, it doesn't show the engine but you can see how it jammed up the other cars. It's a miracle more people weren't killed.
Cole and the Boys were shocked at their handiwork but of course that didn't stop them from their work of relieving the train of it's cash. There was one guard for the cash box but he didn't put up any resistence, wisely, and he opened it up for them. The problem was there was only $2,000 in it. For these guys that was like chicken feed.
To salvage as much of the night as possible they went ahead and relieved the passengers of their cash and valuables but only the men. They left the women alone and didn't take any money or jewelry from them. Cole also apologized to the passengers, explaining that it wasn't their intent to harm anyone, which was quite gentlemanly of him don't you think? (even though they aleady got the engineer killed)
The Chinese delay
This hold up and robbing of the passengers would have been a normal one but the fact that there was a car full of Chinese immigrants who had just arrived in America from China. They'd been attending a Missionary School there and were being given a chance to start a new life in this country and to escape the oppression in their own.
This was their chance to experience the freedom and liberty that they dreamed of, the American way of life! They didn't speak a lick of English and were freaking out with loud talking and arm waving. The Boys ordered them out of the car which they finally understood what was wanted of them by the motions of the pistols and pointing to the door.
Me no savvy
The Chinese came out shouting and carrying on in their native tongue so loudly that it was a severe irritant, especially since the Boys didn't want any unnecessary noise. The gang didn't know quite how to handle them but they figured they'd at least get what cash and valuables they had and ordered them to contribute to the grain sack.
Well, the Chinese were baffled, not knowing what was wanted of them and several of them looked curiously into the sack and looked at the others jabbering away in Chinese! lol.
Finally after all the threatening was doing no good the Boys gave up and got their horses, the Chinese were a delay they didn't need. But what a first impression to give to these immigrants. Welcome to America!
Anyone for a posse?
The word went out to Omaha and the Governer that the train had been robbed. The local Sheriff knocked on doors in vain trying to get people to join a posse. The locals told them it was the railroads problem, they could get their own posse. A reward of $600 was offered by the state government.
The railroad company scoffed at that amount and offered a reward of $10,000 and assembled a train full of men leaving from Omaha. They were let off along the route up to where the robbery had taken place and had horses waiting for them at each stop. The gang's trail was followed into Missouri where it disappeared once they got close to Boy's home territory. In other words they vanished into the woods like they always did.
They found out later that the gold shipment had been delayed one day so the next day that $75,000 was shipped out. 75 grand would be the equivalent of $1,660,000 in todays money. This could have been the big score that Cole was looking for so he could go back and pick up Belle. Instead it was a lousy 3 grand so the quest continued.
Thanks for reading folks, God bless you all!
-jonboy Texas
the gentleman redneck
ps- ya know...you might just be a redneck if:
You have flowers planted in a bathroom appliance in your front yard!