The Indiana brothers who pioneered the American train robbery
In short: Before Jesse James, there was the Reno Gang. This video explores how a group of Indiana outlaws executed the first peacetime train heist in American history and sparked a deadly era of rail banditry.
On October 6, 1866, John and Simeon Reno boarded an Ohio & Mississippi Railroad train near Seymour, Indiana. The brothers targeted an Adams Express Company car, seizing roughly $10,000 in gold and $33 in paper currency, though they failed to crack a larger safe they tossed from the moving train.
The gang's origins are rooted in the Civil War era, with brothers like Frank and John serving as bounty jumpers. Their spree of robberies and violence eventually drew the attention of the Pinkerton Detective Agency. The gang's reign ended violently in December 1868, when vigilantes extrajudicially hanged Frank, William, and Simeon Reno.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: The Reno Gang: The Most Daring Band of Train Robbers
- Also: How the Reno Gang Launched the Era of American Train Robberies
- Also: Vigilantes yank train robbers from jail and hang them | December 12, 1868 | HISTORY
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