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horseback onto a moving train. Usually, they would either board the train normally and wait for a good time to initiate the heist, or they would stop or derail
the train and then begin the holdup.
Famous train robbers include
Pinkerton National Detective Agency later traced the crime to the Reno Gang
. There was one earlier train robbery in May 1865, but because it was committed by armed guerrillas and occurred shortly after the end of the Civil War, it is not considered to be the first train robbery in the United States.
In 2021, train robberies in
Union Pacific estimated that losses were in the millions from all the stolen merchandise.[3]
In two robberies on the Bristol and Exeter Railway two passengers climbed from their carriage to the mail van and back. They were discovered at Bridgwater after the second robbery.[4] One was Henry Poole, a former guard on the Great Western Railway, dismissed for misconduct (possibly on suspicion of another robbery);[5] the other was Edward Nightingale, the son of George Nightingale, accused, but acquitted,[6] of robbing the Dover mail coach in 1826,[7] when two thieves had dressed in identical clothes to gain an alibi for the other.[8] They were transported for 15 years.[9] Henry was sent to Bermuda on the Sir Robert Seppings (ship) in December 1850 whilst Edward was transported to Fremantle on the Sea Park in January 1854.[10][11]
^Sampson, James; Sampson, Lucille (7 August 1985). Calvert, Wade (ed.). "Jesse James and the Rock Island Lines". Iowa Train Robbery on the Rock Island. Archived from the original on 4 August 2008. Retrieved 8 June 2012.
