First US train robbery

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History.com

On this day in 1866, the brothers John and Simeon Reno stage the first train robbery in American history, making off with $13,000 from an Ohio and Mississippi railroad train in Jackson County, Indiana.

Of course, trains had been robbed before the Reno brothers' holdup. But these previous crimes had all been burglaries of stationary trains sitting in depots or freight yards. The Reno brothers' contribution to criminal history was to stop a moving train in a sparsely populated region where they could carry out their crime without risking interference from the law or curious bystanders.

Though created in Indiana, the Reno brother's new method of robbing trains quickly became very popular in the West. Many bandits, who might otherwise have been robbing banks or stagecoaches, discovered that the newly constructed transcontinental and regional railroads in the West made attractive targets......(Snip)


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Reno Gang & the 1st Big Train Robbery

 

During the years after the Civil War, much of the nation suffered a period of unemployment and lawlessness, spawning a number of notorious desperadoes and outlaw gangs. It was during this time that the Reno Gang from Indiana began to terrorize the Midwest.

One of the first outlaw brotherhoods in the United States, the Reno Gang was primarily made up of four brothers -- Frank, John, Simeon and William Reno who all came from the small rural community of Rockford two miles north of Seymour, Indiana.

 

 

The Reno family, comprised of five sons and one daughter, was headed up by J. Wilkison and Julia Ann Reno who owned a 1,200 acre farm. Frank was the first son born in 1837, followed by John in 1838, Simeon ("Sim") in 1843, Clinton in 1847, William in 1848, and Laura, in 1851.

Strictly religious, the children were required to study the bible for hours on Sundays, attend school, and work on the farm. Perhaps resenting their stringent religious upbringing, all but Clinton, who was called "Honest Clint,” rebelled and found trouble at an early age. Even the daughter, Laura, was known to have been as wild as her four brothers who would later form the Reno Gang.

 

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By this time, they were so well organized that no law official dared to arrest them and witnesses kept silent, in fear of their lives.

Soon, the gang conceived of a new idea -- to rob a train, opening the door to a "new” form of outlawry for years to come. On the night of October 6, 1866, John and Simeon Reno, along with a man named Frank Sparks, boarded the east-bound Ohio & Mississippi train at the Seymour depot. Once on board, the three masked men made their way to the express car, held a gun on the messenger and stole some $12,000. Afterwards, they pulled the bell rope to signal the engineer to stop the train and jumped off into the darkness when the train slowed. The first recorded peace time train robbery had occurred in just a matter of minutes.

On September 28, 1867 a "copycat” holdup occurred at Seymour when another train was robbed. Authorities at first immediately suspected the Reno brothers, but later it was found that the train was robbed by Walker Hammond and Michael Colleran. Pulled off in the same manner as the Reno hold-up the previous year, the pair heisted about $8,000. Though Hammond and Colleran were "associates” of the Renos, John Reno tracked them down, beat them up, and turned them in, without the money, of course.

 

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The Legend of the Reno Brothers