On October 6, 1866, the brothers John and Simeon Reno staged
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.
By the late 19th century, train robbery was became an
increasingly difficult—and dangerous—profession.
Colt 45 the favorite gun of train robbers.
