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.

Colt 45 the favorite gun of the train robbers.

On October 5, 1892, the famous Dalton Gang attempted the daring daylight robbery of two Coffeyville, Kansas, banks at the same time.

But if the gang members believed the sheer audacity of their plan
would bring them success, they were sadly mistaken. Instead, they
were nearly all killed by quick-acting townspeople.

For a year and a half, the Dalton Gang had terrorized the state of Oklahoma, mostly concentrating on train holdups. Though the
gang had more murders than loot to their credit, they had managed
to successfully evade the best efforts of Oklahoma law officers to
bring them to justice.

On January 17, 1950, 11 men steal more than $2 million ($29 million today) 
from the Brink’s Armored Car depot in Boston, Massachusetts. It was the
perfect crime—almost—as the culprits weren’t caught until January 1956,
just days before the statute of limitations for the theft expired.

The robbery’s mastermind was Anthony “Fats” Pino, a career criminal who recruited a group of 10 other men to stake out the depot for 18 months to
figure out when it held the most money. Pino’s men then managed to steal
plans for the depot’s alarm system, returning them before anyone noticed
they were gone.

Anthony “Fats” Pino.

The Brink’s building on Prince Street after the heist.

A detective examines the Brinks vault after the theft.

Burlap money bags recovered in a Boston junk yard from the
Brink’s robbery.

The Reno brothers, John and Simeon, 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.

 
       Frank Reno (1837 – 1868)       John Reno (1839 – 1895)        

The Reno Gang

SANDY KOZEL

On this day in 1974, President Richard Nixon announced that he
would resign the following day.

The Great Train Robbery is the name given to a $45 million train
robbery committed on this day in 1963 at Bridego Railway.

Arrests soon followed the robbery. Here three men are taken to a
police van at Linslade Court House, Buckinghamshire, after being remanded in custody in late August 1963.

Gang member Bruce Reynolds, pictured here circa 1963 on 
the left with his wife Frances, Barbara Daly and brother-in-
law John Daly. Daly was arrested but released due to lack
of evidence.

It was on this day in 1942.

Actor Dustin Lee Hoffman is 81 today. He was born in 
Los Angeles, California.

Dustin Hoffman won the Academy Award for Best Actor in
1980 for Kramer vs. Kramer, and in 1989 for Rain Man. He
also played leading roles in the films Midnight Cowboy
(1969) and Tootsie (1982). Hoffman had his breakthrough
role as Benjamin Braddock in the 1967 classic film The
Graduate.

1995

    1976