Today, the Missouri State Quarter Coin remembers the seven highwaymen that robbed the express train in the early hours of 126 years ago.
From the Daily Alta California newspaper of that day:
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A Daring Robbery.
Ninety Thousand Dollars Stolen from an Express Train.
The Seven Men Who Did the Job Were Experts.
Robbers’ Cut, Missouri, the Scene of Other Bold Exploits, Was the Place Selected This Time. .
Kansas City, Mo., August 17th.— The Pacific Express Company lost $90,000 by a train robbery on the Missouri Pacific Railway early this morning.
It was the Kansas City limited that fell into the hands of bandits.
The train was crowded with passengers, and the safe o f the express company was stuffed with money, much of it consigned to Western banks.
The train left Tipton, Mo. at 3 a.m.
Two mysterious figures were seen by the engineer lurking around the forward end of the train; but no particular attention was paid to them.
Just after leaving Tipton the fireman turned toward the tender to fire up and looked squarely into the muzzles of two revolvers in the hands of two masked men.
They had evidently boarded the forward platform of the “blind” mail car at Tipton and were crawling over the tender toward the engine.
One of the bandits covered the fireman with his revolver, while the other took care of the engineer.
The trainmen were told to hold up their hands. “Now, you run this train to the Otterville water-tank,” ordered the leader, “and stop there. If you attempt to stop at any other place or to give a signal of alarm you’ll be dead men.”
And the robbers placed their weapons close to the heads of their victims.
The engineer and fireman were at the bandits’ mercy, and could only obey.
The Otterville water-tank stands in Robbers’ cut, just east of Otterville.
It was there that the noted outlaws, the James boys, committed one of their most daring robberies, and there the Younger brothers perpetrated one of their boldest crimes.
When Robbers’ cut was reached the engineer stopped the train.
“You come with me,” said the leader to the engineer, ” and you tend to the fireman,” he said to his companion.
The engineer was commanded to go to the express car and tell the messenger to open the door.
When he reached the express car he found that the two robbers had five confederates stationed at convenient places about the car, all being heavily armed and their faces concealed behind masks.
The engineer walked to the door of the express car and, covered by the revolvers of three of the robbers, called to the express messenger, Sam Avery, to open the door.
Avery, suspecting no danger, pushed back the door.
As he did so the leader of the robbers and one of his confederates pushed their revolvers in and ordered the messenger to hold up his hands.
The order was promptly obeyed and three robbers jumped into the car.
They proceeded immediately to the safe, , which was locked.
Avery was commanded to open it, and at the point of a revolver did so.
One of the robbers unfolded a gunny sack, and in it were placed the entire contents of the safe.
In the meantime the conductor, alarmed at the unusual stopping of the train, went forward to see what the trouble was.
He got only as far as the rear end of the express car when he was halted by one of the robbers, who told him to go back and collect his tickets.
The conductor hurried back to the first passenger coach and excitedly informed the passengers what was going on and advised them to hide their valuables.
Money, watches, jewelry and everything valuable were shoved into boot tops, into the cracks of the cushioned seats, and anywhere to get them out of sight.
The conductor had just warned the passengers in the second car when the train was started again.
The robbers had finished their work and escaped.
The engineer pulled the train into Otterville, where word was left to arouse the Sheriff and organize a posse to pursue the robbers.
The robbers had left their tracks in the mud, and these were followed for some distance east and finally lost.
The Sheriff’s posse and detectives are scouring the country for the robbers, and, considering the short start, they hope to capture some of them.
The exact amount of money and valuables stolen cannot be learned, as the agent of the express company here will say absolutely nothing about the occurrence, except Ito give the story of the robbery.
From other sources it was learned that the money in the safe aggregated about $75,000, and that other valuable property amounted to about $15,000.
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The Missouri State Quarter Coin shows with an image of a movie poster for the Great Train Robbery, circa 1896.
