The
Heist Heard Around the World
By Dr. Rudolph Daniels
Dean, Department Chair of Railroad Operations Technology and instructor of railroad history at Western Iowa Tech Community College in Sioux City, Iowa
Spectacular robberies
always attract our attention, and one of the most famous holdups ever happened
right here in Iowa.
Jesse James and his
gang are considered among the most notorious outlaws of all times. The very
mention of the James boys struck terror in the hearts of Americans for generations
According to tradition,
Jesse James turned to a life of crime as a means of revenge against northerners
who had terrorized his family during the Civil War. While still a teenager,
he joined Ouantrill's Raiders. The Raiders often cut telegraph wires or wrecked
trains to disrupt Union freight and troop movements. After the war Jesse formed
his own gang to rob rather than just harass northerners.
On July 23rd, 1873, Jesse and his boys pulled off the first train robbery in history. They had learned that the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad was going to carry a huge amount of gold bullion eastward on that day. Jesse planned to use some of the tactics he learned as a Quantrill Raider to stop the train. The gang loosened the rails just westward of the town of Adair, Iowa. They then tied ropes to those rails and pulled them apart as the locomotive approached. The engine crew had no time to stop or slow down the train. The tactic worked: the bandits derailed the locomotive and caused the cars to come to a screeching halt.
Jesse and the boys robbed
the baggage car and then proceeded to rob the frightened passengers. They took
over $5,000 in loot. Unfortunately, the big bullion shipment had been delayed.
Nevertheless, the robbers did well for only a few minutes worth of work.
Iowa and the nation
were stunned. No one could imagine a robbery of a running train in broad daylight.
Then to add insult to injury, just before the train robbery, Jesse and the boys
had stolen freshly baked pies from the porch of Mrs. Robert Grant of Adair.
Mrs. Grant was the wife of the local Rock Island Railroad section foreman.
Needless to say, the
railroad made every effort to capture the crooks. Details of the robbery and
reward offerings were flashed throughout the nation and the Chicago Rock Island
and Pacific has the claim of being the first railroad to experience, a robbery
of a moving train, and Iowa is proud to host the "Heist Heard Around the
World."
In 1954, the Rock Island
Railroad built a monument to commemorate the first train robbery. You can easily
visit the sight. It is only a mile west of Adair -- just off Interstate 80.
And there is an opportunity to celebrate the robbery. The town of Adair hosts a Jesse James Days festival at the end of July each year.