The Wilcox Train Robbery--as it happened.

By Vince Garcia

The following narrative is taken from the actual words and accounts provided by the crew of the Overland Flyer No. 1 at the time of the Wilcox robbery, and their testimony at the 1900 trial of Logan cousin Bob Lee for passing banknotes stolen from the train. An intense study of those accounts has produced a retelling of events from start to finish of the robbery, using common sense and a bit of deductive reasoning to harmonize them, while correcting errors, contradictions. misconceptions or false reporting on the part of some crewmen or reporters.

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One note: for those already familiar with the Wilcox robbery, my telling of the blowing of the bridge will be different from that repeated in books and magazine articles that have covered the robbery in the past. Previous writers over the years fell prey to repeating an incorrect account of the bridge-blowing tracing itself to Mail clerk Robert Lawson. His fullest account is in the Wyoming Derrick, June 8, 1899, where he relates:

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"They then ran the train across a gully, and stopped. There were two extra cars on the train, a tourist sleeper and a private car. These were uncoupled, and while this was being done, others of the gang went to the bridge, attempting to destroy it with giant powder, or dynamite, which they placed on the timbers."

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The way I tell it is the way Engineer Jones related it in his June 6 newspaper interview and sworn court testimony, verifying it in his initial telegram to the Union Pacific the morning of the robbery. (He apparently also told it to the Carbon County Journal the same day, which carried his version of the bridge-blowing.) Lawson was in the locomotive during the incident and should have given an identical version of the story. Why he apparently gave a slightly different version to the press I cannot say. One possibility is that a reporter edited the interview from notes and mistakenly thought this is what happened, wrongly relating it as a direct quote. (Lawson's interview actually has a number of clear errors in it, including a claim the robbers sent he and Bruce back to the second train, which contradicts Bruce's claim he observed the robbers loot Woodcock's car at the robbers' camp. Bad reporting is presumably responsible for this and Lawson's incorrect account of the bridge incident.)  In the end, Jones' version has better documentation, being verified by a telegram and newspaper account immediately after the robbery, recorded dialogue with one of the robbers consistent with the claim, and under oath in court, whereas Lawson's claimed account has almost none of these factors to back it up, and so I defer to Jones' account as the true version

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This is how the robbery actually happened.....

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"You M---- F----s, you are robbed!"

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With these curt words announced by the Sundance Kid as he climbed into the cab of William "Grindstone" Jones' locomotive, the most spectacular train robbery in the history of the West began at 2:14 AM, June 2, 1899, just over a mile west of the Wilcox, Wy., train station.

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No photos are known to exist of Jones' train. But this photo of

a sister engine was taken in 1899, the same year as the robbery,

shows what Jones' engine looked like. It was given a normal

stack in 1900, and so Jones' train apparently still had a diamond

stack in 1899. --G. E. Barber photo / James  L Ehernberger collection.

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The Sundance Kid.

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Prelude.

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Sheriff Allred notified Doc Shores of the Rio Grande Western of his belief of the holdup that was certain to take place, and is now looked upon here as more or less of a prophet.

--the Salt Lake Herald, June 6, 1899.

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The initial planning of the robbery may have began months earlier as members of Wyoming's Hole in the Wall and Utah's Robbers Roost gang began congregating in Brown's Park, Co., for their yearly spring rendezvous. The notorious Currie gang--"Flatnose" George Currie, Harvey Logan and the Sundance Kid--emerged from their winter hibernation, Logan coming west from Kansas City,³ "Flatnose" returning north from working in an Arizona copper mine,⁴ and the Sundance Kid drifting over from Wyoming.⁵ They may then have debated the possibility of upgrading their normal activities of rustling and robbing post offices to train robbery--often a much quicker path to prosperity.

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By May, in-depth planning would eventually be taking place around Rock Springs, Wy., after Butch Cassidy would supposedly be spotted riding with two other men, headed for Brown's Park⁶ on his way to Wyoming, rumor following in their dust that he intended an imminent train robbery, which Sheriff Allred of Price passed on to Utah railroad officials.

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Cassidy, in return for a share of the spoils, would allegedly join the Currie gang in an advisory capacity,* assisting with an escape plan and perhaps using the contacts of his Rock Springs attorney, Douglas Preston, to learn when a suitable train might be available (though other sources speculate that a bartender passed on information to the gang on potential targets). As for the actual robbery, that would be for others to handle.

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Somehow, rumors seemed to keep filtering out, and even in Omaha--the point of departure for the train--passenger Findley P. Gridley was reportedly warned by a railroad employee to keep his eyes out.

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By May 24, the plan was put in motion. The participants had been selected, 500 rounds of ammunition had been purchased at Kemmerer, good horses had been obtained, hundreds of pounds of blasting powder and dynamite were at the ready, and a day or two before the robbery one of the robbers purchased a Union Pacific signal lantern with red and white lenses from a railroad grading crew in the area.

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Then they waited.

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* Cassidy's employer, William French of New Mexico's WS Ranch, claimed Butch worked there from late 1898 throughout 1899. From March through July, however, his whereabouts cannot be shown with certainty,⁷ giving him ample time to travel up to Wyoming. Coincidentally, from spring until early summer there were alleged sightings of him in Utah and Wyoming, which taper off when Cassidy is again mentioned as being at the WS. While there is no conclusive evidence Cassidy was involved with the crime, traditional lore and sources certainly tied him to the Wilcox robbery. Dentist Will Frackelton wrote in his memoirs of meeting Cassidy and some of the Wilcox robbers at the Andersonville, Wy., shantytown in its aftermath. Members of the Burnaugh family claimed that Cassidy and several others hid out in a cave near their ranch after the robbery, and Cassidy's former lawyer, William L. Simpson, alleged that Butch admitted to receiving a share of the loot, though he did not participate in the actual robbery itself, something Cassidy (and lay) would have had good reason to avoid--Wyoming had passed a law making it a death penalty to molest a train with dynamite, an integral part of the plan. Interestingly, Arthur Chapman claimed that Percy Seibert spoke of Butch Cassidy's account of the Wilcox robbery, indicating he was one of the men who robbed the train. However, none of the details of the incident with Woodcock jibe with either Jones' or Woodcock's accounts, and whomever is the genesis of this account seems to have simply made up a yarn based on newspaper accounts.

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The cast of characters--3 or 6 robbers?

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From then to now, a debate raged over whether there were three or six robbers. (Logan himself would later claim only three robbers for what it's worth, writing: ...to my own certon knowlige they Was only 3 [Wilcox robbers] to Begin With.…) Initial reports, based on the crew's observations, claimed six robbers; and six descriptions were released. But an alleged paucity of tracks soon whittled the total to three, eventually traced to the Currie gang, and the railroad settled on that number. Pressure may have been put on the crew to fall in step with the company line, and by the time of Bob Lee's trial in 1900, some changed their story. But their actual claims--and the claim of at least two passengers--as to the number of men involved in the robbery are on record:

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Engineer William "Grindstone" Jones: 6.

Conductor William Storey: 6.

Express Messenger Charles. E. Woodcock: 6 /3 during court testimony/"Several" in 1930 (the Ogden Standard Examiner, Aug. 3, 1930).

Passenger Warren McCord: 6. (McCord, who made the staggering claim he didn't even know the train had been robbed until the next morning when someone came into his car and told him, reported six robbers. He presumably was told the number by the crew.)

Postal clerk W. G. "Bart" Bruce: 5/3 during court testimony. While Bruce was among those who changed his claim by Bob Lee's trial, a September, 1899, Detroit news account carried a report about a woman from Hawthorne, Nv., who in March of 1897 mailed out a blank autograph book to a post office, requested that the mail clerks sign and stamp it, then pass it along to other post offices, and someday mail it back to her when all the post offices they could get it to stamped it for her. She received it back in September of 1899, and allegedly found it contained signatures of the Wilcox mail clerks. It was claimed that Bruce's note read: If these signatures are somewhat shaky, you must excuse us. We have just been held up by five masked robbers at Wilcox, Wyo.

Passenger W. H. Dickson: 4. Dickson, a Utah judge, reported four robbers, specifically denying a team of six. This is very important because no one else, including the crew, quoted this number, and strongly implies he got this number from a fellow passenger who must have observed the four robbers on the first stages of the robbery after the other two seen by Jones and Storey may have retreated to the rendezvous point with the horses (Dickson seemed to indicate he himself slept through most of the action).

Postal clerk Robert Lawson: "Of three that I observed..." An ambiguous statement we'll assume means 3/3 during court testimony.

Postal clerk James H. Skidmore: 3 during court testimony.

Postal clerk Robert O'Brien: 2 observed and 1 heard during court testimony.

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As we will see, whether there were three or six men doesn't become an issue until the actual accounts of the crew at the time of the event are scrutinized. This is especially so in the case of Harvey Logan. Accounts of the crew indicated they claimed a short man guarded them whom they considered to be in charge, and who also treated them courteously. In a three-man scenario, Harvey Logan automatically becomes this man. This relegates either "Flatnose" Currie or the Sundance Kid to disguising as an old man faking a Scottish brogue, with the other following him down the train, repeatedly having to be talked out of shooting the crew, threatening to shoot the engineer if he didn't work fast enough, ordering the other robber to blow cars up and kill their crews if they didn't exit--all ruthless behavior out of character for them…but completely consistent with the wild, violent temper of Harvey Logan!

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In a six-man scenario with two short men, Sundance and "Flatnose" are excluded from this murderous behavior and one polite short man guards the party, while another short, violent man--Harvey Logan--accompanies an old man down the train, threatening to kill every time he is crossed or frustrated. [Fortunately, we are lucky in that Jones made a comment in his court testimony when asked to identify Bob Lee that one of the three men "did not speak at the time of the robbery," and by a process of elimination with the claim a "short man" was the one giving orders, this would imply Sundance kept silent during most of the event (as we see when Logan was threatening to kill the crew)--but for briefly at the beginning when he climbed the engine, so Logan can be tagged as the man unleashing the various diatribes with the Old Man.]

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No direct quote from the crew lists the number of short robbers, and there may have been some confusion amongst the press regarding the number, with reporters confusing two men with one man. Reporters claimed the crew thought the polite man guarding them was "absolutely in charge," possibly confusing Logan's role with that of the more courteous guard. If not, then the diminutive guard apparently had experience in train-robbing, and the gang was deferring to him.

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Who were those masked men?

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Because of the subsequent chase of the robbers and their shooting of Sheriff Joe Hazen at Teapot Creek, there is near-universal agreement that three of the culprits were the Currie gang. For those who believe there were six robbers, there is only speculation as to the remaining three, mine being no better than anyone else's.

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Following are descriptions of the six robbers that were released by the Union Pacific the day after the robbery.

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No. 1, Leader--about 50 years of age, 5 feet 7 inches or 8 inches, thin around nose, large eyes with large quantity of white, small eye balls, slouch hat with light canvas coat, weight 157 pounds.

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This man played a major role in the robbery all night long. While others of the crew seemed to think some short man was the leader, the engineer--who with the fireman was forced to accompany and assist him all night--clearly believed this gentleman of around 50, whom he referred to as "The Old Man," was in charge. The Old Man was noteworthy for possessing an ill temper, a vulgar mouth, and what was described as a "Scotch-Irish" brogue, which the description curiously omits. His part that night would be to assist in getting the crewmen out of their cars, and handling the dynamite.

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Possible culprits:

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Harvey Ray (Rey). Ray, a shadowy figure in Wild Bunch lore, was an older Montana and Wyoming rustler affiliated with the gang on occasion. Originally from Scotland, Ray disappears from history around 1900, and one story holds that he was wounded in the flight from the robbery, dying near the Burnaugh ranch, where a grave there is said to be his. His physical description ("5 feet 8 1-2 inches, weight 186 pounds, age 42 years, dark complexion, round full face, heavy long dirty mustache…dark grey eyes, hair quite grey above ears and inclined to curl, bow-legged"⁸) also fits that of the leader, making him the strongest candidate for this character. However, we have no record of when he came to America or whether he kept any accent..

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Tom O'Day--the Clown Prince of the Wild Bunch.

The photo of him on the horse is much how he would

have looked the night of the robbery if he was the

dynamite man.

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Tom O'Day. O'Day, who had been less-than-distinguished in his performance with the Currie gang at the Belle Fourche bank robbery in 1897, was only in his 30s but could easily have given his hair grey highlights to disguise himself. He is the only member of the gang for which there is historical record⁹ of his having an Irish burr (which can sound like a Scottish accent to many people). When spotted at the Andersonville shantytown shortly after the robbery, he told dentist Will Frackelton, "We just made a big haul." If he was including himself in the comment, this all but proves he was the "Old Man" of the group. O'Day was generally rated at about 5'10" tall, and the description is slightly smaller than his actual height, but within the general range of estimation one might expect for an estimate. (Outlaws were regularly estimated at an inch or two larger or shorter than their actual height.)

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Herb Grice. Another shadowy character whose history with the Wild Bunch has only been unearthed in the last few years, Grice was from a part of England where the local accent sounded a bit Scottish. As with Ray, we have no historical confirmation he retained an accent.

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An unknown man from "the British possessions" secured by "Flatnose" Currie for the job. This information was obtained by bounty hunter Tom Horn at the point of gun held to the head of cowboy Bill Speck. As Speck was forced to tell it, supposedly "Flatnose" Currie sought horses at the Hill ranch and mentioned that in addition to "Harvey Ray," he had secured the services of a Canadian who could "blow Christ off the cross with dynamite" for the Wilcox job. If the story is true, the claim about Ray almost certainly refers to Harvey Logan who regularly used Ray's name as an alias. Past that, there is virtually no question that "Flatnose" and Logan were actually at John Nolen's Kaycee ranch where they re-supplied and paid with stolen watches, one of which Nolen's brother-in-law was later caught with and arrested for. A girl visiting Nolen's daughter also witnessed the robbers there. This mystery Canadian, however, would be the only candidate with known expertise with dynamite, though Mark Smokov speculates this was a reference to Sundance, who might have learned something about dynamite use up in Canada during his stay there.

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Sanford "Sang" Thompson. In 1922, May Gardner wrote a long letter to the Buffalo Voice about her recollections of old Wyoming, recalling, among other things, being at a ranch when the Currie gang showed up after the Wilcox robbery. They were apparently observed climbing a wall and then remained there in hiding even as Joe LeFors and Frank Hadsell's posse arrived, sneaking away during the night while dinner was prepared for the posse. According to her, one of the other robbers she later learned was "Lang Thompson," who gave her some stolen money from the robbery. This appears to be a garbling of Sang Thompson, a rustler and early inhabitant of Hole in the Wall country. Some corroboration for this could exist in the 1911 book Foreman of the JA6, written by E. Joy Johnson who knew Tom O'Day and used him as a source of information, even making him a character in the book. She used thinly veiled names for actual people in her book (Harvey Slogan as one example), and in a chapter dealing with the Wilcox robbers, one of six robbers coincidentally is named "Zang" (Thompson was called "Zang" in the early '90s). Thompson, however, had a crippled foot and limp, and no such limp was recorded about the Old Man.

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No. 2--Dark complexion, black, woolly hair, slouch hat, dark suit, very rough in his language, about 5 feet 9 or 10 inches, weight, about 170 pounds.

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Possible culprit:

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Bill Moore.

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After escaping from the Deadwood jail with the Belle Fourche robbers Logan, Sundance, Punteney and O'Day on Oct. 30, 1897, the fate of Bill Moore has never been known with certainty. Moore, a Negro, faced a bleak prospect escaping on his own and had every reason in the world to remain with some of the robbers if he could have. Outlaw gangs were more open-minded on the subject of integration than society as a whole in that era, and one 1898 report had Moore robbing with Logan and Sundance in Utah.¹⁰ A mixed-race (Bob Lee called him a "Mulatto") or light-skinned black amongst a group of white men with faces already blackened on a dark night might easily be presumed to be another dark-complexioned Caucasian, and the description sounds as if it could be describing a Negro. The reference to his 'rough language' could be consistent with that of a black man of limited education in that era.

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No. 3--About 5 feet 8 or 9 inches, black hair, 165 pounds, black hat and suit, large shoes or boots.

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Possible culprit:

"Flatnose" George Currie.

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"Flatnose" Currie.

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No. 4--Small man, about 5 feet 6 or 7 inches, dark complexion, grey hat, and wore pants inside boots, vulgar in language, probable weight, 160 pounds.

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Possible culprit:

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Harvey Logan--the wild man of the Wild Bunch.

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Harvey Logan.

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No. 5--Small man, weight about 145 pounds, drooping, white cowboy hat, wore canvas leggings, black leather shoes, pants either brown cloth or corduroy, light overcoat, medium length; had Texas twang¹¹ about his voice; had carbine with wood to within five inches of muzzle.

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Possible culprit:

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Will Carver

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Will Carver or unknown. At first glance, the description of this man is a decent one for Will Carver, who though tagged at 5'8" in one description was called "short" in the robbery of the Galveston, Harrisburg, & San Antonio #20. (The Fort Worth 5 photo also shows him to be the same general height as Logan, whom he stands next to.) However, a witness placed him and Elza Lay in New Mexico at roughly the same time of the Wilcox robbery (even though Lay was claimed by Ann Bassett to have had a role in it, and was allegedly sighted in Utah in May¹²). If so, Carver must obviously be omitted from being a candidate.

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I submit this man, whoever he was, had to be the guard for a couple of reasons:

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1. A curiously detailed description of his clothing is given, down to the color of his brown pants--unusual given the dark night--along with his Texas accent, implying that he was standing in some degree of light and that the crew interacted with him over a period of time. The guard would have been standing near the conductor's dropped lantern for the first part of the robbery, giving the trainmen an illuminated view of his clothing and rifle, which they give a highly detailed description of, something no other robber is likewise provided with. (However, it should be noted that Postal clerk Bruce claimed the night was too dark for him, at least, to provide any details of the guard.)

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2. As noted, two claims in print suggest the crew observed a short man who was polite to them, whom they thought was in charge.

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They went about their work in a leisurely business-like manner, and one man was in absolute charge of the job. He was very polite to the mail clerks and the train crew…

--Salt Lake City Herald, June 3, 1899.

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There was a small man in charge of the gang, who issued orders and the others promptly obeyed.

--San Francisco Chronicle, June 3, 1899.

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(Remember the press may have garbled what the crew reported and confused two men with one. Logan would have been one short man, giving orders and being in charge; the short, polite Texan would only have been the guard.)

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If the reports of his giving orders to the others are correct, Will Carver would head the list of Texans Harvey Logan and the Currie Gang might be expected to know and respect enough to follow his lead due to his past train robberies. For purposes of this article, I will refer to the guard as Will Carver, but a big question mark remains about who the man really was.

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No. 6--about 5 feet 9 inches, weight about 150 pounds, sandy beard, dressed shabbily.

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Possible culprit:

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The Sundance Kid.

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** Only Bruce seems to have related the brogue, but he was emphatic about it.

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Stopping the train.

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The man who used the lantern¹³ was a large man and perhaps 30 or 35 years of age. ...The men used the vilest and most profane language I ever heard.

--Engineer William "Grindstone" Jones.

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Shortly after 2 AM, engineer William Jones opened the throttle and the Overland Flyer began moving out of the Wilcox station, its companion train--filled with 300 passengers according to the Salt Lake Tribune--remaining behind to complete servicing for another 20 minutes. It was raining heavily, but the rain¹⁴ would soon let up to become "dark and cloudy"¹⁵ as the first section slowly made its way west toward Aurora, the next stop.

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Barely over a mile away from Wilcox, Jones spotted a red and white signal light being waved by someone in the distance where he knew a small bridge spanned a gulch. Given the heavy rains, it may have made some sense to assume a flash flood could have damaged the bridge, and Jones closed the throttle. He would later relate to passenger Warren McCord that had he not recognized it as a "regulation signal," he would have ignored it and driven straight through.

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This rare Vesta signal lantern with a red

lens and white globe is likely the sort of

lantern used by Sundance to stop the

train. (Thanks to Flippers_Union.)

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Ahead, the Sundance Kid¹⁶ and the man standing with him as the train's headlight approached must have blessed their good luck for a raging storm at the perfect time in June. On the bridge just behind them, 10 sticks of dynamite had been set in place to touch off if the train were to ignore their signal and appeared to be moving through them, but the trick would be to blow it soon enough to give the train enough time to force it to stop without sending it into the gulch and killing a host of people if the bridge were damaged too badly--including themselves if the boiler blew.

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As the train drew near, Sundance began waving the light and to his relief could see and hear the locomotive slowing until it pulled to a stop near the bridge and the engineer leaned out to see what was the matter.

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At the back of the train, the rear brakeman, as required by policy, immediately grabbed his own signal lantern and began running back down the line to warn the second section to halt, lest it run up and rear-end the first section. Meanwhile, Sundance and his partner approached the locomotive and the Kid put down the lantern, climbing up into the cab--where he instantly drew a pistol and announced the train was being robbed.

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"Now, you M---- F----s, get off quick or I will put light through you!" he added, waving them down and admonishing them to be quiet.

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When the pair got on the ground, they met his partner, an "old man" of around 50 years of age with some visible grey hair, carrying a brace of pistols, the one pointed at them nickel-plated with pearl grips.¹⁷ In no uncertain terms, the Old Man--in a squeaky, high-pitched brogue--warned them they had enough dynamite to blow the entire train up.

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The robbery was now on.

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In the Ogden mail car, just behind the tender, chief clerk, W. G. "Bart" Bruce, had caught up enough on his work to lounge around on a makeshift bunk, while the other two clerks, Len Dietrich and Robert Lawson, sorted a few pieces of mail. When the train stopped so soon after leaving Wilcox, Lawson--curious if they had reached Aurora--opened the door a crack to check. They were in the middle of nowhere so he shrugged and closed the door.

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Other bandits, wearing long masks covering their faces blackened with soot, began filtering up from the shadows, surrounding Jones and Fireman Walsh. Quickly, the robbers looked down the line at what they were dealing with: Just behind the tender was the Ogden mail car. Behind that was their target--the Express car with at least two safes hopefully stuffed with gold and currency. Past that was the Portland mail car, behind it a baggage/mail car, and at the rear were a sleeper coach and finally a private passenger car.

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Over in the sleeper car, Conductor William Storey wondered what the stop was for and took down a lantern. Exiting the car moments after the train came to a stop, he began to make his way forward to see what the issue was.

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Stops between stations weren't unusual, but Postal clerk Len Dietrich, also curious, moved past Lawson and opened the door for his own look just as Storey happened to walk past. Leaning out, he observed a group of men up at the locomotive and shut the door, remarking to the others that it looked like they were removing a gang of hobos from the tracks.

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Storey, meanwhile, came up to find six men*** at the locomotive--and quickly had a rifle trained on him as he was directed to stand against the locomotive and be quiet, while Carver, his face obscured by a burlap sack, was detailed to keep watch on him..

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Jones--who would become the true hero of the night--was now asked who was in the Mail and Express cars.

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Seeing an opportunity to tip off the men in the Ogden mail car (and avoid giving an answer about the Express car), he lied, saying the name of the Mail clerk was Sherman.

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This lie would be strike one for Jones, and mark him with Harvey Logan.

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The taking of the first mail car.

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The bandits then fired several shots through the mail car, sending them crosswise, lengthwise, and cornerwise. We still refused to open the door, and the robbers placed some Giant powder in the door and exploded it, tearing the door off its hinges. One of the robbers was ordered to get into the car, but he only stuck his gun inside the door and fired a few times.

--Postal clerk W. G. "Bart" Bruce.

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As Postal clerk O'Brien later claimed to see a pair of hooded men, Sundance and Logan apparently donned full hoods made from sacks, readied their rifles, and with the Old Man wearing a normal mask, ordered Jones and Walsh down to the Ogden mail car for the first order of business before dealing with the Express car, their true target.

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Inside the car, things had returned to normal when the clerks suddenly heard someone shout out, "Sherman! Sherman! Come out here!"

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Dietrich was still standing by the door, and Bruce--wondering who Sherman was, and what whomever was outside wanted him for--instructed Dietrich to see what the man wanted.

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Dietrich opened the door a crack, and one of robbers demanded, "Sherman, come out of there!"

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Bruce, still puzzled, walked over from his bunk calling out that Sherman wasn't there, but in response someone shouted, "Come out of there--and damn quick, too!"

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An order like that only got a brusque "Go to hell!" in response as Bruce shoved closed the door and locked it in their faces, ordering Dietrich to extinguish the lights.

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Instantly, Logan fired a steel-jacketed slug--propelled by the new, powerful smokeless gunpowder--through the thick wood of the door, barely missing Bruce.

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A few yards back in the Express car, E. C. Woodcock hadn't been concerned about the stop. But at hearing the shot, he realized there was trouble and grabbed for a shotgun. Next, he retrieved a pistol, placing it in his pocket. Finally, he reached up and extinguished the lights in the car, plunging it in darkness, then waited to see what would happen.

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Back at the mail car, more threats on the part of Logan and the Old Man followed, but the crew remained silent and it was obvious the duo would have to bust in. Spotting a coal pick on Walsh's person, the Old Man ordered the Fireman to break through the door with it, despite Jones' warning the door was too tough, and Walsh set to work trying to force his way through.

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Fifteen minutes later, Walsh was still vainly trying to break through the door with the pick and the robbers realized they'd be there all night at that rate. Doing the job as quickly and as quietly as possible to avoid arousing the passengers was obviously preferable, but in desperation Sundance was ordered to fire a shot through the front of the car, which passed through a water tank and lodged in a stanchion. (Bruce recovered the slug and later displayed it in Ogden.¹⁸) Logan, meanwhile, placed one through the side of the car, the bullet ricocheting around as a third slug from Sundance penetrated a corner.

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"Come out of there or we'll blow you out!" someone shouted.

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Still the men hunkered down and stubbornly stayed put.

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About now, the built-up pressure in the unattended boiler kicked off a safety valve with a roar of steam, and Storey--concerned that he might fail to hear some order given, which might get him shot--shouted over to Carver, asking whether he could move a bit closer so that he could hear any orders given him.¹⁹ Carver waved him over and the Conductor walked out and took up a position apparently near, but slightly behind him, and both men watched the action over at the mail car.

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Back at the car, they'd abandoned subtlety and the Old Man decided more aggressive means were necessary. Reaching into a sack--since I assume the dynamite was in a paraffin-waxed canvas sack to protect it from the rain--he retrieved a half-stick of dynamite and placed it on the door sill. He then lit it and everyone moved back, waiting.

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With a loud explosion the stick went off, blowing the door half off its hinges and rattling the car from the force of the blast.

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Two cars down, clerks O'Brien and Skidmore heard the blast and knew that spelled trouble. Instinctively, they went for the lights, turning them down.

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A few yards away, Carver was totally engrossed with the scene--and Storey realized it. Dropping the lantern, he made a beeline for the rear of the train, running past it for the second section he knew would be coming along any minute.

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Carver never noticed.

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With ingress now available, someone ordered Sundance to squeeze inside. Thinking better of the idea, the Kid instead stuck the barrel of his Colt into the darkness and fired blindly. Logan then ordered the Old Man to put some Giant powder under the car and light it off.

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That did it. The lighting system employed pressurized gas tanks set under the car, and igniting those would spell death for Bruce and company. Worse, a massive explosion might start a chain reaction, taking out the entire train!

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Bruce then called out they would give up, and ordered Dietrich to turn on the lights. The men then opened the door, threw up their hands, and emerged. Each was given a quick pat-down for weapons and informed that it would do no good to make trouble since they had enough Giant powder to blow the whole train off the tracks. All they wanted was what was in the Express car anyway, and they meant to have it; there was no interest in the mail so far as they were concerned.

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Lawson, assuming it was a normal robbery, volunteered his wallet, saying, "My month's wages are in that."

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"We don't want it," someone replied. "Put it back."

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(Unfortunately, a hard drive crash has caused me to lose a copy of a paper that appears to have had a less-sanitized response I recall was along the lines of, "We don't want anything off you [expletives]!")

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The clerks were then directed over to Carver to be watched.

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Robert Lawson--eager to talk to the press

...but a fountain of misinformation.

.

..

It was now, as he turned his attention away from the mail car, that Harvey Logan would have realized that Carver had misplaced the Conductor. No one recorded his reaction, but the enraged robber would certainly have screamed out his displeasure and demanded to know what had become of Storey.

.

Carver, looking around to find a missing Conductor and a lantern lying on the ground, could only have apologized and endured the vitriol that undoubtedly issued forth from Logan's legendarily profane mouth, possibly followed by a threat to the rest of the crew if any of them tried escaping.

.

His undoubted displeasure at Carver's loss of the Conductor may be what propelled Logan into his next desperate act: Possibly speaking low (since only Jones recorded it), to the undoubted horror of Jones and Walsh, Logan informed the Old Man he'd decided to shoot the Postal clerks.²⁰

.

Instantly, the Old Man interceded and somehow talked Logan down. Calmed for a moment, Logan may have turned toward the next mail car, prepared to deal with that crew; then paused as the wheels turned in his head. Better safe than sorry, he may have concluded, as he turned back to glare at Carver and the Postal clerks, his grip tightening on the Winchester as he reconsidered.

.

No, he again told the Old Man, he was just going to shoot the clerks.

.

For the second time, the Old Man spoke up on the crew's behalf. Jones didn't record what he said, but perhaps he pointed out the entire state of Wyoming would burn with lynch fever over such wanton slaughter. Maybe he told him the other clerks would figure they had nothing to lose and just shoot it out if they heard the clerks shout for their lives, then fall silent after the sounds of rifle fire. But whatever psychology he used, the wild man of the Wild Bunch relented, and the group started to bypass Woodcock's car in order to deal with the clerks in the Portland mail car.

.

One wonders at the passivity of the Sundance Kid, apparently standing mute during the event.

.

Back at the Postal clerks, even if they didn't hear what Logan said, his body language, and perhaps his cold, icy stare may have shone through enough in the darkness to convey he was considering doing something unpleasant. This may be the cause of Carver's reassuring them by saying, "Now, Boys, don't get scared--you're just as safe here as you would be in Cheyenne."²¹ Either then or later, he may have reinforced the comment by good-naturedly asking if any of the men had a plug of tobacco, which someone produced and which was received with appreciation, then passed around for a group chew.²²

..

The immediate threat avoided, Logan re-focused on other things again, but now a new problem arose: In the distance, a headlight appeared.

.

The plan nearly falls apart.

.

.

In a staggering example of incomplete research, none of the gang had apparently heard about or read newspapers like the December 7 Cheyenne Tribune, which had published notices by the Union Pacific that evening trains like the Overland Express would now be sent out in pairs due to the high volume of passengers! The gang had brilliantly surmised that they needed the proper signal lantern to halt the train and keep it from rolling through, then cunningly acquired one without arousing any suspicion. Yet somehow in all their preparations they had failed to pick up on the fact that lone night trains like they assumed they were stopping hadn't been seen on the rails in months, and that major gap in their knowledge was going to cost them: They weren't going to have the luxury of robbing a single train--they were going to have to deal with two trainloads of Mail clerks, Express Messengers and passengers! Now the headlight of a train they should have known would be minutes behind the first was bearing down on them, and none of the four men was prepared for it.

.

Logan--shaken and completely taken by surprise--demanded to know what it was.

.

Jones now saw his chance to frighten off the robbers. It was a troop train, he answered, thinking fast. Moreover, there were four carloads of soldiers on it!

.

The bluff might have worked, but unfortunately for Jones, the Old Man had apparently played enough poker in his time to know a bluff when he heard one, and snapped back, "We don't care if there's forty carloads of soldiers on it!"

.

This lie would be strike two for Jones.

..

As confident as the Old Man was, the rest weren't as cocksure, and were "scared" enough at a train appearing out of nowhere that someone urged getting the train across the bridge and blowing it with the dynamite they'd had the foresight to plant. The group was then ordered into the locomotive and the crew hastened to obey.

.

Except for Len Dietrich.

.

Dietrich, a former lieutenant in Torrey's Rough Riders, a select group of cowboys who had undergone rigorous training with the intent of fighting in Cuba, was no slouch and didn't like being pushed around. He complied with the order all right--but he did it slowly and with an attitude. This angered the Old Man and he hastened him along with a hard kick to the behind.

.

Instantly, Dietrich squared off with him.

.

"You son of a bitch--you go on record as the first fellow that ever kicked me without having a fight for it!"

.

A .45 in his face convinced him this fight would be an uneven one and Dietrich backed down, climbing into the locomotive as directed. But now he was on the Old Man's radar, and as Jones warned him the boiler was low on steam, the Old Man directed Dietrich, instead of Fireman Walsh, to stoke her up.

.

Still showing resistance, Dietrich did as he was told--but as he shut the furnace door he made a point of brushing against the Old Man, pulling his mask down to reveal his face.²³

.

Instantly, the Old Man pulled up the mask, pointed his gun at Dietrich, and warned, "You G--- damn M---- F----**** --you do that again, and I'll pop you!"

.

Things might have escalated from there, but there were more important things to deal with.

.

Ironically, the Postal clerks would compliment the other robbers as treating them well, and universally decry the Old Man as the bully of the group because of his treatment of Dietrich, never realizing they twice owed their lives to him.

.

.

*** While many mistakenly attribute the so-called "myth" of six robbers to Jones, on the day of the robbery, Storey also verified in telegrams he saw six men who accosted him and warned him to be quiet when he came up to the locomotive. However, taking all accounts into consideration, I question Storey's claim that he saw six men at this point. While I believe there were at least six robbers, Bruce's claim that two robbers joined the others at the camp fits the accounts more seamlessly than six robbers accompanying the train all the way there. If Storey was right about his claim of six men being at the locomotive, two robbers may have crossed the bridge soon after this point and ridden ahead of the train to await its arrival at the camp, a fact not noted in any of the accounts because only Storey might have been able to see it.

.

**** The Old Man here used four screened-out profane words I am guessing at, the first a short one and the last two I am presuming were his favorite phrase.

..

.

Blowing the bridge.

.

I then pulled the train forward a short distance over a bridge, by direction of the robbers. I was to pull out 'damned quick, too, or your train will be blown out of the country.' And the robber was right, for the last coach was only fifty feet off the bridge when the explosion occurred and pieces of the bridge were thrown 200 feet in the air.

--Engineer William "Grindstone" Jones.

.

.

Turning back to Jones, the Old Man told him to pull part way onto the bridge and hold there, but be ready to "pull out damned quick, too, or your train will be blown out of the country," as there were 10 pounds of dynamite at the ready. He added the comforting note that if Jones had not stopped when flagged, they would have blown the bridge and sent the train into the gulch*****

..

As ordered, Jones pulled onto the bridge and the train squeaked to a stop as the Old Man disappeared over the side of the cab and ran forward to light the fuse. It's unknown how reliable the report is, but the March 5 , 1900, Semi-Weekly Boomerang claimed he used a lit cigar.

.

Fuses of the time were cut in 30-second increments. The robbers would have used a 30-second fuse initially to make sure the bridge would blow quickly in order to halt the train in short order, and in consulting with the Nevada State Railroad Museum's historians, giving them the details of the train length and Jones' report, they believe the Old Man used a 30-second fuse, apparently gambling on the train's being able to cross the bridge in that perilously short amount of time, rather than pausing to hunt through his gear for a detonator with a 60-second fuse if he even had one.

.

Sparks trailing from the burning fuse, the train now had no more than 30 seconds to go from a dead stop to clearing the bridge. Moments later, the Old Man returned, shouting for the engineer to go, and Jones threw open the throttle. The wheels dug in and the train lurched forward, tortuously crawling its way forward as Jones, looking out the side of the cab, spotted the burning fuse and fully expected the train to be blown up as it lumbered forward. But finally the passenger cars--the last cars of the train--rattled past the charge. Just 50 feet over the bridge, the charge went off with the roar of a canon, illuminating the night sky and sending portions of the bridge flying.²⁴

.

***** This last comment was likely bluster. Given the Old Man's reluctance to kill, and a charge that only lightly damaged the bridge, the intent was more likely to intimidate and force the train to stop, rather than literally wreck it.

.

.

The passengers enter the Twilight Zone, and was there a confederate aboard?

.

While railroad official Warren McCord made the astounding--and frankly unbelievable--claim²⁵ that all but three of the 30 passengers aboard the train with him managed to sleep through gunshots, dynamite and exploding bridges without realizing the train was even being robbed, other reports indicate the passengers knew and were given a good scare, though they could give no details of the actual robbery. One noteworthy incident may have occurred at this point, which told the tale of a woman who threw a suspiciously intense fit of fear aboard the train. She was reportedly so worked up in terror that even after the robbery was over and the passengers delivered safely, some thought she would not survive the ordeal.²⁶

.

While she may simply have been a woman of overly fragile emotional disposition, the possibility cannot be overlooked that she may have been in collusion with the robbers, her task being to infect other passengers--especially the women--with fear to keep them from interfering.

.

Possible support may be found in a Salt Lake newspaper's editorial on the robbery, which seemed to imply a woman's involvement with an illustration.

Unfortunately, it gave no details for its apparent conclusion...

.

As to McCord's claim--as he relates it, it staggers the imagination. To hear him tell it, perhaps three passengers were aware of the robbery, while everyone else slept through it. He, himself, acknowledged hearing the safes being blown a couple of miles away, presuming it was thunder, yet McCord pointedly makes no mention of the fusillade of gunfire from the outlaws pouring lead into Bruce's car and the half-stick of dynamite they used to open the door, sounds at least some of the 30 passengers would have to have heard. Most significantly of all, he doesn't say a word about any reaction of the car to the bridge being blown mere yards behind them with 10 sticks of dynamite--which even a deaf man couldn't have missed--and the sputtering fuse, which anyone looking out the side of the car would have seen along with the engineer and undoubtedly raised an alarm, nor does he indicate that the passenger threatened with a gun when he looked out a window said a word to anyone! Worst of all, he supposedly didn't even know that the train had been robbed until he was told the next morning! However, he made a damning statement in his Salt Lake City interview implying a close encounter with the robbers that the passengers would seem unlikely to have slept through, and in fact suggests they actually were trying to keep the robbers out of their car:

.

The robbers had broken the glass door of the vestibule to get at the lever which uncoupled the tourist from the express and mail cars. Then when they had taken the engine with the two mail and the express cars a mile away there was a terrible noise from the explosion of the safe but it didn't awaken the people of the tourist.

.

.First, the Nevada State Railroad Museum can't make sense of the statement. There is no lever inside the train that de-couples the car from the rest of the train. Either the paper misreported what McCord said or McCord misspoke. But most importantly, there should have been no reason for the robbers to break any glass door into the car unless the door had been locked or blocked by the passengers to keep them out!

.

All these facts lead me to conclude that he was lying about the event to downplay events as much as possible in hope of not frightening prospective travelers.

.

However, some credence can actually be given to his claims by Judge Dickson who seemed to indicate that he slept through much of the event in his sleeper compartment, and echoed McCord's claims that few passengers knew about the robbery. Again--how this could translate into a train full of passengers failing to hear a war going on outside, while other newspaper reports claim the passengers were terrified, we do not know.

..

Interestingly, in the Dalles Daily Chronicle on June 5, Mr. and Mrs. CC Weigel, an Oregon couple returning home from visiting their son in Omaha, mentioned to reporters about 'very exciting times on their train when the bridge ahead of them was fired,' completely contradicting the nonsense by Wilcox claimants that everyone slept through the incident. The second train had backed away from the area, yet apparently at least some passengers from the second section clearly--and reasonably--heard the tremendous blast from the dynamite that the apparently comatose passengers in the first section did not!

.

So in the end we have contradictory claims--some newspaper reports indicating the passengers knew and were terrified, with at least one panic-stricken woman, and at least one claim that all but three people slept through dynamite blasts practically outside their windows, and three who were aware of the robbery raised no alarm to their fellow travelers.

.

There is one possibility, though no direct evidence for it: The men may have been so afraid, and so embarrassed of the fact, that to save face some tried to play dumb after the event.

.

.

Etta Place,  probably the "Mysterious woman" who

was "very striking in apperance" arerested and

released at the Springville bank robbery a year

earlier.  Could she have been the woman who

threw the fit on the train at Wilcox?

..

.

Parting the cars, and leaving the scene.

.

I had a light engine on an up grade and the train did not start easily, and it was because of this little delay that one of the smaller men of the robbers who was on the engine…struck me over the head with his revolver. I tried to dodge it but could not.

--Engineer William "Grindstone" Jones.

.

.

Back in the locomotive, Jones pulled the train to a stop. Whether or not the robbers could tell at a glance the damage to the bridge was negligible is unknown. They may have suspected, especially if they had never intended on wrecking the train altogether if it had refused to stop. Perhaps to play it safe, they now decided to uncouple the passenger cars to block the alleged troop train from following, although at least one robber still had designs on them and planned a return visit.******

.

Jones and Walsh were now rushed back to the rear of the train where Jones was ordered to uncouple the train from the two passenger cars. As they were on an upgrade, Jones first wanted to set the brakes on the sleeper car to assure it would not run down onto the damaged bridge.

.

A curious passenger then looked out a window to see what they were doing and was ordered at gunpoint to get his head back in.

.

The second train was almost upon them and one of the robbers--undoubtedly Logan--crossed to the opposite side of the car, and pulled a watch. Then, punctuating it with a Loganesque level of ongoing profanity, began counting down five minutes for Jones to uncouple or take a bullet.²⁷

.

Jones finished in four.

.

Returning to the locomotive, Jones addressed the controls and began the startup sequence, attempting to get the remainder of the train moving. He threw open the throttle--but the wheels wouldn't catch and the train sat still!*******

..

Apparently, they weren't going anywhere.

.

It was strike three for Jones and the last straw for Harvey Logan.

.

"I'll fix you, you M---- F----!"

.

Logan, berserk with rage, jumped into the engineer's section of the cabin, contorting in the narrow space to strike the helpless Jones across the scalp with the barrel of his gun, opening up a nasty gash. Jones brought his hands up and blocked Logan's second strike as the Old Man, for the third time trying to save lives, may have literally pulled Logan off of him (as there was no room to interpose between them), saying, "Hold there, we don't want any killing about this!"

.

If one report is true and can be pinned down to this event, Sundance (by process of elimination) apparently had run out of patience with Jones as well, exclaiming, "Kill the fool, Bill!"²⁸

.

By some miracle, Logan was again talked down, and Jones--a gun at his back ²⁹--was allowed to keep working the throttle until the train finally started and pulled away about a mile distant, atop a small hill.

.

What the robbers never realized was that Conductor Storey eventually reached the second section--which had been flagged down by the rear brakeman--and warned them about the robbery with the result that the train actually backed away instead of proceeding forward into danger. And while Jones blamed an underpowered engine on an incline for the difficulty in starting, if you visit the site of the robbery today, the alleged incline is so gradual it seems difficult to believe it was that much of a hindrance. One wonders whether Jones deliberately attempted to trick the robbers by finessing the controls to only make it appear as if the train couldn't get started.

.

.

****** The Old Man would later note to Jones, "Those M---- F----s in the coaches back there are out of luck for I am going through them!"³⁰

.

******* There is a slight question as to why the train did not start. Some newspaper reports mention something about a brake problem and Jones attempting to back up to free them, causing one of the robbers to think he was trying to trick them, but I doubt this claim. The brakes were set on the passenger car right behind the train, and it would have been impossible to back up to do anything. However, the wheels could certainly spin on the wet track, and if Jones failed to activate the sand injector--which would be consistent with his trying to trick the robbers all night long--the train would appear to be stuck. Trains of today also don't run on better than a 2% grade. What the standards were in that time I cannot say.

..

.

E. C. Woodcock, the unworthy hero.

.

The engineer was put in the car to get me out. It was so dark he had to strike matches to see. I was about to shoot him when he lit a match and I recognized his features. They asked of me the reason I didn't come out and I said I didn't care to.

--Express Messenger E. C. Woodcock.

.

Once the train was far enough away to suit the robbers, the crew disembarked. Carver took them out a few yards as before, then someone overruled him and ordered them up against the train, giving the clerks the notion the robbers were confused amateurs.

..

Leaving a wounded Jones with the others for a breather,³¹ Walsh was directed to the Portland³² mail car and told to talk the clerks out under threat of dynamite, with a stick touched off as inducement. (Someone apparently shot into the car as well, putting a slug into a water tank since O'Brien displayed it in court the following year.) Bruce and Dietrich shouted their encouragement as well, and the two clerks, O'Brien and Skidmore--who had apparently undressed for some shuteye--agreed and threw on their clothes, hopping out three minutes later.

.

Now it was finally time to deal with the Express agent--the man they'd been waiting to get to all night!

.

Logan and the Old Man retrieved Jones, walked back to Woodcock's car, then he and Walsh ordered him out "and not be all night about it either," to no avail. The frustrating familiar pattern of a darkened car with no response was repeating itself yet again, and the Old Man's patience was now gone. Retrieving Walsh's coal pick, he tore at the door, cursing and screaming he would blow it up if Woodcock didn't come out

..

A robber reinforced the threat with a shot through one of the windows, but inside Woodcock simply hunkered down in silence, shotgun at the ready.

..

Someone must have remarked that the occupant was napping, for the Old Man spoke, saying, "I'll wake him up!" as he gave up on the pick and retrieved a full stick of dynamite from his sack.

..

No longer concerned with the Express Messenger's safety, he threw it down onto the door sill and lit the fuse as everyone gave the car a respectful distance.

..

Inside, Woodcock waited nervously--then an explosion blew apart the door, along with part of the siding of the car, stunning him in the process.

.

When the smoke and flying debris cleared, Jones--who had a very short list of friends by now--was told, "See if he is still alive!"

.

With no enthusiasm for the job, shakily the engineer did as ordered and crawled into the blackness, having no idea whether Woodcock was alive, nor where he might be in the cavernous reaches of the Express car.

.

Wisely considering the possibility that Woodcock might have survived and be ready to shoot, Jones struck a match and held it close to his face as he looked about. It was fortunate he did, because a momentarily-stunned Woodcock was indeed raising his shotgun to fire at the figure silhouetted in the doorway as the match burned just long enough to possibly reveal a familiar face.

.

"Who are you?" Woodcock asked from the darkness.

.

Jones lit another match, explained he was the engineer and that the train was being robbed. If Woodcock didn't come out, the robbers were going to blow the car up.

.

Woodcock knew the situation was hopeless, and was also worried about setting off the gas tanks.³³ Jones then crawled forward to assist him to his feet and the two made their way out. Woodcock, as he neared the doorway, realized he could hit some of the robbers with his shotgun but for the fact they were standing with the trainmen.

.

As he stepped out of the car, the Pacific Express shotgun was wrenched from his hands by an angry robber who cursed, "You son of a bitch--I could have shot you six times before you hit the ground!"

.

He then demanded to know if the Express Messenger had a gun, and when Woodcock started to reach for it, the robber slapped his hand with an oath, saying, "Take your hand off that gun--I'll get it!" The pistol was then tossed back into the car and the robber examined the shotgun, deciding to keep it. Exactly what sort of shotgun it was is unrecorded, but it was nice enough for him to want it, and when later found by a posse at Teapot Creek, a reporter called it "strange."³⁴ (It was probably some sort of pump shotgun, a type the reporter may not have seen before. One account mentioned it was a Winchester, and if so could be referring to a model 1897 Winchester pump shotgun.)

.

Woodcock was then asked why he didn't come out, replying that it was because he didn't care to. He was also challenged as to whether he really thought he could keep the robbers out, and finally questioned as to whether there was anyone in the rear baggage/mail car, to which he answered no.

.

"If we find a man in there, it will be all day with you!" one of them warned. Then they walked back to the last car to take a fast look.

.

Opening the door, they discovered it was indeed occupied: A passenger's small dog--undoubtedly terrified by all the explosions--had made its way out of a crate he'd been traveling in, jumped out and ran into the darkness. He was spotted the next day but could not be coaxed back to the train.³⁵

.

He's still out there for all we know, although the Jan. 22, 1922, Casper Star Tribune claims the hound finally turned up at a ranch 20 miles away.

.

Someone decided it best to unhook the Portland mail car and the baggage car behind it, and the Old Man detailed his new friend Dietrich, along with Engineer Jones, to handle the job. Meanwhile, it was getting too crowded--in fact, they were packed like sardines in the tiny cabin--and so Skidmore and O'Brien were let go and allowed to walk back to the passenger cars. The June 6 Carbon County Journal from Rawlins carried a quote from the Old Man ("the Leader") that, while attributed to the point the passenger cars were cut off, seems more likely to be from this point in the robbery. It reads as follows: "We only want the express messenger, mail clerk and engineer, the rest of you --- --- --- [sons of bitches] can go to hell!"

.

.

The final act.

.

.They compelled Dietrich to light the cars, and after he had climbed down out of the express car they laid a bundle of about twenty sticks of dynamite on the safe, and the explosion shattered the car and blew the safe out of all semblance to its original self. The five then took a load apiece from the safe and carried it to their camp, about a hundred yards away from the tracks, and then returned and repeated the operation. The last I saw of the robbers they were walking over the hills to the north, and headed for Laramie peak.

--Postal clerk W. G. "Bart" Bruce.

.

The cars unhooked, everyone crowded into the locomotive again and the train was run on for another mile to its final stop at the robbers' camp. Here, "Flatnose"and Bill Moore joined the group with two bushels of dynamite at the ready, and they proceeded to the Express car, while Carver walked most of the crew up the tracks and told them to stay put until they were through.

.

Dietrich, meanwhile, was commandeered to light the remaining cars so the robbers could work. That done, either he was allowed to leave or he made a run for it since it's recorded that he headed for the passenger cars.

.

The Old Man--who seemed to think 10 sticks of dynamite could solve most any problem--placed 10 each on the two safes³⁶ inside Woodcock's car, shattering the car and blowing the way into the safes where thousands of dollars in banknotes from the First National Banks of Portland and Logan, an undetermined amount of gold, and possibly a load of jewelry, would form the haul of the night, estimated at over $50,000.

.

Tragically, the explosion would also produce the one fatality of the operation: A passenger's pet songbird in the car would be blown to smithereens, only a few feathers left in its cage marking its passing,³⁵ while half the car itself would be blown to bits, scattering a shipment of fruit in the process, along with other matter from the interior.

...

Waiting quietly where they had been left, Jones, Walsh and the other trainmen would watch the robbers take their time looting every item of value from Woodcock's car--each man, according to Bruce, twice carrying an armload of booty over a hill to their waiting horses; then depart, the whole event taking some two hours from start to finish. Walsh would remark he was glad the outlaws didn't rob them as he had a Double Eagle in his pocket he hadn't been able to hide in the coal bunker.

..

They would never return to rob the sleeper coach if that were ever their intent. And with their departure, so ended the legendary Wilcox train robbery, which would forever cement the legend of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch, even as one of the legendary chases in the history of the West would begin with lawmen across Wyoming hunting the robbers, including train #4 the next morning rushing out possemen³⁷ with their horses, prefiguring the later so-called "Super Posse," hoping to get a jump on the robbers and capture them.

.

But they never would.

.

Aftermath.

.

The next morning, passengers from both trains mingled together. Findley T. Gridley, an attorney and former Union Pacific coal mine manager at Scofield, Utah, who was traveling with his two daughters aboard the second section, happened to spot a familiar face amongst passengers from the first section--Douglas Preston, Butch Cassidy's Rock Springs attorney. Gridley had once cut a deal with Preston to keep Cassidy away from his payrolls in return for keeping quiet about the pair's collusion on robberies, and he started walking over to greet him.

.

Catching sight of him, Preston immediately threw up his hands, shouting, "Don't shoot, Grid! Don't shoot! I can prove an alibi!"³⁸

..

..

..

Also aboard the train was W. S. Seavey, head of Denver's Thiel Detective Agency, on his way to Salt Lake City. Seavey of late had been on the hunt for the Belle Fourche robbers, most recently obtaining information convimcing him that "Tom Jones" (Harvey Logan) had been involved with "Gunplay" Maxwell's Springville, Utah, bank robbery.³⁹ While he didn't let on to reporters who they were, he announced upon his arrival in Salt Lake that he knew the identities of the robbers. (He soon claimed the robbery was performed by Butch Cassidy and his men.)

.

The Currie gang Seavey was only yards away from that night, who were experts in escaping posses in Wyoming, would stick together and make for Hole in the Wall. With unparalleled chutzpa, they would boldly ride through Casper in the dark of night, crossing the Platte with a host of posses searching for them. Eventually losing their horses after foolishly letting them loose to graze, they would engage in a shootout at Teapot Creek, gunning down Sheriff Joe Hazen, and make an incredible 40+ mile flight to freedom on foot, eventually reaching Nolen's Kaycee ranch for some horses and supplies.

.

The other robbers probably did hide near the Burnaugh ranch for a period of time. But in any event, later in June Logan and Sundance were spending time near Thermopolis at the Andersonville shantytown with Butch Cassidy and Tom O'Day. ("Flatnose" seems to have split off on his own as he did after Belle Fourche.)

.

Logan would remember Engineer Jones, and a year later at the Tipton robbery--where, wising up, they would now rob the second section of the train--would remark, "We really ought to have killed the engineer in the Wilcox affair, but let him off with a rap on the head. If we ever come across him again and he acts that way we'll have to let him have it!"⁴⁰

.

E. C. Woodcock would go down in lore and film as the hero of the night when other clerks resisted as much or more strenuously than he did; and the engineer, who suffered far more at the hands of the robbers than Woodcock, resisted most of all, throwing up every roadblock he could in an effort to frustrate the robbery, and being threatened with death more than once at their hands.

.

Logan and Woodcock would meet again at Tipton, and Logan would remark, "Why you're the same man that was in the other holdup!"⁴¹ Woodcock would fare a bit better in that robbery, but the robbers would relieve him of his watch.⁴²

.

Some of the gold, meanwhile, may have been buried by the robbers in the cellar of a William Taylor's Rock Creek general store, where in 1909 thousands of dollars in gold was discovered and a court battle ensued over it.

..

Final postscripts.

.

Logan's brother "Lonie" and their cousin, Bob Lee, opened a saloon together in Harlem, Mt, in late 1899 with the proceeds from some of the Wilcox money, which got the Pinkertons on their trail. Brown Waller and others claim Lonie attempted to cash in a $1,000 banknote Lee supposedly claimed his cousin obtained from "Frank Scramble" (Sundance) for supplying horses during the escape. This and the cashing of other banknotes got detectives on their trail with the result that they sold the saloon at a fire sale price, and went on the run. Lonie would be caught and killed near Kansas City at the end of February, and Lee would be arrested while dealing stud poker in a Colorado gaming club the same day. Desperate to cut a deal to avoid jail, Lee would eventually spill his guts against Harvey Logan (a recipe for suicide) and Sundance (using the name Frank Scramble), but it would do him no good, and despite a jury acknowledging he was innocent of participating in the robbery but being forbidden to find him an Accessory after the Fact, convicted him as a direct participant in the robbery. He would serve time until 1907, committing suicide a few years later.

.

The mystery would be just where this alleged $1,000 banknote came from. No such banknote was listed amongst the money taken at Wilcox, and in a search of robberies during the 1890s, I could find no $1,000 bills stolen anywhere. The Bank of Portland would have been unlikely to have ordered a single such bill, and had there been only one, Sundance would never have been insane enough to have taken it in lieu of lesser-denomination currency when the money was spilt up, let alone tip that much money just for some escape horses. It's also questionable whether the gang would have permitted him to take a single thousand dollar bill for the heck of it otherwise.

.

Was there some misinformation on what denomination the bill was? Could there have been a stack of these bills? Could the Wilcox take have been vastly more than was reported or suspected? The bill thus forms the basis of a mystery that seems impossible to solve.

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Finally, Western historians have been under a misconception for a hundred years about this robbery, treating it as a first-rate example of the Wild Bunch at their best: stopping a racing train with as little as three men, robbing it, and making off Scott free with tens of thousands of dollars. A historian on one of the recent specials on Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid even called the robbery "Brilliant," and "Outlawry at its best."

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Apart from securing the right signal lantern, there was nothing brilliant about this robbery. It was inept from beginning to end, and an example of bad planning, bad implementation, and almost catastrophic incompetence in the escape. From the very beginning when the gang was incomprehensibly ignorant of the fact that the trains were sent out in pairs, to wasting fifteen minutes trying to break into a car they weren't even planning to rob, inattentively allowing a conductor to simply run off and warn the next train, thinking a light charge of dynamite that was probably never meant to wreck the bridge anyway would prevent another train from crossing it, deliberately killing a sheriff--which would arouse the entire state against them--allowing their horses to wander off so that they had to run dozens of miles on foot to escape their pursuers (even hopping from sagebrush to sagebrush to avoid leaving tracks, according to one cowboy who spotted Logan and Flatnose doing that in their escape)--the Wilcox train Robbery, while bold and spectacular, was almost a primer on how not to rob a train!

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As Dan Buck indicates, "Criminals are stupid."

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But sometimes they get lucky.

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That night, they were just plain lucky.

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Primary sources.

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Laramie Daily Boomerang interview with Wm. Jones, June 6, 1899.

Salt Lake City Herald interview with W. G. Bruce, June 3, 1899.

Ogden Standard interview with W. G. Bruce, and notation that E. C. Woodcock saw six men instead of the five reported by Bruce, June 3, 1899.⁴¹

Wyoming Derrick interview with Robert Lawson, June 8, 1899.

Record of the crew's testimony at Bob Lee's trial, Wyoming Tribune, May 25, 1900.

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1. The primary sources for this article are the accounts of engineer Wm. Jones and Postal clerk W. G. Bruce, who gave lengthy reports of what they underwent on the night of the robbery. Both held nothing back about the language used in the robbery by themselves, other crewmen--and especially the robbers, some if it being so extreme that newspapers of the time obviously screened some of the more profane words. In the case of the two words here, obviously recognizable to the readers, I had a long discussion with Dan Buck and several other historians in preparation for this article as to whether or not these would have been the two profane words repeatedly used by the robbers throughout the night. One Wild Bunch historian suggested these two words, commonly used in profanity today, would not really have been used before World War I, and speculated two other profane words (one starting with an "C" and the other with an "S") might actually have been employed by the robbers. I provided evidence that the words were shown in usage by 1890 and a Wyoming historian affirmed that extreme rude language of that era among cowboys would indeed have included them; and the general consensus was that there was nothing precluding the outlaws from using the two words I have concluded they employed. In the final analysis, as Jones stated the robbers used "the vilest and most profane language I ever heard" in his account, my opinion was that the two words I chose were the most extreme level of profanity I could think of, and thus would be the most logical choice to render in the speech of the robbers.

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2. While I personally believe there were six if not more robbers, one can argue that there were only three, and I am willing to keep an open mind. If there were only three, since Jones says the man who signaled him was big, that man would certainly have been Sundance, who was the tallest member of the Currie gang. If there were six robbers, there are still good odds that Sundance was the man who signaled as, again, he would have been one of the taller robbers. I am therefore tagging him as most likely to be the man who did the signaling.

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3. According to Bob Lee in a 1900 interview, Logan was in Kansas City until spring.

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4. According to his father, "Flatnose" wrote that he was working in an Arizona copper mine in this period. (Cheyenne Daily Leader, Aug. 7, 1900.)

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5. According to Donna Ernst, he was working at the Beeler ranch through the winter.

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6. The Salt Lake Herald, June 6, 1899.

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7. Cassidy had allegedly been sighted with Lay and McCarty in Utah in May (Salt Lake Herald, June 6, 1899), near Vernal (The Salt Lake Herald, May 21, 1899), and near Rock Springs (Rawlins Semi-Weekly Republican, April 19, 1899). The last reliable sighting of him would be at Anderson's hog ranch/saloon by dentist Will Frackelton.

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8. Natrona County Tribune, Aug. 5, 1897.

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9. Will Frackelton.

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10. Logan, Sundance, Bill Moore, and Joe Walker were accused of robbing a miner of his gold dust (and hat in another report) on the Uncompahgre Indian reservation. (The Salt Lake Herald, April 6, 1898.)

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11. "Nasal" twang according to one other description, probably indicating the man had a nasally Texas twang.

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12. The Salt Lake Herald, May 21, 1899.

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13. For a hundred years, there has apparently been a misconception about how many lanterns were being waved. The myth has been that two lanterns--one red/one white--were being waved to stop the train. The first explicit iteration of "lanterns" I can find traces itself to Robert Lawson (while Storey mentioned "red and white lights" in a telegram) the day after the robbery, who was in his car and could not have seen the lantern(s) at all! Jones himself--the only man apart from the Fireman who would have seen it--spoke of one robber waving one lantern, and I believe it was a single red and signal lantern the robbers had purchased just before the robbery from a nearby grading crew. The June 3rd Laramie Daily Boomerang and other papers confirmed the robbers did indeed buy some sort of lantern from a railroad grading crew, and the June 3rd Cheyenne Daily Sun-Leader noted that the "robbers lantern" used was found and identified as the one purchased by the robbers! Thus, while the crew may have somehow come to the conclusion two lanterns were used because they heard something about red and white lights from Jones or Walsh, Jones' account and the evidence at the scene indicate only one lantern was used to stop the train. A very early report in the June 3 Salt Lake Tribune noted the train was "flagged by a red and white light, which is the company danger signal." Warren McCord, in an interview, also implied that engineer Jones told him that he was fooled by what he believed was a correct red and white company signal lantern, and that if another sort of lantern had been used, he would have ignored the robbers and driven through.

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14. Technically, none of the crew mentioned rain in their interviews. The only claim of rain I can find comes from reports by the Union Pacific of the robbery.

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15. According to Lawson.

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16. If there were three robbers, this would have to have been Sundance. If six, we aren't 100% sure who he was, but Sundance, because of his being a "big" (tall) man, would be a likely candidate.

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17. According to Skidmore, who saw such a gun in the hands of the Old Man when he disembarked from his car.

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18. Ogden Standard, June 3, 1899.

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19. Storey's court testimony in Bob Lee's trial.

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20. Literally, "one of the robbers," according to Jones' court testimony, decided to shoot the clerks but was twice talked out of it by the Leader (i.e., the Old Man). As Jones doesn't note it was the man who had held the lantern and the proposed act of slaughter fits Logan rather than Sundance, I am presuming that this and further incidents along these lines are on the part of Logan. As I noted in the article, Jones said one of the robbers did not really speak during the robbery, all the dialogue not attributed to the "Old Man" thus conveniently can also be tied to Logan, Sundance apparently remaining tight-lipped but for the very beginning of the robbery.

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21. After shooting into the car and getting the clerks out, one of them said, "Now, boys, don't get scared. You're just as safe here as you would be in Cheyenne."

--Laramie Daily Boomerang, June 6, 1899.

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22. A number of newspaper reports incorrectly reported that the crew asked a robber for some tobacco, but Lawson, in his interview, indicated a robber asked them for some.

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23. Another version holds that Dietrich pulled the mask down outside of the train as he was being forced to the locomotive, but Lawson is clear that it happened as he was closing the door to the furnace.

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24. There is obviously a major difference between this nail-biting version of the bridge-blowing and the more mundane account written in history books and articles on the robbery. Those apparently present a major myth about the robbery, that being that the train crossed the bridge, then robbers went back to blow it. The first iteration I can find of that claim is by Robert Lawson* the day after the robbery, whose version is much different from Jones'. As Jones' has better documentation to support it, the version I now relate to correct history is from the sworn testimony of Jones in court, and I defer to it for that reason.

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* There were two extra cars on the train, a tourist sleeper and a private car. These were uncoupled, and while this was being done, others of the gang went to the bridge, attempting to destroy it with Giant powder, or dynamite, which they placed on the timbers.

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The original telegram sent by Jones appears to confirm his version of the bridge blow-up happening as the train passed over it:

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First section No. 1 held up a mile west of Wilcox. Express car blown open; mail car damaged; safe blown open; contents gone. We were ordered to pull over the bridge just west of Wilcox, and after we passed the bridge the explosion occurred. Can't tell how bad bridge was damaged. Have telegraphed for outfit to repair it. No one hurt except Jones, scalp wound and cut on hand. JONES, Engineer.

--Omaha Daily Bee, June 3, 1899.

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Now in Jones' heavily edited/chopped June 6 interview vs. his later court testimony, there appears to be a slight variation between when the dynamite was placed. The interview--inserting the claim when Woodcock is dealt with--has him saying, I was told to pull up on the bridge, and the old man said that he would place ten pounds of dynamite under the bridge and when he told me to 'go,' I was to pull out 'damned quick, too, or your train will be blown out of the country.' Jones' more reliable court testimony states, I then pulled the train forward a short distance over a bridge, by direction of the robbers, one of whom told me there was ten pounds of dynamite on the bridge, and that if I had not stopped when flagged, my engine would have been blown into the gulch. Based on his court testimony and elaboration about the train being blown into the gulch, the dynamite was obviously placed on the bridge before the robbery started, and not after the train halted on the bridge. Jones, in his newspaper interview, was either misquoted or some light editorial license was taken.

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25. Salt Lake Herald, June 3, 1899. In contrast, the June 4th edition of the Herald claimed "Many stories [were] told by the terror-stricken passengers," though they were unaware that the train was being robbed for quite some time. Precisely what they did know and when they knew it we cannot determine. But it is inconceivable that 27 passengers, as McCord claimed, slept through 10 sticks of dynamite going off mere yards behind their car unless they were all passed out drunk. Woodcock, one car down, and O'Brien and Skidmore, two cars down from the first mail car and possibly asleep since they were undressed, had no problem hearing a mere half-stick of dynamite going off. How much less would 27 passengers being jostled by a train lurching forward in a desperate race against a burning fuse fail to hear a massive blast from 10 sticks of dynamite exploding just behind them?! It's also notable that McCord, who mentioned that the blasting of the safes failed to awaken any of the passengers--though it was loud enough to be heard from two miles away--suspiciously said absolutely nothing about the affects of the blowing of the bridge just behind the train! McCord also made a puzzling claim that the robbers broke "the glass door of the vestibule to get at the lever which uncoupled the tourist from the express and mail cars," (which the Nevada State Railroad museum thinks makes no sense) yet--again--virtually no one seemed to notice, care, or give alarm if true! The only speculation I can make on all this is that McCord wished to play down the incident to avoid causing fear amongst potential train travelers.

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26. Chicago Daily Tribune, June 3, 1899.

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27. From Jones' court testimony.

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28. This claim is reportedly tied to the false event that Jones was beaten for initially being slow to descend from the locomotive. As Jones never makes this claim, this popular belief, which may have some partial genesis from the crew's comments--who could not have seen it--must be discarded. If the comment were made at all, it must have been made when Jones was known to have been beaten by Logan; and as the Texan was noted as being so courteous, the speaker by default must have been Sundance. "Bill/Billy," by the way, is also the name Logan used at the Malta robbery.

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29. Figuratively, a gun was at Jones' back all night long. But apparently a gun was pressed to his back just after Logan beat him, or so Judge Dickson related to a reporter.

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30. Laramie Daily Boomerang interview with Wm. Jones, June 6, 1899.

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31. This is inferred by Jones' noting that Walsh was made to do the talking to them. Also, this portion of the robbery is one of those that seems to have been reported out of sequence due to bad note-taking by a reporter. Bruce seems to claim the crew was marched back and forth when the first mail car was taken, rather than at this point. It would not be impossible for that to be the case. However, his account, based on the very next sentence, implies it was actually at this point of the robbery as his next sentence deals with getting Woodcock out of his car, and so I lean toward placing this incident at that time. As he worded it: After the explosion we decided we better get out, and we were received by three of the robbers. They told us to stand 'out there,' indicating a spot twenty feet from the track, and then, 'No, up against the car,' and we stood where they told us to stand. When they had got us lined up, they called to the messenger but he came not. They put a stick of dynamite against the car and blew the door out and part of the car also. Woodcock came out looking as if he had been hurt. Obviously, Woodcock was not called anywhere near the taking of the first mail car point, but later, after the bridge had been blown, the train moved a mile down the track, and the Portland mail car emptied. Since the line-up seems to be linked to Woodcock, I must place that event not at the taking of Bruce's car, but at the taking of Woodcock's car.

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32. To the detriment of history, Jones' interview was cut and edited for publication, jumping from the stopping of the train to the assault on Woodcock's car. Because of the way it was cut, the paper got one point out of sequence. Jones' account wrongly presents the robbers going straight down the line, dealing with Woodcock after the Ogden mail car, then finishing with the Portland mail car.

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While this might seem to make sense, Bruce's unedited account was the correct one, having the robbers skip Woodcock to first empty out the Portland car, then going back to finish up with Woodcock. We know Bruce was right because O'Brien testified in court that he observed a robber attack Woodcock's car with a pick and threaten to blow it up--impossible for Bruce to see if he were still locked inside his car, waiting to be dealt with!

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33. Ogden Standard, June 3, 1898.

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34. According to the June 6 Salt Lake Herald, the "strange" shotgun was marked Pacific Express Co., and was found in the wake of the robbers' escape.

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35. Laramie Daily Boomerang, June 6, 1899.

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36. There is a bit of a question as to how many safes were in Woodcock's car. Typically, there were two safes, the "Through safe"--which the Express Messenger didn't have the combination for--containing the sort of booty the outlaws were after. Photos, however, seem to show only one wrecked safe in the car, and most newspaper reports--and even telegrams--make mention of a "safe" in the singular. However, Robert Lawson mentioned "safes" in the plural being blown up, and since two safes would be normal for such a train, I am presuming there were actually two safes blown as Lawson stated. By the way, there is a common myth about the banknotes stolen by the Wild Bunch in their train robberies--one even repeated in newspapers of the time--holding that the notes were technically valueless because they were intercepted before being delivered and signed. While this was true in earlier years when the banks could order replacement bills, the effect was to have valueless currency floating around in the American economy--having the same effect as de facto counterfeit currency, requiring the Government to deal with their recovery or elimination--and Congress passed a law in 1898 that effectively made such banknotes legal tender as soon as they left the printer, making them the banks' responsibility. Thus, banks were required to redeem such stolen banknotes if presented by innocent parties (typically other banks) to eliminate de facto counterfeit bills affecting the economy, and so they were fully legal tender despite being stolen before ever reaching their intended bank destinations for a signature.

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37. The posse was comprised of William Owen, Peter Smart, William Doyle, John Davis, George Dobbins, George Buck and A. C. Brautigen.

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38. Charles Kelly, The Outlaw Trail, the Story of Butch Cassidy.

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39. Salt Lake Herald, Sep. 12, 1899.

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40. Denver Republican, Sep. 2, 1900.

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41. Laramie Semi-weekly Boomerang, Sep. 3, 1900.

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42. Salt Lake Herald, Aug. 31. 1899.

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