In January 1903, George Collins and Bill "the Missouri Kid" Rudolph robbed a bank in Union, Missouri by dynamiting the safe in the middle of the night; this was the beginning of a string of related crimes which left a Pinkerton agent dead. They were subsequently arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to death; Rudolph was hanged on March 27, 1904, and Collins was sentenced to be hanged on May 13, 1904.