Jesse James Historical Site - Adair, IA Jesse James Historical Site Back to Adair County Jesse James Historical Site Jesse James and his notorious gang of outlaws staged the world's first robbery of a moving train the evening of July 21, 1873, a mile and a half west of Adair, Iowa. Early in July the gang had learned that $75,000 in gold from the Cheyenne region was to come through Adair on the recently build main line of the Chicago, Rock Island, & Pacific Railroad. Jesse sent his brother, Frank James, and Cole Younger to Omaha to learn when the gold shipment was to reach there. Jesse, Jim and Tom Younger, Clell Miller and Bill Chadwell remained camped in the hills in the Adair area. Finally, Frank James and Cole Younger got their tip that the gold shipment was on its way east and they brought the report to Jesse who had made plans for the train robbery. On the afternoon of the robbery, the bandits called at the section house and obtained some pies and other food from Mrs. Robert Grant, wife of the section foreman.

In the meantime, the bandits broke into the handcar house, stole a spike-bar and hammer with which they pried off a fish-plate connecting two rails and pulled out the spikes. This was on a curve of the railroad track west of Adair near the Turkey Creek bridge on old U.S. No. 6 Highway. A rope was tied on the west end of the disconnected north rail. The rope was passed under the south rail and led to a hole they had cut in the bank in which to hide. When the train came along, the rail was jerked out of place and the engine plunged into the ditch and toppled over on its side. Engineer John Rafferty of Des Moines was killed, the fireman, Dennis Foley, died of his injuries and several passengers were injured. Two members of the gang, believed to have been Jesse and Frank James, climbed into the express car and forced John Burgess, the guard, to open the safe. In it they found only $2,000 in currency--the gold shipment had been delayed. They collected only about $3,000, including the currency and loot taken from the passengers, in the world's first robbery of a moving train.

Levi Clay, employed by the railroad in Adair, which was then not quite a year old, walked to Casey where the alarm was sent by a telegrapher to Des Moines and Omaha, and soon the news was spread all over the nation. A train loaded with armed men left Council Bluffs for Adair and dropped small detachments of men along the route where saddled horses were waiting. The trail of the outlaws was traced into Missouri where they split up and were sheltered by friends. Later the governor of Missouri offered a $10,000 reward for the capture of Jesse James, dead or alive. On April 3, 1882, the reward reportedly proved too tempting for Bob Ford, a new member of the James gang, and he shot and killed Jesse in the James home in St. Joseph, Missouri. Location James Train Robbery Jesse James and the Rock Island Lines by James and Lucille Sampson The life of the Rock Island Lines contains many firsts and interesting stories but the lines' brush with the James Gang marked a day in history.

Jesse James, fabled outlaw of post-Civil War days, cut his teeth in the business of train robbery by wrecking, robbing and looting a Rock Island Lines train on July 21, 1873, near Adair, Iowa. The gang robbed the express messenger of cash and relieved the passengers of their watches, cash and jewelry. It was one of the first recorded train robberies west of the Mississipppi and expanded Jesse James and his gang's operations from his specialty of bank holdups to train robbery. It was about 8:30 p.m. when Rock Island Lines passenger train No. 2 was climbing a steep grade and approaching a sharp curve. The train, made up of two Pullman sleeping cars, five coaches and an express-baggage car was about four miles west of Adair. Near the end of the curve the James gang lay ready with a rope tied to a rail they had pried loose. As the train rounded the curve the engineer, John Rafferty, saw the rope tied to the rail and immediately reversed his engine. However, the train ran into the gap and turned on its side, killing Rafferty and injuring the fireman.

The locomotive tender and two baggage cars were thrown from the track. Out of the bushes came the outlaws firing their guns in the air and causing panic among the crewmen and passengers. Jesse and his brother, Frank, with .44's cocked, confronted the express messenger. He quickly opened the safe, was tied and thrown into a corner. The passengers, slightly injured in the accident, were confronted by armed men masked in full Klu Klux Klan garb. Panic set in with women and children screaming and crying and men hiding their cash, watches and jewelry. All the loot was dumped into bags and the robbers rode off, uttering a rebel yell characteristic of the Civil War period. They disappeared as quickly as they had come. According to an account at the time, on July 22, William A.

Smith, conductor of the ill fated train, testified today at the coroner's inquest on the body of John Rafferty, the engineer, who was killed when 'the train was wrecked 2-1/2 or three miles west of Adair station, and 600 or 700 feet east of Turkey Creek bridge." According to Smith's statement, "I was in the smoking car near the front end. From the noise I thought the engine was in the ditch, with one or two cars piled upon it. I was thrown under the seat in front of me. Don't remember which of the car I got out, but know that I reached the engine on the north side. I went forward to see what was up. The first person that I met was one of the masked men, near the baggage car door, who pointed a revolver in each hand toward me and told me to get back, firing at me at the same time. I backed down as far as the sleeping coach before I felt I was out of his way. There I met Dennis Foley, the fireman, who said 'Bill, Jack is dead'. The passengers were in a hubbub, and the women and children were crying.

I told the passengers that I thought the masked men were trying to rob the baggage car and tried to borrow a revolver but failed. "I could still see the man from where I was. I saw another passing up and down the opposite side of the train. I think he was firing at me, also. Some of the passengers asked me to get into the train as these men were firing at me and I would be the cause of some of them being killed. I then went into the sleeping car at the rear, still trying to get a revolver, urging the passengers to keep quiet, as these men were robbing the baggage car. I went out of the ladies' car, up the back and thence to the engine. "Two balls passed through my clothing while I was on the bank. These shots came from the south side of the train. I did not see a man on the north side then; did not see or hear anything more of the masked men. After the passengers got quiet, I went forward to investigate the cause of the wreck. At the hind truck of the smoking car I found a fish-plate had been removed from the rail at the west end and the rope was passed under the south rail across the ditch and up on to the bank.

A piece of the rope was also found which seemed to be taken from the other. It was a new rope, the size of a common bed cord. "The west end of the rail, when I saw it, was only a few inches from the south rail. The hind trucks of the smoking car were still on the track. We had been running 18 or 20 mph." Law enforcement agents formed a posse and went in pursuit of the robbers and in September, 1873, the Lafayette County Vigilantes Committee, "traced the train robbers to Johnson City, St. Clair County, and surrounded the house where they were supposed to be hiding, but the birds had flown. The band consisted of three Youngs and the James brothers. McCoy was not with them. There was a reported fight between the robbers and vigilantes and the wounding of one of the Youngs. It was believed that the robbers had started for Texas." The Rock Island Daily Argus, July 25, 1873, stated that "A telegram from Wells, Fargo & Co., at San Francisco, Cal.

fixes the sealed package taken by the robbers at $637, making the total amount secured by the robbers $2,337. Of that, $950 belonged to the CRI & P Company, and was being transported for them." It had been at Council Bluffs, Iowa, the James-Younger gang learned that the No. 2 train of the Rock Island Lines would be carrying $100,000 or more in gold on July 21, 1873, for eastern banks. At the last moment the shipment had been changed to a later train. The United States Express Co. offered a reward of $500 each for the arrest of the railroad bandits. This made a total of $12,000 to be paid to the man who produced the arrest and conviction of the villains. A total of $5,000 was put up by the railroad company, $3,500 by the state and $3,500 by the express company. Rock Island Daily Argus, Thursday, July 24, 1873: "Des Moines, July 23.

- Nothing entirely reliable in regard to the pursuit and capture of the railroad robbers has been received at this place today. It is thought that they have crossed into Missouri and are making for the wilds of Mercer County in that state. The total amount taken by the robbers from the train in now known to be twenty three hundred and thirty seven dollars. "The latest advices from the railroad robbers is that last evening between Creston and the State line, pushing for Missouri with the utmost speed. They passed a farm house last evening, about dark, their horses being well jaded. The company divided, one-half going in another direction. Dispatches received from the officers in pursuit, this morning, state that they have got between them and Missouri, whither the robbers are going. They are evidently regular Missouri guerrillas, who understand the business they are in. The country is all alarmed and hundreds are in pursuit and it seems impossible for them to escape although they are mounted on horses of racing stock.

"The engines on the Rock Island road are draped in mourning for the death of Rafferty, the engineer killed at the railroad robbery." The robbers were too wily for those in pursuit and headed for their hideout in the hills of western Missouri where they were fairly safe from lawmen among their friends and relatives. Besides Jesse and his brother, Frank, the gang included Jim and Cole Younger, brothers; Robert Moore, whose home was in the Indian territory of Oklahoma; Comanche Tony, a Texan; and Cell Miller. Jesse Woodson James was born September 5, 1847, in Kearney County, Nebraska. Robert Ford, a member of the second James gang, murdered Jesse in his home, April 3, 1882, at the age of 34 years, 6 months, and 28 days. This article appeared in in a special edition of the Rock Island Argus newspaper on August 7, 1985, called "Iron Horse Days", and was entitled "Jesse James got his start on Rock Island Lines". The article is used here with permission of the Rock Island Argus and the authors, James and Lucille Sampson of Rock Island, Il. Mr.

and Mrs. Sampson are both members of the Rock Island County Historical Society, and Mrs. Sampson is still an officer there (February, 1997). Text contributed to the RITS WWW site by Wade Calvert. Jesse James And His Gang Turn To Train Robbery | World History Project Jul 21 1873 Jesse James And His Gang Turn To Train Robbery On July 21, 1873, they turned to train robbery, derailing the Rock Island train in Adair, Iowa and stealing approximately $3,000 ($51,000 in 2007). For this, they wore Ku Klux Klan masks, deliberately taking on a potent symbol years after the Klan had been suppressed in the South by President Grant's use of the Force Acts. Former rebels attacked the railroads as symbols of threatening centralization. The James' gang's later train robberies had a lighter touch—in fact only twice in all of Jesse James's train hold-ups did he rob passengers, because he typically limited himself to the express safe in the baggage car.

Such techniques fostered the Robin Hood image which Edwards was creating in his newspapers, but the James gang never shared any of the robbery money outside their circle. Source: Wikipedia Added by: Aimee Lucido Famous train robbers include Bill Miner, Jesse James and Butch Cassidy. Jesse James is mistakenly thought to have completed the first successful train robbery in the American West when on July 21, 1873 the James-Younger Gang took US $3,000 from the Rock Island Railroad after derailing it southwest of the town of Adair, Iowa. However, the first peacetime train robbery in the USA actually occurred on October 6, 1866, when robbers boarded the Ohio & Mississippi train shortly after it left Seymour, Indiana. They broke into one safe and tipped the other off the train before jumping off. The Pinkerton National Detective Agency later traced the crime to the Reno Gang. There was one earlier train robbery in May 1865, but because it was committed by armed guerrillas and occurred shortly after the end of the Civil War, it is not considered to be the first peacetime train robbery in the United States.

Source: Wikipedia Added by: Aimee Lucido More information July 21 in Pop Culture History - Posted by Joe Hummel III July 21 in Pop Culture History 356 BC – The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, was destroyed by arson. 1865 – In Springfield, Missouri, Wild Bill Hickok shot and killed Davis Tutt, in what is considered as the first western showdown. 1873 – Near Adair, Iowa, Jesse James and the James-Younger Gang pulled off the first successful train robbery in the ‘American Old West.’ 1902 – Willis Carrier showed his air conditioner concept in Buffalo, New York. 1925 – In Dayton, Tennessee, high school biology teacher John T. Scopes was found guilty of teaching evolution in class, and fined $100. 1949 – The United States Senate ratified the North Atlantic Treaty (NATO).

1952 (Earthquake) California/Arizona/Nevada 1983 – The world’s lowest temperature in an inhabited location was recorded at Vostok Station, Antarctica (-128.6 °F, -89.2 °C). 2011 – NASA’s Space Shuttle program ends with the landing of Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-135. Did you like this? Share some Pop Culture Madness! Read More in Wild West Magazine Subscribe online and save nearly 40%!!! George Hudspeth died six years after the letter was written. Babe Hudspeth died in 1907. Malinda Paralee, to whom Frank wrote the 1897 letter, died in 1913, two years before Lamartine Hudspeth and Frank James himself died. Ben Hudspeth Murrow lived until 1916, as did Cole Younger. During their criminal careers and afterward, the James and Younger brothers had an inner circle of good friends, and few were better than the Hudspeths, faithful to the end.

This article was written by William Preston Mangum II and originally appeared in the August 2003 issue of Wild West magazine. For more great articles be sure to subscribe to Wild West magazine today! Featured Article When the James Gang Ruled the Rails By Donald L. Gilmor Liberty, Missouri has a nice ring to it and will no doubt be remembered for as long as folks recall the Wild West’s most famous anti-establishment rebels–the James (or James-Younger) Gang. It was on February 13, 1866, that at least a dozen former Southern guerrilla soldiers, including Frank James and Cole Younger, held up the Clay County Savings Association in Liberty. Jesse James was recovering from wounds suffered as a Confederate guerrilla and probably wasn’t able to help brother Frank and Cole, but the Liberty bank job is considered the James-Younger Gang’s first robbery. Adair, Iowa, might not have the same ring to it, but it was there on July 21,1873, more than seven years after the Liberty holdup, that another James-Younger first occurred–the gang’s first train robbery.

Using their wartime guerrilla skills–riding and shooting and eluding the enemy–the boys may have robbed as many as nine banks before they got around in 1873 to tapping into this new, lucrative source of treasure, the railroad industry. Actually, the James brothers and the Younger brothers were not the first post-Civil War train robbers in the country. Another set of brothers, the Renos, had held up an Ohio & Mississippi passenger train near Seymour, Ind., in October 1866. The Reno Gang struck again in May 1868 at Marshfield, Ind., but its third attempt at a train robbery bombed that July outside Brownstown, Ind. Within two years of the Renos’ first train robbery, the Pinkerton Detective Agency, with help from local vigilantes, had destroyed the gang. Apparently no outlaw gang was strong enough or bold enough during the next five years to take on the railroad industry. But the railroads were routinely transporting millions of dollars in gold, silver and greenbacks, and even though the Jameses and the Youngers had made out quite well robbing small-town banks, they must have envisioned greater profits by stopping trains.

In any case, by the summer of 1873, they were ready to attempt the first train holdup west of the Mississippi. Such a robbery did have a few advantages over bank jobs. They could stop a train at a point of their own choosing, and by destroying the nearest telegraph office to delay news of the robbery, they would not have to immediately contend with a posse. Also, they would have the element of surprise working for them–at least the first time. The trouble with train robberies, especially after the James-Younger Gang reinitiated them wholesale, was that the railroads put armed guards on their trains and kept the schedules for their big shipments of bullion and currency a secret. For that reason, the gang found it necessary to spy on the railroads for information about valuable cargoes and accompanying guards. When the famous Missouri outlaws struck at Adair, they started a veritable war with the powerful railroads and their detectives. The James-Younger Gang’s first train robbery did not come close to matching the monetary haul of its first bank robbery. In fact, the $60,000 taken at Liberty was most likely more money than was collected in any of the gang’s later robberies.

The previous year, Confederate soldiers had robbed a bank in St. Albans, Vt., but the heist in Liberty is considered the first successful peacetime daylight bank robbery in U.S history. Liberty only seemed to whet the gang’s appetite for loot. Within 15 months, three more banks in Missouri were held up, though Jesse and Frank James may not have participated in any of those robberies. The James boys, as well as Cole Younger, most likely did rob a bank in Russellville, Ky., in March 1868. After a bank holdup in Gallatin, Mo., in December 1869, the Jameses became the chief suspects in that and other crimes. As the gang fled Gallatin, Jesse James was unseated from his horse and forced to double up on Frank’s horse. Later, the fine-blooded horse left behind was recognized as belonging to Jesse James of Kearney, Mo. The James-Younger Gang went on to rob banks in Corydon, Iowa; Columbia, Ky.; and Ste. Genevieve, Mo., before it got around to working on the railroads.

In July 1873 the gang learned of a big gold shipment being sent by rail from Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory. The outlaws–now probably including Cole Younger’s brothers Jim, John and Bob–planned to strike the eastbound Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific train outside Adair, Iowa, and rode into that town about July 18. Posing as businessmen, they picked up information about the train schedule and also explored the rails. On July 21, they were camped near a blind curve along the line. Before dark, according to the Leavenworth Daily Times, they pulled up several railroad spikes holding down a rail on one side of the curve. They then hitched a large rope around the end of the loosened track and waited. At dusk, they heard the loud puffing of a steam locomotive approaching their position. As the ground trembled under their feet, the bandits tugged at the rope, pulling the rail inward and out of alignment. Aboard the train, engineer John Rafferty peered down the track through the twilight, alert as he entered a sharp curve in the line. Then there were shots, and a bullet tore through the engineer’s right thigh.

Rafferty threw the engine into reverse, but it was too late. His engine lurched off the track, crashed into a ditch and toppled on its side, breaking his neck. The fireman, Dennis Foley, was badly burned but survived. A towering cloud of steam and smoke spewed from the wrecked locomotive. Wearing masks, the outlaws quickly approached the stalled cars. They broke into the U.S. Express Company’s safe but found only about $2,000. According to the Daily Times, 3 1/2 tons of gold and silver bullion was also on the train but was apparently too heavy for the outlaws to carry away. (Later accounts of the robbery maintain that a following train carried the bullion.) Disgusted, the bandits moved among the passengers, lifting wallets, jewelry and valuables before they took off, heading south. The outlaws’ trail led straight into Missouri. Several people in the area of the robbery said that two of the outlaws looked like Frank and Jesse James. In response, on December 20, 1873, Jesse James wrote the St. Louis Dispatch from Deer Lodge, Montana Territory, denying the brothers’ complicity in that and other crimes.

If Missouri Governor Silas Woodson would promise them protection, Jesse wrote, ‘we can prove before any fair jury in the state that we have been accused falsely and unjustly. The protection would be from a mob, or from a requisition from the Governor of Iowa, which is the same thing. Just over a month after that letter was written, the James-Younger Gang targeted a train at Gad’s Hill, Mo., a flag stop 120 miles south of St. Louis on the Iron Mountain Railroad line. About 4:45 p.m. on January 31, 1874, five bandits armed with Navy Colt revolvers and double-barreled shotguns captured the stationmaster and flagged down the Little Rock Express. Conductor C.A. Alford later described the outlaws to a St. Louis Republican reporter as tall men dressed in Federal Army overcoats and wearing white cloth masks with holes for eyes and nose. One of the bandits had grabbed Alford by the collar and told him, Stand still or I’ll blow the top of your head off! The passengers, who were gaping out the windows, were warned that if anyone fired a gun, the conductor would be killed.

Boarding the train, the bandits relieved the 25 passengers of their money and jewelry, preying especially on what they scornfully called the plug-hat gentlemen. Each male passenger was asked tauntingly if he was Mr. Pinkerton, whom the outlaws said they wanted. After rifling the mailbags and robbing the Adams Express safe, one of the bandits, thought to be Jesse James, handed engineer William Wetton (or somebody else, accounts differ) a whimsical press release titled A true account of this present affair. It stated: The most daring robbery on record. The southbound train on the Iron Mountain Railroad was stopped here this evening by five heavily armed men and robbed of___dollars….The robbers were all large men, none of them under six feet tall. They were masked, and started in a southerly direction after they had robbed the train, all mounted on fine-blooded horses. There is a hell of an excitement in this part of the country! (Jesse had conveniently allowed for the railroad to fill in the amount lost, but apparently that was never done.) A 25-man posse formed the next day but was unable to follow the outlaws’ trail.

The first train robbery in Missouri had gone off seemingly without a hitch–nobody had been killed at Gad’s Hill, and the outlaws had enjoyed themselves. However, because registered mail had been taken, the Pinkertons were immediately called in to track down the robbers. Pinkerton agent John W. Whicher arrived at Liberty on March 10, 1874, and consulted with D.J. Adkins, president of the local Commercial Bank, and O.P. Moss, a former sheriff, about his plans. He told them that he intended to obtain a farmhand’s job at the Samuels’ farm (the farm of the Jameses’ stepfather and the boys’ hangout). When the opportunity was ripe, he said, he would capture the outlaws. Both of the local men cautioned Whicher against such a bold plan. Moss told him, The old woman [the James boys’ fiery mother, Zerelda] would kill you if the boys don’t. The cocky 26-year-old detective would hear no more.

After getting directions to the Samuels’ farm, Whicher dressed up as a farm laborer (though he was described as having a tender complexion and hands like a city fellow) and, at 5:15 p.m., boarded a slow freight taking him to within four miles of the farm. Unfortunately for Whicher, the James boys had already been alerted, most likely by banker Adkins. Whicher’s body was found the next morning, south of the Missouri River near Independence, Mo. He had been shot through the head and heart, and a rope dangled from his neck. Meanwhile, two other Pinkertons were hot on the trail of the Youngers in St. Clair County. On March 15, 1874, agents Louis Lull (using the name W.J. Allen) and James Wright (also known as John Boyle)–accompanied by a part-time deputy sheriff from Osceola, Mo., Edwin B. Daniels–set out from Osceola for Roscoe. After staying at the Roscoe House hotel that evening, the three left the next afternoon for the farm of Theodrick Snuffer, a family friend of the Youngers, some three miles out of town.

Wright fell back out of sight as Lull and Daniels approached the farmhouse. Snuffer came out to talk to the two men, who posed as cattle buyers. John and James Younger watched the exchange from Snuffer’s attic. The two strangers in the yard were well armed and suspicious looking. When they departed to rejoin Wright, the two Younger brothers followed them. When the Youngers were within shouting distance of Lull, Wright and Daniels, John Younger ordered the trio to halt. Wright panicked and put spurs to his horse. Jim Younger fired at him, shooting his hat off, but Wright kept on going. Lull and Daniels turned around slowly in the road. The Youngers told the two cattle buyers to throw down their guns and then questioned them about what they were doing in this part of the country. Rambling around, Lull replied. An argument ensued, and John Younger leveled his shotgun at Daniels. Lull saw his chance. He pulled a No. 2 Smith & Wesson from inside his coat and shot John Younger in the neck. Recoiling, the wounded Younger fired both barrels of his shotgun at Lull, striking him in the left arm.

Lull’s horse now bolted eastward, with John Younger in pursuit. As Lull attempted to regain his reins, John rode beside him and fired twice, one of the bullets tearing into Lull’s left side. The detective’s horse then charged into a thicket, where a low limb stripped Lull from the saddle. Meanwhile, John turned back toward his brother, rode a few yards, and tumbled into the road dead. By that time, Jim Younger had killed Daniels and had received a flesh wound in his hip. The seriously wounded Lull was taken to Roscoe later that evening, but he died within six weeks. The deaths of Whicher and Lull enraged William Pinkerton, head of the detective agency, and the Pinkertons began accusing the gang’s Missouri friends of harboring and supporting the outlaws. Newspapers debated the issue. Missouri Governor Woodson hired secret agents J.W. Ragsdale and George W. Warren to aid in the outlaws’ capture. None of these developments kept Jesse James from marrying his cousin Zee Mimms in Kearney in late April 1874 after a nine-year courtship, or Frank James from eloping with Anna Reynolds Ralston that June.

By December 1874, the James boys and two of the surviving Youngers, Cole and Bob, were ready to rob their third train. After learning of a huge gold shipment from the west, five gang members forced section hands to pile ties on the tracks of the Kansas Pacific Railroad near Muncie, Kan., on December 8. Then, using a red scarf, the outlaws flagged down an express train and stole at least $30,000, perhaps as much as $55,000. During the holdup, shots were fired at the conductor as he ran from the train, apparently to flag a freight train that was following the express. He was not hit. In response to this latest outrage, the Kansas Pacific Railroad Co., the governor of Kansas and the express company together promised at least $10,000 for the capture of the robbers, dead or alive. The suspects included Jesse and Frank James, of course, but only one man, Bud McDaniel, was ever captured and charged with the crime. McDaniel never confessed or squealed on anyone; he escaped jail before he could be tried and was soon after shot and killed while being pursued.

On January 26, 1875, the Pinkertons pursued their most desperate solution to capturing the James brothers. That night, a special train eased out of Kansas City, Mo., carrying a team of heavily armed detectives and their horses and gear. Conductor William Westfall let them off near Kearney and then returned with the train to Kansas City. The detectives rode to the Samuels’ farm, where they sent a cast-iron ball filled with flammable fluid crashing through the window of the Samuels’ parlor in a shower of fire and glass. Reuben Samuel, Frank and Jesse’s stepfather, rushed into the room and, fearing the house would go up in flames, kicked the flaming ball into the fireplace. A tremendous explosion rocked the house, mortally wounding 9-year-old Archie Peyton Samuel (Jesse and Frank’s half brother), mangling Zelda Samuel’s right arm (which later had to be amputated at the elbow), and wounding her black servant. The detectives left as abruptly as they had come, without even summoning a doctor. A neighbor of the Samuels family, James A. Hill, rushed to Kearney and brought back Dr. James V.

Scruggs, but there was nothing the doctor could do for young Archie. Exactly what happened during the raid is unclear, and it has been debated whether the object thrown was intended as a bomb or a flare. Likely, at least one of the outlaw James boys had been in the house, for later someone borrowed Dr. Scruggs’ horse to escape from the area. There was also talk that some of the detectives had been killed, but that was never verified. What is clear is that a revolver left behind by the detectives bore the inscription P.G.G. (Pinkerton Government Guard). That organization, however, refused to accept responsibility for the attack. In March, a Clay County grand jury found murder indictments against Robert J. King; Allan K. Pinkerton, William Pinkerton’s son; Jack Ladd, a Pinkerton spy who worked at Daniel Askew’s farm, next to the Samuels’ place; and five other men. But no one was ever arrested. Many at the time believed that high-placed officials in the Missouri government prevented the arrests to protect themselves, the Pinkertons and the railroads.

Ultimately, so much public sympathy was aroused for the Jameses because of the debacle that a move was made in the Missouri Legislature to provide amnesty to the James Gang. While the vote was 58 to 38 in favor of amnesty, the measure still failed because a two-thirds majority was needed. In the meantime, the James brothers dispensed their own justice. John Askew, the Samuels’ neighbor who had hired the Pinkerton spy, was gunned down in front of his house on the night of April 12, 1875. That September, a bank was robbed in Huntington, W.Va., that may have involved the James-Younger Gang (see story in December 1998 Wild West). The James-Younger Gang renewed its attacks against the railroads on July 7, 1876, when it struck a Missouri Pacific train at a site known as the Rocky Cut, near Otterville, Mo. Riding out of heavy woods, the gang seized Henry Chateau, a watchman guarding a railroad bridge under construction, and his red lantern was used to signal the incoming train to halt.

As the train squealed to a stop, discharging pistols and terrific yells rang out, accord-ing to the Kansas City Evening Star. John B. Bushnell, the chief messenger, fled to the other end of the train with the U.S. Express safe key. Once inside the baggage car, the outlaws held a gun to the head of baggage master Louis Pete Conklin (sometimes referred to as Conkling) and forced him to lead them in search of Bushnell. As the masked bandits proceeded through the train, women shrieked and men scrambled beneath their seats. After finding Bushnell and threatening him with death, the outlaws retrieved the key and opened the safe. They then obtained the engineer’s coal pick and broke into the Adams Express safe. From the two safes the bandits gathered more than $15,000, which they stuffed into the gang’s signature two-bushel flour sack. A small posse soon formed but had no luck–the hard-riding gang was long gone. The railroad and express companies responded by persuading Chief of Police James McDonough of St. Louis to send his agents into southwest Missouri to chase down the criminals.

In turn, McDonough enlisted the help of Larry Hazen, a well-known detective from Cincinnati. This effort led to the arrest of inexperienced gang member Hobbs Kerry, who had been flashing money in Granby, Mo. Told there were witnesses who recognized him from the Otterville robbery, Kerry broke down and confessed, naming as his accomplices Jesse and Frank James, Cole and Bob Younger, Charlie Pitts, Bill Chadwell and Clell Miller. A case was now building against the gang–if it could be captured. Jesse James continued to write disclaimers to newspapers, calling Kerry’s confession a well-built pack of lies from beginning to end in one letter published in the Kansas City Times in August. The Kansas City Journal described the letters as suspiciously–almost nauseatingly–monotonous. Cole Younger later wrote that Kerry’s implication of the Jameses and Youngers convinced the gang members to make one haul, and with our share of the proceeds start life anew in Cuba, South America or Australia. The next month, the gang was changed for all time when the Jameses and Youngers not only went back to robbing a bank but also chose a bank far from their usual stamping grounds.

The aborted robbery of the First National Bank of Northfield, Minn., on September 7, 1876, took the Youngers out of the James-Younger Gang. Cole, Jim and Bob Younger were all captured and sent to prison in the aftermath of that fiasco, which had also cost the lives of Pitts, Chadwell and Miller. Jesse and Frank James escaped, but now they had to recruit new men. After Northfield, the notion that the James boys were being accused of robberies that they had not committed played poorly in Missouri. The gang of ex-Civil War guerrillas having problems with postwar adjustment had become a gang of common thugs in the eyes of many disenchanted Missourians. Outsiders now called Missouri the Robber State and an Outlaw’s Paradise, and lawmen increasingly targeted the gang. The James brothers were not heard from for months after escaping from Minnesota, but they had not gone to South America or Australia. More likely they had spent time with family in either Texas or Kentucky. By the summer of 1877, they had moved to Tennessee, where Frank adapted to the quiet life better than his younger brother.

In need of money and perhaps excitement, too, Jesse recruited new gang members and took on the railroads again, this time without Frank. The new James Gang struck on October 8, 1879, at Glendale, Mo., a little station on the Chicago & Alton line 15 miles east of Kansas City. The outlaws abducted at gunpoint a handful of Glendale citizens, the stationmaster and the telegraph operator. After smashing all of the station’s telegraph equipment to prevent outside knowledge of the robbery, they ordered the telegraph operator to lower the green light (a signal to the conductor to stop the train for further instructions). When the operator refused, the muzzle of a gun was shoved into his mouth and he weakened, according to a Kansas City Times reporter. To ensure that the train stopped, the robbers also covered the tracks with stones. At 8 p.m., Jesse and company halted the eastbound train and fired enough shots to keep the passengers inside. The express messenger, William Grimes, filled a satchel with money from the U.S. Express Company’s safe and tried to escape out the back of the express car.

Anticipating this move, a gang member intercepted Grimes and struck him on the back of the head with the butt of a revolver, knocking him unconscious. Some 30 minutes later, the outlaws rode off uttering wild whoops of exultation, according to one account. Estimates of the take ranged from $6,000 to as much as $50,000. Jesse James returned to Nashville after the Glendale robbery, but he was heard from twice in September 1880 in Kentucky–holding up a Mammoth Cave tourist stage and then a Dovey Cove Mine payroll in Mercer. Jesse had a nice haul at Muscle Shoals, Ala., on March 11, 1881, when he robbed paymaster Alex Smith of $5,000. But things took a downturn two weeks later when one of his gang members, Bill Ryan, was arrested in Tennessee. Ryan was eventually convicted for his role in the Glendale train robbery after another of Jesse’s recruits, Tucker Basham, testified against Ryan in Missouri. Basham also mentioned Jesse James as an accomplice, which caused James confederates to burn Basham’s Jackson County home.

Basham fled the area. The James Gang wasn’t through with trains yet. In fact, Frank James returned to contribute his expertise. On the evening of July 15, 1881, a Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific train stopped at Cameron, Mo., and was boarded by two gang members wearing dark suits of clothes [and] high caps, according to the Kansas City Evening Star. A few miles to the northeast, at Winston, Jesse and Frank James and their cousin Wood Hite boarded the train and put on masks. As the train proceeded, William Westfall, the same conductor who had brought the Pinkertons to the Samuels’ farm back in January 1875, collected fares in the smoking car. Suddenly, a tall man with black whiskers and wearing a linen duster (probably Jesse James) yelled, Stop! and ordered the conductor to raise his hands. Instead, Westfall crouched and raced for the back of the car. One of the bandits then shot him in the back. Westfall reeled onto the back platform and tumbled dead off the moving train. The bandits then cut the bell rope, signaling the engineer to stop the train.

Meanwhile, gang members Dick Liddil and Clarence Hite, another James cousin, fired into the locomotive, shattering its windows and ensuring that the engineer pulled onto a siding at Little Dog Creek Bridge. As the outlaws robbed the express car, a curious passenger, Frank McMillan, gaped at them from the platform. A bandit shot him in the head, and McMillan rolled from the train. In the express car, bandits had pistol-whipped the two messengers and robbed the express safe. Exactly how much money was taken is uncertain. The Kansas City Evening Star on July 16 called the crime the most daring, reckless, and cold-blooded murder and robbery ever enacted in the country. Liddil later confessed to participating in the Winston train robbery and said that Jesse shot Westfall and Frank shot McMillan. Missouri Governor Thomas Crittenden was determined to stop the James Gang once and for all. The governor was under considerable pressure, since Missouri was trying to cast off its reputation as the Robber State. With the aid of Colonel Wells H. Blodgett, attorney for the Wabash Railroad, he called a meeting of railroad and express company executives in St.

Louis on July 26, 1881. The officials promised to pay $5,000 each for the delivery of Frank and Jesse James. Another $5,000 each would be offered for their convictions. The James Gang was not quite done. On September 7, 1881, exactly five years after the failed bank robbery in Northfield, the outlaws stopped a Chicago & Alton train where the tracks ran through Blue Cut, some two miles west of Glendale. Along with Jesse and Frank, participants likely included Clarence Hite, Dick Liddil and a new recruit, Charlie Ford. They used a red lantern to get the train to stop, broke open the express car and struck messenger H.A. Fox with a pistol butt. The gang leader not only didn’t wear a mask but also announced that he was Jesse James. Engineer Choppey Foote later said that the bandits took all the money they could but that the leader gave him $2 to use to drink the health of Jesse James tomorrow morning. The outlaws collected $1,000 at most, as well as jewelry. They made a clean getaway, but there would be no more robberies for the James Gang.

In February 1882, Clarence Hite was arrested in Kentucky and extradited to Missouri, where he pleaded guilty to involvement in the Winston robbery and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Another cousin of the Jameses, Wood Hite, died early that same year at the hands of Dick Liddil and Bob Ford, Charlie Ford’s younger brother. Apparently, both Liddil and Wood Hite had been vying for the attentions of the attractive widow Martha Bolton, the sister of the Ford brothers. Liddil turned himself in and told all he knew about the James Gang’s robberies. On Monday, April 3, 1882, Bob and Charles Ford were visiting with Jesse James in his St. Joseph, Mo., home when Bob shot the famous outlaw in the back of the head. Two weeks later, the Fords were indicted on murder charges, found guilty and sentenced to hang. Governor Crittenden granted them full pardons that very afternoon. Many people assumed there had been a conspiracy involving the governor to eliminate Jesse James.

In a letter to the Missouri Republican that he supposedly wrote in February 1884, Bob Ford said that he had not been hired by Crittenden or anyone else. On October 5, 1882, Frank James, with no desire to return to outlawry and fearing the same treatment as Jesse, personally surrendered to Crittenden in Jefferson City. Frank’s wife later said that her husband could not even cut a stick of wood without looking around to see if someone was slipping up behind him to kill him. In August 1883, Frank James stood trial for the murder of train passenger Frank McMillan during the 1881 Winston robbery. Frank’s star-studded troop of lawyers got him off, overcoming the testimony of a gang member turned informer, Dick Liddil. They got a boost from the governor himself, who testified that Liddil initially told him that Jesse James was the one who had shot McMillan. Furthermore, in February 1884, Crittenden dismissed all other charges against Frank James in Missouri. That April, Frank did have to stand trial in Alabama for the 1881 Muscle Shoals robbery, but he was found not guilty.

By the middle of 1884, 41-year-old Frank James could begin to pursue honest work under his real name. The first bank robbery at Liberty in 1866 and that first train robbery at Adair in 1873 no doubt were impossible to forget, but at least they could now be dusty, distant memories for Jesse’s big brother. This article was written by Donald L. Gilmore and originally appeared in the August 2000 issue of Wild West magazine. For more great articles be sure to subscribe to Wild West magazine today! More James Younger Gang Articles Letter From Wild West – August 2013 Jesse James and older brother, Frank, were both notorious, but who was the meaner of the two? Five Historic Train Robberies - Neatorama Neatorama • 1 They make train robberies look so easy in the movies, don't they? You jump on to a train with guns a-blazin' and a bandana covering your face, rob the safe and jump off, never to be caught. But in real life, the gangs who robbed trains were almost always caught and brought to justice. Here are a few of their stories.

Jesse James' First Train Robbery On July 21, 1873, Jesse James and the James-Younger Gang robbed their first train in Adair, Iowa, of all places. They managed to derail the Rock Island train, turning the train on its side, killing the engineer and injuring a lot of its passengers. But that wasn't enough terror for the passengers - the James-Younger Gang, clad in Ku Klux Klan garb, went up and down the length of the overturned train confronting them and demanding their watches and valuables (although some reports say they stole only from the men). They threw it all in bags along with the money from the train's safe and ended up getting about $3,000. This was a bit unusual for Jesse James and his crew; after that they mostly stuck to robbing the express safe in the baggage car and left the passengers alone. Even though the gang killed the engineer of the train and wounded several passengers, Adair doesn't hold it against him - every July, they have "Jesse James Days," where they reenact the train robbery and celebrate with a parade and other festivities.

Photo from History of the James-Younger Gang The Great Gold Robbery of 1855 One of the biggest train robberies of all time took place not in the American Old West, but in London, England. On May 15, 1855, three boxes of gold were put on a car on a South Eastern Railway train headed from England to Boulogne, France. The boxes were sealed, shut with iron bars, and locked with locks which had keys held by only a few trusted people. The problem? When the boxes reached their destination, one of them was a lot lighter than it should have been. Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that somehow, someone had substituted lead shot for gold. Police had no clue what had happened and a two-month investigation ensued. Hundreds of people were questioned without any hope of a lead, but by August, suspicion fell on Edward Agar. Agar was sent to prison for passing a fake check, but wanted to make sure that the mother of his child had money to provide for the young one. He informed her that she would be receiving £7,000 from a colleague of his, and when the money didn't show, he blew the whistle on the whole operation.

He and the colleague, William Pierce, had hatched a complicated plot to steal the gold years earlier. They involved a clerk in the railway office when they found out that he briefly had possession of the keys that locked the boxes the gold was sealed in; the clerk was able to get the keys to Agar who made an impression of them in wax and later had the keys replicated. There was a second key to the safes that wasn't quite as easy to get. Agar ended up sending a £200 box of bullion on the same route (under an assumed name, of course), then showed up to collect it and watched the clerk carefully to see where he got the second key to the safe. Turned out it wasn't quite as complicated as they thought - the key was simply stored in a cupboard that wasn't very well guarded at all. When the time came, Agar and Pierce strolled right into the office when it was unoccupied and made a quick wax imprint of the key. They brought the lead shot onto the train in carpet bags; Pierce got into a first class carriage and Agar boarded with the train's guard, James Burgess, who was in on the whole thing.

Agar took the iron bars off with a mallet and chisel, replaced the gold bars with lead shot, replaced the iron bars and stuck a new wax seal on the box to make it look like it had never been tampered with. When Agar turned Pierce in, police recovered about £2,000 of the £12,000 worth of gold stolen. Michael Crichton later based his novel The Great Train Robbery on the incident, which was turned into a movie starring Sean Connery as William Pierce. (pictured) Photo from MGMHD . The First Known Train Robbery in the U.S. On October 6, 1866, the Reno brothers jumped onto an Ohio and Mississippi Railway train in Indiana and emptied one of the safes. They tossed another one out the window so they could take it with them, and then they jumped off of the train, completing the first train robbery in the United States. It was definitely a catching trend - in the two weeks following the Reno brothers' first moving holdup, two more trains were robbed.

A passenger testified that he saw the faces of two of the robbers from the first holdup, but after he was shot and killed, other passengers clammed up and none of the burglars were charged. At least, not at that time. After their fifth robbery a couple of years later, the Pinkertons finally caught up with the Reno brothers. Ten agents were waiting on the train to bust the boys, and although most of them escaped, they were arrested the next day. Some members of the gang were hanged, but a lynch mob got to the others before official justice could be served. The Great Train Robbery of 1963 The '60s in England - you think of the Beatles and Twiggy, not train robberies, right? But one of the biggest train robberies in the history of the U.K. actually took place on August 8, 1963. A gang consisting of 15 guys hijacked the Royal Mail train going from Glasgow to London and stole the contents of the High Value Package - a carriage containing registered mail with cash contents.

The robbers planned this carefully; normally the HVP carriage only carried about £300,000, but since there had been a bank holiday and this was the first shipment following it, the amount was much more than usual - about £2.3 million. They did so with no weapons other than an iron bar, which was used to hit the driver of the train on the head. They didn't pull it off, though - the gang left the train rife with fingerprints, and left all kinds of evidence littered about the farmhouse they took refuge in for five days in Buckinghamshire. Not only were fingerprints found, they were allegedly found on a Monopoly board that the robbers had used to amuse themselves with while they were holed up. They used real money, of course. 13 of the gang members were eventually caught (that's a few of them in the picture), although at least one of them didn't stay caught for long. Ronnie Biggs escaped about 15 months into his prison sentence and moved to Paris, where he had plastic surgery. Then he moved to Australia and lived under the radar for quite a few years, until his identity was exposed, forcing him to move to Brazil.

He lived there until 2001, when a series of strokes made him want to return to England to buy a proper pint before he died, although most people suspect he wanted the healthcare. He was returned to jail to finish out his sentence and is still there - Biggs was just denied parole on July 2 because the Justice Secretary felt that "Mr. Biggs is wholly unrepentant." Photo from HowStuffWorks The Train Robbery that Brought Down George Parrot Big Nose George Parrot sounds like a character on Sesame Street or something, but he was the furthest thing from it. Big Nose George was a train robber who didn't mind killing to get what he wanted. He had done just that in 1878 - after a botched train robbery, Parrot and his gang killed two men - a Union Pacific detective and the Wyoming deputy sheriff. The gang then robbed the corpses of their two victims, including one of their horses, and took off. Word of the double murders got around fast and a $20,000 reward was offered for apprehending the killers. They were, indeed, apprehended.

Big Nose George Parrot was supposed to be hanged, but after he tried to escape, a lynch mob hunted him down and strung him up themselves. "It's a lynch mob," you might be thinking, "They're prone to extreme behavior." But the doctors weren't any better - Parrot's skull cap was sawed off and given to the doctor's 15-year-old assistant, Lilian Heath. Throughout her life she used it as a pen holder, a doorstop and an ashtray. The doctor made a pair of shoes and a medical bag out of Parrot's skin and he allegedly wore the shoes to his inaugural ball a year later when he was elected the first Democratic Governor of Wyoming. You can still see the shoes - they're on display at the Carbon County Museum in Rawlins, Wyoming. Photo from Sunderland Echo. Today in History, July 21 - YouTube Today in History, July 21 Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later.

Published on Jul 21, 2014 Today in History, July 21: 356 BCE -- The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is destroyed by arson. 285 CE -- Diocletian appoints Maximian as Caesar and co-ruler. 365 CE -- A tsunami devastates the city of Alexandria, Egypt. The tsunami was caused by the Crete earthquake estimated to be 8.0 on the Richter scale. Five thousand people perished in Alexandria, and 45,000 more died outside the city. 1242 -- Battle of Taillebourg : Louis IX of France puts an end to the revolt of his vassals Henry III of England and Hugh X of Lusignan. 1545 -- The first landing of French troops on the coast of the Isle of Wight during the French invasion of the Isle of Wight. 1645 -- Qing Dynasty regent Dorgon issues an edict ordering all Han Chinese men to shave their forehead and braid the rest of their hair into a queue identical to those of the Manchus.

1861 -- American Civil War: First Battle of Bull Run -- at Manassas Junction, Virginia, the first major battle of the war begins and ends in a victory for the Confederate army. 1873 -- At Adair, Iowa, Jesse James and the James-Younger Gang pull off the first successful train robbery in the American Old West. 1907 -- The passenger steamer SS Columbia collides with the steam schooner San Pedro off Shelter Cove, California, causing the Columbia to sink killing 88 people. 1925 -- Scopes Trial: In Dayton, Tennessee, high school biology teacher John T. Scopes is found guilty of teaching evolution in class and fined $100. 1944 -- World War II: Battle of Guam -- American troops land on Guam starting the battle. It would end on August 10. 1944 -- World War II: Claus von Stauffenberg and fellow conspirators are executed in Berlin, Germany for the July 20 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. 1949 -- The United States Senate ratifies the North Atlantic Treaty. 1954 -- First Indochina War: The Geneva Conference partitions Vietnam into North Vietnam and South Vietnam.

1961 -- Mercury program: Mercury-Redstone 4 Mission -- Gus Grissom piloting Liberty Bell 7 becomes the second American to go into space (in a suborbital mission). 1973 -- In the Lillehammer affair in Norway, Israeli Mossad agents kill a waiter whom they mistakenly thought was involved in the 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre. 1977 -- The start of the four day long Libyan--Egyptian War. 1983 -- The world's lowest temperature in an inhabited location is recorded at Vostok Station, Antarctica at −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F). 2007 -- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the fastest-selling novel ever, is published. It sold 15 million copies in the first 24 hours of its release. 2011 -- NASA's Space Shuttle program ends with the landing of Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-135.

Please subscribe July 21 | Photo Larry® Blog Photo Larry® Blog Leave a Comment ​Happy Birthday RIP Ernest Hemingway(1899–1961) Jesse Donald Knotts(1924–2006) Robin Williams(1951–2014) ; Janet Reno–78 “Cat Stevens”(Steven Georgiou)–68 Garretson “Garry” Trudeau–68 Taco Ockerse–61 Jonathan Lovitz–59 Ike Eisenmann–54 Joshua Hartnett–38 Rory Culkin–27 ; 1873 – At Adair Iowa Jesse James and the James-Younger gang pull off the first successful train robbery in the American Old West Like this: This Date in History: July 21 This Date in History This is about what happen in the world today, as well as in the past. We'll look at major events, famous birthdays, and significant deaths that occurred on a particular day. Thursday, July 21, 2016 1978 ~ Josh Harnett, American actor. 1973 ~ Ali Landry, American model and Miss USA 1996.

She is from Breaux Bridge, Louisiana. 1968 ~ Brandi Chastain, American soccer player. 1966 ~ Sarah Waters, British novelist. 1957 ~ Jon Lovitz, American comedian. 1955 ~ Dannel Malloy, 88th Governor of Connecticut. He assumed Office in January 2011. 1951 ~ Robin Williams (d. 2014), American comedian. He committed suicide at age 63. 1948 ~ Garry Trudeau, American cartoonist. 1946 ~ Kenneth Starr, 39th Solicitor General of the United States. He served in the George W.H. Bush administration. He is best known for his tenure as independent counsel in the Bill Clinton impeachment proceedings. 1943 ~ Edward Herrmann (d. 2014), American actor. He died at age 71. 1939 ~ John Negroponte, 1st Director of National Intelligence. He served in the George W. Bush administration. 1938 ~ Les Aspin (d. 1995), 18th Secretary of Defense.

He served in the Bill Clinton administration from January 1993 until May 1995. He died at age 56. 1938 ~ Janet Reno, 79th United States Attorney General and first female to hold this post. She served in the Clinton administration. 1926 ~ Norman Jewison, Canadian director and producer. 1924 ~ Don Knotts (né Jesse Donald Knotts, d. 2006), American actor best known for his role as Barney Fife on the Andy Griffith Show. He died at age 81. 1923 ~ Rudolph Marcus, Canadian chemist and recipient of the 1992 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. 1920 ~ Isaac Stern (d. 2001), Ukrainian-born violinist. He died at age 81. 1899 ~ Hart Crane (d. 1932), American poet. He died at age 32. 1899 ~ Ernest Hemingway (d. 1961), American novelist and recipient of the 1954 Noble Prize in Literature. He committed suicide in 1961 three weeks before his 62nd birthday.

1893 ~ Hans Fallada (né Rudolf Wilhelm Friedrich Ditzen, d. 1947), German novelist best known for his novel, Every Man Dies Alone. He died at age 53. 1816 ~ Paul Reuter (d. 1899), German-born British journalist and founder or Reuters news service. 1693 ~ Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle (d. 1768), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He was Prime Minister from March 1754 until November 1756 during the reign of King George II, and again during the reigns of King George II and King George III, from March 1757 until May 1762. He died at age 75. 1620 ~ Jean Picard (d. 1682), French astronomer. He died at less than 2 weeks before his 62nd birthday. 14`4 ~ Pope Sixtus IV (né Francesco della Rovere, d. 1481). He is best known for having had the Sistine Chapel build.

He was Pope from August 9, 1471 until his death 13 years later. He died about a month after his 70th birthday. Events that Changed the World: 1970 ~ The Aswan High Dam on the Nile in Egypt was completed after 11 years of construction. 1969 ~ Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission. They had landed on the moon the day before. 1961 ~ Gus Grissom (1926 ~ 1967) became the second American go to into space. His was a suborbital mission in the Mercury program. 1925 ~ John T. Scopes (1900 ~ 1970) was convicting of violating the Tennessee state laws for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution in the so-called “Monkey Trial.” He was fined $100. 1902 ~ Willis Carrier (1876 ~ 1950) invented the first successful air conditioner.

1873 ~ Jesse James (1847 ~ 1882) and the James-Younger Gang pulled off the first successful train robbery in the American West. The train was robbed in Adair, Iowa. 1865 ~ Wild Bill Hickok (1837 ~ 1876) shot and killed Davis Tutt (1836 ~ 1865) in a duel in what is now regarded as the first western showdown. 1861 ~ The First Battle of Bull Run at Manassas Junction, Virginia, was the first major battle in the American Civil War. It was a victory for the Confederate Army. 1831 ~ King Leopold I of Belgium was inaugurated as the first king of the Belgians. 365 ~ A tsunami resulting from an estimated 8.0 magnitude earthquake in Crete, devastated the city of Alexandria, Egypt. It is estimated that over 50,000 people died from the effects of the tsunami. 230 ~ Pope Pontain became the 18th Catholic Pope.

356 BCE ~ The traditional date that the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, was destroyed by arson. Good-Byes: 2015 ~ E.L. Doctorow (né Edgar Lawrence Doctorow, B. 1931), American author who turned history into gold. He is best known for his novel Ragtime. He was 84 years old. 2015 ~ Theodore Bikel (b. 1924), Austrian singer and actor. He was of Jewish ancestry. He was named after Theodor Herzl, who was also born on this date. He died at age 91. 2008 ~ Eugene Foster (b. 1927), American pathologist who linked President Thomas Jefferson to his slave, Sally Hemmings. He died at age 81. 2004 ~ Edward B. Lewis (b. 1918), American geneticist and recipient of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He died at age 86. 1998 ~ Alan Shepard (b. 1923), American astronaut.

He was the first American and second person to travel into space, although is initial flight was suborbital. He died at age 74. 1982 ~ David Garroway (b. 1913), American journalist. He committed suicide at age 69 a week after his 69th birthday. 1967 ~ Albert Lutuli (b. 1898), South African politician and recipient of the 1960 Nobel Peace Prize. 1967 ~ Basil Rathbone (b. 1892), English actor. He died at age 75. 1948 ~ Arshile Gorky (né Vostanik Manoug Adoian, b. 1904), Armenian-American artist. He committed suicide at age 44. 1796 ~ Robert Burns (b. 1759), Scottish poet. He died at age 37. Posted by

Question: On July 21, 1873, Jesse James and the James-Younger gang pulled off the first successful what of the American West, in Adair Iowa?
Answer: Train robbery