Friday, November 11, 2022
First Train Robbery On The Pacific Coast
On the morning of November 5, 1870, news was flashed around the civilized world that the Overland Express train which left San Francisco, California the previous morning, carrying gold to the miners at Virginia City, Nevada had been “held up” and robbed near Verdi, a station about ten miles west of Reno, and that over $40,000 had been taken from the Wells-Fargo strongbox by masked heavily armed men. This being the first train robbery on the Pacific Coast, it almost took away the public breath, and for a while caused great excitement and much newspaper comment on two continents.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Dang, that $40k in today dollars is just over $900k. Not a bad haul for an early morning of work.
ReplyDeleteMadMarlin
"Made a good Indian out of him." I haven't heard that expression in years. Good article.
ReplyDeleteWhy would they be carrying gold "to" V City?
ReplyDeleteIsn't that where it's coming out of the ground?
As detailed as this story is and coupled with the fact that it was written by a man that participated in the arrest of two of the bad guys, I've got to believe it's not a mistake.
DeleteAll I can come up with is that the gold might have been used in part as payroll for the miners of the Comstock Lode.
I liked this story because I'm familiar with every town and landmark mentioned, with the exception of Laughton’s Hot Springs. I had to look that one up. It's just downstream from Cabela's, Verdi.