G.W.H. Budden
CDV of the First Train Robbers in the American West, Verdi, NV, 1870
Albumen print
4 x 2 1/2 inches
With Budden's credit in negative.
With Budden's credit in negative.
A fantastic and extremely rare CDV showing five men who held up a railroad train in Verdi, Nevada, in 1870, the first recorded train robbery in the West. On the...
A fantastic and extremely rare CDV showing five men who held up a railroad train in Verdi, Nevada, in 1870, the first recorded train robbery in the West.
On the afternoon of Nov. 4, 1870, the Central Pacific Train No. 1 left Oakland, CA., carrying $41,800 in $20 gold coins and silver bullion, or the equivalent of $2.2 million in today’s dollars. The haul was on its way to Virginia City so the owners of the mining operation at the Comstock Lode could make payroll and keep pulling silver out of the surrounding hills.
Carefully observing the train was John Chapman, a former Sunday School Superintendent, who had traveled to Oakland, California to learn when the train left to Verdi, Nevada. Located about 20 miles east of Truckee, along the the CA-NV border, Verdi had recently been renamed by Charles Crocker after the Italian composer Guiseppe Verdi. Chapman telegraphed a coded message to “Sal” Jones in Reno who alerted five men waiting near Verdi.
When the train was about a mile east of Verdi, the bandits detached the express from the main train by cutting signal rope. They tied up the crew, procured the gold and silver from the baggage car, divvied up the spoils, and headed for the hills. The brazen affair quickly made national news. As recounted later by James Kinkead, then sheriff of Washoe County:
"Every enemy of law and order was vociferous in praise of the boldness and nerve of the perpetrators of the robbery, and Nevada acquired the dubious credit of being [one of] the first States in the Union that could produce a set of outlaws daring enough to stop and rob all express train. Immediately large rewards were offered by the authorities of Washoe County, by the State of Nevada, by the then Central Pacific Railroad Company, and by the Wells-Fargo Express Company, for the apprehension of the robbers, these rewards aggregating $30,000."
Within a week, all five men were apprehended and most of the money was recovered. Three thousand dollars in gold and silver was never found, and is possibly still out there somewhere near Truckee, for an intrepid prospector to discover.
On the afternoon of Nov. 4, 1870, the Central Pacific Train No. 1 left Oakland, CA., carrying $41,800 in $20 gold coins and silver bullion, or the equivalent of $2.2 million in today’s dollars. The haul was on its way to Virginia City so the owners of the mining operation at the Comstock Lode could make payroll and keep pulling silver out of the surrounding hills.
Carefully observing the train was John Chapman, a former Sunday School Superintendent, who had traveled to Oakland, California to learn when the train left to Verdi, Nevada. Located about 20 miles east of Truckee, along the the CA-NV border, Verdi had recently been renamed by Charles Crocker after the Italian composer Guiseppe Verdi. Chapman telegraphed a coded message to “Sal” Jones in Reno who alerted five men waiting near Verdi.
When the train was about a mile east of Verdi, the bandits detached the express from the main train by cutting signal rope. They tied up the crew, procured the gold and silver from the baggage car, divvied up the spoils, and headed for the hills. The brazen affair quickly made national news. As recounted later by James Kinkead, then sheriff of Washoe County:
"Every enemy of law and order was vociferous in praise of the boldness and nerve of the perpetrators of the robbery, and Nevada acquired the dubious credit of being [one of] the first States in the Union that could produce a set of outlaws daring enough to stop and rob all express train. Immediately large rewards were offered by the authorities of Washoe County, by the State of Nevada, by the then Central Pacific Railroad Company, and by the Wells-Fargo Express Company, for the apprehension of the robbers, these rewards aggregating $30,000."
Within a week, all five men were apprehended and most of the money was recovered. Three thousand dollars in gold and silver was never found, and is possibly still out there somewhere near Truckee, for an intrepid prospector to discover.