Reference Point:  Gads Hill, Missouri, is located approximately 20 miles west of Silva, Missouri and 40 miles south of Lake Wappapello.  This train robbery occurred in Wayne County, Missouri when and where John Robert Atnip and Melissa Jane Ownbey (Orley’s Parents) as well as George Washington Davis and Sarah Bostian (Eva’s Grandparents) lived and most likely traveled.

Back in July 1873, the James-Younger gang robbed a train in Iowa, but their money was running low and somewhere along the way they devised a plan to rob a train in Missouri.  This was to be their first train robbery in Missouri.  They determined Gads Hill, Missouri, would be a good location to hit.  The village consisted of few houses, a store, a railroad loading platform, and siding switch.  Trains were sometimes switched off to pick up loads of logs or lumber or passengers.  Gads Hill was about ten miles north of Piedmont, Missouri.  While the robbed train was going south to Piedmont to report the hold up, the robbers would travel north lengthening the distance between them and any pursuers.  Then they would turn northwest into some of the roughest terrain in Missouri.

About three o’clock in the afternoon on January 31st, 1874, seven masked well-armed men rode into the village of Gads Hill, Missouri. The store owner was robbed and the rest of the village inhabitants were rounded up. Some accounts say they were placed in the store. Some say they were kept around a large bonfire. Others say a small station house was used to detain them. This writer believes that it is more likely they were held under guard in the store. A bonfire would attract unwanted attention and a crowded station house would have looked suspicious.

The James-Younger gang was well aware that the railroad owners and the bankers had hired the Pinkerton Detective Agency to capture the gang and put a stop to the robberies. Pinkerton was becoming increasingly frustrated and was said to be riding some trains himself. They fully expected to find a Pinkerton man on this train.

The siding switch was opened and a red flag readied to warn the train to stop or face derailment on the siding. At about four-thirty in the afternoon the southbound St. Louis to Little Rock passenger train braked to a stop even though the man waving the red flag wore a mask. The conductor stepped off the train and was promptly relieved of his money and valuables. Four other outlaws appeared and boarded the train. They announced that they were there to rob the rich and would not take money from working men and the ladies. They checked the hands of the men for calluses and those with soft hands were promptly robbed. Those with fancy clothes and hats were given special attention. When one lady was found to have four hundred dollars in her purse they reneged on their promise to rob men only and took her money. They asked the male passengers their names and place of residence, checking them closely. They were looking for a Pinkerton detective. In the express car they broke open the safe with a sledge hammer and proceeded to take anything of value from it. The gang collected at least two thousand dollars. Some sources put the amount taken at five thousand.

What was most ingenious about the robbery, however, wasn’t the robbery. It was the public relations.

The gang handed one of the passengers a pre-written press release so that the newspapers would get their facts straight. Supposedly, it read:

THE MOST DARING ROBBERY ON RECORD
The south bound train on the Iron Mountain railroad was boarded here this evening by five heavily armed men and robbed of _ dollars. The robbers arrived at the station a few minutes before the arrival of the train and arrested the agent and put him under a guard and then threw the train on the switch. The robbers were all large men, none of them under six feet tall. They were all masked and started in a southerly direction after they had robbed the express. They were all mounted on fine blooded horses. There’s a hell of an excitement in this part of the country.

Of course, the press release took some liberties with the truth. The gang rode northwest, not south, after the hold-up. Not that anybody would expect the gang to broadcast their real destination to the authorities. The phrase “hell of an excitement” was correct, however, as word spread to newspapers across the country and Gads Hill became the focal point of a national media frenzy. The robbery elevated Jesse James to the level of celebrity.

The James gang tried to position itself as a modern-day band of Robin Hoods, stealing from rich, lazy capitalists while sparing women, children, and hardworking men. At the beginning of the hold-up, the robbers announced they would uphold this principle, but by the end it was clear that they were willing to steal from anybody. The Jesse-James-as-Robin-Hood myth, however, took hold at Gads Hill, Missouri.

Today, an historic marker along Highway 49 is the only remnant from that fateful day in 1874. The Iron Mountain Railroad — now Union Pacific — is still in operation, but the line was altered after World War II to accommodate higher-speed trains. It now cruises through Gads Hill on a higher grade and jumps over Highway 49 at a concrete overpass.

Sources:

http://www.semissourian.com/blogs/pavementends/entry/23988

The Gads Hill Train Robbery