My Jesse James' Adventure: The Most Daring Robbery on Record

How the Robbers Swooped Down on the Train and Carried Off Pockets of Plunder--headline from St. Louis Dispatch February 2, 1874.

The James & Younger gang put a flag in the middle of the tracks and started a brush fire to get the train to stop. After looting the safe, the robbers inspected the passengers. Anyone found with unworked hands was robbed of money and jewelry. One person suspected of being a Pinkerton agent was strip searched. Two bankers were led outside and forced to strip to their underwear. As the outlaws galloped off, Jesse tossed the engineer a piece of paper. It was a newspaper article Jesse wrote himself--what we would call a press release today.

"The most daring robbery on record. The southbound train on the Iron Mountain Railroad was robbed this evening five heavily armed men and robbed of _______dollars. The robbers arrived at the station a few minutes before the train arrived and arrested the Agent, put him under guard and then threw the train switch. The robbers are all large men, none of them under six feed tall. They were all masked and started in a southerly direction after they robbed the train, all mounted on fine blooded horses."

Here's the part I really like--"There is a hell of excitement in this part of the country."

Not only was Jesse a thief and murderer, he was a good PR marketer. He understood the fine-art of spin.

In media lingo--he had the boiler plate bio--describing who he was and how he did things without giving away too much info. He knew his audience demographic who enjoyed reading about adventure and pitched them an engaging concept story. Most importantly, he made the journalist's job easier by writing the story for him. I can't help but smile reading details about large masked men mounted on fine horses. And the account of only robbing the upper class--thus perpetuating the Robin Hood myth. The plunder totaled around $12,000--not bad for a few hours of work in 1874. That roughly equates to about $250,000 today.

Gad's Hill is 6 miles outside of Piedmont, MO. Unlike some of the other locations, this was very rural and remote. No cell service. At first I just saw the road sign and while it is strange, it doesn't provide a lot of creative filming opportunities. So I was super excited when I saw stairs leading down to the tracks. The desolate landscape...silent but for the rustling wind, insects and ghost sounds of a train engine.