Download or read book Great Stagecoach Robberies of the Old West written by R. Michael Wilson and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2006-11-01 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stagecoach robbers evolved as a consequence of the discovery of gold or silver, or some other mineral treasure, and a town would "spring forth from the earth" overnight. Roads were soon built and stage lines began operating. A "pitching Betsy" would take out bullion and dust and bring in payrolls, always through country that was rough and isolated. The temptation to get rich quickly was too great for some, and the demand, "Hold! Throw out that treasure box!" was heard all too often in the Old West. Most robberies were never solved, but many robbers were caught, indicted, tried, convicted, and sentenced. This book includes a collection of 15-20 of the most thrilling stagecoach robberies from 1875-1905.
Download or read book Great Train Robberies of the Old West written by R. Michael Wilson and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2006-11-01 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the 1800s trains carried the nation's wealth throughout the east, but no one thought to rob a speeding train until 1866. In 1870 the first western train was robbed in Nevada and within hours a second train was robbed. Railroads made every alteration to their cars and changed every procedure they could imagine to thwart the robbers, but to no avail. Robbing trains became epidemic over the next five decades, even when the legislatures made train robbery a capital crime. A few of the hundreds of train robberies stand out as thrilling and dangerous affairs, and the greatest of these (15-20) are included in this book.
Download or read book Stagecoach Robberies in California written by R. Michael Wilson and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-09-06 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: California was the mining center of the West for half a century. Wherever precious minerals were found, road agents appeared to "mine the roads" of treasure being shipped out and payrolls being shipped in. The first recorded robbery of a stagecoach occurred in 1856, and the last in 1913. Over that period there were 458 stagecoach robberies, many with special characteristics such as a claim the robbers were Confederate soldiers, a murder, a gun battle, or a thrilling pursuit and capture. Surprisingly, there were many robberies in which the perpetrator remained unknown or in which was so little stolen the robber was not even sought out. This book gives all the details of those robberies taken from the contemporary newspapers and from a variety of other sources.
Download or read book Wells Fargo Co Stagecoach and Train Robberies 1870 1884 written by James B. Hume and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2010-03-08 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In January 1, 1885, Wells, Fargo & Company's chief detective James B. Hume and special agent John N. Thacker published a report summarizing the company's losses during the previous 14 years. It listed 313 stagecoach robberies, 23 burglaries, and four train robberies but included little or no details of the events themselves, focusing instead on physical descriptions of the robbers. Widely circulated, the report was intended to assist law enforcement in identifying and apprehending the criminals believed still to present a danger to the company. The present volume revisits each crime, updating Hume and Thacker's original report with rich new details culled from local newspapers, personal diary entries, and court records.
Download or read book Shotguns and Stagecoaches written by John Boessenecker and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2018-10-30 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The true stories of the Wild West heroes who guarded the iconic Wells Fargo stagecoaches and trains, battling colorful thieves, vicious highwaymen, and robbers armed with explosives. The phrase "riding shotgun" was no teenage game to the men who guarded stagecoaches and trains the Western frontier. Armed with sawed-off, double-barreled shotguns and an occasional revolver, these express messengers guarded valuable cargo through lawless terrain. They were tough, fighting men who risked their lives every time they climbed into the front boot of a Concord coach. Boessenecker introduces soon-to-be iconic personalities like "Chips" Hodgkins, an express rider known for his white mule and his ability to outrace his competitors, and Henry Johnson, the first Wells Fargo detective. Their lives weren't just one shootout after another—their encounters with desperadoes were won just as often with quick wits and memorized-by-heart knowledge of the land. The highway robbers also get their due. It wouldn't be a book about the Wild West without Black Bart, the most infamous stagecoach robber of all time, and Butch Cassidy's gang, America's most legendary train robbers. Through the Gold Rush and the early days of delivery with horses and saddlebags, to the heyday of stagecoaches and huge shipments of gold, and finally the rise of the railroad and the robbers who concocted unheard-of schemes to loot trains, Wells Fargo always had courageous men to protect its treasure. Their unforgettable bravery and ingenuity make this book a thrilling read.
Download or read book Stagecoach Robberies in California written by R. Michael Wilson and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-09-22 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: California was the mining center of the West for half a century. Wherever precious minerals were found, road agents appeared to "mine the roads" of treasure being shipped out and payrolls being shipped in. The first recorded robbery of a stagecoach occurred in 1856, and the last in 1913. Over that period there were 458 stagecoach robberies, many with special characteristics such as a claim the robbers were Confederate soldiers, a murder, a gun battle, or a thrilling pursuit and capture. Surprisingly, there were many robberies in which the perpetrator remained unknown or in which was so little stolen the robber was not even sought out. This book gives all the details of those robberies taken from the contemporary newspapers and from a variety of other sources.
Download or read book The Capture of Black Bart written by Norman H. Finkelstein and published by Chicago Review Press. This book was released on 2018-11-06 with total page 119 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Black Bart was not the Old West's only stagecoach robber, but he was the most famous. To many people, he was a folk hero: a robber who didn't threaten or harm passengers. He was a bandit with a sense of humor who wrote poetry. In robbing at least 28 Wells Fargo stagecoaches across Northern California between 1875 and 1883, he never fired a shot or injured anyone. His gun, it turned out, was never loaded. Newspaper stories about the poet robber's exploits and about Jim Hume, the unyielding chief detective of Wells Fargo, became popular reading throughout the West. Black Bart seemed to enjoy the chase. During one robbery the driver told him, "They'll catch you one of these days." Bart answered, "Perhaps, but in the meantime, give my regards to J. B. Hume, will you?" For eight years, each new robbery—and each new story—made Hume even more determined to track him down.
Download or read book Great Stagecoach Robbers of the West written by Eugene B. Block and published by . This book was released on 1962 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The road agents of the Western gold fields.
Download or read book Last of the Old Time Outlaws written by Karen Holliday Tanner and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2014-11-14 with total page 389 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Soft-spoken, cheerful, handsome, and well dressed, George West Musgrave “looked more like a senator than a cattle rustler.” Yet he was a cattle rustler as well as a bandit, robber, and killer, “guilty of more crimes than Billy the Kid was ever accused of.” In Last of the Old-Time Outlaws, Karen Holliday Tanner and John D. Tanner, Jr., recount the colorful life of Musgrave (1877-1947), enduring badman of the American Southwest. Musgrave was a charter member of the High Five/Black Jack gang, which was responsible for Arizona’s first bank hold-up, numerous post office and stagecoach robberies, and the largest Santa Fe Railroad heist in history. Following a decade-long hunt, he was captured and acquitted of killing a former Texas Ranger. After this near brush with prison or execution, he headed for South America, where he gained fame as the leading Gringo rustler. It wasn’t until the 1940s that Musgrave’s age and poor health brought an end to a criminal career that had spanned two continents and two centuries. Incorporating previously unknown facts about the career of this frontier outlaw, the Tanners thoroughly document Musgrave’s half-century of crime, from his childhood in the Texas brush country to his final days in Paraguay.
Download or read book Gentleman Bandit written by John Boessenecker and published by Harlequin. This book was released on 2023-03-14 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times bestselling author and award-winning historian John Boessenecker separates fact from fiction in the first new biography in decades of Black Bart, the Wild West’s most mysterious gentleman bandit. Black Bart is widely regarded today as not only the most notorious stage robber of the Old West but also the best behaved. Over his lifetime, Black Bart held up at least twenty-nine stagecoaches in California and Oregon with mild, polite commands, stealing from Wells Fargo and the US mail but never robbing a passenger. Such behavior earned him the title of a true “gentleman bandit.” His real name was Charles E. Boles, and in the public eye, Charles lived quietly as a boulevardier in San Francisco, the wealthiest and most exciting city in the American West. Boles was an educated man who traveled among respectable crowds. Because he did not drink, fight or consort with prostitutes, his true calling as America’s greatest stage robber was never suspected until his final capture in 1883. Sheriffs searched and struggled for years to find him, and newspaper editors had a field day reporting his exploits. Legends and rumors trailed his name until his mysterious death, and his ultimate fate remains one of the greatest mysteries of the Old West. Now historian John Boessenecker sheds new light on Black Bart’s beginnings, reputation and exploits, bringing to life the glittering story of the mysterious stage robber who doubled as a rich, genteel socialite in the golden era of the Wild West.
Download or read book More Frontier Justice in the Wild West written by R. Michael Wilson and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2014-10-07 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More Frontier Justice in the Wild West; Bungled, Bizarre and Fascinating Executions reveals the details of more than two dozen instances of frontier justice from the era of the Wild West. The events chosen are unique, have some surprising twist, serve as a landmark or benchmark event, or just stand out in the annals of western justice.
Download or read book Stagecoach Women written by Cheryl Mullenbach and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2020-02-24 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Surprising Story of the Plucky Drivers, Shrewd Owners, and Ruthless Robbers Who Snubbed the Rules As pervasive as stagecoaches (popularly known as shake-guts) were in the early years of America, it shouldn’t be surprising that women who possessed a significant dose of grit and an ounce of entrepreneurial spirit engaged in one way or another in stagecoach enterprises. Though their contributions to stagecoach history were often overlooked, women drove stagecoaches, groomed and shod the stage horses, hoisted mailbags and boxes of gold bullion, negotiated contracts, bought and managed stage lines, defended (with their six-shooters) their cargo from bandits, and robbed stages in addition to fulfilling their traditional roles as housekeepers, cooks, and laundresses—and, oh yes, mothers to multiple children. Stagecoach Women offers an expansive overview of stagecoach history in the United States enriched by the personal stories of women who contributed to the evolution and success of a captivating facet of American history. Prepare for a teeth-rattling, romance-shattering journey that jolts away preconceived notions about women and stagecoaches and surprises with its twists and turns.
Download or read book Jesse James written by Captivating History and published by Captivating History. This book was released on 2020-10-27 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you want to discover the captivating life of Jesse James, then keep reading... In the minds of many Americans, the name of Jesse James and the Wild West are practically synonymous. The bank robberies, with bullets flying from one side to the other of a dusty little town of the American frontier; the daring train robberies, with locomotives being chased by horses and forced to make a halt only to be boarded by gentlemanly bandits; the spectacular escapes of horse riders camouflaged by long coats, firing two revolvers, one in each hand. All of these are episodes that correspond to the life of Jesse James, that notable son of Missouri. In this sense, he is a vital and representative part of American history and life. Jesse James was a robber, a murderer, and a notorious outlaw, who carried as many weapons as he could. He could shoot with both hands while he held the reins of his horse in his teeth. He was an extremely popular man in his day, a phenomenon that he readily accepted because he was a person who craved attention. He supposedly gave part of his booty to the poor, although no evidence of this can be found except in folklore. In Jesse James: A Captivating Guide to a Wild West Outlaw Who Robbed Trains, Banks, and Stagecoaches across the Midwestern United States, you will discover topics such as A Boy Named Jesse Back Home An Unlikely Ally Northfield: A Watershed Man Named "Howard" And much, much more! So if you want to learn more about Jesse James, scroll up and click the "add to cart" button!
Download or read book The Social History of Crime and Punishment in America written by Wilbur R. Miller and published by SAGE Publications. This book was released on 2012-07-20 with total page 2712 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Several encyclopedias overview the contemporary system of criminal justice in America, but full understanding of current social problems and contemporary strategies to deal with them can come only with clear appreciation of the historical underpinnings of those problems. Thus, this five-volume work surveys the history and philosophy of crime, punishment, and criminal justice institutions in America from colonial times to the present. It covers the whole of the criminal justice system, from crimes, law enforcement and policing, to courts, corrections and human services. Among other things, this encyclopedia: explicates philosophical foundations underpinning our system of justice; charts changing patterns in criminal activity and subsequent effects on legal responses; identifies major periods in the development of our system of criminal justice; and explores in the first four volumes - supplemented by a fifth volume containing annotated primary documents - evolving debates and conflicts on how best to address issues of crime and punishment. Its signed entries in the first four volumes--supplemented by a fifth volume containing annotated primary documents--provide the historical context for students to better understand contemporary criminological debates and the contemporary shape of the U.S. system of law and justice.
Download or read book Frontier Justice in the Wild West written by R. Michael Wilson and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2007-06-01 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Frontier Justice highlights eighteen crimes and subsequent punishments of the most interesting, controversial, and unusual executions from an era when hangings and shootings were a legal means of capital punishment. Chapters include: the bungled hanging of Tom Ketchum who was beheaded by the noose; the unique trigger for the trapdoor used to hang Tom Horn; "Big Nose" George Parrott who was skinned, pickled, and made into a pair of shoes; the double trials of Jack McCall, assassin of Wild Bill Hickok; the hanging of a woman-Elizabeth Potts; the shooting of John D. Lee of Mountain Meadows Massacre infamy; and the only use of a double "twitch-up" gallows; etc. Each action-packed chapter includes biographical information, the pursuit, the investigation, legal maneuvers, trial information, and rarely-seen photographs.
Download or read book Black Bart written by George Hoeper and published by RSM Press. This book was released on 1995 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For eight years Charles E. Boles lived a double life as Charles Bolton, mine owner and San Francisco man-about-town, and as Black Bart, poetry-writing stagecoach robber.
Download or read book Arizona Gunfighters written by Laurence J Yadon and published by Pelican Publishing. This book was released on with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
