The Great Train Robbery

The West’s first train robbery occurred near this site on the night of November 4, 1870. Five men led by John Chapman, a stage robber and Sunday school superintendent, boarded the Central Pacific Overland Express at Verdi, Nevada. Two took over the engine, one the express car, and two the rear platform. One-half mile east, the engine and express car were halted and cut free, then proceeded about five miles where they were stopped by a barricade. There the robbers forced the messenger to open up, seized $41,600 in gold coin, and rode off. The uncoupled cars coasted down grade and met the engine, and the train proceeded to Reno. After a two-state chase, all were caught, tried, and convicted, and about ninety percent of the gold was recovered.

Verdi, Nevada · United States