Hangman Crossing

THE OVERLOOK

By Tom Clavin

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The train robbery on May 22, 1868, turned out even better than the Reno Gang expected – at total of $96,000 was taken. And it went off without a hitch.

The gang of 12 men, led by three of the Reno brothers, stopped the train outside Marshfield, Indiana. They uncoupled the express car, broke in, threw the manager outside, and turned their attention to the two safes. They were opened without much difficulty and emptied. As the gang members rode away, they split up into smaller groups to better evade capture.

Some of you are aware that in The Last Outlaws I tell the story of the Dalton Gang. If I were to return to the topic of outlaw brothers, I’d write about one of the first such notorious gangs, named for the Reno brothers. They set the infamous standard for post-Civil War outlaws. And the punishments were more sensational than the crimes.

The story begins with J. Wilkison Reno, who moved to Indiana from Kentucky and married Julia Ann Freyhafer in 1835. Future gang members Franklin (Frank), John, Simeon (Sim), and William (Bill) Reno were born to the couple in Rockford. There was also another son, Clinton (”Honest” Clint), and a daughter, Laura. In their early years, the siblings were raised in a strict Methodist farming household and were required to read the Bible all day on Sunday, according to John Reno’s 1879 autobiography.

The older three brothers got into trouble early. John claimed that he and Frank bilked travelers in crooked card games. The Renos were also suspected when a series of mysterious fires broke out around Rockford over a period of seven years beginning in 1851. The crimes caused considerable tension in the town, so Wilkison and his family fled, relocating to St. Louis. The Civil War broke out shortly after, and the brothers enlisted.

During the war, Frank, John, and Simeon became “bounty jumpers.” They were paid to enlist in the Union Army, then failed to appear for duty. They continued to enlist under different names and in different locales, taking additional money. Federal records show that eventually Frank, John, and Simeon deserted.

In 1864, Frank and John returned to Rockford and a gang began to form under their leadership. Simeon and William soon joined them. Late that year, Frank and two other gang members, Grant Wilson and a man named Dixon, robbed the post office and Gilbert’s Store in nearby Jonesville. They were arrested but were released on bond. Wilson agreed to testify against his fellow robbers but was murdered before he could do so, and Frank was acquitted.

The Reno Gang would have the dubious distinction of being the first “Brotherhood of Outlaws” in the United States. They terrorized the Midwest for several years and inspired a host of similar gangs who copied their crimes, leading to several decades of high-profile train robberies. Their gang attracted several new members after the end of the war. They started by robbing and murdering travelers in Jackson County and began to branch out to other counties, where they raided merchants and communities.

They planned to rob their first train near Seymour, Indiana, an important rail hub at that time. On the evening of October 6, 1866, John Reno, Sim Reno, and Frank Sparkes boarded an Ohio and Mississippi Railroad train as it started to leave the depot. They broke into the express car, restrained the guard, and smashed open a safe containing approximately $16,000. From the moving train, the three men pushed a larger safe over the side, where the rest of the gang was waiting. Unable to open the second safe, the gang fled as a large posse approached.

Later, passenger George Kinney stepped forward to identify two of the robbers. The three men were arrested but were released on bail. When Kinney was shot and killed, the other passengers refused to testify and all charges had to be dropped. However, the robbery would ultimately lead to the gang’s downfall. The contents of the safe were insured by the Adams Express Company, which hired the Pinkerton Detective Agency to track down and capture the gang.

On November 17, 1867, the courthouse in Gallatin, Missouri, was robbed. John Reno was identified, arrested by Pinkerton agents, and sentenced to 25 years in the Missouri State Penitentiary. He was released in February 1878. He returned to Seymour, but was again sent to prison, for three years, this time for counterfeiting.

John Reno’s absence did not deter the gang. Three robberies in Iowa followed in quick succession, in February and March 1868. Frank Reno and fellow gang members Albert Perkins and Miles Ogle were caught by detectives led by Allan Pinkerton’s son William, but they broke out of jail on April 1. A second train robbery occurred in December 1867, when two members of the gang robbed another train leaving the Seymour depot. The robbers netted $8,000, which was turned over to the brothers. A third train, owned by the Ohio & Mississippi, was stopped by six members of the gang on July 10, though the Reno brothers were not involved. Waiting in ambush, however, were 10 Pinkerton agents. A shootout ensued, and after several of the gang were wounded, the would-be robbers fled.

In March 1868, the residents of Seymour formed a vigilante group with the aim of killing the Reno Gang. In response, the gang fled west to Iowa where they robbed the Harrison County treasury of $14,000. The next day, they robbed the Mills County treasury of $12,000. The Pinkerton detectives quickly located the men and arrested them at Council Bluffs, Iowa. But the gang escaped from their jail and returned to Indiana.

Next up was the robbery on May 22. Twelve men boarded a Jefferson, Madison and Indianapolis Railroad train as it stopped at the depot in Marshfield, Indiana. As the train pulled away, the gang overpowered the engineer and uncoupled the passenger cars, allowing the engine to speed away. After breaking into the express car and throwing express messenger Thomas Harkins off the train (causing fatal injuries), the gang broke open the safe, netting an estimated $96,000. This robbery gained national attention and was reported on in many major papers. The Pinkertons pursued, but the gang dispersed throughout the Midwest.

The gang attempted to rob another train on July 9. Pinkerton detectives had learned of the plan and 10 agents were waiting on board. When the gang broke in, the agents opened fire, wounding two of the gang. Everyone was able to escape except Volney Elliot, who identified the other members of the gang in exchange for leniency. Using this information, the detectives arrested two more members of the gang, Charlie Roseberry and Theodore Clifton, the next day.

All three men were taken by train to jail. However, on July 10, 1868, three miles outside Seymour, the prisoners were taken off the train and hanged from a nearby tree by a group of masked men calling themselves the Jackson County Vigilance Committee. Three other gang members, Henry Jerrell, Frank Sparks, and John Moore, were captured shortly after in Illinois and returned to Seymour. They were also hanged by vigilantes, from the same tree, at the site which became known as Hangman Crossing, Indiana.

On July 27, 1868, the Pinkertons captured William and Simeon Reno in Indianapolis. They were tried in Lexington and convicted of robbing the Marshfield train, but because of the threat of vigilantes, they were moved to the more secure Floyd County Jail. Sure enough, the day after their removal from Lexington, the vigilantes broke into the vacated jail, hoping to catch and lynch the men.

Frank Reno, the gang’s leader, and Charlie Anderson were tracked down to Windsor, Ontario. With the help of U.S. Secretary of State William Seward, the men were extradited and sent to New Albany, Indiana, to join the other prisoners.

On the night of December 11, 1868, about 65 hooded men traveled by train to New Albany. The men marched four abreast from the station to the Floyd County Jail where, just after midnight, they forced their way into the jail and the sheriff’s home. After they beat the sheriff, Thomas Fullenlove, and shot him in the arm for refusing to turn over the keys, his wife surrendered them to the mob.

Frank Reno was the first to be dragged from his cell to be lynched. He was followed by brothers William and Simeon. Another gang member, Charlie Anderson, was the fourth and last to be lynched. It was rumored that the vigilantes were part of the group known as the Scarlet Mask Society or Jackson County Vigilance Committee.

No one was ever charged, named, or officially investigated in any of the lynchings. Many local newspapers, such as the New Albany Weekly Ledger, stated that “Judge Lynch” had spoken.

Frank Reno and Charlie Anderson were technically in federal custody when they were lynched. This is believed to be the only time in U.S. history that a federal prisoner had ever been lynched by a mob before a trial. Secretary Seward wrote a formal letter of apology as a result. A new bill was later introduced into the U.S. Congress that clarified the responsibility for the safety of extradited prisoners.

A tasty bit of trivia: The Reno Brothers have been portrayed in at least three films, most notably in the 1956 movie Love Me Tender, in which Elvis Presley made his big-screen debut as Clint Reno.

Tom Clavin is the bestselling author/co-author of 25 books. The latest one, Vengeance: The Last Stands of Custer, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull, has just been published by St. Martin’s Press. To purchase a copy, please go to your local bookstore or to Bookshop.org, Amazon.com, BN.com, or tomclavin.com.