The Great West Michigan Train Robbery

The Great West Michigan Train Robbery Paul Trap (bio) Fennville, Michigan, August 21, 1895: "This enterprising village is in a state of intense excitement today. No event ever occurred here or in this vicinity over which so many people were so thoroughly aroused as the train robbery between here and New Richmond last evening. All day long the streets have been filled with officers and detectives of the railway and express companies, county officers, reporters, and others all on the lookout for traces of clues of the robbers. The country has been scoured for miles in every direction, but as yet nothing has been discovered."1 "We are in the midst of an epidemic—and it is growing," warned William Pinkerton of the famed Pinkerton Detective Agency. This evil outbreak was not caused by a nasty virus but by treacherous individuals seeking wealth and adventure by robbing trains. The first train robbery occurred after the Civil War and the plague continued for more than half a century, infecting every part of the nation.2 Most were carried out by groups of two to eight men, often related, from small rural communities. The number of robberies increased dramatically after the introduction of dynamite in 1867. As Pinkerton noted, dynamite was [End Page 37] available to everybody, and a quarter's worth could open the best of safes. These robberies became even more numerous during the Panic of 1893, an economic crisis that lasted until 1897. In 1893, while he was preparing the first of his remarks, William Pinkerton and his brother Robert were actively investigating the robbery of a Lake Shore and Michigan Southern (LS&MS) train in northern Indiana—an incident that involved men and actions foreshadowing the robbery that occurred just north of Fennville, Michigan.3 Kendallville Robbery On September 12, 1893, two years before the Fennville robbery, James Brown and brothers John and Abraham "Abe" Smalley—three men from Brinton, Michigan, a small town north and west of Mount Pleasant—successfully pulled off the robbery of an eight-car express train at Kessler's Junction, an isolated sidetrack four miles west of Kendallville, Indiana. As the LS&MS's New York & Boston Express approached that junction, Abe, the younger Smalley brother, used a bit of dynamite to blow off the switch lock, then threw the switch, hoping to divert the train onto a siding where they had piled ties on the track to stop the locomotive. Engineer James Knapp, seeing a red lantern on the switch stand, sensed something was amiss. He applied the brakes and threw the engine into reverse, stopping the train just ten feet before the switch. As the men ran toward the train, Knapp realized why his train had been signaled to stop. He tried to back his locomotive away but fell to the floorboards when a bullet from James Brown's rifle entered his chest. The sudden stop and sounds of shots warned the baggagemen, and they locked the doors of their car. But almost immediately, another stick of Abe's dynamite blew the door off and knocked the workers to the floor. As their heads cleared, they could saw John Smalley's rifle pointing in their direction. Abe climbed in and used a bit more dynamite to open the safe. He grabbed parcels from the safe and jumped from the baggage car. During the robbery, shots were fired toward the coaches, frightening the passengers sufficiently so that none left. The bandits made no effort to enter the cars or rob the passengers. With bundles from the safe in their hands, they fled to the woods, where they laid low until daylight then opened the bundles to split the loot. They were disappointed to find many business papers, which they buried, but some bundles contained cash. They divided about fifteen thousand dollars ($483,626 today) between the three of them. Many wild [End Page 38] Click for larger view View full resolution This map identifies the site of the robbery, which took place on the Chicago & West Michigan Line just north of Fennville, Michigan. Source: Author. rumors circulated about dozens of thieves who took hundreds of thousands of dollars, but when Brown later...

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