Fairbank Train Robbery
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The Fairbank train robbery occurred on the night of February 15, 1900, when some
bandit Banditry is a type of organized crime committed by outlaws typically involving the threat or use of violence. A person who engages in banditry is known as a bandit and primarily commits crimes such as extortion, robbery, and murder, either as an ...
s attempted to hold up a
Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California; operational headquarters in Manhattan; and managerial offices throughout the United States and intern ...
express car at the town of Fairbank,
Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
. Although it was thwarted by
Jeff Milton Jefferson Davis Milton (November 7, 1861 – May 7, 1947) was an Old West lawman and a son of Confederate Governor of Florida John Milton. He was the first officer appointed to the U.S. Immigration Service Border Patrol in 1924. Family and e ...
, who managed to kill "Three Fingered Jack" Dunlop in an exchange of gunfire, the
train robbery Train robbery is a type of robbery, in which the goal is to steal money or other valuables being carried aboard trains. History Train robberies were more common in the past when trains were slower, and often occurred in the American Old West. ...
was unique for being one of the few to have occurred in a public place and was also one of the last during the
Old West The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...
period.


Background

In the 1890s,
Burt Alvord Albert "Burt" Alvord (September 11, 1867 – after 1910) was an American lawman and later outlaw of the Old West. Alvord began his career in law enforcement in 1886 as a deputy under Sheriff John Slaughter in Cochise County, Arizona, but turne ...
and his partner in crime,
Billy Stiles William Larkin Stiles (September 1871 – December 5, 1908), better known as Billy Stiles or William Larkin, was an American outlaw in the Old West who, with partner Burt Alvord, led a small gang of train robbers while serving as a deputy ...
, were serving as deputy sheriffs in Willcox. Law enforcement paid little, though, so they began robbing trains belonging to the Southern Pacific Railroad. For a while they managed to be successful and went undetected by their fellow lawmen. According to James H. McClintock, train robbery was popular in Arizona at the time, which was exemplified by the passing of a statute in 1889 that made it punishable by death. However, the law was never enforced and several train robberies occurred between 1889 and 1899. One of the most daring, according to McClintock, was the Cochise Train Robbery. On September 9, 1899, Alvord's gang robbed a train as it was stopped at the town of
Cochise Cochise (; Apache: ''Shi-ka-She'' or ''A-da-tli-chi'', lit.: ''having the quality or strength of an oak''; later ''K'uu-ch'ish'' or ''Cheis'', lit. ''oak''; June 8, 1874) was leader of the Chihuicahui local group of the Chokonen and principa ...
. There they forced the staff off at gunpoint and then blew up the safe with dynamite. After taking several thousand dollars in gold coins and bills, the gang rode into the
Chiricahua Mountains The Chiricahua Mountains massif is a large mountain range in southeastern Arizona which is part of the Basin and Range province of the west and southwestern United States and northwest Mexico; the range is part of the Coronado National Forest. ...
, unsuccessfully pursued by a
posse Posse is a shortened form of posse comitatus, a group of people summoned to assist law enforcement. The term is also used colloquially to mean a group of friends or associates. Posse may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Posse'' (1975 ...
under Sheriff Scott White and George Scarborough. Like at Fairbank, the Cochise robbery took place in public as well, although it was nearly midnight and there was no
gunfight A shootout, also called a firefight or gunfight, is a fight between armed combatants using firearms. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used to describe those that do not involve military forces or only in ...
. According to the ''Historical Atlas of the Outlaw West'', by Richard M. Patterson: "Most Western train robberies occurred on a lonely stretch of track, usually far enough outside the nearest town to give the robbers plenty of time to raid the express car or the passenger coaches and disappear over the nearest ridge." Alvord and Stiles must have thought it was easier to rob a train in town than in the middle of nowhere so they came up with a plan to hold up a Wells Fargo express car as it was stopped in front of the train station in Fairbank. The express car, Alvord hoped, would be carrying the
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
's payroll for the soldiers stationed at Fort Huachuca. Also, the crowd of people that was sure to be gathered at the station would provide the bandits with human shields. The train was traveling from Nogales to
Benson Benson may refer to: Animals *Benson (fish), largest common carp caught in Britain Places Geography Canada *Rural Municipality of Benson No. 35, Saskatchewan; rural municipality *Benson, Saskatchewan; hamlet United Kingdom * Benson, Oxfordshire ...
, but it had to stop at the little town of Fairbank, located a few miles west of Tombstone, to offload some cargo. Alvord and Stiles knew that Jeff Milton was working for Southern Pacific as an express messenger so they made arrangements to have five men rob the train on a night that he was not supposed to be working. In the meantime, Alvord and Stiles would maintain their guise as honorable deputies.


Robbery

The night chosen for the robbery was February 15, 1900, and the five bandits were Bob Brown, or Burns, "Bravo Juan" Tom Yoas, the brothers George and Louis Owens, and "Three Fingered Jack" Dunlop. When they arrived in town, the bandits dismounted and blended in with the crowd, pretending to be drunken cowboys. At this point there are some conflicting accounts, although there are only slight variations. According to Bill O'Neal's ''Encyclopedia of Western Gunfighters'', as the train approached Fairbank Jeff Milton was standing at the open door of the express car when the bandits opened fire on him from the station and wounded him. However, according to Robert M. Patterson, the train came to a full stop before the bandits made their approach and one of them shouted "Hands up!" to Milton before the shooting started. According to Patterson's version, at first Milton thought that the call to surrender was a joke, but, when the bandits called out a second time and shot off his hat, he quickly reassessed the situation. Milton was substituting for a friend at the time of the robbery and otherwise would not have been on the train. He had left his revolver on his desk inside the car, but his
sawed-off shotgun A sawed-off shotgun (also called a sawn-off shotgun, short-barreled shotgun, shorty or a boom stick) is a type of shotgun with a shorter gun barrel—typically under —and often a shortened or absent stock. Despite the colloquial term, ...
was next to the door and within reach. Milton hesitated though because using his shotgun would put innocent bystanders at risk. So when the bandits decided to open fire again one of their first shots struck Milton in the left shoulder. Milton then fell to the floor badly wounded, but he managed to grab his shotgun just in time to use it on Dunlop, who was trying to enter the car. Eleven pellets struck Dunlop somewhere in his body and a final pellet hit Yoas in the upper leg or behind. After the initial exchange, Brown and the Owens brothers began firing volleys into the express car while Yoas ran away to mount his horse. In response to the fire, Milton crawled over to the metal door of the car and slammed it shut just as another volley came in. He then applied a makeshift tourniquet, hid the key to the safe behind some luggage, and fell unconscious. Because of his final acts, when the bandits boarded the train they thought Milton was dead and they could not find the key. Without the key or dynamite, there was no way to open the safe so the wounded Dunlop was loaded onto his horse and the bandits rode out of town. According to James H. McClintock, the bandits got away with only seventeen Mexican
peso The peso is the monetary unit of several countries in the Americas, and the Philippines. Originating in the Spanish Empire, the word translates to "weight". In most countries the peso uses the same sign, "$", as many currencies named "dollar" ...
s.


Aftermath

The bandits headed for the
Dragoon Mountains The Dragoon Mountains are a range of mountains located in Cochise County, Arizona. The range is about 25 mi (40 km) long, running on an axis extending south-south east through Willcox. The name originates from the 3rd U.S. Cavalry Drag ...
, but, at a point six miles from Tombstone, Dunlop had to be left behind with a bottle of whiskey to ease his pain. Possemen under the command of Sheriff Scott White found Dunlop on the next morning and a few days later they captured Brown and the Owens brothers while they were traversing a pass in the Dragoons. Dunlop later died in a Tombstone hospital, but not before revealing that Alvord and a local cattleman named William Downing had been involved in organizing the Cochise robbery. He was one of the last criminals to be buried in the Boothill Graveyard. Initially the police thought Dunlop's claim that Alvord was somehow involved in the robbery must have been false, being that he was one of the "noisiest and most active pursuers." Later on, however, Billy Stiles surrendered and made a full confession. Stiles said that it was he and a man named Matt Burts who held up the train at Cochise, but it was Alvord and William Downing who planned the robbery and provided the dynamite for the safe. Stiles said he received only $480 for his participation in the robbery and it was believed that he confessed because of his dissatisfaction with his share. According to McClintock, the police treated Stiles as little more than a witness so he was not placed in jail and was allowed a certain amount of liberty. This would later prove to be a mistake. When Alvord was arrested he was put in the Tombstone jail with Downing, Burts, and Yoas, who was captured in
Cananea Cananea is a city in the Mexican state of Sonora, Northwestern Mexico. It is the seat of the Municipality of Cananea, in the vicinity of the U.S−Mexico border. The population of the city was 31,560 as recorded by the 2010 census. The p ...
. He wasn't in jail for very long though because on April 7, 1900, Stiles broke in, shot Deputy Marshal George Bravin in the foot, and freed Alvord and Yoas. Downing refused to leave his cell and Burts was outside with a deputy sheriff at the time so the other three men took all the weapons they could find and then fled into the desert on stolen horses, leaving Downing and Burts in custody. The bandits are next found at the home of Alvord's wife, a
cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...
ranch A ranch (from es, rancho/Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of a farm. These terms are most ofte ...
near Wilcox, where they announced that they intended to rob a few more trains. Meanwhile, the local police and territorial officials were busy authorizing various amounts of reward money for the capture of the bandits. There was also support from the private sector as well;
William Cornell Greene Colonel William Cornell Greene (August 26, 1852 – August 5, 1911) was an American businessman who was famous for discovering rich copper reserves in Cananea, Mexico, and for founding the Greene Consolidated Copper Company in 1899. By 1905, G ...
, the owner of the large copper mine at Cananea, offered $10,000 for the capture of Alvord or Stiles. The reward money made no difference though. Stiles remained on the run until he surrendered in 1902. He briefly served in the
Arizona Rangers The Arizona Rangers is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, noncommissioned civilian auxiliary that supports law enforcement in the US, state of Arizona. In 2002, the modern-day Arizona Rangers were officially recognized by the State of Arizona when the Le ...
under Captain Burton C. Mossman before going to Mexico and rejoining Alvord, who was still at large. Finally, the Arizona Rangers entered Mexico and managed to wound both Alvord and Stiles during a shootout near the village of Naco in February 1904. Alvord was captured as result, but Stiles got away. He was eventually killed in
Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...
while serving as a lawman under the name William Larkin. Because he was popular among the authorities, Alvord was charged for "interferring (sic) with United States mails", instead of train robbery, which would have meant death. Alvord was put in the
Yuma Territorial Prison The Yuma Territorial Prison is a former prison located in Yuma, Arizona, United States. Opened on July 1, 1876, and shut down on September 15, 1909. It is one of the Yuma Crossing and Associated Sites on the National Register of Historic Places ...
and he remained there until 1906. When he was released, Alvord went to
Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...
and was last seen in 1910 while working on the
Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...
.
Bill Downing Bill Downing a.k.a. William F. Downing (1860 – August 5, 1908) was a notorious outlaw during the Wild West era in Arizona. Downing had fled from the Texas Rangers posse who was after him when he came to Arizona. In Arizona, he was involved in t ...
received similar treatment. Because he was a prominent cattleman, as well as a former member of the Bass Gang, Downing was not charged with train robbery either, but on another charge he served seven years in Yuma. Not long after his release, the Arizona Ranger Billy Speed shot and killed him. Jeff Milton received much praise for foiling the Fairbank robbery. Although his arm was crippled, Milton continued serving as a lawman. He died in Tombstone in 1947. In 1961, the Fairbank train station was moved to nearby Tombstone and restored. It now serves as the city
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and is open to the general public.


See also

*
List of Old West gunfights This is a list of Old West gunfights. Gunfights have left a lasting impression on American frontier history; many were retold and embellished by dime novels and magazines like ''Harper's Weekly'' during the late 19th and early 20th century. The mo ...
* Augustine Chacon *
Cochise County in the Old West Cochise County in southeastern Arizona was the scene of a number of violent conflicts in the 19th-century and early 20th-century American Old West, including between white settlers and Apache Indians, between opposing political and economic fact ...


References

{{Gunfights and feuds in the Old West American Old West gunfights Events in Cochise County, Arizona 1899 in Arizona Territory 1899 crimes in the United States 1900 in Arizona Territory 1900 crimes in the United States Conflicts in 1900 Train robberies Robberies in the United States Crimes in Arizona Territory February 1900 events