The true story of the world’s first robbery of a moving train, and the real origins of the Wild West They were the first outlaws to rob a moving train. But from 1864 to 1868, the Reno brothers and their gang of counterfeiters, robbers, burglars, and safecrackers also held the town of Seymour, Indiana, hostage, making a large hotel near the train station their headquarters. When the gang robbed the Adams Express car of the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad on the outskirts of Seymour on October 6, 1866, it shocked the world—and made other burgeoning outlaws like Jesse James sit up and take notice. The extraordinary—and extra-legal—efforts to take them out defined the term “frontier justice.” From the first report of the robbery, Allan Pinkerton’s operatives were on the scene, followed by kidnappings, lynchings, and an extradition from Canada to Indiana that caused an international incident. In the end, ten members of the Reno Gang were hanged, including three of the Reno brothers. And no one was ever charged with the murders. The Notorious Reno Gang tells the complete story for the first time, revealing how these gangsters, Pinkerton’s National Detective Agency, and the little city of Seymour ushered in the Wild West.

"Based in southern Indiana, Anarchy in the Hearland is the gripping true story of robbery, mayhem and mass murder in the post-Civil War era. At the time, this tragedy garnered world-wide outrage. As a result, these shameful events were ommitted from historical and political textbooks and this true story was all but forgotten ... until now! Explore this incredulous dark chapter of real American history; straight-forward and politically unfiltered."--Back cover.

Catalina "Lena" Reno was related to people who committed robbery and other serious crimes. The author had never heard of the Reno brothers, or of the Reno Gang (10 members of the Gang were hung by vigilantes, which included 3 of the brothers), until she learned of her great-grandmother's connection to them. And she had never heard of anybody, Renos or otherwise, being credited with "Inventing" train robberies (committed first peacetime train robbery October 6, 1866). Another thing she learned was that John Reno served time in the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City for his role in the robbery of the county treasurer's safe in Gallatin, Missouri. John served 10 of the 25 years, and when released published a book "The Life of John Reno, of Seymour, Indiana, the world's first train robber". Wilkison Reno and Julia Freyhafer had 6 children (Franklin, John, Clinton, Simeon, William, Laura Amanda).

Articles about post-Civil War criminals the Reno Brothers or the Reno Gang from Seymour, Ind.