Today in History: Rails & Robbers

Today in History–October 6–the Library of Congress features the robbery of an eastbound Ohio & Mississippi Railroad passenger train near Seymour, Indiana on this day in 1866. Fortunately,  detectives from the Pinkerton National Detective Agency quickly identified the criminals. Learn more about train robberies in the Today in History section then click the links below to access loads of train and railroad resources.

The First Known Train Robbery in the U.S. from America’s Library

The great train robbery, film by Thomas Edison

Train robbers image set

American life histories mentioning train robbers

Train robber historical newspaper coverage

Railroad robbery historical newspaper coverage

The Train Robber: A Farce in One Act” by Herbert C. Nash 1895

The Red-Blooded by Edgar Beecher Bronson includes the story “The Evolution of a Train Robber” 1910

Today in History: Detective Allan Pinkerton

A Sleeping Car Porter’s Experience

Railroad Maps, 1828-1900

Train images

Railroad images

Railroad station images

American life histories mentioning railroads

Lincoln era railroad text correspondence & reports

Railroad books & reports

Railroad sheet music

Train sheet music

Railroad song recordings

Train song recordings & oral histories

Railroad legislation

Train legislation

Library blog posts