Reno Gang’s Reign Of Terror

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The outlaws on board took their time opening the Adams Express safes and were rewarded with an estimated $96,000 in government bonds, cash and currency notes. They ordered the train halted about six miles south of Seymour, in the Muscatatuck River bottom, where the rest of the gang waited with horses to make good their escape. The loot was divided, and then the gang went into hiding. Frank Reno, Charlie Anderson, Albert Perkins, Michael Rogers and Miles Ogle headed for Windsor, Canada, just across the border from Detroit. Sim Reno and William Reno hid out in Indianapolis, where they liked to gamble.

The Renos were not involved when other members of their gang — John Moore, Henry Jerrell, Frank Sparks, Val (or Volney) Elliott, Charlie Roseberry and Theodore Clifton — held up an O&M train near Brownstown, early on July 10, 1868. Moore, a former railroad engineer, made a deal with O&M engineer James Flanders to assist the robbers for a share of the loot. The eastbound O&M train left Brownstown en route to Seymour early that morning, having made an unscheduled stop there to take on water. Flanders, as instructed by Moore, had made sure the train stopped in Brownstown. Five robbers had boarded the train at the depot, and one now waited down the line with the horses. As planned, Moore replaced Flanders as engineer, and about 1 1/2 miles east of Brownstown, he stopped the train and uncoupled the locomotive and the Adams Express car from the rest of the train.

Moore, Jerrell, Sparks, Elliott and Roseberry then forced their way into the express car, but unknown to them Flanders had informed railroad officials of the deal, and a trap had been set by the Pinkertons. A wild shootout ensued inside the express car, and all the gang members except Roseberry were wounded. The five shot-up bandits leaped from the train to hook up with Clifton, who held the horses. They all got away except for Elliott, who was slowed by his wounds and captured. While in jail, Elliott provided information that would lead lawmen to his partners. The next day, Clifton and Roseberry were arrested near Rockford and taken to the Seymour jail. On the night of July 20, all three bandits were taken by officers aboard an O&M train for a trip to the county jail in Brownstown. A man waving a red lantern stopped the train about three miles west of Seymour, and it was immediately surrounded by a large mob wearing scarlet masks. These Jackson County Vigilance Committee members seized the prisoners from their guards and hanged the trio from the same sturdy limb of a nearby beech.

The authorities traced Jerrell, Moore and Sparks to Coles County, where they were captured the day after their three comrades were lynched. They too were brought to Seymour by train, but the Pinkertons were afraid the same fate would befall the prisoners as the others and decided to move them in secret, by wagon, to Brownstown on the night of July 25. As the wagon and its passengers came near the same crossing where the O&M train had been stopped, it too was accosted by a large, red-masked group, and all three suspected robbers met ‘Judge Lynch’ on the limb of the same large beech tree. That spot is well known to this very day as ‘Hangman’s Crossing,’ though the beech is no longer there. The two lynchings meant there was no need for a trial and no chance that the train robbers might get off lightly. Some people have suggested that Allan Pinkerton welcomed the lynchings, but whether he did or not, he knew his work wasn’t done. The Renos must be punished. On July 27, the Pinkertons announced that they had located and arrested William and Sim Reno in their Indianapolis hideout. The two Renos were given a preliminary hearing in the Scott County seat of Lexington, where the militia was called out to prevent mob action after Laura Reno begged Indiana Governor Conrad Baker to protect her brothers. Afterward, Sim and William were taken 30 miles to the newer, sturdier jail in New Albany, Floyd County, Ind., to await trial.

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