The Reno Brothers Gang " The Jackson Thieves "

[metal-vet]

The Reno Brothers Gang " The Jackson Thieves "

I'm very interested in the area of Rockford Indiana, Jackson county. This is the area where the Reno gang were notorious for robbing and killing travelers, as well as hiding loot from train robberies and banks. Doing a modern map overlay shows the old town of Rockford at least 1.5 miles west near the river from where Rockford is today. Any comments?

 

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[VWandSTUDEBAKER]

Re: The Reno Brothers Gang " The Jackson Thieves "

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[High Plains Digger]

Re: The Reno Brothers Gang " The Jackson Thieves "

Probably up and moved the whole town. I think they just did that recently after a flood. Sterling, Colo. was moved 3 times, and the 4th location seemed to stick. Is the new location on a knoll of some sort compared to the old site?

 

[inspectorgadget]

I have done alot of Reno Brothers research. Searching in, near or around their old property would be great! However I don't know where that was! The thing with the Reno gang is the last train robbery they did before fleeing to Canada where captured & then lynched by a real lynch mob back here in Seymour, In.

This was a huge robbery for the time & there is no way the gang carried everything with them especially with a posse hot on their trail. So I fully believe somewhere 10 or so miles north the ghost town of Marshfield & the southside of Seymour there is buried "loot". I would Imagine all large domination bills was split & went with them (& that's also how they were tracked by tracing the serial #'s of the large bills).

There has to be security notes or bonds or whatever banks used to transfer payments in 1868 that weren't cash. I would also think any silver or gold would be left behind hidden with the "bonds" to save weight on the horses & for when they came back out of hiding. I would also think the loot was first split & they went their own ways leading me to think there is quite possibly several spots where parts of this missing treasure is hidden. I've also felt if it is all together in one spot then it's in a small cave, either buried in it or just put inside & the entrance was hidden with rocks, dirt & whats not or even possibly closed using a stick or 2 of dynamite. (there are lot's of small caves in & around this area!)

Anyway my plans for the near future is to look for this missing cache & I don't believe it's anywhere near their home in Rockford as the posse cut em off at their house but none of em showed up in that area after the robbery (which was almost 10 miles due south of their home), so I believe they went either or possibly both northeast or northwest from the hold up spot as they all ended up way north when caught.

Dead mans crossing is a spot that still exists in Seymour & this is where 6 of the 10 members were lynched by a gang of vigilantes, 3 one week & 3 the next week & all of em hung from the same tree. The tree is long gone but dead mans crossing still is there & it was named for the hangings of the Reno Gang members.

 

[pain]

Hey Air assault , might wanna check out United States Treasure Atlas VOL 4 . I'll quote some of it " Most everyone who searches for the Reno loot looks in the area South of Seymour , but the the Reno farms were located North of Seymour , just on the South West edge of Rockford . Their treasure has never been found . "
Says a bunch of other stuff but i'm to lazy to type it .

 

[inspectorgadget]

Hey Air assault , might wanna check out United States Treasure Atlas VOL 4 . I'll quote some of it " Most everyone who searches for the Reno loot looks in the area South of Seymour , but the the Reno farms were located North of Seymour , just on the South West edge of Rockford . Their treasure has never been found . "
Says a bunch of other stuff but i'm to lazy to type it .

They look South of Seymour because part of the posse was waiting at their "hide out" which was not their old farm but some of the posse were waiting at the farm as well, the hide out was an abandoned building in "downtown" Rockford. Rockford at the time was not doing very well partly because of the Reno's & it was mostly empty/vacant.

The Train was stopped just south of Chestnut Ridge about 10 miles south of Seymour & about 15 miles south of Rockford, they fled on foot, "I'm sure they had horses waiting near by". I believe it was Frank Reno who was the one captured north of Detroit in Windsor Canada, this tells me he most likely headed slightly northeast after the robbery, I believe others turned up in or near Iowa so they most likely headed northwest. They definitely split up & they definitely went north but who knows tho as they had ties farther south so they could have headed south first. They were pioneers in this type of crime so maybe they were innovative enough to head south, sort of back tracking, which isn't what the posse would think they would do. Maybe people haven't searched far enough south? or far enough east or west? There isn't that much area down in that area that isn't flat cleared farm land now, only a few spots that are not clear cut & farmed yearly & they areas that aren't are prime locations to check out.

Finding buried paper isn't that easy to begin with so it isn't surprising it has never been found. There are quite a few streams in the area too, one hope is it was buried near a stream & that stream has eroded an area to reveal the stash.

 

[Tyb]

Reno Brother's Lost Loot

I'm very interested in the area of Rockford Indiana, Jackson county. This is the area where the Reno gang were notorious for robbing and killing travelers, as well as hiding loot from train robberies and banks. Doing a modern map overlay shows the old town of Rockford at least 1.5 miles west near the river from where Rockford is today. Any comments?

I am a native of Jackson County, heard about all the stories from my grandparents and other old timers before their passing. The Renos had two different stashes that was never accounted for. Out of the two, the only one I believe that could be found would be the last train robbery. Between the time the robbery took place, the distance they traveled to when they were caught/seen is about a ten mile stretch. Sounds like a lot of area to cover, but by process of elimination I believe I have narrowed it down to less than a quarter of a mile.

I can not and will not give all the details how I came to this conclusion, but White River runs along the side of the rail road is one of my biggest reasons for deciding the possible where about of the hidden safe box.

Knowing a few details of the robbery gives clues. They got on the train at the Seymour Depot that was at that time on the east side of town. They rummaged the baggage car while the train made it's way through town, made their way to the express car and jumped off near Shields Watering tower that isn't far from the Ewing Indiana. Many says the train was traveling south, but fact is it was southwest. From this point they traveled the tracks west to where they was captured/seen near the rail road trestle east of Medora Indiana. At time it was said they had already hidden the loot.

Now we have narrowed down to about a 5 mile stretch of tracks. Again, it sounds like a lot of ground, but there is other factors in the story that tells a tale to give clues. One, the time they needed to travel, the weight of the safe box (guessing 300-400lbs), did they have horses waiting ( I would say yes because they had relatives in that area), the terrain at that time and weather. Two, as a general rule if you was going to hide something fast, you would want it to be in a location you could come back at a later date and find. You wouldn't want it to be discovered or uncovered nor washed away, nor buried further in flood water and muck.

I just so happen to know this stretch of tracks for it was my stomping grounds where I grew up. I know the tracks and woods from hunting squirrels, rabbits and deer. I know the fields from arrow head hunting. The river from swimming, fishing and camping along it. I know where most all the old historic homesteads were. And even out houses.

I been thinking back some 30 years ago when I was out squirrel or rabbit hunting one winter. I found a possibility find that I never followed up on. Not far off the tracks I found an object side made of iron that was starting to uncover from an uprooted fallen cottenwood tree. I could only see about an 8 inch by 14 inch area of it. It was like bands of 3 inch iron weaved like a flat basket. I tried to uncover it with nearby sticks, but the ground was too froze to make any progress. I covered it up and gave up to return later (but never did). But planning a trip back soon to follow up. It maybe nothing but an adventure, but then again, who knows.

Decades has past and now I am wondering once again if possible what I found was a safe box or some relic trash.
In other posts on here, I read the Reno's was hung in New Albany. That is false. Vigilantes broke them out of the New Albany jail, took them back to the west side of Seymour and hung them on an Elm Tree that is now known as Hangman's Crossing at the far west of Seymour just off what is now State Highway 50.

 

[Tyb]

Keep in mind it was during the wet season. White River I do not think was dredged yet. Thus making a great deal of this area wet lands.

 

[Tyb]

Hey Air assault , might wanna check out United States Treasure Atlas VOL 4 . I'll quote some of it " Most everyone who searches for the Reno loot looks in the area South of Seymour , but the the Reno farms were located North of Seymour , just on the South West edge of Rockford . Their treasure has never been found . "
Says a bunch of other stuff but i'm to lazy to type it .

The old Reno homestead is owned by Barbara Sue Engleking Mullins