Stagecoach and bank robbery back in early days

[49er12]

I’d think it was rather easy to rob a stagecoach, why you simply out number them, probably unfortunately killed the folks took the money and rode on. What did they normally do hide the money and come back or take it with them. Anyone know, and banks same thing. Today’s world you ain’t getting away with it because of to much technology please give me your opinions I’m interested on the Wild West days. They rob move on and rob again or build a cabin and live off the land, thankyou

 

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[Coinboy]

I’d think it was rather easy to rob a stagecoach, why you simply out number them, probably unfortunately killed the folks took the money and rode on. What did they normally do hide the money and come back or take it with them. Anyone know, and banks same thing. Today’s world you ain’t getting away with it because of to much technology please give me your opinions I’m interested on the Wild West days. They rob move on and rob again or build a cabin and live off the land, thankyou

A lot of them did hide the money. Some robbed again and again like Black Bart and some of them just robbed once and got a big loot

 

[Jim in Idaho]

There were robberies by large gangs. One occurred not far from my place. Killed everybody on the stage, and the loots never been recovered. But most stage robberies were 1 or two guys. Wells Fargo tried to stop that by only hauling large gold ingots. About 125lbs. Made it really difficult to haul very far and still evade the posse. There were two of those robberies near me, too. In one case the robbers threw the bars into a creek. Years later a cowboy happened upon one of the three bars. The other two have never been recovered. The other robbery's loot has also not been recovered. The robber was caught, but outsmarted the posse, and escaped. He left Idaho, and eventually died in prison in Arizona, or New Mexico. Years later his prison buddy showed up in the area of the robbery with a map. he spent the summer searching, but never found the gold.
Jim

 

[CoinFetcher]

Thanks for the story!

 

[49er12]

Appreciate the true stories of yesteryear, people robbed on horseback rode away or hid the money and the stories continue

 

[FloodcityTom]

Back in that era you could only travel as fast as your horse could. And if the horse was hauling you, your guns and gear that strong box and the heavy silver or gold coin within were going to slow you down. If your horse threw a shoe or came up lame you were a gonner. I would imagine a "highwayman" had to plan carefully the exact spot where they would stop the stage far enough away from towns or way stations, calculated to give you a good head start, then you would have had to rest your horse, you can't run a horse full bore at a gallop but for so long or it gives out. So hiding the box or the heavy coin would always be a good idea. Me....I'd hide it around some rocks or someplace where my footprints or horseshoe prints wouldn't show. Never want to dig and leave exposed earth for the posse following you to find. I'll hazzard a guess and say within 10 to 15 miles you would have had to stop and rest your horse, water up etc depending on how hard you were riding.

 

[FloodcityTom]

Here's a bit of History for you as well. The Last recorded TRAIN ROBBERY in the USA took place about 10 miles from where I live Back in 1949. It was a comedy of errors with the police running out of Gas and the bandits pawning their stolen loot in Washington DC getting caught a few days later.

The site is close to I-81 and probably rock cliff drive ear Martinsburg WV.

https://www.amazon.com/Bedlam-West-Virginia-Rails-Bandit/dp/1626198934