Wham US Army Payroll Robbery 05/11/1889

[Arizona Bob]

What's better than great research? FREE great research! Below is my Christmas gift to TNetters:

Having obtained access to some copies of the Mohave Miner, I was able to examine the May 18th, 1889 edition. In it, I found an article about the May 11, 1889 US Army Payroll Robbery with Paymaster Wham. Enjoy!

PS- I am NOT working on the Wham robbery.... yet.

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[BILL96]

Good article, I am familier with the area. Do you know what "Wham" refers to? is a title? a persons name?

Thanks,
bill

[Arizona Bob]

Good article, I am familier with the area. Do you know what "Wham" refers to? is a title? a persons name? Thanks, bill

The Paymaster's full name/title was Major Joseph Washington Wham.

[Arizona Bob]

I may as well add a Happy New Year (2011) gift! Below is a small "Wham" update from the Mohave Miner (05/25/1889):

[cactusjumper]

Bob,

Many thanks for the article. Here is another research source:

http://wham.org/UptonRob.htm

Merry Christmas!

Joe Ribaudo

[zerojinx]

I wonder if anyone has done any search of tax records for the 12 accussed robbers? Maybe some payroll cache's to be found there.

[Arizona Bob]

Checking tax records is a good idea. Checking the Court transcripts would be great, also.

We already know (from US Army regulations) that standard procedure was for the Paymaster to order the money directly from the US Treasury.
It'd be nice to get a copy of the Treasury requisition form, signed by Major Wham.

"The payroll, exactly $28,345.10, in gold and silver coins weighing about 250 pounds..." So none of the payroll was "paper" money.

[Arizona Bob]

One copy of the court transcript is in the Pima Museum:

On Friday, Upton presented several thousand pages of research material to the Pima Museum, which was received by the museum's director Edress Barney.

"I think it's the appropriate place for all the information on the Wham Robbery, and I think they will take good care of it and improve on my filing system," said Upton, who works as a financial analyst at Primerica Financial Services in Gilbert.

During the course of his research, Upton met Arkansas State University History Professor Dr. Larry Ball. The two men shared information, and Dr. Ball is publishing a new book on the subject called "Ambush at Bloody Run," which is expected to appear later this year under the imprint of the Arizona Historical Society.

"Dr. Ball donated the transcript of the trial to the museum, and I thought that was a very generous thing," said Upton.

"As far as I know there are only three copies of the transcript," he said.

[Salvor6]

So 12 men robbed an Army payroll and got away with it. The money is long gone!

[Arizona Bob]

"The payroll, exactly $28,345.10, in gold and silver coins weighing about 250 pounds..." So none of the payroll was "paper" money.

So, only $18,000 in gold and silver (according to this article):

[auferret]

The Libray of Congress has most if not all editions of this newspaper. You can search it and other papers at http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/pages/ .

[zerojinx]

The Libray of Congress has most if not all editions of this newspaper. You can search it and other papers at http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/pages/ .

awesome link, thanks for the info

[Arizona Bob]

Great link, auferret. They are missing MANY issues for the Arizona papers, but what they have is certainly better than nothing!

[auferret]

I'm sure that a few issues are missing but stories are often reprinted in other publications. I did a search of all California papers with just the name "Wham" and found many references to this incident and the trial that followed.

[nvradar]

I'm with salvor6... 250lbs divided up 12 ways is a bit over 20 lbs each very easily carried in the saddlebags. NVRADAR