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Read More about this safari issue.Stagecoach Robberies in Arkansas
The stagecoach is one of the most iconic representations of the Old West, with stagecoach robberies a close second. Two important stagecoach routes crossed Arkansas: the Butterfield Overland Trail, which carried mail from St. Louis to San Francisco, and the Southwest Trail, a stage line that entered the northeast corner of the state at Maynard and cut through Arkansas along the old Military Road until it reached Texarkana. Once travelers reached Little Rock, they had the option to take a stagecoach to Hot Springs. Though this was off the main stage route, Hot Springs had become a popular tourist and spa destination and an attraction for wealthy businessmen. Along with these wealthy travelers came an opportunity too good to miss for the James-Younger Gang. The following robbery became the most famous stagecoach robbery that occurred in Arkansas.
The James-Younger Gang became well-known in the 1860s and 1870s for robbing stagecoaches, trains and banks across the Midwest. The members primarily consisted of two sets of brothers: Frank and Jesse James and Cole, Jim, John and Bob Younger, with various other members over the years. The James and Younger brothers grew into outlaws after the Civil War ended. During the war, they operated as bushwhackers in Missouri, attacking Union troops and sympathizers. After the war, the brothers built on these experiences to become skilled robbers, committing at least twenty robberies between 1866 and 1876.
On Jan. 15, 1874, a stagecoach was traveling from Malvern to Hot Springs. The Cairo and Fulton Railroad had reached Malvern in 1873, but travelers to Hot Springs needed to take the stagecoach the last twenty miles. The narrow-gauge Hot Springs railroad line wouldn’t open until 1876. This made the stagecoach route popular. The route was part of Old Military Road. It was a known route but also a rough ride, and the stagecoach stopped often to allow passengers to take breaks. The stagecoach was only five miles away from Hot Springs, near Sulphur Creek. The passengers in the coach included the former governor of Dakota Territory, John Burbank. Two covered wagons were also traveling with the stage, serving as transport for luggage and a few incapacitated travelers on their way to the hot springs for treatment.
Shortly after the passengers climbed aboard the stagecoach for the last leg of the journey, five men rode up the stage and ordered the driver to halt. The five men were all wearing long blue coats and were heavily armed. Some reports said the men had previously ridden by the stagecoach and were mistaken for Federalist soldiers. All of the men wore bandanas over their faces. The men ordered the passengers out of the stagecoach and asked them to hand over any money and valuables they were carrying. Some of the passengers were carrying hundreds of dollars in anticipation of their vacation in Hot Springs. John Burbank handed a gold watch to the robbers.
While they carried out the robbery, the men claimed that if anyone had served in the Confederate Army, his money would be returned. Many in the gang, including Jesse James, often spoke about the South and often antagonized those they deemed from the North. This robbery followed that pattern, with the robbers asking each passenger where they were from and even promising to give back the money to anyone who had served in the Confederate Army. One man immediately said he had served in the army and was able to prove it through his knowledge of how the army worked and his former commanding officers. The robbers returned his money. They teased the Northerners, including the former governor of Dakota Territory, but no one was harmed.
The outlaws took the money and valuables and rode off with about $3,000. The stagecoach continued to Hot Springs and reported the robbery. A posse rode out, but they didn’t find the men who robbed the stagecoach. Although all the men covered their faces, members of the James Younger Gang were the prime suspects. Their exploits were well known, and although they hadn’t operated much in Arkansas, they were in and out of the state, alternately using Arkansas as an escape from the law and sometimes an escape from outlaw life. The James Younger Gang was also suspected of robbing a stagecoach in Arcadia, Louisiana, the week before holding up the Malvern to Hot Springs stagecoach. They ended their January crime spree by robbing a train in Gads Hill, Missouri, on January 31.
The James-Younger Gang ended in 1876 when the Younger brothers were all captured in Minnesota after a bungled bank robbery. Bob Younger died in prison, and Jim committed suicide shortly after being released in 1902. John Younger had died in a shootout with the law in 1874, leaving Cole Younger as the only living brother. After his release from prison in 1903, Cole returned home to Missouri and died in 1916.
Jesse and Frank continued the outlaw life by recruiting new gang members. Jesse James was notoriously shot in the back of the head by fellow gang member Robert Ford in 1882. After his death, a gold watch from the 1874 stagecoach robbery was found in his possessions, firmly linking him to the robbery. Six months later, Frank turned himself into the authorities in Missouri. Although he went to trial for murder and robbery, he was acquitted. Frank returned to Hot Springs for a time, where he held various jobs, including selling souvenirs. He eventually moved back to his family’s farm and died in 1915. Frank James and Cole Younger briefly ran “The Great Cole Younger and Frank James Historical Wild West Show” in 1903 but closed the act within a year of its opening in 1903.
Though other stagecoach robberies occurred in Arkansas, with some claiming Jesse James and his gang were responsible, certainly other criminals were cashing in on this relatively low-risk crime. Stagecoaches traveled known routes at scheduled times, and many of these routes traveled through rough countryside, where it was easy for outlaws to hide and attack. Another well-known outlaw, Ham White (also known as Henry Burton or Henry Miller), focused on stagecoach robberies, robbing over twenty-four stagecoaches from 1877 to 1891. In Arkansas, White robbed the Alma to Fayetteville stagecoach on June 15, 1877. When the southbound coach arrived, White robbed it, too. He bound each passenger and blindfolded them as well. Though White is remembered as one of the most prolific stagecoach robbers, he didn’t have the same notoriety as the James Younger Gang. He was often arrested shortly after the robberies and spent a total of twenty-one years in prison, eventually dying of tuberculosis.
Stagecoach robberies continued until the railroad replaced this form of transport. While companies tried to add security to the coaches by hiring security to “ride shotgun” next to the driver, most of the time, they were no match for a group of outlaws, nor did the driver or passengers confront the robbers. Most of these robberies ended with passengers unharmed and only their wallets a little lighter. Sometimes robbers focused solely on the mail and locked chests the stagecoaches carried, leaving passengers alone. Up to 500 stagecoach robberies were documented between the 1850s and early 1900s, peaking in the 1870s, and many of these crimes were never solved, though they often passed into local lore. Stories of the James-Younger Gang’s Malvern to Hot Springs stagecoach robbery are now part of the celebrated history of the area, a part of Arkansas’s own “Wild West” past.
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