The Last Old West Train Robbery - Siskiyou Summit

Photo courtesy of http://www.livinggoldpress.com/SummitHotTopic.htm.

The following story is courtesy of Finn J.D. John - Offbeat Oregon

13 was unlucky number for train passengers, robbers alike

D'Autremont brothers destroyed mail car, killed several people in bungled attempt at a heist in 1923, in American history's last Old West-style train robbery.

By Finn J.D. John — April 5, 2009

One of the most dramatic events in Oregon state history took place on Oct. 11, 1923, in a railroad tunnel in southern Oregon.

It almost sounds like a Hollywood movie script. The train was the “No. 13 Gold Special,” heading from Seattle to San Francisco. In command was engineer Sidney Bates – and it was to be his last run; he was ready to retire and start drawing a nice pension. And at the fateful hour, the train was just cresting the Siskiyou summit and testing its brakes, getting ready to go through Tunnel 13.

When the train slowed down to test the brakes, three men jumped aboard. This was the d’Autremont brothers: 23-year-old twins Ray and Roy and their teenage brother, Hugh. They’d been planning a train robbery for months, and they’d heard a rumor that $500,000 worth of gold was aboard, so Train 13 seemed like a good one to hit. They’d stolen some dynamite from a construction site and, of course, they were armed with pistols. These, they pointed at Bates and ordered him to stop.

Bates stopped the train at the end of Tunnel 13. Back in the train, the passengers were not pleased – coal smoke was starting to leak into the cars. Up front, the brothers weren’t happy either. The mail clerk, who was actually covering someone else’s shift, barricaded himself inside the car, so the brothers packed their dynamite around the car and touched it off.

Unfortunately for everyone, they had no idea what they were doing, and the amount of dynamite they used utterly destroyed the car and killed the clerk instantly.

Meanwhile, passengers and crew members were trying to fight their way through the smoke and fire to the south end of the tunnel, but it was too intense. Finally, a brakeman, Coyle Johnson, managed to fight his way through – and was promptly gunned down by the robbers.

Likely realizing time was running out and there was no sign of money or gold, the brothers decided to get away while they could. So, they killed engineer Bates and the fireman, Marvin Seng, the only witnesses who had seen them; then they dipped their feet in creosote to throw the bloodhounds off the scent and fled.

They might have gotten away with the crime, except for Edward O. Heinrich, a detective brought in to work on the crime. Heinrich, looking over a pair of overalls left by the bandits, deduced from pitch stains on the garments that the wearer was likely a lumberjack, and from the wear patterns on the buttons, that he was left-handed. But the most damning thing he found was a crumpled-up old mail receipt in one of the pockets. He was able to track this right back to the brothers.

Ten days after the crime, Ray felt enough time had passed that he might hop a freight train to Ashland to do some shopping. Once he got there, he opened a newspaper over a cup of coffee in a diner – and saw his name in a headline. 

Of course, he raced right back to the hideout to tell the others the beans had been spilled. The brothers left the area, assumed new identities and started new lives – but four years later, the past caught up with them when Hugh, who had joined the Army, was fingerprinted.

All three drew life sentences. Hugh was paroled in 1959 and died a few months later; Roy, who’d been given a lobotomy in prison, also died just a few months after his parole in 1983. Ray, paroled in 1961, died in 1984, and spent many years working as a part-time janitor at the University of Oregon.

(Sources: Joers, Lawrence E.C. “The Siskiyou Train Robbery,” Great Moments in Oregon History. Portland: New Oregon Publishers, 1987 – a 6-page account by a physician who was aboard the train; http://ftp.wi.net/~maracon/lesson6.html; http://tunnel13.com; Sullivan, William L. Hiking Oregon’s History. Eugene: Navillus, 2006)

Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie - The Oregon Trail Diary of Hattie Campbell by Kristiana Gregory

Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie by Kristiana Gregory is great fun to read.

It can best be described as "Little House on the Prairie" hits the Oregon Trail.

Although Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie is a work of historical fiction, the landmarks exist, and many if not all of the experiences described, actually happened to our stalwart pioneers, many who were children, that came west using the Oregon, California and Mormon trails.

What a perfect gift to give a young lady for her 13th birthday!  Or for that matter, any girl or woman.  (Reading level is described as grades 3 through 7.)

The Billiard Table That Made Kerby - Kerby, Oregon

A couple of months ago I posted a story about how Kerby, Oregon was founded.  I thought it was a "tall tale," but it turns out it was based on a true story.

 Thanks to Kerby Jackson, well-known Southern Oregon author, historian, independent miner and mining rights advocate, I now have the original story.


It was written by Dennis H. Stovall and published in "Sunset Magazine" in 1903.

"On the stage road that leads its crooked way over the mountains from Crescent City, California, to Grants Pass, Oregon is Kerby, once known as Kerbyville.  Nestling at the foot of the pine-clad hills, with one long street, and overlooking the valley and the winding river, is this, the oldest mining camp in Oregon.

Kerby today is as quiet an old town as one would care to see.  But Kerby was not always asleep.  There was a time when Kerbyville was the gayest and thriftiest, and exchanged more "dust," than any other mining town north of San Francisco.  That was during the palmy and gold-fevered days of half a century ago.  Then the streets of Kerbyville seethed with the stampede of excited gold-hunters.  From a half score saloons issued day and night the boisterous merriment of reveling dancers, the clink of glasses and the monotonous hubbub of the faro tables.

Kerbyville, during those days, was in reality only a California mining camp moved over the Siskiyou range.  It was composed of the same stampede that swept across the plains during the excitement of '49.  A few miles below Kerbyville, on the Illinois, Josephine creek empties its waters into the larger stream, and it was here that gold was first discovered in the Oregon territory, April, 1851.  It was the news of this discovery that brought the living stream over the narrow trail of the Siskiyous and started swarms of men up every gulch and creek in southern Oregon.  Gold was discovered plentifully and miners flocked in by the hundreds.

Today, as the stage is borne along in a cloud of dust through the one long street, the traveler will see but a few scattered remains of the gay Kerbyville of fifty years ago.  The old courthouse is gone--for here was the first county seat of Josephine.  The old town hall still remains.  Farther on up the street is the jail.  It still stands, just as it stood forty years ago--a two-story, dark, gloomy structure, beneath the spreading branches of the entwining maple, whose limbs served as an ever-ready gallows for the popular "hangin's" of the rough and ready days.

Along the street are found the crumbling remains of the dance halls and stores.  The wind and the weather, the worms and the decay of half a century have done their work, and long since put many of these out of business.  The walls all lean toward the center, the windows are boarded up and a few scattered signs punctuated with the bullet marks of the old-timers' "six-guns," still cling desperately to the decaying walls.

Among the many saloons that once did duty in Kerbyville, only one remains.  In that one remaining "dewdrop" stands an old billiard table.  In outward appearance it is much like all other billiard tables, but in the matter of historic interest there is not another in the whole world that can equal it.  To that old table is due the honors of establishing Kerbyville.  It was the first brought into the state of Oregon, and, clustering about it are a multitude of historic associations more interesting, more fascinating than has ever befell a similar relic of the ivories and cue.

That old table, which seems to be tottering with age on its carved and crooked legs, was brought over the narrow and mountainous trail from Crescent City on the back of a pack mule.  Anita was the old mule's name.  She was the favorite pack animal of Martinez, a California and southern Oregon packer.  Martinez, or "Tig," as he was more familiarly known among the miners, was under contract to deliver the table to Althouse, a mining camp of the Illinois valley.  It was consigned to Jake Cohen, a saloonkeeper of the place.  The mule gave way beneath her great load when within eight miles of Althouse.  There was not another pack animal in the whole west that could stand up under the billiard table, so Tig was obliged to let it lay where Anita dropped it.  The old packer demanded his pay of Cohen.  The jew refused.  The table had not been delivered.  What the Mexican told the Hebrew wouldn't do to print.

At last a bright idea came into the head of Tig, the packer.  He built a saloon around the table, advertised a "grand opening" and got the stampede headed his way.  All of the miners of the Oregon country were there that night.  With the only billiard table north of San Francisco as a drawing card, the other Illinois valley camps were deserted.  The town became the leading mining camp of the Waldo hills.  In 1856 Kerbyville became the county seat of Josephine, which honored position she held during the palmy days.  From Eight-Dollar mountain, which stood sentinel at the valley's northern entrance, to the rising slopes of the snow-clad Siskiyous in the south, Kerbyville was supreme." 

 

"Kiss A Pig" Fundraising Update

 "Kiss a Pig Contest"
 
Have you ever kissed a pig?
Would you like to see a local politician kiss a pig?
Here's your chance!

It's time to cast your ballot for the person you most want to see KISS A PIG!

Please click on the photo to get the complete details of this fun contest and to cast your ballots.  We encourage you to vote early and vote often!

  Our "Kiss A Pig" fundraiser contest only has a month to go.  No one is "pigging out" on votes yet, but Joan Momsen was caught on hidden camera practicing, Ross Roe and Ed Bowers are moving up quickly.

The current rankings are as follows:
Keith Heck
Joan Momsen
Ross Roe and Ed Bowers
Cherryl Walker
Mike Murphy
Gil Gilbertson
Art Harvey, Sandi Cassanelli, Simon Hare, Toni Webb and Bob Just






We caught Joan Momsen practicing, in anticipation of being the winner!

There is still plenty of time to vote , and of course, we encourage you to vote often!
Remember, it is for a good cause; our Research Library's windows are leaking and need to be replaced; we need your help to preserve our Josephine county artifacts, photos and documents.

Vote online now by clicking here.

Yogurt Hut Hosts Josephine County Historical Society

The Josephine County Historical Society would like to give a big thanks to Susan and George Orrego, the owners of Yogurt Hut, their local Grants Pass manager Janell, and Lisa who coordinates everything for their four stores in the Rogue Valley.

 Tuesday, June 26th was a "Benefit Day" for the Josephine County Historical Society and Yogurt hut generously shared their proceeds with us.

Kudos to our "Living History Players" who showed up in their old-time finery, representing characters from our color Josephine County past.

 Our players were Cindy English, Jan Greenblatt, Joan Dougherty, Andrea Dougan, Lee Babineaux, Christina Carver, Lois Maass and Teresa Santucci.

 Apologies to Christina, the one photo that did not turn out -- must have been yogurt on the lens.

 Linda Fuidge was covering the event as our events committee chair, Wendy Swanson as our webmaster and chief political coordinator, and Gary Swanson as coordinator and photographer.

Both Yogurt Hut and our "Living History Players" did an exemplary job of representing the Josephine County Historical Society.  Thank you all!

Battle of the Little Bighorn

“Battle of the Little Bighorn” or “Custer’s Last Stand”

Whichever name you use, “Battle of the Little Bighorn,” “Custer’s Last Stand” or “Battle of the Greasy Grass;” it is one of the most famous battles in American History.

Part of the Great Sioux War of 1876-1877, it was the downfall of Custer's 7th Calvary and also the downfall of the Lakota and Cheyenne nations.   This deadly clash started on June 25, 1876 and was concluded the next day.

In the weeks following the "Battle of the Little Bighorn," rumors and stories were circulating on the East Coast, and all were looked on with skepticism.  Enemies and admirers alike could not believe such a huge figure like General George Armstrong Custer could be dead.  But it was true; Custer and the 210 men under his command were dead.  

"Comanche" in 1887.

 There were two survivors; Captain Myles Keogh's horse "Comanche" and another horse called "Nap," and they weren't talking!

The Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Crow Agency, Montana now pays tribute to this piece of American history. 

Standing at the top of "Last Stand" hill on a hot summer day, there is a sense of anticipation in the prairie wind.  You can almost hear the sounds of the cavalry horses headed this way, and the commotion from the Sioux women and children breaking down their camp across the river.

I am always greatly moved every time I visit this National Monument.  Although it is haunting and lonely, and a place of great tragedy, I feel a tremendous sense of peace and belonging as I gaze upon the graves and across the wind-swept plain.  I don't know whether it is the location itself, or the fact that I have an ancestor who served under Custer and died there with him.

The following is a slideshow of photos my husband took last summer at the Little Bighorn National Monument.  I look forward to returning there soon.

Mmmmmm...... Frozen Yogurt at the HUT!

Yogurt Hut in Grants Pass is hosting a benefit day for the Josephine County Historical Society on Tuesday, June 26th.

Several of our "Living History Players" will be there from 3 p.m. until 7 p.m.; so stop by and chat with them.  They'll be happy to share a little Josephine county history with you!


The Society will receive a portion of the proceeds from store sales that day.

The Grants Pass Yogurt Hut is located at 162 NE
Beacon Drive, just off the Grants Pass Parkway, a few
doors down from the DMV. They are open from 11:30
am to 9:00 pm.

Yogurt Hut serves ten different YoCream® frozen
yogurt flavors, and always has non-dairy sorbets as
well as non-fat, low-fat, and sugar-free options.
 

Please encourage your friends and family to stop by
on June 26th for a tasty treat that supports a good
cause, the Josephine County Historical Society.