Reno Gang

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The Reno Brothers Gang, also known as The Renos or The Reno Gang, was a gang of criminals that operated in the Midwestern United States just after the American Civil War until the lynchings of ten of their members by vigilante mobs in 1868. Though short-lived, they carried out the first, second and third train robberies in US history with the latter netting them over $100,000. The mob lynchings created an international diplomatic incident with Canada and Great Britain, a general public uproar and international newspaper coverage. Most of the money was never recovered and no one was ever identified or prosecuted for the lynchings.

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[edit] The Reno Brothers Gang

Frank Reno 1837-1868
Frank Reno 1837-1868
John Reno 1839-1895
John Reno 1839-1895

Primary family members in the Rockford, Jackson County, Indiana and Seymour, Indiana gang were Franklin (Frank), John, Simeon (Sim), and William (Bill) Reno. In their early years, they were raised in a strict religious (Methodist) household and were required to read the Bible all day on Sunday according to John Reno's Autobiography, written in 1879.

Each of the aforementioned brothers were accused of being a bounty jumper. Supposedly, they would be paid to enlist in the Union Army, then fail to appear for duty. They reputedly continued to enlist under different names and/or different locales, taking additional money. Federal records show that Frank, John and Simeon did commit desertion and William briefly went AWOL but did return to serve out his enlistment. He was the only one who received an honorable discharge from the Army. {There is a possibilty that William Reno was not a member of his brothers train gang}.

Parts of Southern Indiana were sympathetic to the Confederate States of America in the American Civil War or were Northern Democrats wanting peace. The term Copperhead was generally used to describe these individuals. It is not know if the Reno Brothers were Copperheads or simply taking advantage of a situation. Their father, J. Wilkison (also known as Wilkinson or Wilkerson) Reno, had moved to Indiana in 1813 from the Salt River region of Kentucky; an area considered to be one of the Civil War border states.

After several years of being on the run from the Pinkerton National Detective Agency (The Pinkertons) and reportedly committing robbery and mayhem, they were captured. On December 12, 1868, about 65 hooded men entered a New Albany, Indiana jail where they were being held. Frank Reno was the first to be dragged from his cell to be lynched by a local vigilante group. He was followed by his two brothers, William and Simeon. Another gang member, Charlie Anderson, was also lynched. It was rumored that the Vigilantes were part of the group known as the Scarlet Mask Society or the Jackson County Vigilance Committee.

Prior to this event, six other gang members were intercepted while in protective custody and were lynched. These two lynchings occurred just five days apart and in the same location, just outside of Seymour, Indiana; in fact, on the same tree. The site became known as Hangman Crossing, Indiana and further details are available in the External Link of the same title below. Up to 100 hooded vigilantes took part in each of these murders.

No one was ever charged, named or officially investigated in any of these lynchings that took the lives of 10 young people before they had the chance to stand trial. Many local newspapers, such as the New Albany Weekly Ledger, stated that "Judge Lynch" had spoken.

[edit] Reno Gang members lynched

Frank Sparks
Frank Sparks
Elliott and Roseberry 1868
Elliott and Roseberry 1868

The infamous acts of Ochlocracy in Jackson County, Indiana

Name - Date - Location - Age at death

Anderson, Charles - 12/12/1868 - New Albany, Indiana - abt. 24 years old
Clifton, Theodore F - 7/20/1868 - Hangman Crossing, Indiana - abt. 24 years old
Elliott, Thomas Volney (Val) - 7/20/1868 - Seymour, Indiana - abt. 22 years old
Jerrell, Henry - 7/25/1868 - Hangman Crossing, Indiana - abt. 23 years old
Moore, John J. - 7/25/1868 - Hangman Crossing, Indiana - abt. 21 years old
Reno, Frank - 12/12/1868 - New Albany, Indiana - 31 years old
Reno, Simeon - 12/12/1868 - New Albany, Indiana - 25 years old
Reno, William-12/12/1868 - New Albany, Indiana - 20 years old
Roseberry, Charles W. - 7/20/1868 - Hangman Crossing, Indiana - abt. 25 years old
Sparks, Frank - 7/25/1868 - Hangman Crossing, Indiana - abt. 27 years old

[edit] Historical background

The Reno Brothers Gang existed prior to and ended well before the "Outlaw Legends" of the Wild West began similar activities. On October 6, 1866, the Reno Gang of Seymour, Indiana, committed what is believed to have been the first train robbery in United States History according to the Library of Congress. The car robbed belonged to the Adams Express Company.

Frank Reno and another gang member were extradited from Canada (granted by Great Britain once their safety was guaranteed) and were technically in Federal Custody when they were lynched. This is believed to be the only time in US history that a Federal prisoner had ever been lynched by a mob before a trial. Secretary of State William Henry Seward, Sr wrote a formal letter of apology as a result. A new Bill was later introduced into the US Congress that clarified the responsibility of extradicted prisoner safety. The US State Department archives were transcribed by Edwin J Boley in his 1977 book The Masked Halters.

During the rise and fall of the Reno Brothers, a pre-teen named William Henry McCarty lived in nearby Indianapolis, Indiana with his mother. He would later be known as Billy the Kid[1]. It is not known whether the exploits of the Reno Brothers had any direct impact on him, although the gang was well-known to many Hoosiers at the time and two brothers reportedly hid for a while in Indianapolis, Indiana.[2]

Rage at Dawn was a 1955 Hollywood Film based on the Reno Brothers. Forrest Tucker, born in Plainfield, Indiana played Frank Reno.

Love Me Tender (1956 film) starred Elvis Presley in his film debut as "Honest" Clint Reno. The plot was loosely based on the Reno Brothers (the original movie title) and included a brother going off to fight in the Civil War and later taking part in a train robbery.

[edit] Further reading

  • A passage titled "From the Pinkertons to the Patriot Act" [3] includes a section titled "The Reno Case". A brief excerpt follows:

That the Pinkertons orchestrated the vigilante actions against the Renos was tacitly confirmed by Allan Pinkerton himself. In an 1874 series of letters to his subordinate, George Bangs, he discussed the fact that a former employee was participating in a plan to blackmail him to the tune of $500,000 because of his role in the lynchings. Although the blackmail plot appears to have been aborted by one or another means, the threat that his and his detectives' conduct in Indiana might be fully exposed was "obviously very disturbing" to Pinkerton, according to even his most sympathetic biographer.


  • Business Directory for Indiana: Seymour Businesses and Owners by Chandler & Co., 1868
  • Reno Gang: History of Jackson County, Indiana by Brant & Fuller, 1886
  • The Destruction of the Reno Gang: Stories from the Archives of the Pinkerton Detective Agency by Cleveland Moffett, McClure's Magazine, 1895 (loads very slow)
  • A Family of Outlaws, by Richard Wilmer Rowan, 1931 (loads very slow)
  • Seymour, Indiana and the famous story of the Reno gang: Who terrorized America with the first train robberies in world history by Robert Shields (diarist), 1939, Rare, out of print, ASIN: B00089LL7E
  • Illustrations for Mules Crossing,: A history of the Reno era; the story of the Reno brothers by Robert Shields (diarist), 1944, Rare, out of print, ASIN: B0007HS6HU
  • The Reno Gang of Seymour by Robert Frederick Volland, 1948, Rare, out of print, Library of Congress Control No.: 48021348
  • The Scarlet Mask, or, The Story of the Notorious Reno Gang by Carl Robert Bogardus, 1960, Rare, out of print, ASIN: B0007I0CF8
  • The Masked Halters by Edwin J Boley, 1977, Rare, out of print, ASIN: B0006CZCIC
  • John Reno: The world's first train robber and self proclaimed leader of the infamous Reno Gang, Seymour, Indiana by John Reno, 1879, reprinted with annotations by The Jackson County (Indiana) Historical Society, 1993, ASIN: B0006P2G5G
  • Tragic Destiny - Demise of the Reno Gang by Loren W Noblitt, The Jackson County (Indiana) Historical Society, 2000
  • The Reno story : the world's first train robbers, the facts--the fictions--the legends by John M Lewis, III, 2003, Graessle-Mercer, ASIN: B0006P7AXO

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Sound of the Guns - Joseph Geringer
  2. ^ John Reno, World's First Train Robber
  3. ^ From the Pinkertons to the PATRIOT Act: The Trajectory of Political Policing in the United States, 1870 to the Present

[edit] External links