The Biggest Heist In Union Pacific Railroad History Took Place Right Here In Nebraska

In the late 19th century, Nebraska was truly one of the wildest places in the Wild West. The state saw its share of crime, particularly in the railroad towns. But no one would have expected the tiny town of Big Springs to be the setting of a robbery that would go down in history.

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Big Springs, Nebraska has the dubious honor of being the location in which the first and largest Union Pacific train robbery took place. Sam Bass and the "Black Hills Bandits" - consisting of Jim Berry, Joel Collins, Jack Davis, Bill Heffridge, and Tom Nixon - had committed robberies before, but this one would be the job that made them notorious.

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On the evening of September 18, 1877, the Union Pacific express train No. 4 pulled into the Big Springs station. The station was quite remote, which is precisely why Sam Bass and his gang chose it. The men had arrived earlier in the evening to capture stationmaster John Barnhart and destroy the station's telegraph. Then, under the cover of darkness, the outlaws boarded the train at 10:48 p.m.

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They found less than $500 in the safe where passengers stashed their valuables. One member of the gang roughed up a train attendant in an attempt to get him to open the main safe. The safe, however, was locked with a combination known only to a person at the train's destination.

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By US Mint (coin), National Numismatic Collection (photograph by Jaclyn Nash) - National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History, Public Domain

Just when it looked like the bandits would walk away with next to nothing, one of them spotted three big wooden boxes stacked neatly near the main safe. Inside was a huge cache of brand-new $20 gold coins that had been making their way from the mint in California to a bank in the East. The bandits probably thought that they would be set for life after this huge score.

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All told, they made off with more than $60,000 in loot. In today's money, that would be more than $1.4 million. The gang of six men met up under a large, lone cottonwood tree to divide their takings. They set off in different directions, but law enforcement wasn't far behind.

Two of the men, Collins and Heffridge, were killed by a sheriff and his posse just eight days after the robbery. Jim Berry was wounded in an encounter with the law and died before making it back to his home in Mexico, Missouri. Tom Nixon, a Canadian, is thought to have escaped back to his own country; he was never found following the robbery.

NE Historical Society

Escaping the fate that befell half of their gang, Sam Bass and Jack Davis lived on to enjoy the money they'd stolen...for a while, anyway. After the robbery, Bass became something of a folk hero and even earned the nickname "Robin Hood." He was known for spending and giving very generously. His good times wouldn't last long, though - less than a year after the historic train robbery, Bass was killed by Texas Rangers. Davis was never found.

Today, a historical marker in Big Springs tells the tale of this infamous robbery. The text on the marker reads:

The first and greatest robbery of a Union Pacific train took place near here on the night of September 18, 1877. The legendary Sam Bass and five companions, after capturing John Barnhart, station-master, and destroying the telegraph, forced Union Pacific express train No. 4 to halt.

A reported $60,000 in new $20 gold pieces and currency was taken from the express car, while about a thousand dollars and a number of watches were taken from passengers. The accumulated loot from this, the Big Springs Robbery, it is said, was then divided by the outlaws, beneath the Lone Tree then growing on the north side of the river. After making the division, the robbers then split into pairs and fled their pursuers.

Joel Collins and Bill Heffridge were killed at Buffalo, Kansas. Jim Berry was killed near Mexico, Missouri, while Tom Nixon and Jim Davis were never located. After forming another band and robbing four trains in Texas, Sam Bass was killed by Texas Rangers at Round Rock, Texas, on July 21, 1878; it was his 27th birthday. His epitaph reads “A Brave Man Reposes in Death Here. Why was he not true?”

Big Springs wasn’t the only place in Nebraska dealing with crime in the Wild West. Nearby Ogallala was known as the “Gomorrah of the West” thanks to its rough reputation. Read more about Ogallala’s history here.