Sam Bass (outlaw)
Sam Bass (21 July 1851 in Mitchell, Indiana - 21 July 1878 in Round Rock, Texas) was a nineteenth-century American train robber and outlaw.
Early life
Bass was orphaned at the age of 13. For the next five years, he and his siblings lived with an abusive uncle. [citation needed] In 1869, he set out on his own and spent the next year in Mississippi. In 1871, he moved to Denton, Texas.
After failing at a series of legitimate enterprises, Bass turned to crime. He formed a gang and robbed the Union Pacific gold train from San Francisco on September 18, 1877, looting $60,000 - to this day the largest single robbery of the Union Pacific. [citation needed]
Bass and his gang staged a string of robberies, yet never netted over $500 at any one time. [citation needed] In 1878, they held up two stagecoaches and four trains within twenty-five miles of Dallas and became the object of a manhunt by Pinkerton Agents and by a special company of the Texas Rangers headed by Captain Junius Peak.
Bass was able to elude the Rangers until a member of his gang, Jim Murphy, turned informant. John B. Jones was informed of Bass's movements, and set up an ambush at Round Rock Texas, where Bass planned to rob the Williamson County Bank.
On 19 July 1878, Bass and his gang were scouting the area before the robbery. When they bought some tobacco at a store, they were noticed by Deputy Sheriff A. W. Grimes. When Grimes approached the men to request that they surrender their sidearms, he was shot and killed. [1] As he attempted to flee, Bass was shot by Ranger George Herold. He was found lying in a pasture by a group of railroad workers, who summoned the authorities. [citation needed] He was taken into custody and died the next day. Bass was buried in Round Rock. His original headstone is kept at the Round Rock Public Library. [citation needed]
As with many figures of the American Old West, Bass captured the public's imagination. [citation needed] He was portrayed by Jack Chaplain in an 1961 episode of The Outlaws. In the fictional 1951 film The Texas Rangers, Bass heads a gang comprised of The Sundance Kid, John Wesley Hardin, Butch Cassidy and Dave Rudabaugh, then squares off against two convicts recruited by John B. Jones to bring them to justice.
References
- Rick Miller. Sam Bass & Gang, State House Press, 1999,
See also
External links
- The Story of Sam Bass
- Sam Bass from the Handbook of Texas Online
- Frontier Times - Outlaws: Sam Bass
- Old West Grave Sites - Sam Bass
30°31′02″N 97°41′51″W / 30.5173°N 97.6975°W (grave site)
- The City of Allen's Video - The Great Allen Train Robbery- Story about the infamous first train robbery in Texas.