Council Bluffs and its Train Robbers

As one of the earliest and largest railroad centers of the Midwest, it’s not surprising Council Bluffs would right at at the forefront of train robberies as well. The first moving train to ever be robbed West of the Mississippi left from Council Bluffs. Another train robbery in a Bluffs rail yard netted over $3,500,000; a tidy sum in 1920, and triggered copycat deeds all across the country. Not all local robbers fared well; another’s bullet-ridden body was put on display, becoming quite a popular public curiosity. This episode, written by historian Ryan Roenfeld, tells the tales of these three robberies that had ties to Council Bluffs.