Type of bind: Hardcover
Label: BLS Publishing Co.
Manufacturer: BLS Publishing Co.
Page Count: 186
Printing Date: 1976
Publishing house: BLS Publishing Co.
Sale Popularity Level: 806260
Studio: BLS Publishing Co.
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In October, 1923, three young brothers - Ray, Roy and Hugh De Autremont (or D'Autremont) robbed Southern Pacific train no. 13 as it emerged from tunnel no. 13 in the Siskiyou mountains of southern Oregon. Four train crewmen were killed in the process; the express car, the target of the robbery, was blown to bits and the brothers obtained nothing from the crime. The serial number of a revolver left at the scene and a registered mail receipt left in overalls abandoned by one of the trio quickly led to their identification; their arrests required several years of dogged police work. The event is depicted in the opening scene of the James Cagney motion picture, "White Heat"; one brother, Roy, was an inmate at the State Hospital and a witness when some of the film, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" was shot there. An enduring myth is that Professor O.O. Heinrich of the University of California, Berkeley, performed a Holmesian feat of detection on the overalls, with a remarkable description of the man wearing them; in fact, the mail receipt in a pocket was the key finding and most of Prof. Heinrich's deductions
(e.g., handedness of the wearer, height and build) were wrong (the brother had been a lumberjack and lumberjacks wore their overalls baggy).
The National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C. - part of the Smithsonian Institution - has artefacts from the robbery.
This was not the last train robbery in American, which was the Erie Railroad hold-up by Alvin Karpis and his gang at Garrittsville, Ohio, in November, 1935. It is described in the book,"The Alvin Karpis Story" (also
entitled "Public Enemy No.1") by Alvin Karpis and Bill Trent.
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I must thank Mr. Sturholm for creating this text. The information presented in this book in an invaluable part of the record as it is the from the memory of the last surviving DeAutremont brother. It strongly corroborates information contained in other documents. In addition, it provides real insight into the mind set of the brothers who committed this terrible holdup/murder. The book is an excellent read and a very important informational link into this moment of American history.
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