Nostalgia & History > The 'Wizard of Berkley' & the D'Autremont brothers

An article appeared in Sunday's Medford Mail Tribune about the great forensics that led to the capture of the D'Autremont brothers who committed America's last great train robbery in Siskiyou Tunnel #13 in 1923.

See: http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090830/NEWS/908300335

Fred Harrison
Central Point, OR
CORPpower/JSS/EORS

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There is a good book about this robbery called, "All For Nothing: The True Story of the Last Great American Train Robbery". If you do a search on Bookfinder.com you can find copies of it relatively cheap - interesting reading.

Haven't read Railbaron's book but I have a different one called:

Oregon's Great Train Holdup: Bandits Murder 4--Didn't Get a Dime (Paperback) by Bert Webber. Not exactly a scholarly essay but interesting as well.

sphogger

"Tunnel 13: The story of the DeAutremont brothers and the West's last great train hold up" by Art Chipman [Pine Cone Publishers, 1977], was published through the auspices of Gandee Printing of Medford, OR, where I worked for almost 15 years. I don't know if it has ever had a reprint, but is well worth the reading if you can locate a copy.

ISBN-10: 0912720050
ISBN-13: 978-0912720050

Review by William J. Stainbrook (Sacramento, CA):

Mr. Chipman has accurately documented the last great train holdup in America. His research has been carefully assembled to portray this saga from its inception, execution and the amazing manhunt that followed. The complete story is supported with photos and information garnered from interviews with surviving family members of the four railroad men and one postal employee murdered in this botched robbery high in the mountains between Oregon and California. One of those railroad employees was my great uncle. This is an amazing story and a colorful part of America's history.

Fred Harrison
Central Point, OR
CORPpower/JSS/EORS