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Canyon Diablo train robbery
Canyon Diablo posse (1889)[1]
DateMarch 20, 1889–April 4, 1889
LocationCanyon Diablo, Arizona Territory, United States
ParticipantsJohn Halford, William Stiren, Daniel Harvick, and J. J. Smith
OutcomeCapture

The Canyon Diablo train robbery occurred on the night of March 20, 1889, when four cowboys and drifters from the Hashknife Outfit held up an Atlantic and Pacific Railroad express car at the Canyon Diablo station, in what was then the Arizona Territory. After forcing the Wells Fargo messenger guarding the strongbox at gunpoint to open one of the safes, the bandits made off with an estimated $1,300 ($46,583 in 2025) in loot and jewelry and hightailed it to Utah territory in their escape.

Newly elected Yavapai County sheriff Buckey O'Neill formed a posse in Flagstaff and tracked the outlaws in snowy terrain over the course of a 23-day manhunt through the desert and the mountains of Arizona and Utah, covering 300 miles in his pursuit of the suspects. After several skirmishes and a major gunfight in Utah, all four of the wanted men were initially captured and extradited. They were spared the death penalty for train robbery by pleading guilty to a lesser charge of highway robbery. Sentenced to 25 to 30 years for their crimes, they served reduced sentences and were released early after a series of pardons.

The train robbery at Canyon Diablo was one of the most famous of the Old West period in the Arizona Territory and cemented the celebrity reputation of Sheriff O'Neill. The riveting story was widely covered by the media of the time and made for sensational headlines. The event set a precedent for applying a new law, passed just 18 days earlier, that made train robbery a capital offense, showing that the law was unenforceable. The exact amount of loot stolen and recovered was often disputed, with legends of buried treasure entering the popular imagination through tall tales.

Background

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Canyon Diablo, a 225 feet (69 m) deep and more than 500 feet (150 m) wide canyon in Northern Arizona, was first identified by engineers as an obstacle to the completion of the first transcontinental railroad. In 1881, the A&P train station was built out to Canyon Diablo and a small town was created at the rim of the canyon. The settlement developed to supply workers to help lay track and complete a bridge across the canyon. Work on the bridge began on January 18, 1882, and was completed on July 1.[2]

After the end of the American Civil War in 1865, train robberies began to increase. The Reno Gang made their first train heist in Seymour, Indiana, in 1866. This marked the beginning of a fifty year period of train robberies. Stagecoach robberies declined steadily as thieves migrated to where the loot was kept.[3] By the 1880s, most businesses had stopped shipping money by stage and used trains instead. Train robberies became a major phenomenon from 1887 to 1897. One theory attempted to explain it as a financial consequence of a major drought that impacted farmers. "It may have been only a coincidence", writes Richard M. Patterson, "but the drought years of 1887 to 1897 corresponded directly with the resurgence of train robberies."[4]

Several notable train robberies occurred in the 1880s near Tucson and Flagstaff. In Pima County, the Southern Pacific Railroad was robbed at Papago on May 27, 1887.[5] Due to the trending nature of railroad heists throughout the United States and its territories, lawmakers began to address the problem with harsh laws. New Mexico Territory was one of the first to make train robberies punishable by death in early 1887.[6][α] The 15th Arizona Territorial Legislature followed soon after, passing their own capital punishment law for train robberies on February 28, 1889.[8]

Hashknife Outfit

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The name "Hashknife Outfit" was coined after the use of their brand symbol, which resembled a hash knife used by chuckwagons.

The Aztec Land & Cattle Company, informally known as the Hashknife Outift due to the symbol of their brand, began in 1884 and was grazing more than 30,000 head of cattle on a million acres in the Northern Arizona territory by the late 1880s, expanding to two million acres in the mid-1890s. It was was one of five large-scale cattle operations under that brand name at the time, including three in Texas, one in Montana, and one in Arizona. Some of the cowboys who worked for the Hashknife Outfit had a reputation for lawlessness. Some were fugitives, even professional gunfighters.[9]

There were also allegations that the Outfit made death threats against anyone who claimed the land near or within their exclusive grazing rights. Cowboys working for the Outfit became known for their violence.[9] By 1889, the behavior of the Hashknife Outfit had led to ongoing skirmishes between rustlers, Mormon settlers, and the company, leading to significant losses. According to Mormon settler Jim D. Pierce, complaints to the United States Secretary of the Interior led to a brief federal investigation, with the feds giving the company an ultimatum to get rid of the violent "renegades" in the Outfit causing the ruckus.[10]

Holdup and heist

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Sometime around March 19, 1889, a group of four Hashknife Outfit cowboys broke into and robbed a ranch owned by Will C. Barnes near the Box Canon of Chevellons fork of the Little Colorado River. Barnes was a celebrated veteran of the Battle of Fort Apache. The robbery was discovered by Barnes and his cowboy hand William Broadbent, who began a manhunt for the desperados that day, only stopping at night during a snowstorm in Winslow, Arizona, hot on their trail.[11]

Canyon Diablo trestle bridge (photo before 1900)

On the night of Wednesday, March 20, 1889,[β] snow was falling outside the Canyon Diablo station. Ten minutes before the eastbound Atlantic and Pacific Santa Fe train number 2 arrived, a young station operator discovered that the telegraph lines had been cut. The train came to a rest for refueling at the station at approximately 10:20 p.m. followed by a bullet fired into the telegraph office above the operator's head. The A&P train came to a stop at the station to replenish its wood fuel needed for its steam locomotive engine. The bandits held the fireman and engineer off to the side with their hands held high in a stickup while pursuing whatever valuables could be found in the express car where the Wells Fargo messenger was guarding the strongbox.[13]

The telegraph operator grabbed his Winchester rifle and prepared to claim his reward for capturing the bandits when several shots rang out in his direction. He abandoned his plan and proceeded to hide behind a pile of railway ties and wait instead. From a safe vantage point, the witness saw the bandits make out with bags of loot containing an unknown amount of cash and jewelry and hightail it into the night. After their departure, the boy came out of hiding and made his way over to the express car and opened the door. E. G. Knickerbocker, the Wells Fargo messenger, was found tied up and half conscious suffering from a pistol whipping to the head. The masked outlaws had tricked Knickerbocker, hitting him on the head with his pistol when he opened the door.[13]

Leaving the passengers unharmed, the bandits stole whatever valuables they could carry and then departed, making use of horses they had stashed nearby to make their getaway. Initial media reports said they had made off with upwards of $800 ($28,667 in 2025) while leaving behind $150,000 ($5.38 million in 2025) in the main safe. They managed to get two days ride ahead of the authorities before a posse was formed and a manhunt was underway to bring them to justice. Shortly after the train robbery, the Arizona Weekly Journal-Miner announced that the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad company was offering a $400 reward ($14,333 in 2025) for the arrest and conviction of each of the thieves.[14]

Posse, manhunt, and showdown

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Beachfront at Lees Ferry

On the heels of the train robbery, newly elected Yavapai County Sheriff Buckey O'Neill quickly formed a posse with Wells Fargo special agent Carl Holton, deputy sheriff James Black, and special deputy and photographer Edward St. Clair.[15] By March 22, a special train car was sent from Seligman to Flagstaff for the exclusive use of the posse.[16] Freshly fallen snow helped the posse track the outlaws across the rugged deserts and mountains of the Arizona and Utah territories in a manhunt lasting for three weeks over a distance of about 300 miles (480 km).[17]

Meanwhile, the four bandits had entered the Utah wilderness. The outlaws attempted to ambush the posse near the border between Utah and Colorado, but were unsuccessful. Later, the posse headed them off in Beaver, Utah, surprising the outlaws on April 1, leading to a major gun battle. The warring sides exchanged approximately forty shots and an outlaw's horse was killed before the bandits were captured at Wahweap Canyon[γ] over a period of four days, from April 1–4.[18] Historian Larry D. Ball, who specializes in frontier justice studies, notes the discrepancy between the lawmen carrying rifles and the outlaws carrying only pistols. It was later revealed that the train robbers made a conscious decision not to carry rifles so as to not attract undue attention, a choice which led to their downfall and capture.[19]

Capture and extradition

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The posse attempted to take the four suspects, John Halford, William Stiren, Daniel Harvick, and J. J. Smith, into custody. None of the train robbers were hardened criminals; all of the men were young, unmarried cowhands employed by the Hashknife Outfit. The posse traveled with their prisoners to Salt Lake City to facilitate their extradition back to Prescott, reaching Salt Lake on April 10. The journey home proved more difficult than they thought. While aboard a train in New Mexico, prisoner J. J. Smith was able to loosen his chains and jump out of a window of the moving train without anyone noticing. Smith had escaped somewhere along the Raton mountain pass on the Colorado–New Mexico border at an elevation of approximately 7,800 ft (2,400 m). The posse was welcomed home as heroes upon their return in mid-April.[20]

The three remaining prisoners were booked into the Prescott county jail wearing heavy irons to prevent another escape.[21] Wells Fargo offered a $500 ($17,917 in 2025) reward for Smith's capture. He was caught several weeks later in Vernon, Texas, where he was arrested on charges of horse theft.[22] According to one story, Smith was caught because he played the role of a Good Samaritan and sympathetic villain, having rescued a lost Boston schoolteacher who was wandering in the desert. After returning her to safety, it was said that his act of kindness was reported, leading the authorities to his trail. A shootout ensued, and Smith was shot in the leg. Due to Smith's abscondment, territorial Governor Lewis Wolfley made arrangements for the Texas authorities to hand Smith over to O'Neill. Smith returned with O'Neill to Prescott on July 10.[23]

Trial and sentencing

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Yavapai County Courthouse with Buckey O'Neill's Rough Rider statue displayed in front

A grand jury indicted the suspects less than three weeks after they were first booked into county jail in Prescott.[24] Court records at the time show that as much as $1,300 ($46,583 in 2025) may have been stolen during the initial robbery.[25] To avoid the death penalty, Halford, Stiren, and Harvick struck a deal with the prosecution and pled guilty to the lesser charge of highway robbery.[26] Chief Justice of the Arizona Territorial Supreme Court James Henry Wright sentenced the three men in district court on June 21, where they received 25 years at Yuma Territorial Prison.[27]

After Smith was recaptured and extradited from Texas and returned to Prescott, he continued to argue his case in a jury trial with the help of his attorney Robert Brown.[28] In Territory v. J. J. Smith, Wells Fargo express messenger Knickerbocker appeared as a witness, and Halford, Stiren, and Harvick were transported from Yuma Territorial Prison for questioning in court. Wells Fargo division superintendent J. W. Nichols was also in town for the trial. Private attorneys Baldwin & Johnston were retained to help prosecute Smith along with Yavapai County district attorney Henry D. Ross.[29] After deliberating, the jury returned a guilty verdict. On November 22, Chief Justice Wright gave Smith a 30 year sentence for highway robbery.[30]

Yuma Territorial Prison

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Aftermath

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Smith petitioned territorial Governor L. C. Hughes for clemency in 1893[δ] after coming down with tuberculosis. Halford, Stiren, and Harvick also testified that Smith was not involved in the original holdup.[32] The testimony of a lost Boston schoolteacher who Smith saved from certain death while wandering in the Texas desert during his escape from the law was also taken into account.[31] Smith received the longest sentence of all of the outlaws, but he served the shortest amount of time in prison.[33] He received a pardon from Governor Hughes after serving only four years and was released on August 13, 1893.[32]

Governor Franklin pardoned Harvick on Christmas 1896. A year later, Halford and Sterin both received unconditional pardons in November 1897.[31] Halford died from tuberculosis soon after.[32] The territorial capital punishment law for train robbery was never enforced in this or any other case following it; no prisoner was ever executed for the crime in Arizona history.[17] Hietter argues that this failure to enforce the law, was paradoxically, evidence for the success of its territorial justice system.[34]

Main cell block, Yuma Territorial Prison

O'Neill had covered the expenses of the posse which he had totaled up over $8000 ($286,667 in 2025). The Prescott Board of Supervisors agreed to cover $5800 ($207,833 in 2025) of the total amount, arguing that O'Neill's manhunt had exceeded Arizona territorial jurisdiction. O'Neill sued for reimbursement, and a judge ruled that O'Neill was due the full amount. However, the ruling was soon overturned by a higher court and O'Neill was stuck with the remaining bill.[35] Despite that unfavorable setback, the train robbery made O'Neill a celebrity.[36]

O'Neill later did well for himself, becoming a successful businessman, developer, and civic leader. He ran for mayor of Prescott in 1897 and won. With the outbreak of the Spanish–American War the next year, O'Neill volunteered and joined the Rough Riders, but was killed in action at San Juan Hill, Cuba, on July 1, 1898. Speaking of O'Neill, Colonel Theodore Roosevelt described him as "...a born soldier, a born leader of men. He was a wild, reckless fellow, soft-spoken, and of dauntless courage and boundless ambition; he was staunchly loyal to his friends, and cared for his men in every way."[37]

Writing about the Canyon Diablo train robbery in 2006, just 117 years after the initial event, historian Paul T. Hietter notes that the case is sill perplexing in its lack of evidence and facts. "[These] accounts contain so many inaccuracies and out-right falsehoods", writes Hietter, "that they must be viewed with extreme suspicion."[38] The only real witness to the crime, writes Hietter, was Wells Fargo express messenger E. G. Knickerbocker, whose own testimony was problematic.[38] Barnes had, after all, reported in 1930, which was 41 years after the train robbery, that according to the testimony of the telegraph operator working at Canyon Diablo station, Knickerbocker was the victim of a pistol whipping and had suffered a head injury.[39]

Notes

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  1. ↑ "Section 1151 (1887), C.L. 1897 at 356 (codifying the territorial statute prescribing the death penalty for nonhomicidal train robbery, recompiled after statehood as NMSA 1915, § 1642 (1887), C.L. 1915 at 536, and repealed by 1963 N.M. Laws, ch. 303 at 827)."[7]
  2. ↑ Historians generally agree that the robbery took place on the night of March 20, 1889. However, the literature shows robbery dates ranging from March 19 through the 21st. This is likely because the earliest reports in contemporaneous newspapers reported the robbery after it occurred, with the filing date of the initial news story taking precedence over the robbery itself. For example, the earliest coverage of the robbery in the Arizona Daily Star (also known as the Tucson Star), was published on March 22 with a submission date by the reporter indicating March 21, with the article body discussing a robbery that took place on March 20.[12] These distinct dates might have confused later writers. As for the date of the 19th, Barnes' personal account confuses the timeline, which depicts the robbery of his ranch by the Hashknife Outfit occurring on March 19 and the train robbery at some later, unspecified date. For a current example of the robbery as having occurred on the 20th, see Meehan & Dinges 2011, p. 189.
  3. ↑ Wahweap Canyon is now mostly submerged due to Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell.
  4. ↑ Pardons were the only means for early release from prison during the territorial period of Arizona law. At that time, pardons served the role that formal parole systems would later play after Arizona achieved statehood in 1912.

References

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  1. ↑ Tinsley 1993, p. 73.
  2. ↑ Janus Associates 1989, pp. 5, 19-25, 31, 64.
  3. ↑ Hietter 2006, p. 274.
  4. ↑ Patterson 1981, pp. 220-221.
  5. ↑ Thompson 2001, p. 409.
  6. ↑ Acts of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of New Mexico 1887, p. 44.
  7. ↑ State v. Ameer, 189 N.M. 4309 (N.M. Sup. Ct.)
  8. ↑ Acts, Resolutions and Memorials of the Fifteenth Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Arizona 1889, pp. 19–20; Wagoner 1970, pp. 247–249.
  9. 1 2 Tinsley 1993, pp. 47-50.
  10. ↑ Tinsley 1993, pp. 67-75.
  11. ↑ Barnes 1930, p. 88–96.
  12. ↑ Arizona Daily Star March 21, 1889, p. 1.
  13. 1 2 Barnes 1930, pp. 89–91; Arizona Weekly Champion March 23, 1889, p. 3.
  14. ↑ Arizona Weekly Journal-Miner March 27, 1889, p. 1.
  15. ↑ Meehan & Dinges 2011, p. 189.
  16. ↑ Meehan & Dinges 2011, pp. 192-194.
  17. 1 2 Hietter 2006, p. 273.
  18. ↑ Arizona Daily Star April 9, 1889, p. 1.
  19. ↑ Ball 1992, p. 208.
  20. ↑ Barnes 1930, p. 103.
  21. ↑ Arizona Daily Star April 17, 1889, p. 1.
  22. ↑ Hoof and Horn June 27, 1889, p. 2.
  23. ↑ Arizona Daily Star July 11, 1889, p. 1.
  24. ↑ Barnes 1930, p. 103.
  25. ↑ Hietter 2006, pp. 273, 297, note 19.
  26. ↑ Arizona Weekly Journal-Miner July 24, 1889, p. 4.
  27. ↑ Los Angeles Evening Express December 31, 1889, p. 3.
  28. ↑ Hietter 2006, pp. 289–292.
  29. ↑ Arizona Weekly Journal-Miner November 20, 1889, n.p.
  30. ↑ Arizona Daily Star November 23, 1889, p. 1.
  31. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Barnes 1930, p. 104.
  32. 1 2 3 Baker 2021.
  33. ↑ Walker 1997, p. 75.
  34. ↑ Hietter 2006.
  35. ↑ Walker 1971, pp. 64-65.
  36. ↑ Theobald & Theobald 1978, p. 69, 167; Downs 1981, p. 7.
  37. ↑ Walker 1971, pp. 65, 67.
  38. 1 2 Hietter 2006, pp. 292-293.
  39. ↑ Barnes 1930, pp. 89, 91.

Bibliography

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Further reading

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