Sam Bass (Beiss) (July 21, 1851 - July 21, 1878) is an American train robber and a 19th century criminal of the Wild West era.
| Sam Bass | |
|---|---|
| English Sam bass | |
 | |
| Birth name | Samuel Bass |
| Date of Birth | July 21, 1851 |
| Place of Birth | |
| Date of death | July 21, 1878 (aged 27) |
| A place of death | |
| Citizenship |  |
| Occupation | criminal |
Biography
Bass remained an orphan at the age of 10 years. Over the next five years, he and his brothers lived with their uncle who was abusive. In 1869, he fled home and spent the next year in Mississippi. In 1871, he moved to the city of Denton in northern Texas.
After the failure of a number of attempts to start a legal case, Bass became a gangster. He created a gang that plundered Union Pacific Railroad trains carrying gold from San Francisco. Bass and his men intercepted on September 18, 1877 in Big Spring, Nebraska, the train that brought them $ 60,000 - and to this day remains the largest train robbery on Union Pacific Railroad.
Bass and his gang carried out a series of robberies, but not one of the robberies, except the one mentioned, brought them more than $ 500 at a time. In 1878, the gang robbed two stagecoaches and four trains twenty-five miles from Dallas and became wanted by agents of the Pinkerton Detective Agency and Texas Rangers, led by Captain Junius Peak.
Bass managed to elude the rangers until one of his gang members, Jim Murphy, became an agent informant. John B. Jones was informed of Bass's movements and ambushed a gang in Round Rock, Texas, where Bass plans to rob a Williamson County bank.
On July 19, 1878, Bass and his gang began reconnaissance before the planned robbery. When they bought tobacco at the store, they were spotted by Deputy Sheriff Grimes. When Grams approached them, demanded that they surrender their weapons to him, he was killed. When after that they tried to escape into the forest, Bass was shot by ranger George Herold and then shot by ranger Sergeant Richard Were. Bass was found lying on the pasture a day later by a group of railway workers who called the authorities. He was taken into custody and died the next day, July 21, 1878, on his 27th birthday. Bass was buried in Round Rock. Its original tombstone has now been replaced by a new one, since the former has been torn apart for decades by collectors seeking to pick up pieces of stone from the bandit’s grave. What remains of the original tombstone is now stored in the Round Rock Public Library.
Links
- Frontier Times - Outlaws: Sam Bass
- Sam Bass . Handbook of Texas Online . Texas State Historical Association.