Details for Baxter's Curve Train Robbery

Historical Marker — Atlas Number 5507016553

Data

Marker Number 16553
Atlas Number 5507016553
Marker Title Baxter's Curve Train Robbery
Index Entry Baxter's Curve Train Robbery
Address Highway 90
City Sanderson
County Terrell
UTM Zone
UTM Easting
UTM Northing
Subject Codes law enforcement; railroad
Marker Year 2010
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark No
Marker Location 9.4 miles west of TX 349 on the right when traveling east on US 90
Private Property
Marker Condition
Marker Size 18" x 28"
Marker Text In the early hours of March 13, 1912, Ben Kilpatrick, a former sidekick of Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid, and Ole Hobek attempted one of the last major train robberies in west Texas. The two robbers boarded the Galveston, Harrisburg, and San Antonio railroad train when it stopped at Dryden on the way to El Paso. They ordered the engineer on to Baxter’s Curve, a sharp bend in the railway’s rail bed. The baggage cars were uncoupled from the coaches, but while the two searched for valuables, Wells Fargo express manager David A. Trousdale bludgeoned one with an ice mallet and killed the other with the first robber’s rifle. Kilpatrick and Hobek were buried in Sanderson, and Trousdale was recognized and rewarded for his bravery.

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