Seymour, Indiana -
Graves of America's First Train Robbers
The Reno Brothers pulled off America's first planned train robbery, but they were caught, hanged by vigilantes, and buried in the town cemetery.
- Address:
- E. 9th St., Seymour, IN
- Directions:
- The St. Ambrose Cemetery grave is just north 9th St., closest to Shields Ave., with a small fence around the tombstones. Hangman Crossing is about 2.5 miles west of town on US Hwy 50, at a railroad crossing.
- Admission:
- Free.
Visitor Tips and News About Graves of America's First Train Robbers
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The gravestones for three of the Reno brothers are in the old city cemetery in Seymour. One of the stones was stolen several years ago and recently found and returned. [leb, 08/17/2009]
[RA: The line between that train robbery, the hanging, and the graves is not so simple. Hangman's Crossing, an unincorporated town, is a couple miles west of Seymour. A group of vigilantes stopped a train carrying three Reno brothers' henchmen already in captivity, and hanged them at this spot. A few days later they stopped a wagon with three more captured Reno gang members and hanged them from the same tree. The Reno brothers did not meet their end at Hangman's Crossing -- they were in jail in New Albany on Dec. 11, 1868, so the vigilantes had to commute a fair distance to break in and hang the brothers there. Seymour's other claim to fame is that it's the hometown of John Cougar Mellencamp.]Nearby Offbeat Places
- Limestone Pillars - Veterans Memorial, Columbus, IN - 16 mi.
- World's Largest Toilet, Columbus, IN - 16 mi.
- Longest Historic Covered Bridge in the USA, Medora, IN - 17 mi.
- In the region: World's Largest Bat - The Vampire Kind, Louisville, KY - 50 mi.
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