Train robbers in Springfield

A southbound Gulf, Mobile & Ohio freight speeds by the Iles Junction tower, the site of the 1912 attempted train robbery. The tower has been removed and the rail line is now part of the Union Pacific system.

Looking Back – Train robbers in Springfield

It had the ingredients found in a dime novel: an express train, determined robbers, a sheriff’s posse, dynamite and even nitroglycerin. And it all happened at Springfield on Christmas Eve of 1912.Back then, The Hummer was a Chicago & Alton Railroad express train that ran between the Windy City and Kansas City via Springfield. Among railroaders, The Hummer was known as a “heavy money train.”