Inventory of the Railroad Law Enforcement Collection, 1870-1977

Processed by Marc Beauchamp; machine-readable finding aid created by Xiuzhi Zhou
California State Railroad Museum Library
111 "I" Street
Sacramento, California 95814
Phone: (916) 323-8073
Fax: (916) 327-5655
Email: csrmlibrary@csrmf.org
URL: http://www.csrmf.org/library.html
© 2000
California Secretary of State. All rights reserved.

Inventory of the Railroad Law Enforcement Collection, 1870-1977

Collection number: MS 26

California State Railroad Museum Library



Sacramento, California

Contact Information:

  • California State Railroad Museum Library
  • 111 "I" Street
  • Sacramento, California 95814
  • Phone: (916) 323-8073
  • Fax: (916) 327-5655
  • Email: csrmlibrary@csrmf.org
  • URL: http://www.csrmf.org/library.html
Processed by:
Marc Beauchamp
Encoded by:
Xiuzhi Zhou
© 2000 California State Railroad Museum. All rights reserved.

Descriptive Summary

Title: Railroad Law Enforcement Collection,
Date (inclusive): 1870-1977
Collection number: MS 26
Extent: 5 boxes and 1 flat document box
Repository: California State Railroad Museum Library
Sacramento, California 95814
Shelf location: Big Four Building or off-site storage. Please contact the Library in advance of your visit.
Language: English.

Administrative Information

Provenance

Gift of Warren E. Miller, 1987

Publication Rights

Copyright has not been assigned to the California State Railroad Museum. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Senior Curator. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the CSRM as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Railroad Law Enforcement Collection, MS 26, California State Railroad Museum Library, Sacramento, California.

Collection Description

The Railroad Law Enforcement Collection deals with a number of aspects of crimes associated with rail travel. It begins with the first train robbery in the United States in 1870 and includes material up to 1977. The bulk of the material covers the period between 1870 and 1943. The Western United States is the main focus of the collection, although a number of the crimes covered occurred in Canada.
The collection consists of correspondence, manuscripts, clippings, trial transcripts, police reports, sworn statements, wanted circulars, photographs, police "mug shots," scrapbooks and printed material.
The most significant cases contained in the collection are the "Lower 13" murder on Southern Pacific's train No. 15 in 1943, the derailment of the City of San Francisco in 1939 and the robbery of Southern Pacific's train No. 10 at Goodyear, California. Prominent individuals mentioned in the collection include Bill Miner, the DeAutremont brothers, Chris Evans and John Sontag, Jean LaBanta, and James Hogue.

 

Text and research material for a manuscript on the history of train robberies in the United States. The research material is arranged by event.

Box 1, Folder 1-2

Text, "U.S. Train Robberies, 1870-1933"

Folder 3

Robbery of Southern Pacific train No. 20, the Pantano Express, 1887

Folder 4

Robberies of Southern Pacific train No. 5, February 1894; 1895

Folder 5-6

Robbery of Southern Pacific train No. 15, the Oregon Express, 1904

Folder 7-10

Robbery of Southern Pacific train No. 10, 1910

Folder 11

Robbery of Southern Pacific train No. 23, 1913

Folder 12

Robbery of Southern Pacific train No. 5, 1913

 

Additional material on U.S. train robberies, and on the derailment of the City of San Francisco

Box 2, Folder 1

Robbery of Southern Pacific train No. 9, 1913

Folder 2

Robbery of Southern Pacific train No. 7, 1914

Folder 3-4

Robbery of Southern Pacific train No. 21, 1914

Folder 5

Robbery of Southern Pacific train No. 25, 1915

Folder 6

Robbery of El Paso and Southwestern train No. 31, 1922

Folder 7

Robbery of the Golden State Limited, 1922

Folder 8

Attempt to derail Southern Pacific train No. 78, 1922

Folder 9

Career of the DeAutremont brothers

Folder 10

Robbery of Southern Pacific train No. 36, 1930

Folder 11

Robbery of Southern Pacific train No. 76, 1932

Folder 12-16

Report and photographs of the derailment of the City of San Francisco, 1939

Box 3, Folder 1-2

Police training procedures manual, 1977

Folder 3-4

Miscellaneous Southern Pacific police material

Folder 5

FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, 1940

Folder 6

Railroad Police Progress, 1964

Folder 7

Robbery of Canadian Pacific train No. 63, 1920

Folder 8

Material on a murder on Southern Pacific train No. 15, 1938

Folder 9

Material on train robber Bill Miner

Folder 10

Miscellaneous wanted circulars

Folder 11

Miscellaneous illustrations from newspapers

Folder 12

Unidentified photographs of a dynamited safe

Folder 13

Miscellaneous "mug shots"

Folder 14

Miscellaneous photographs of individuals

Folder 15

Miscellaneous unidentified train photographs

Folder 16

General information on train robberies

 

Material on the "Lower 13" murder aboard Southern Pacific train No. 15, 1943

Box 4, Folder 1

Robert E. Lee Folkes trial transcripts

Folder 2-3

Correspondence regarding the investigation, arrest, and trial of Folkes

Folder 4

General printed material on the trial of Folkes

Folder 5

Police investigative reports

Folder 6-8

Clippings

Folder 9-10

Photographs

 

Material on the "Lower 13" murder case

Box 5, Folder 1

Police reports on Robert Folkes

Folder 2

Medical Examiner's reports

Folder 3

Statement of Robert Folkes

Folder 4-5

Statements of Robert Folkes and witnesses

Folder 6-8

Statements of Southern Pacific and Pullman Company employees

Folder 9-11

Statements of passengers in Car D and others

Folder 12

Statement of Ralph Conner

Folder 13

Statement of John Funches

Folder 14

Statement of Ben Holt

Box 6, Folio 1

Clippings relating to train robberies, including:

 

Sontag and Evans, 1893

 

Brown and Dunbar, 1910

 

F. Martinez, 1912

 

Ralph Fariss, 1913

 

Jean LeBanta, 1914

 

James Hogue, 1914

 

E. Collins and F. Ryan

Folio 2

Contains clippings on general criminal activity, not railroad related, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Folio 3

Contains miscellaneous drawings and newspaper artwork from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.