July 3, 1902 - Chicago Rock Island Express Robbery

Charles Nessler expected to have a quiet evening. After all the hard part was over, he already managed to stow away on the Chicago Rock Island Express No. 3 en route to his home in Rock Island. All he had to do now was kick back and enjoy the ride…or so he thought. Any illusions of a peaceful night were shattered by the presence two men, also stowaways, with more on their mind than a free ride home.

Where Nessler saw the beginning of a bad night, the two men saw opportunity. Flashing their weapons, the two men ordered Nessler to lead the way to the front of the train. When the trio arrived, Nessler approached the engineer, Charles Goodall, and told him to stop the train. Goodall was in the process of laughing off his request when the fireman, Albert Duckett, spotted the armed men behind Nessler and pulled the brakes.

Once the train came to a stop, the outlaws made their way to the express car, ordering the clerks to open up. The two messengers, John E. Kain and William Rehgal, refused to open the car, only to change their minds when the outlaws threatened to use dynamite. Upon exiting the car, Kain lost his footing and fell awkwardly out of the compartment. The outlaws took this as an attempt to escape and shot Kain in the leg for his clumsiness.

Typical of trains of the day, the Rock Island No. 3 contained two safes, a large safe containing payrolls and the like, and a smaller one chiefly utilized by the passengers for the safekeeping of jewelry and other small valuables. The outlaws grabbed what the could from the small safe (rumored to be between $100 and $500 dollars in cash and jewelry), but left the larger safe alone when some of the passengers became curious and began to approach the express car. Had they been able to steal the contents of the second safe, the outlaws would have found themselves some $90,000.00 richer.

What the outlaws lacked in profits, they more than made up for in escape skills. After fleeing the approaching passengers, the bandits ran to their wagon and disappeared into the night, eluding the numerous posses dispatched out to bring the men to justice.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were credited with the crime, based partially on the testimony of Charles Nessler. When detectives showed Nessler photographs of Butch and Sundance, he stated they bore a general resemblance to the train robbers, but could not make a positive identification as it was dark out and robbers wore masks. Charles Goodall, the engineer involved in the robbery, testified that one of the bandits was bowlegged, which the Sundance Kid was commonly described as being, lending further credence to the Sundance Kid’s involvement.

Two local men also came forward with information on the train robbers. L.P. Moss, a local farmer, identified the photographs of Butch and Sundance as the two men who asked for directions earlier in the week. And J.W. Holstein, owner of a local hotel, stated he recently had three boarders who he believed to have cased the area earlier in the week. After seeing the photographs, Holstein believed one of the boarders resembled the Sundance Kid.

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