This historical marker outside the former Jackson County Courthouse in Jacksonville reminded me of the railroad murders 100 years ago.
If you’re interested in American railroads and Oregon history, and even if you’re not, this is an important centennial year.
It was 100 years ago, in 1923, that the three DeAutremont brothers held up Southern Pacific’s Portland-to-San Francisco express in the Siskiyou Mountains south of Ashland. They had hoped to rob a shipment of gold but fled with nothing after killing four SP men on the train.
The story is summarized on a marker outside the former courthouse in Jacksonville. I’ve looked at the marker before and did so again last week.
You can learn more details from any number of books. And there’s a short documentary film produced by the University of Oregon journalism program. It’s on YouTube here.
The memory of the botched train robbery was still alive among longtime residents of Ashland when I worked at the newspaper there 50 years ago. And in 1973, it was big news in the town when Gov. Tom McCall commuted the sentence of Ray DeAutremont, the last surviving brother. Ray had been paroled years before and worked as a janitor at the U of O.
The brothers, Hugh and twins Roy and Ray, were on the run for four years until they were caught. Today, the jail where the brothers were briefly held in 1927 is still there, sitting next to the former courthouse.
The old jail is an art gallery now. The courthouse next door served as a museum for many years after the county seat was moved to Medford. Then it sat empty for a while, and now it’s the Jacksonville City Hall.
The train robbery took place at Tunnel 13 on the SP line. I went through the tunnel once, in the 1970s when the SP gave me a ride on a freight’s caboose from Ashland to Yreka.
In recent years, the tunnel and other parts of the line through the Siskiyous was refurbished, and the Central Oregon and Pacific Railroad resumed freight service in 2015.
I imagine the train crews can’t help but spend a moment’s thought on what happened there a century ago when they go through that tunnel now. (hh)
If you blow this up, you can probably read the summary of the last train robbery.
The jail that once held the DeAutremont brothers serves as an art center now.
Thanks for the insightful history lesson of our region!
Thanks for the article, Hasso. (Did you catch an Ashland play while down there this weekend?)
Ray was a patient of mine at Valley West Retirement Center when I worked there as a Consultant Dietitian. He gave me a signed copy of the book about the train robbery: “The Great Train Robbery.” He died there of natural causes in 1984. He was 84.
Hasso, this story actually has an Albany connection. The DeAutremont brothers bought their guns at the Hauser Brothers sporting goods store at 211 First Avenue SW, Albany
Thanks. If I ever knew that, I had forgotten it.
It was a minor detail mentioned in a book about the incident.
It was not a robbery, it was a holdup, the DeAutrements got nothing. It happened on October 11th 1923.I have in my collection an original reward poster issued the day of the holdup and partially burned mail salvaged from the mail car.