By Chris Miller and Mike Fratantoni Los Angeles Sheriffs’ Museum

THE LAST GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY IN CALIFORNIA t was November 10, 1929. The Southern Pacific Railroad line West Coast Limited bound for Portland, Oregon, had just passed through ISaugus and was in Mint Canyon, about one hour northwest of Los Angeles. Suddenly, without warn- ing, the train’s engine lurched forward, stopped for a split second, lurched again, then flipped onto its side. Scalding steam poured from the boiler while blazing oil burned the sides of the canyon as it shot from the firebox. Fireman George Simms rushed to the cab and worked frantically to free engineer R.C. Ball, who was pinned inside. The shocked moment of dead silence immedi- ately following the shattering crash erupted into pure chaos. People began yelling and screaming as the trainmen vainly attempted to calm everyone down. The train contained nine cars, including two baggage cars and two passenger coaches. People swarmed from the coaches that still stood upright, while others crawled out of the windows and doors By now, Doctors Campbell and O’Rourke had the damaged rails, they came loose, causing the from those that had overturned. Mail clerks and freed Ball from the engine’s cabin and begun train to derail. baggage men now struggled frantically to escape administering first aid to the steam burns that It was clear to investigators that the person who the twisted metal cages that, moments before, had covered his body. The engineer was the only one caused the wreck knew railroading and had cleverly been their steel-barred work enclosures. badly injured, with most of the others suffering sabotaged the track without alerting the engineer. Backlit by the flames from the burning oil, the mainly from shock or bruises. The spikes had been pulled out, but the electrical silhouette of a tall, thin man with a blue bandana Several members of the train crew had set off to connections between the rails had remained intact. covering his face suddenly stepped up and said, find the nearest inhabited building from which to If these connections had been broken, the elaborate “Stick ’em up, everybody! I mean business!” The call for help. They happened upon Baker’s Ranch, semaphore system would have set up blocks stop- passengers were terror-stricken. A nickel-plated the estate of “Snowy” Baker, an internationally ping the oncoming train, while warning about the revolver was pointed directly at them, and the known Australian sportsman and one of Ameri- danger ahead. handle of a semiautomatic handgun peeked men- ca’s leading polo players. From there, they called The investigation — involving deputy sheriffs, acingly from the gunman’s left pocket. the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s railroad detectives and officers from half a dozen Just then, George Simms yelled for assistance as substation in Saugus to report the train wreck and nearby towns — was still in progress when a relief he desperately attempted to remove Ball from the robbery. train arrived to transport the train crew and pas- mangled wreck. Defying the gunman, two men Within 20 minutes, Sheriff’s deputies, doctors, sengers, many suffering from shock and hysteria, stepped out of the crowd. One of them was F.H. nurses and ambulances were on the scene. Engi- back to Los Angeles. Campbell, who said, “We’re doctors. For God’s neer R.C. Ball was taken to a hospital, where, for It wasn’t until the first light of dawn that the sake, let us go up there to the engine, where we are the next 24 hours, his life hung precariously in investigators found their first clue: a light-colored needed.” Receiving no reply, Campbell tossed his the balance. coat with a torn pocket fitting the description given wallet to the robber. Then the physician, accompa- Forming a posse, the Sheriff's Department by victims. Since the suspect had been wearing a nied by Dr. W.P. O’Rourke, ran to the train engine began a search throughout the countryside, look- blue bandana, there were very few other details to help. ing for the daring criminal in every hideout they except that his face was thin. One victim said it Focusing once more on his captives, the masked could find. appeared that the robber had freckles. Los Angeles robber ordered, “Shell out, all of you, and be quick County Sheriff William Traeger and his deputies about it.” After gathering just over $300 in cash THE INVESTIGATION checked out hundreds of leads on the case without and jewelry from the nearly 100 passengers, the Investigators had no problem determining what success. robber turned and fled into the darkness. A voice caused the accident. A toolbox had been broken with an English accent could be heard from the into and a wrench and pinch bar removed. These A SUSPECT LOCATED back of the crowd, asking, “Is this the wild and were used to pry the spikes from the fishplates that The day after the train wreck, Lester F. Mead wooly west of which I’ve read?” bound the rails to the ties. When the train reached was hired as a ranch hand at a farm in Riverside

20 Star News November 2017 Deputies Higgins (second from left) and Jones (far right) teaming up to search attendees at a trial in 1928

County. He bragged to the other workers that he DEPUTY CASEY JONES would appear in newspapers, Mead was returned had wrecked the train and robbed the passengers. Deputy Jones had spoken in a whisper since he to the psychiatric hospital. When interviewed by Sheriff Traeger and Captain was shot in the throat by an inmate during an escape Howard Brooks, chief of the Robbery Squad, he attempt at the Hall of Justice just 10 months earlier. A NEW LEAD said that he was walking along a highway when two On January 21, 1929, Deputies Higgins and Jones In order to obtain new leads, newspapers men approached him. They asked if he wanted to had been on the jail elevator escorting Jack Hawkins reprinted the story about the train crash and rob- participate in a train robbery with them. He said and Robert Hayes from the grand jury room on the bery, including a description of the suspect, saying that he stole the tools and pulled the spikes, then sixth floor back to the upper jail floors. The pair of that his face was thin and possibly freckled. they gave him $250 and told him to beat it. He said inmates, nationally known gangsters, were being Helene and Evelyn Frith, two sisters who lived he wasn’t in on the robbery and gave a very poor pressured to testify on corruption in the Los Ange- a few miles northwest of Los Angeles in Burbank, description of the two men. les Police Department and the District Attorney’s read the story intently as they recalled a car ride Sheriff Traeger — head of the largest sheriff’s Office. In order to keep from giving their testimony, with their parents the day of the train wreck. A department in the United States — and 926 of his they had arranged to have a gun smuggled in so man without a hat or coat was walking along the deputies were convinced that they had the robber, that they could escape. Once they were on the jail road and flagged them down, said he had been but the two investigators on the case, Deputies Tom elevator, Hawkins pulled a .32 automatic from his involved in a train wreck and asked if they would Higgins and Casey Jones, thought otherwise. They waist and began shooting, one of his rounds striking take him to the Hollywood hospital. The father had a hunch that Mead was mentally ill and con- Jones in the neck. Both deputies immediately pulled sat him in the back seat with the girls, and during fessing to a crime he didn’t commit. Higgins said their guns and fired. Jones’ rounds struck Hawkins the 20-minute drive the stranger explained that that Mead could never fit into the coat that was in the chest, killing him. Since surviving that shoot- he had been aboard the train when it derailed, found at the scene. Jones whispered that he agreed ing, Higgins and Jones continued on as partners, but never mentioned anything about a robbery. with Higgins. working together through the rest of their careers. The daughters noticed that the man’s face was thin During that time, Higgins and had liver spots, which, in the darkness, might did most of the talking. be mistaken for freckles. They dropped the man off at the hospital and drove away without seeing FALSE if he went inside. After reading the story in the CONFESSION newspaper, the two girls told their father about After signing a confes- their suspicions and he encouraged them to call sion, Mead was interviewed the Sheriff’s office. They recounted their story to by Deputies Higgins and Deputies Higgins and Jones, with Helene adding Jones. Five hours later, they that the man had a drooping left eyelid. received a telegram from the superintendent of the Medi- SUSPECT REMEMBERED cal Lake Asylum in Spokane, For a full day, Higgins could not get the droop- Washington, stating that ing eyelid out of his mind. He knew he had run Mead had escaped from the across a suspect in the past who had a drooping institution and on several left eyelid — he just couldn’t remember who it previous occasions had con- was. The next day he was sitting in his office fessed to crimes he could not when it came to him. He yelled out, “I’ve got it, have committed because he I’ve got it!” and rushed into Captain Brooks’ office. was locked up at the time. Other deputies in the office thought he’d lost his After admitting that he had mind. Higgins told Brooks that he knew who was The major players in the LASD’s train wreck investigation, at a lied to Sheriff Traeger and retirement dinner three years earlier Captain Brooks so his name continued on page 22

November 2017 Star News 21 responsible for the train wreck and robbery in Los he was going straight and talking Angeles, as well as a later train wreck and robbery about his rough childhood. His in Wyoming. father, Tom Avirell, was a cattle rancher in the Dakotas, and his WYOMING DERAILMENT mother was known throughout the AND ROBBERY county as “Cattle Kate.” Vernon was Higgins was referencing the “Wyoming job.” known for telling wild stories like On November 25, 15 days after the Los Angeles the one he told about his parents’ incident, the Union Pacific System’s Portland death — that they were attacked Flyer was derailed and the passengers robbed by a band of Indians who came to near Cheyenne, Wyoming. Although the execu- their cabin, stole their cattle, and tion of both crimes was the same, with the signal hanged his father and mother. Tom system wires untouched while the spikes were said he was hanged and left to die, removed from the fish plates, investigators didn’t but was rescued by another tribe of think the incidents were related because the trau- friendly Indians. He was raised by the Indian tribe could go to Denver to interview Vernon. Brooks matized passengers gave different descriptions of until he was 16 or 17 years old, then ran away and gave his approval, but Higgins’ hopes were dashed the suspect. began working for a man whose last name was when he discovered there was no money to go to Vernon, which he adopted for himself. After rid- another state to gather evidence. Funding was only SUSPECT IDENTIFIED ing through the Dakotas, Wyoming and Arizona, available to travel to another state or country to pick Captain Brooks was not convinced that they he traveled to Pennsylvania, where he committed up a prisoner who was already in custody. Higgins had their man, so Higgins and Jones located a a robbery and spent a short time in the Western was underpaid and didn’t have the cash to pay his photograph of the suspect in the Sheriff’s gallery Penitentiary at Pittsburgh. Moving on to Ohio, own way. Jones listened to Higgins plead for money, of mug shots. They took the photo and showed it he committed another burglary and spent time in then dashed out of the room. He contacted other to the Frith girls, who identified him as the man prison there. As he continued west, his ability to deputies and collected $200 to send Higgins to Den- they picked up the day of the train wreck, specifi- ride horses helped him obtain jobs in Hollywood, ver. He also received pledges for another $200 that cally pointing out his droopy eyelid. Higgins and working with film actor Harry Carey in his popu- would be sent to Higgins in the future. Jones rushed back to L.A. and told Brooks that lar western movies. the suspect was Tom Vernon, an ex-con who did Higgins had arrested Vernon for burglary 10 SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENTS time in Pennsylvania and Ohio for robbery. They years earlier. After spending time in prison, Ver- COMPETE FOR A SUSPECT surmised that he learned about railroads while he non was released and then committed another Two days later, Higgins was at the Denver Police was operating a donkey engine within the prison burglary; this time he was sent to Folsom. When Department seeking the assistance of Acting Cap- walls of Folsom. That’s how he knew not to cut the he was freed in October, Tom came by the office tain of Detectives James Maxwell, who was one tie wires to the semaphore system that would alert and met with Higgins. A short while later, he came of the cleverest manhunters in the West. Higgins the engineer to problems ahead. by again and said that he had applied for a job as and Maxwell checked all of the rooming houses a fireman with the Southern Pacific Railroad, but and hotels, showing Vernon’s photograph at each PRIOR SUSPECT CONTACTS was turned down after they learned of his criminal one. They finally got the break they were looking Higgins realized that Vernon had come into record. Even though he was bitter, he said that he for when a hotel clerk recognized Vernon. Unfor- his office in October the previous year, saying that was going to continue on the straight and narrow. tunately, he had left for Cheyenne a week before. Higgins was on the next train to Wyoming — where, AN ALIBI just like before, the hotel clerk recognized Vernon Vernon wrote to Higgins from but said he had already left, this time for Denver. Denver; the envelope was postmarked Higgins returned to Denver, only this time, Sheriff November 14. In the letter, he claimed G.H. Romsa of Laramie County was on the train to have left Los Angeles on the morn- with him. He wanted Vernon in connection with ing of November 10, which was the the Union Pacific train wreck and holdup in Wyo- day of the train wreck. Higgins didn’t ming. The manhunt turned into a race between the realize until later that Vernon was sheriff’s departments, each wanting to arrest and trying to establish an alibi that he was try Vernon in its own state. As an added bonus, not in L.A. when the crime occurred. a $10,000 reward was offered by the railroad and Higgins checked out the alibi and government, which, at the time, could be collected discovered that Vernon had, indeed, by law enforcement officers. But more importantly, left on a bus bound for Denver on the railroad wanted the criminal who had caused so November 10. But instead of leaving much damage to its trains and terrorized its patrons. in the morning, he left at midnight, four hours after the train robbery. THE BIG BREAK When Higgins arrived in Denver, he was very HELPING A tired. Being unfamiliar with the city, he started FELLOW DEPUTY walking up 17th Street from Union Station. Nor- Thomas Vernon’s Folsom Prison ID card Higgins asked Captain Brooks if he mally he would’ve checked into a nicer hotel, but

22 Star News November 2017 he stopped at the first respectable-looking place he Sheriff Romsa wasn’t giving up without a fight. He could find. Settling into his room, Higgins began had a great argument for taking Vernon back with studying his notebook and papers to review the him, pointing out that in Wyoming, train wreckers facts of the case. He set the photograph of Ver- would be hanged. California had a similar law, but non on the dresser, and it was still sitting there nobody had ever been sentenced under its provi- the next morning when the maid arrived to clean sions. Higgins told Romsa that he would demand the room. He noticed her reaction when she saw the death penalty, but in reality he knew the most a Vernon’s picture. train wrecker would receive in Los Angeles was a life “Do you know that man?” he asked. sentence. Another concern he discovered was that She said, “Indeed I do. He lived here until two the governor of Wyoming had just returned home days ago. He left for Oklahoma, where he is going to from a hunting trip with the governor of Oklahoma meet Pawnee Bill so they can write a book together. — and now the Wyoming governor was asking for He told me to forward any mail that came for him extradition papers from Oklahoma. to Pawnee, Oklahoma.” EXTRADITION PAPERS TAKING A GAMBLE Higgins rushed to the phone and called L.A. Realizing he had found the suspect’s exact loca- County District Attorney Buron Fitts. Fitts told The back of Thomas Vernon’s 1930 Folsom tion, Higgins was shocked speechless. He was finally him that he did a great job and to stay put, that Prison ID card noted his life sentence for train on the verge of capturing Vernon, but only had he’d see him tomorrow. Higgins couldn’t figure out wrecking and robbery. enough cash left to get back to L.A. He contacted how the DA was going to obtain extradition papers Captain Brooks, who asked Sheriff Traeger for addi- and travel to Oklahoma in just one day. the day of the train derailment. He said that at first tional funding. The Sheriff had previously requested Fitts grabbed a suitcase that he always kept he just wanted revenge against the railroad for not money from the Board of Supervisors, who made packed, and ran from his office to the Sheriff’s hiring him and had no intention of staging a rob- an exception and granted a travel allowance for office on the second floor of the Hall of Justice. bery, but after seeing all the confusion, he realized Higgins to chase down the suspect. Not wanting to He asked the Sheriff to send a man by airplane to it would be easy to hold up the passengers, so that’s ask for any more, Traeger turned down the second the State Capitol in Sacramento with a demand for what he did. request, telling Brooks to instruct Higgins to come Governor C.C. Young to provide extradition papers back to L.A. and let the Wyoming sheriff arrest and requesting the return of Tom Vernon to California. LIFE IN PRISON prosecute Vernon. Chief Criminal Deputy Frank Dewar was given On Friday, December 13, Vernon pled guilty in Higgins wasn’t going to give up. His only hope the assignment from the Sheriff, and within five front of Superior Court Judge William Tell Aggelar. of capturing this train wrecker was to take a chance. hours he had the extradition papers on their way Fitz made a passionate plea for the death penalty, Laying his money down, he gambled on Lady Luck to Oklahoma City. telling the judge that Vernon was worse than a mur- ... and won! Having doubled his cash, he was now Sirens were blaring as Fitts was rushed to the derer; he intended to kill not one person, but scores ready to travel to Oklahoma, arrest his prime sus- terminal of Western Air Express to charter a plane. of innocent people he had never seen before and did pect and get back to L.A. His pilot was Jimmy Doles, one of the nation’s most not know. Judge Aggelar refused to pass sentence famous flyers. until a commission of doctors examined Vernon for ARREST WARRANT his sanity. On December 18, Tom Vernon was sen- Dumping all his clothes into a suitcase, Hig- THE CONFESSION tenced to life behind bars at Folsom Prison. Since gins left the hotel and went to the train depot. It By the time Fitts arrived in Oklahoma, Ver- he was being held as a habitual criminal, California would still be several hours before his train left, so non had made a full confession, admitting to the statutes prevented him from receiving either proba- he decided to go to police headquarters and thank California train wreck and robbery. This helped tion or parole. Acting Captain Maxwell for assisting him. When California receive the extradition instead of Wyo- he stepped into the police station, Sheriff Romsa ming. During the hours of questioning, Vernon A JOB WELL DONE was standing there. Somehow, he had learned that denied any involvement in the Wyoming train After Vernon was sentenced, fellow deputies con- Higgins was heading to Pawnee, and when Hig- crash, most likely because he knew Wyoming would gratulated Higgins on tracking down and arresting gins boarded the train, Romsa was on it. Higgins hang him if he was convicted. The Oklahoma gov- this criminal. Sheriff Traeger complimented Higgins was concerned because the Wyoming sheriff had a ernor explained that he awarded the extradition on what a great job he had done. Higgins’ partner, warrant for Vernon’s arrest. Higgins had nothing to of Vernon to California because, since the first of Casey Jones, congratulated him and shook his hand hold Vernon. That night, Higgins got off the train the two train wrecks occurred there, he should be vigorously. Captain Brooks patted him on the back. in a little Kansas town and wired Deputy Jones, returned to that state. In exchange, Fitts assured Higgins smiled as he thanked everyone and said, begging him to wake up a judge, obtain a warrant Wyoming authorities that if he failed to obtain a “But there’s no credit coming to me. Save the bou- and then telegraph it to the Pawnee sheriff. He was conviction, Vernon would be sent back to Wyo- quets for the greatest detective in the world — Lady to ask the sheriff there to find Vernon and arrest ming for trial. Luck. From the hour I got this case that old girl has him for Higgins. On December 10, exactly one month after derail- been right by my side, working every minute, just ing the train in Saugus, Vernon was transferred to as she is nine times out of 10 when a peace officer is FIGHTING OVER A SUSPECT the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Hall hot on a trail. And, all fiction stuff to the contrary, I’d When Higgins arrived in Oklahoma, he was of Justice Jail. Two days later, after giving a more rather have her for a partner than anybody I know delighted to find that Jones had contacted the sher- detailed confession, he was taken to the scene of — even Jones.” iff there and Vernon was in jail waiting for him, but the crime, where he re-enacted exactly what he did Edited by Jan Jenkins (ret. LASD). I

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