Today is Sunday, January 31st, 2021.

On this day in 1874, the James Younger gang committed the very first train robbery in the state of Missouri.

Welcome to Today in True Crime, a Spotify original from Parkast.

Today we're covering a daring train robbery by a gang of outlaws.

Let's go back to Gads Hill, Missouri on the afternoon of January 31st, 1874.

There was rarely any excitement in the tiny town of Gads Hill.

In fact, it could barely be called a town at all.

The whole community consisted of three houses, a combined general store

slash post office, and a train platform along the Iron Mountain Railroad. Usually, trains

didn't even bother stopping in Gads Hill, but this particular day was different. The Little

Rock Express had a scheduled stop to drop off a very important passenger,

State Representative L. M. Ferris.

By 3 o'clock that afternoon, Ferris' teenage son, Billy, was waiting to meet him at the station.

He waited in the general store, alongside a few other men and the train station attendant Tom Fitz. The rest of the

sleepy settlement went about their business, women in their homes, their children playing outside.

But the tranquility was soon broken when a group of five outsiders rode into town. Their tired horses were weighed down by traveling gear,

Colt Navy revolvers, and double-barreled shotguns.

The men hid their faces with hats pulled low and white masks with triangular eye holes.

Behind the masks were 26-year-old Jesse James and his older brother, 31-year-old Frank.

They were accompanied by another set of brothers, likely Jim and John Younger, as well as 40-year-old Arthur McCoy.

These comrades had fought in the Civil War as Confederate guerrillas,

but the war had been over for nearly ten years

...