SAM BASS AND GANG
Miller, Rick. SAM BASS & GANG. State House Press, Austin, Texas. 1 limited edition. “State House Press issues this special edition of fifty numbered and signed copies. Copy No. 28.” Autographed by the author.
Sam Bass (July 21, 1851 – July 21, 1878) was born in Mitchell, Indiana and orphaned prior to his 13th birthday. Moving to Denton, Texas in 1870, he is remembered as a notorious Old West train and stagecoach robber who pulled off the first successful gold train heist in Texas. The robbery of a Union Pacific train in Big Springs, Nebraska allowed Bass and his gang to make off with between $60,000 to $65,000 in gold coins and valuables. Returning to Texas, Bass formed a gang specializing with the robbery of trains and stagecoaches across North Texas. By the spring of 1878 he had robbed four trains within a 25 mile radius of Dallas. On July 19, 1878 Bass and his men ran into a deadly gunfight known as the Round Rock shootout where he shot it out with local deputies and Texas Rangers. Williamson County Deputy Sheriff A.W. Grimes was killed along with gang member Seaborn Barnes. It is generally though that Texas Ranger Sergeant Richard “Dick” Ware fired the fatal shot. Bass was wounded, but escaped into a pasture north of town where he was found the next morning having died of his wounds...it was his 27th birthday. He is buried in the Round Rock cemetery.
As new.