American Influence Seen

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30206, 10 August 1963, Page 11

American Influence Seen

IN.Z Prest Aftociation—Copyright)

'XEM YORK. August 9

The British train robbery made famed American badmen of the Old West, such as Jesse James, look like pikers, the New York “Herald Tribune" said today. The British bandits must have seen the 60-year-old American film called “The Great Tram Robbery”—and taken a leaf from its book, the newspaper said. “As every red - blooded American boy knows, or thinks he knows, the history of the Wild West is studded with Robin Hood-like exploits of lovable rogues who specialised in a particularly American pastime, robbing trains." the article continued. “Largely because of the movies, men like Jesse James, the Younger brothers, and Wild Bill La Trasse—cutthroats all, really—show up as courtly cavaliers in the rough who, working with

smooth genius, deprived the railroads of fortunes. “Sorry, but this is mere myth The American brand of train robber was a piker compared with the modern British variety “Even at his luckiest. Jesse James seldom netted more than 5000 dollars from a train holdup, and plans were notably lacking in his raids. “The Missouri outlaw and his followers picked up 3000 dollars in their first try in 1873—missing a train on the same line, a few hours later, that carried 75,000 dollars in gold.

"America’s first big train robbery occurred not in the West, but near Stamford, Connecticut, in 1866. Three men made off with cash, bonds and jewels valued at 700.000 dollars. Caught later, they implicated seven others, including a train messenger. “The myth of great Ameri-

can train robberies was enhanced greatly by a 1903 nine-minute movie that has become a classic, entitled, unsurprisingly, The Great Tram Robbery' Just how much the six thieves got in that robbery was not made plain, but the robbers were crude chaps compared to the gang that made off with that histone haul in Britain yesterday. . :. “In the movie, the villains

• . . force the engineer (driver) to uncouple the engine from the train and take them down the track to their getaway horses . . . here, the Britons seem to have taken a leaf out of the American train robbery book. They, too. uncoupled the engine and rode it. along with two railroad care loaded with loot, down the track to getaway care. At least one of them must have seen that movie—and believed in the American myth."