Margaret Laplante

The Deautremont Brothers: America's Last Great Train Robbery Margaret Laplante

On October 11, 1923 the DeAutremont brothers, twins Ray and Roy, age 23, and their brother Hugh, age 19, held up the Gold Special, also known as Train 13, of the Southern Pacific Railroad just outside of Ashland, Oregon. With the help of a forensic scientist from the University of California at Berkeley, the authorities knew within nine days who the suspects were. With wanted posters plastered the world over one would expect the authorities to make a quick arrest. Why then did it take almost four years and a half-a-million dollars to locate the DeAutremont brothers in what was called at the time, "The world's greatest manhunt?" This book is based on the DeAutremont brothers' own words along with numerous other sources.