17. An Outlaw’s End
Eventually, Pinkerton Agency detectives learned of Frank Reno’s plans to rob another train. So they staged an ambush, and soon as the Reno Gang boarded the train on July 9th, 1868, the Pinkertons opened fire. Most of the gang escaped, but a captured member identified two others, who were arrested the following day. The train taking them to jail in Seymour, Indiana, was stopped by masked vigilantes, who lynched the three prisoners. Three more gang members were captured soon thereafter, and the train taking them to the Seymour jail was again stopped by masked vigilantes. They were just as deadly as before, and hanged the prisoners from the same tree.
Frank Reno fled to Canada, but was captured in Ontario and extradited to the US, where he was held with three accomplices in the Floyd County, Indiana, jail. On the night of December 11th, 1868, scores of masked vigilantes marched on the jail and forced the jailer to surrender the keys. Frank Reno was then dragged from his cell in the early hours and lynched, followed soon thereafter by the remaining gang members.
