Outlaw. He was one of the most prolific train robbers of the Old West. First, he was a member of Tom "Black Jack" Ketchum's gang in New Mexico. However, after a failed train robbery, he fled the state to Utah and joined another gang headed by Butch Cassidy in 1898; this gang become to be known as the Wild Bunch and was the most successful train robbers in the West. After a couple of years robbing banks and trains for thousands of dollars and running from the law with his girlfriend Laura Bullion, he was captured, took to trial, found guilty of robbery and sentenced to 15 years at the Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia. After serving 10 years, he was released in June 1911 and returned to his life of crime with robberies in Tennessee and Texas. Kilpatrick's past robberies were in Nevada, Missouri, and the famous Great Northern Railroad robbery in Montana. Then on March 12, 1912, Kilpatrick and Ole Hobek, a former inmate from the Georgia Federal Penitentiary, carefully planned a train robbery near Dryden, Texas. They jumped the train, the Galveston, Harrisburg, & San Antonio Railroad #9, and to find that David Andrew Trousdale, a Well Fargo agent, was assigned to the train. Trousdale stopped a robbery worth $60,000 while it was in progress by killing both of the robbers. The robbers were carrying six guns, yet an opportunity to get one came to Trousdale, thus the robbers were killed with their own weapon. Being 6-foot 2-inches tall, Kilpatrick had the nickname of "Tall Texan."
Outlaw. He was one of the most prolific train robbers of the Old West. First, he was a member of Tom "Black Jack" Ketchum's gang in New Mexico. However, after a failed train robbery, he fled the state to Utah and joined another gang headed by Butch Cassidy in 1898; this gang become to be known as the Wild Bunch and was the most successful train robbers in the West. After a couple of years robbing banks and trains for thousands of dollars and running from the law with his girlfriend Laura Bullion, he was captured, took to trial, found guilty of robbery and sentenced to 15 years at the Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia. After serving 10 years, he was released in June 1911 and returned to his life of crime with robberies in Tennessee and Texas. Kilpatrick's past robberies were in Nevada, Missouri, and the famous Great Northern Railroad robbery in Montana. Then on March 12, 1912, Kilpatrick and Ole Hobek, a former inmate from the Georgia Federal Penitentiary, carefully planned a train robbery near Dryden, Texas. They jumped the train, the Galveston, Harrisburg, & San Antonio Railroad #9, and to find that David Andrew Trousdale, a Well Fargo agent, was assigned to the train. Trousdale stopped a robbery worth $60,000 while it was in progress by killing both of the robbers. The robbers were carrying six guns, yet an opportunity to get one came to Trousdale, thus the robbers were killed with their own weapon. Being 6-foot 2-inches tall, Kilpatrick had the nickname of "Tall Texan."
Bio by: Linda Davis
Inscription
Train Robbers killed while robbing GH & SA Train No. 9 March 13, 1912 Ben Kilpatrick - 1912 Ole Hobek - 1912
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