photo #1714151

On today’s date 144 years ago, Thursday, December 20, 1877, famous Old-West outlaw Sam Bass (1851-1878) & his gang held up & robbed the Fort Worth-to-Cleburne stagecoach about ten miles south of Fort Worth. After relieving the two occupants of the coach of all their cash -- a grand total of eleven dollars & twenty-five cents, the outlaws allowed the coach to proceed upon its way, after which the gang members made their way to Fort Worth to hide out & spend their ill-gotten gains in the infamous Hell’s Half Acre red-light district (present-day site of the Fort Worth Convention Center & the Fort Worth Water Gardens).Note: According to some sources, including a State of Texas historical marker near the site of the hold-up, the above mentioned incident took place on December 22; however, the preponderance of the evidence indicates that December 20 is the correct dateThe 1876 photograph depicting Sam Bass with some of his gang members was taken at a Dallas photography studio during a cattle drive to Kansas. In the photograph, standing left-to-right, are Sam Bass & John E. Gardner, & seated left-to-right are Joel Collins & his brother Joe. Note: The gang members in this particular photograph are not necessarily the same outlaws who accompanied Sam Bass during the December 20, 1877 stagecoach robbery.