James Hume and John Thacker 281 pages softcover
In January 1, 1885, Wells, Fargo & Company’s chief detective James
B. Hume and special agent John N. Thacker published a report summarizing
the company’s losses during the previous 14 years. It listed 313
stagecoach robberies, 23 burglaries, and four train robberies but
included little or no details of the events themselves, focusing instead
on physical descriptions of the robbers. Widely circulated, the report
was intended to assist law enforcement in identifying and apprehending
the criminals believed still to present a danger to the company. The
present volume revisits each crime, updating Hume and Thacker’s original
report with rich new details culled from local newspapers, personal
diary entries, and court records.
