On this day in Alabama history: Rube Burrow, gang robbed Arkansas train
Rube Burrow, the "Robin Hood of Alabama," was an outlaw whose robbery of a train near Pollard in Escambia County in 1890 led to a chase through Monroe and Marengo counties, ending in his death. Burrow and his cohorts robbed a number of trains across the South during the 1880s, garnering him fame and notoriety before his death by gunfire. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, Alabama Department of Archives and History)
December 9, 1887
Lamar County native Rube Burrow and his gang of outlaws robbed a train in Arkansas, making off with about $2,000 collected for the Illinois lottery. Burrow’s fourth train robbery, the heist caught the attention of the Pinkerton Detective Agency. The outlaw narrowly evaded his pursuers for nearly three years as he continued to rob trains across the Southeast and shot an officer, a train passenger and a postmaster. In October 1890, Burrow died in shootout at the Linden jail. His body was shipped by train back to Lamar County, making several stops along the way to display the infamous outlaw’s corpse.
Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.
Brothers and Lamar County natives Rube (left) and Jim Burrow were part of an outlaw gang that robbed trains in southern states during the late 1880s. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, Alabama Department of Archives and History)
For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.
