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Those Reno boys
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The Renos of Jackson County, Indiana were the original outlaw gang in the James, Younger and Dalton tradition. They carried out the first peacetime train robberies and started a Western trend… Frank, John, Simeon (Sim) and Bill were reprobates as youths, known for arson, cardsharping and horse stealing. One brother, Clinton, known as ‘Honest Clint’, took no part; nor did the sister Laura. With locals fingering lynch ropes, the four brothers thought it safer to remove themselves to the Civil War but only Bill actually completed his service for the North. The others were paid to enlist in the Union ranks, deserted and were paid again to enlist, enough times to make money without actually fighting.
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A grisly end
They haven’t received the fame that other outlaws such as the James Gang or the Daltons have. I know of no good book on them (though there probably are some) and only a couple of Westerns were made about them: Rage at Dawn (RKO, 1955) and Love Me Tender (Fox, 1956) – see our reviews. The movies were, of course, very unhistorical. You’d think that it would be rich material for Hollywood and that there would have been more films. But the gang only operated effectively for about two years. And they weren’t exactly Robin Hoods (none of the gangs was, though some of them pretended to be). They had no favorable press, as Frank and Jesse James did in Missouri, and they were acutely unpopular in their time and in their home state. Maybe it was that, though being nasty types didn’t stop Hollywood making other outlaws into heroes.
They didn’t even appear on Stories of the Century. You’d think Matt Clark would have captured them. He tracked down every other Western outlaw known to man.
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There was a documentary in 2013, The Legend of the Reno Brothers.
4 Responses
There is only one book about the Reno Brothers gang that I know of, and that is "The Masked Halters" by Edwin J. Boley. Copies are hard to find, though I have found them listed on online bookstores and some libraries have them, though they're not likely to allow them to leave the library. Here is a photo from Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/Masked-Halters-Edwin-J-Boley/dp/B0006CZCIC/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1431964541&sr=1-1&keywords=the+masked+halters
You'd think novels and movies would have picked up on the Renos and made more of them.
Jeff
Looking very interesting family article.
Not sure if Johnny Reno – Dana Andrews – is family related as he is a US marshall in the 1966 RG Springsteen film of the same name but I hope to read your prose about itbone day. JM