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Bandit Bill Carlisle #319 – Clarice Whittenburg Papers and Bill Carlisle Oral History

Bill Carlisle robbed his first train in 1916. He was broke and unemployed when he hopped aboard the Union Pacific to Green River. Working alone and wearing a bandana, he demanded money from the startled passengers. Carlisle noted that men and women reacted differently as he approached them at gunpoint:

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I’ve always maintained that women on a train showed more nerve, see, than men did. There was never any screaming or crying or anything like that you know, like you read about, by the women.

Wanted posters went up across southern Wyoming but Carlisle escaped. His second holdup netted more than five hundred dollars. He was captured and sentenced to life in prison after a third robbery. Undeterred, he escaped by hiding in a packing crate. Short on funds, he robbed one last train.

A posse gave chase and Carlisle was apprehended for a final time.

You can listen to the Bill Carlisle oral history at UW’s American Heritage Center to learn more.