TexasEscapes.com HOME Welcome to Texas Escapes
A magazine written by Texas
Custom Search
New   |   Texas Towns   |   Ghost Towns   |   Counties   |   Trips   |   Features   |   Columns   |   Architecture   |   Images   |   Archives   |   Site Map

Columns
History/Opinion


Texas Towns
A - Z

New Book by
MIKE COX
Texas | Columns | "Texas Tales"

The Great 1931 Greyhound Hijacking
on Route 66

by Mike Cox
Mike Cox

As the driver turned the lumbering Pickwick-Greyhound bus off Route 66 for a construction detour that distant pre-dawn, most of his passengers slept or tried to. They were about to get a rude awakening.

In the early 1930s commercial bus travel could hardly be considered luxurious, but a Yellow Coach Co.-built bus beat the horse-drawn stagecoaches of the previous generation, an era many Texans still remembered. The bus had left Tulsa on the night of June 6, 1931 bound for El Paso. The last stop had been Erick, Oklahoma where two men boarded with tickets to the Panhandle town of Shamrock, Texas.

About 2:30 a.m. on June 7, driver W.E. Trammel felt something hard poke him in the back-the barrel of a pistol. The gunman and another passenger-the pair who had gotten on the bus in Erick-ordered Trammel to stop the bus, open the door and hand over his money. The stunned Trammel complied but he had no money or valuables to surrender. With the nation gripped in what would come to be called the Great Depression, Trammel was lucky to even have a job, much less any spending money.

Two cars pulled up and five other men and rushed on the bus. Now Trammel understood the significance of the vehicles his bus had been sandwiched between since leaving Erick. One had been closely following him, the other keeping pace just ahead of it.

When a rough search satisfied the robbers that Trammel wasn't lying about not having any money, they cursed him and called him a "hack driver." Then the hijackers turned their attention to the passengers, who they ordered off the bus. Like Trammel, five of the passengers either had no money or had managed to hide their cash and valuables. The take from the others ranged from $477 and a diamond ring lost by a woman from Michigan to a lady who had only $1 and a cheap watch.

In all, the robbers netted $668 in cash and $273 in jewelry. That haul, totaling $941, would have the spending power of $14,640 in today's dollars. Stealing a page from earlier "kind-hearted" outlaws like Jesse James, the robbers were not without consideration for their victims.

"Emulating the chivalry of the old time wild west robbers," the Associated Press reported later that day, "the highwaymen asked each passenger from whom they took money where he or she lived and 'refunded' enough change for them to wire home for more money and to buy their breakfast. The 'refunds' ranged from 70 cents to $1.50."

But while the robbers proved mildly considerate of their victims, they didn't want the bus going anywhere. Opening the hood (buses back then still had the engine in the front, looking more like overlong trucks than the flat-nosed buses of today) they shattered two spark plugs, ripped out the ignition wiring and even cut the fuel line.

With the bus disabled, the robbers got in the two cars that had been shadowing the bus and disappeared into the night. Trammel and two of the male passengers then walked more than 4 miles to the nearest town, Texola, OK. There Trammel reported the robbery to the bus company's office in Clinton, OK and in turn someone alerted law enforcement of the brazen robbery. The company also dispatched a mechanic who repaired the bus, which made it to Shamrock about sunup.


The holdup was big news, the banner story in many newspapers. While there wasn't anything funny about armed robbery, the anonymous AP staffer who filed the report must have had fun hoking it up.

"Rivaling the thrills of a stagecoach holdup in the wild and woolly days of the old West," the dispatch began, " seven unmasked highwaymen halted a Pickwick-Greyhound westbound bus nine miles east of here [Shamrock] early this morning and robbed its 18 passengers…"

Despite the splash it made, after the initial coverage, the story disappeared from the newspapers. Officers arrested two men in Erick, OK but when the bus passengers viewed them, they did not recognize anyone. If anyone else was ever arrested and charged with the holdup, which today would be a federal crime since it involved interstate commerce, it was not reported. And given the state of law enforcement in Texas at the time, that the case remained unsolved is not surprising.

The newly created Texas Highway Patrol did not yet have radios in their patrol vehicles so response time would have been slow. Nor did most sheriff's departments have two-way communication, especially those in small counties. The Texas Rangers surely investigated the case, but they had no forensic support and no tracks to trail. Another year would pass before even the FBI had a crime laboratory capable of analyzing fingerprints and any other evidence that might have enabled the case to be cleared.

Meanwhile, Route 66-the so-called Mother Road-continued as a major transportation artery until Interstate 40 made it obsolete. The great Shamrock hijacking of 1931 has been forgotten, but Route 66 became an American icon.

© Mike Cox
"Texas Tales" January 17, 2020 column


Mike Cox's "Texas Tales" :

  • The Zentners 1-9-20
  • Chicken Peddler 12-24-19
  • Cornbread 12-18-19
  • Snakebitten Family 12-12-19
  • Runyon and Rabb 12-4-19

    See more »

  • Related Topics:
    Route 66
    Texas Robberies
    Texas Small Town Sagas
    Old News

    More Columns

    Mike Cox's "Texas Tales" :

  • The Zentners 1-9-20
  • Chicken Peddler 12-24-19
  • Cornbread 12-18-19
  • Snakebitten Family 12-12-19
  • Runyon and Rabb 12-4-19

    See more »


  •  

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     



    Texas Escapes Online Magazine »   Archive Issues » Home »
    TEXAS TOWNS & COUNTIES TEXAS LANDMARKS & IMAGES TEXAS HISTORY & CULTURE TEXAS OUTDOORS MORE
    Texas Counties
    Texas Towns A-Z
    Texas Ghost Towns

    TEXAS REGIONS:
    Central Texas North
    Central Texas South
    Texas Gulf Coast
    Texas Panhandle
    Texas Hill Country
    East Texas
    South Texas
    West Texas

    Courthouses
    Jails
    Churches
    Schoolhouses
    Bridges
    Theaters
    Depots
    Rooms with a Past
    Monuments
    Statues

    Gas Stations
    Post Offices
    Museums
    Water Towers
    Grain Elevators
    Cotton Gins
    Lodges
    Stores
    Banks

    Vintage Photos
    Historic Trees
    Cemeteries
    Old Neon
    Ghost Signs
    Signs
    Murals
    Gargoyles
    Pitted Dates
    Cornerstones
    Then & Now

    Columns: History/Opinion
    Texas History
    Small Town Sagas
    Black History
    WWII
    Texas Centennial
    Ghosts
    People
    Animals
    Food
    Music
    Art

    Books
    Cotton
    Texas Railroads

    Texas Trips
    Texas Drives
    Texas State Parks
    Texas Rivers
    Texas Lakes
    Texas Forts
    Texas Trails
    Texas Maps
    USA
    MEXICO
    HOTELS

    Site Map
    About Us
    Privacy Statement
    Disclaimer
    Contributors
    Staff
    Contact Us

     
    Website Content Copyright Texas Escapes LLC. All Rights Reserved