1915 Olmito / Tandy Station Train Robbery

By Leo Rodriguez including photos compiled with Javier R. Garcia

On October 18, 1915, at about 10:00pm, around 60-100 Mexican bandits derailed and burned the Saint Louis, Brownsville and Mexico passenger train number 101 six and a half miles North of Brownsville. The bomb attack on the two-passenger car train occurred as it was on its way from Harlingen to Brownsville. Spikes and fish plates were removed from the track and then the bandits used a wire cable to pull the rail to one side just as the train approached.

When the locomotive hit this section, it tipped over and plunged to its side in a ditch. The throttle of the engine pierced engineer H. H. Kendall’s chest. The engine had to be cut in two in order to remove his body. Train Fireman Woodall was badly scalded from the hot steam which escaped from the ruptured boiler but survived. The stopped train was then riddled with bullets before the bandits boarded it. The bandits then entered the cars and began robbing the passengers. In the ensuing confusion one of them shot Corporal Albert T. McBee. McBee was traveling with friends, as a passenger, and was unarmed. While others hid, or cringed on the floor, McBee stood tall. He was shot in the heart and killed instantly.

John Peavy is name of man in photo.

John Peavey badge which sold on Ebay for $1,600

Morris Edelstein, a Brownsville merchant who was aboard the train documented what had occurred with the help of his son Ben. As the bandits had approached him, he addressed them in Spanish and asked that his suitcase be left alone. They took him for a Mexican and did so.

“There was another passenger, a traveling salesman, whom the bandits seized and were ready to kill, when my father shouted in Spanish, ‘Don’t kill him he is German!’ (Which he was not). In those days the people in Mexico had a high respect for Germans. Some of the generals in the Mexican army were of German descent. The Germans were also friendly to the bandits. They furnished the bandits with guns, ammunition and other necessities, hoping that the bandits would drive all of the Texas settlers out of the state. The bandits stole the black porter’s shoes forcing him to run some three miles barefoot [to the Cottingham Ranch] before he could spread the news of the train robbery.

The traveling salesman profusely thanked Dad for having saved his life but swore that he would never return to Texas. For as long as he lived, every year at Christmas time the traveling salesman mailed Dad a Christmas card.” Several other people were shot, including Dr. Eugene Shannon McCain, the deputy state health officer, who died the next day at his home on Elizabeth Street. His family came from Refugio County to claim his body.

The bandits were led by Cameron County ranchers Aniceto Pizana and Luis de la Rosa, leaders of the Plan de San Diego. One of the passengers on the train recognized de la Rosa and asked why he was doing what he was doing, as they were all acquaintances. De la Rosa was preoccupied with the robbery and did not hear his friend, and brushed past him.

PIZAÑA, ANICETO (1877–1957)

(click on Aniceto above for TSHA brief bio of Aniceta and photo)

After the robbery some of the bandits burned the trestle bridge a mile north of the attack slowing the arrival of the authorities.

The murder of an Anglo passenger caused pandemonium among Anglo Americans in South Texas. Lonn W. Taylor, a curator at the Nation Museum of American History, recalls the account given by his great-aunt who lived in Kingsville, about 50 miles northwest of Brownsville, at that time. She was attending Sunday evening service at the local Methodist Church when an armed deputy entered and walked up to the pulpit, spoke to the preacher briefly, and then turned and said to the crowd, "The Mexicans have revolted and are murdering people all over South Texas. I have arranged for the owner of the hardware store to open-up presently so that all of you can buy arms and ammunition to defend yourselves against these bandits."

(random Ranger murder pic to go with story: John-D.-Arntfield-1916-Near-Mexico-With-Army-Dead-Bandit)

Several of the bandits were caught within the next few days. Some were summarily executed (lynched), while others were jailed and held for trial. The day after the attack the bodies of four Mexicans were discovered in the brush near Tandy's Station. They may have been bandits killed in the crossfire.

Those dead as a result of the attack: Dr. Eugene Shannon McCain Corporal Albert T. McBee Sergeant Shaffer, Troop G, Third cavalry First Class Private Joyce, Company G, Signal Corps First Class Private McConnell, Company D, Signal Corps

Those wounded; Private Fred Behr, Troop G. Third Cavalry Private Paul lengland, Troop G, Third cavalry First Class Seargeant, H.R. Smith, Signal Corps Corporal Lewis Candalla, Signal Corps Private Ben Hallenbeck, Troop G, Third cavalry Below is a photo taken the following morning of the derailed train, and 3 photograph's of the soldier's and crowd that gathered to pay their final respects to Corporal McBee as his casket is carried onto a railroad car.