On May 5, 1865, the first U.S. train robbery took place near North Bend.

About a dozen men tore up tracks a couple of miles west of the village to derail an Ohio & Mississippi train that had departed from Cincinnati.

Nobody was hurt in the derailment, but more than 100 passengers were robbed at gunpoint of cash and jewelry. The robbers then blew open safes of the Adams Express Co. that were said to contain thousands of dollars in U.S. bonds.

The robbers fled on skiffs across the Ohio River into Kentucky. A telegraph was sent to nearby Lawrenceburg, Ind., where officials notified military authorities. Troops were sent after the robbers.

The outlaws were traced through Verona, Ky. - where they had caroused and bragged about the robbery - and on to Big Bone Spring. But the train robbers escaped.

- Rebecca Goodman

E-mail rgoodman@enquirer.com or call (513) 768-8361.