Previously, because the intelligence was provided by the Jesse Brothers and they also planned it, their James Gang took 60%.
Jesse and Frank exchanged glances, then nodded and said, "No problem, it's settled."
"Hahaha," Coleman patted Jesse's shoulder in satisfaction.
Just then, a fast rider rushed into the camp, and a bandit handed Jesse a telegram.
"Excellent, those gentlemen and ladies will board the luxurious special express train from San Francisco to Chicago tonight at 10:30 PM as planned," Jesse said happily.
So, the group began discussing the details of tomorrow morning's operation while eating barbecue.
—
Meanwhile, in a hotel south of Denver, two Spanish white men, after three days without news from Carlos and Pizarro's large contingent, decided to immediately send a telegram to their headquarters in Texas.
—
Inside the speeding train, Henry and the others ate some bread and dried beef for sustenance in their compartment.
In those days, the connecting corridors between train cars had not yet been invented, and ordinary passengers could not move between cars while the train was in motion, so there were no dining cars either.
After dinner, it was past 8:00 PM, and it was already dark. Many of the partitions in the Pullman sleeping car compartments had been opened.
Becky and Andre were already sleepy. Linda also opened the partition between her and Henry and Edith, letting them sleep in the lower bunk, while she climbed into the upper bunk.
Pete and Mary did the same. Henry's compartment was in the middle, and it immediately became quiet. He took out the black market files and began to read them by the oil lamp.
At 10:30 PM, the train stopped at Omaha train station, a large city in Nebraska, and many people got on and off.
In those days, steam locomotives had to have coaling and watering facilities along the railway line, and they also spent a lot of time adding coal and water to the locomotive during operation, so the fastest average speed was less than 40 miles per hour.
Henry noticed that two more cars had been attached behind his compartment—one ordinary car and one Pullman sleeping car.
A large group of young men and women, along with their escorts, stood on the train platform, ready to board.
"Oh? Consuelo and Cathy?" Edith, who also saw the group by the window, exclaimed in surprise.
The two young girls looked over at the sound and, delighted, walked over and asked, "Edith! What are you doing here? Didn't you go to Pittsburgh?"
Edith replied, "I accompanied my older sister and brother-in-law to Denver and just returned. What about you?"
Just then, the train whistle sounded, and Consuelo said, "The train is about to depart. Why don't you come down and join us in our family's car? There's enough space."
Edith turned her head and glanced at Henry's compartment, seeing him peering out and watching them. She smiled sweetly and turned back to Consuelo, saying, "Thank you, but no. I have friends here. I'll come over when we reach Chicago."
Consuelo and Cathy immediately followed Edith's gaze and noticed the handsome, dashing, and deep-eyed noble young man, Henry. Caught off guard, both their heartbeats skipped a beat, and the same thought arose in their minds—Edith has something going on!
The two looked at Edith playfully until she, a little embarrassed, slightly averted her gaze. Only then did Consuelo say with a smile, "Okay, it's settled then."
With that, the two turned and boarded the specially made Pullman car.
The escorts boarded the ordinary car.
Henry counted. There were as many as 40 escorts, 4 ladies and 10 young gentlemen in the Pullman car, and also a chef and 3 maids.
In those days, Pullman cars with kitchens were custom-made by families.
Privilege truly was everywhere, and the girl who spoke with Edith looked remarkably like Jennifer, the female lead from "Once Upon a Time in America" in a past timeline.
Edith no longer leaned out to look, and Henry composed himself, continuing to diligently read the intelligence files.
—
After Consuelo and her group were settled in their luxurious Pullman car, she whispered to Cathy, "Edith's excuse about visiting her cousin is probably just that, an excuse. It's a good thing your cousin Harry didn't come this time."
"Indeed, but I don't think Edith and that gentleman have a defined relationship yet," Cathy said.
"He shouldn't be from New York," Consuelo guessed.
"Right, we'll know when we ask Edith in Chicago. The most regrettable thing today is that Annie didn't come back to New York with us. Her marksmanship is truly unbelievable; I really want to ask her for some pointers," Cathy shook her head.
"Indeed, I believe she'll surprise those arrogant men at my birthday party," Consuelo said with anticipation.
Cathy turned to her cousin Mark and asked, "Mark, can you do what Annie did with her marksmanship this morning?"
Mark exchanged glances with a few of his close friends, then braced himself and said, "Annie's marksmanship is indeed accurate, but her drawing speed isn't fast enough. Her marksmanship is only suitable for performance."
His friends all nodded, secretly admiring Mark's eloquence.
Consuelo and Cathy exchanged glances, not bothering to expose their stubbornness, and changed the subject.
More than an hour passed. Henry put away the intelligence files, took off his suit jacket and deerskin shoes, put them into his storage space, and changed into jeans and a coarse cloth shirt to sleep.
Although it was a bit uncomfortable to sleep like this, if anything unexpected happened, he could react immediately.
More than five hours passed, and it was almost dawn.
The Jesse Brothers and the Younger Brothers led two bandit gangs, totaling 62 people, and ambushed the train line before a bend about twenty miles past Des Moines, Iowa, about twenty meters to the right of the train tracks.
They had already removed a ten-meter section of rail from this blind curve in the track. If the train didn't brake, it would derail.
Jesse arranged for bandits to place a carriage about 50 meters before the bend, and he had a bandit dressed as a decent-looking worker hold a red cloth strip to stop the train about 800 meters before the bend.
A machine gun and two groups of 8 machine gunners were already ambushed on a small hill about fifty meters from the tracks.
'If the train doesn't stop, then it's not my fault.'
Jesse thought to himself.
Because his usual area of activity was primarily Iowa, he didn't want to cause too many civilian casualties, lest he become a rat crossing the street, hated by everyone.
In any case, even if the train derailed, it shouldn't affect the last four Pullman cars.
They chose this location because it was about 6 miles from the next train station, Marshalltown, and this stretch of road was very difficult to travel.
After the incident, it would take at least an hour for police personnel to arrive, which was enough time for them to escape with the hostages.
"Clang!" The rhythmic, muffled sound of the train came from afar.
Soon, a long train spitting out thick white smoke appeared in the distance.
--------------------------
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