On July 21, 1873, Jesse James and the James-Younger gang pulled off the first successful what of the American West, in Adair Iowa?
Adair, Iowa town is named after General John Adair, a general in the War of 1812 who later became the 8th governor of Kentucky. Adair was the scene of the first successful train robbery in the American West when on July 21, 1873, the James-Younger Gang (led by Jesse James) took US $3,000 from the Rock Island Express after derailing it southwest of the town. The derailment killed the engineer. A rare F5 tornado occurred near this town on June 27, 1953. Adair is recognizable from Interstate 80 by its tall yellow "smiley-face" water tower. Humorously known as "the happiest town on
James–Younger Gang Iowa; the James and Younger brothers were suspects. The bank contacted the Pinkerton National Detective Agency in Chicago, the first involvement of the famous agency in the pursuit of the James–Younger Gang. Agency founder Allan Pinkerton dispatched his son, Robert Pinkerton, who joined a county sheriff in tracking the gang to a farm in Civil Bend, Missouri. A short gunfight ended indecisively as the gang escaped. On June 24, Jesse James wrote a letter to the "Kansas City Times", claiming Republicans were persecuting him for his Confederate loyalties by accusing him and Frank of carrying out the robberies. "But I