In October 1923, three brothers held up a train headed south from Ashland. Instead of making off with the loot, however, they killed four people and led police on a worldwide manhunt. Newspapers called it “the crime of the century.” It came to be known as “The Last Great American Train Robbery.” But it was actually a total failure. So why do people still talk and write songs about it? What was so great about this heist?

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