15. Elmer McCurdy’s Passion for Explosives Started in the Army and Ended with Robbery
Throughout his life, McCurdy seemed to just kind of drift around. He did not do anything incredibly special to make himself famous, at least, not until after his death. However, this did not keep McCurdy from finding passions in his life. One of these passions he gained through his time in the United States Army. McCurdy joined the Army in 1910. While he did not do anything surprising in the army, Elmer McCurdy did find a new passion for explosives. While in the military, McCurdy worked with nitroglycerin demolitions. It did not take him long to realize the bombs could help him with certain parts of his life.
In life, McCurdy was an outlaw and knew that the skills he learned in the army with explosives could help him in his illegal activities. However, McCurdy would realize that he still had things to learn about bombs. McCurdy’s first robbery was on a Pacific Express Company train. He ended up melting $4,000 worth of silver because McCurdy used too much nitroglycerin. In the end, McCurdy and his partners were only able to dash away with $450 worth of silver. Unfortunately, for the robbers, they could not pry any more silver off the walls of the train before they had to run from authorities.