Description

This ornament commemorates a notorious train robbery that occurred in October 1894. As the train slowly crossed the Aquia Creek trestle bridge, two masked men boarded and forced the engineer at gunpoint to stop the train and to detach the locomotive. After blowing up the express car with a stick of dynamite, the robbers stole money and valuables with an estimated worth of $150,000 and made off in the locomotive. About a mile away at the Widewater road crossing in Stafford, the robbers unloaded their loot and set the engine loose. The runaway train was diverted at Quantico. The robbers were apprehended several days later and the stolen monies recovered.

These ornaments are created annually and represent Stafford’s historically significant people, places and events. They are ~ 2.5 inch ovals and made of 24K gold-layered brass.