Chapter 68

"What's this?"

The Dillinger Gang and Alvin Karpis were gathered in the abandoned theater's office. It was time to discuss the robbery and tension was already threatening the general atmosphere. John and the rest of the men had been anticipating a plan surrounding the Trust and Savings Bank- timing, safes, cars, positioning, ect. Instead, Alvin Karpis presented a large roll of paper and unraveled the page on the table. It appeared to be the blueprints of a train. Everyone was baffled but John had been the first to voice the question.

"Gentlemen, this is the Alton railroad Hummer."

Alvin's comment was followed by silence. There was a tightness setting deeply into John's jaw as he continued to hear unfamiliar information. Karpis always had to be up to something. With the continuing silence in the room and the hard look upon John's face Pete spoke next, hesitantly.

"Why you showin' us this?"

Karpis answered obviously, "this is the train we'll be robbing."

A ripple of emotion generated and flowed through all the men at the table. John's mood derailed instantly. This was precisely why he disliked Alvin- he was inconsistent and undependable. Never before had John heard about anything involving a train. Alvin had falsely contacted them if his intentions had been built upon a train robbery the entire time.

"What about the bank?" John asked darkly. The gang knew (and feared) that tone and look brewing on John's face.

"Well Johnnie, you can clearly see that is no longer the plan-"

"That's not what we agreed!" he barked over Alvin's casual and infuriating voice.

"Keep an open mind. You might enjoy it more than you think…"

"Christ," John spit out while other versions of curse words were released around the table.

"Yeah," Homer mumbled. "We ain't never robbed a train before. At least, I haven't…"

"Let me go over the plan before you make final judgments…" Alvin jumped right into an explanation of how he envisioned the heist. Though the train was a cargo freight it would still pass along the Alton railway through a station a few miles away. Some passengers would be boarding and departing. He described a quick but complicated ambush spanning along multiple train cars- one of the last cars near the traction motors holding the train's money. He also wanted the men to rob any passengers that crossed their path. Karpis made it clear he did not want to lose those extra few dollars.

Alvin had a grand plan which he imagined was fault-proof. Much time had been spent on pursuing the money, and hardly no time on the escape plan. John could hardly stand to listen, pacing near the table, his back to Karpis for most of the speech. John was unfamiliar with trains; he knew nothing about robbing them. Banks were his preference; safes his expertise. Karpis wanted to throw him and his men into an incomplete and insufficient plan. John didn't doubt that he and his gang could do it- they were skilled as well as criminals could be credited. They could successfully rob a train if they wanted to, but because they were being asked by Alvin Karpis, John was totally unwilling.

"How do you suppose we get out? On the same platform we came in on? You want to rob the passengers, create complete uncontrolled hysteria, and expect to leave easily?"

To Alvin, there was nothing really different about robbing a bank verses a train. It was an achievable plan. John just wanted to decline. "Let me get this straight," Karpis began, now directly aiming to get a rise out of him." You have no qualms taking an entire bank hostage, but suddenly you're against robbing passengers on a train?"

In short, yes, John was against it. He robbed a bank, not its customers. The money he took from a bank was kept in a vault or a safe. He never took money directly from another mans wallet.

John was seething and when he was that upset it showed physically. His breathing came out heavy from his nostrils, his shoulders rising and falling. In the brief silence that John could not find or form words, Karpis continued his plan.

"Every man will have a compartment. Whatever is taken from that part of the train will be considered his share-"

This time there was a loud and steady uproar. The Dillinger Gang always divided their profits evenly. Even the man on watch or driving the getaway car got the same share as the one robbing the safe. Alvin robbed independently; he had no sense of teamwork. Sometimes, even criminals believed in equality and justice. Alvin's plan had some of John's men on the platform and never actually stepping on to the train. What would be their share if they were never given a compartment?

Karpis was changing the terms as he went along only because of the fuss that was raised. How he imagined he would tell multiple gangsters they would not earn money in a planned heist and agree quietly was another story. The more he changed the more they were all set up to fail. What was once a plan some minutes before was now a chaotic free-for-all. John's men and Karpis argued over their roles in the heist, creating pure mayhem. In order for everyone to get a share they all had to step foot on the train at some time, switching look-out duties mid-robbery and hoping for goods to be left in compartments already pillaged.

John knew if there was any way he could save the situation he would have to do it right then. He opened his mouth, not quite sure on what he would say, but Alvin added one more detail that felt like yet another slap in the face.

"…the 12:15 arrives at the station the day after tomorrow."

That was the last and final straw. They could not sufficiently save this plan, or even create a brand new one, in that amount of time. John was finished.

"No. I'm not doing it," he blurted abruptly, already feeling just slightly better that he had separated himself from that madness. He wasn't pleased to have no robbery to speak of and therefor no money, but it would cause more problems to get wrapped up in Karpis' ideas. John couldn't force his men to do or not do anything, but he knew what was best. "I won't take my men into that. If anyone wants to go you do so by yourself."

John's words were final and he didn't wait to leave the room. Once he was gone, the door slam still echoing around them, the men were independent beings faced with their own options. It didn't take long for the next man to speak and it was Homer who did so.

"If Johnnie ain't doing it, I'm not either." He looked at Karpis and shrugged, a silent kind of apology. Charles and Russell agreed as well, and there were only three other members of the gang left to decide. Instead of doing so right away they left Alvin in a state of aggravation and confusion, leaving the room and the ultimate details of the robbery up in the air.