On Dec. 18, 1929, Tom Averill — better known as “Tom Vernon” or “Buffalo” Tom — was sentenced to life in state prison for the infamous Great Saugus Train Robbery. Los Angeles County District Attorney Buron Fitts sought the death penalty, but Vernon instead received a life sentence for the daring crime that had shocked the region just one month ...

On the evening of Nov. 10, 1929, just southeast of what is now the Santa Clarita Metrolink station, a daring and dramatic train robbery unfolded in Saugus, California. It was an act that would go down as one of the region’s most audacious crimes, carried out by an ex-convict and drifter known as Tom Averill, AKA “Tom Vernon” or “Buffalo” ...