The robber bands in the era of the stagecoach took their first form in the Middle Ages as robber barons and marauding bands of soldiers. At this point, travel no longer connoted “departure for war” but carried the implication of roving and plundering “cohorts of knights” (Soldier). The arsonist bands of the 16th century were responsible for the first high point in the history of brigandage. For a token fee, out-of-work mercenaries (Landsknecht) ransacked farms and entire villages, plun…