Outlaws of Early Wyoming

The Outlaws of Early Wyoming

(Submitted by Kari~source: excerpts from Wanted Posters~additional data available upon request)

Sitting (l to r): Harry A. Longabaugh, alias the Sundance Kid, Ben Kilpatrick, alias the Tall Texan, Robert Leroy Parker, alias Butch Cassidy; Standing (l to r): Will Carver, alias News Carver and Harvey Logan, alias Kid Curry; Fort Worth, Texas, 1900.

THE WILD BUNCH~operated out of Hole-in-the-Wall area of Johnson Co, WY William Carver, Ben Kilpatrick, Harvey Logan (Kid Currie), Harry Longabaugh (Sundance Kid), Robert LeRoy Parker (Butch Cassidy). These men were often in the company of other outlaws who used the Hole-in-the-Wall as a hideout.

Harvey Logan~"Kid Currie"
Kid Currie was considered the most desperate and violent member of the Wild Bunch by Pinkerton Agent Lowell Spence. A wanted poster was printed and circulated in May, 1904 and a reward of $18,000.00 was offered by Union Pacific RR and Pacific Express Co for murder and train robbery. He is credited with at least 15 murders, some of which were deputies and sheriffs.

Harry Longabaugh~"Sundance Kid"
Harry was also known by "Kid" Longabaugh and Harry Alonzo. A wanted poster was printed and circulated in Sept, 1900 and a reward of $4,000.00 was offered by Union Pacific officials for bank robbery and train robbery. He started his criminal career in 1887 in Crook Co, WY and ended up spending 18 months in jail in Sundance, WY. He was pardoned by the governor in 1889, still under the age of 21. It is thought that the Kid was in the Hole-in-the-Wall country soon after this time and began running with the Wild Bunch then.

Robert LeRoy Parker~"Butch Cassidy"
Robert was also known as George Parker and George Cassidy. A wanted poster was printed and circulated in Sept, 1900 and a reward of $50,000.00 was offered by Union Pacific Express Co for bank robbery and train robbery. He began his outlaw career near Centerville, UT. His father had purchased a ranch known as a den for horse thieves and rustlers. Robert was tutored by outlaw Mike Cassidy and later adopted the Cassidy name. His first crime of note happened in 1897 in Colorado, but prior to that he was in Wyoming and involved in petty theft. His favorite haunts were Brown's Hole, Hole-in-the-Wall, Lander, Sheridan and Thermopolis~all these areas are in Wyoming except Brown's Hole, which was where Utah and Colorado met Wyoming.

Duncan Blackburn~"Dunc"
Blackburn was implicated in 3 holdups of the Cheyenne-Deadwood coaches. A wanted poster was printed and circulated in Nov, 1877 and a reward of $1,000.00 for an arrest and $200.00 for a body was offered by Cheyenne-Black Hills Stage Co for Federal Highway robbery, setting a prisoner free, grand larceny, assault with intent to kill, murder. Some believed that Calamity Jane took part in some of these robberies.

Dan Bogan ~Bill McCoy
Bogan was wanted for 2 Texas killings and implicated in 2 others before killing a constable in Lusk, WY. A wanted poster was printed and circulated in Oct, 1887 and a reward of $1,000.00 dead or alive murder of a peace officer and escape from jail. Notify Laramie County Sheriff Sharpless of Cheyenne, WY Territory.

Albert Bothwell
It was common knowledge that Bothwell had a feud with the two homesteaders he hanged. He considered them "nesters" and beneath him. A wanted poster was printed and circulated in July, 1889 and a reward of $5,000.00 for murder and kidnapping. Notify Carbon County Sheriff at Rawlins, WY Territory. Frank Canton He was a former Johnson County Sheriff, who became a Wyoming Stockgrowers Chief of Detectives. A wanted poster was printed and circulated in Dec, 1891 and a reward of $5,000.00 was offered by Johnson County Commissioners for the murder of a Buffalo area homesteader, referred to by the Stockgrowers as a "Rustler".

Bill Carlisle~"The White-Masked Bandit"
Carlisle was an orphan who came to the Powder River country and was a hard- working cowhand, but decided train robbery was a better way of life. A wanted poster was printed and circulated in Nov, 1919 and a reward of $5,000.00 was offered by Union Pacific Express Co dead or alive for train robbery and escape from penitentiary.

Richard Carr
Carr's gang gathered large herds of stolen horses for several years from the Wind River country to the Nebraska panhandle. A wanted poster was printed and circulated in May, 1895 and a reward of $3,000.00 was offered by Fremont County Commissioners for grand larceny, escape, resisting arrest and assault against peace officers. Carr was pursued and escaped capture in Sheridan and was caught in Casper and jailed, but escaped and was caught again in Lander only to escape again.

George Currie~"Flat Nose George"
George was widely quoted as being an outlaw was "just for the fun of it." A wanted poster was printed and circulated in Jun, 1899 and a reward of $3,000.00 was offered by the Union Pacific Express Co dead or alive for train robbery and cattle rustling. He ran with the Hole-in-the-Wall gang for a time and left taking several outlaws with him. The Gillette-Buffalo-Kaycee area of Wyoming knew George as a likable rancher who may have done a little rustling. The large cattle operations knew George as a man who did a lot of rustling and a little ranching on the side! He was implicated in an ambush murder of a Converse County Sheriff and 1897 murder of Johnson County deputy. Flat Nose has never known captivity and views any attempt to arrest him with deadly seriousness.

Harvey Gleason~"Teton Jackson"
Gleason was called the "premier horse thief of the mountains" by a Chicago newspaper. His gang stole horses from Wyoming and Idaho ranchman and sold them in eastern Wyoming and South Dakota and then on their return trip to Jackson Hole they would gather more stolen horses, winter them in the valleys of the Teton area, change brands and resell them. A wanted poster was printed and circulated in Oct, 1886 and a reward of $3,000.00 for murder, horse stealing and escape. Notify any Wyoming Sheriff or United States Marshall. Johnson County Sheriff Frank Canton caught Teton Jackson and jailed him in Buffalo and then transferred him to Boise, ID where he later escaped.

Tom Horn~"The Exterminator"
He served with distinction in the war with Spain, was an interpreter for the 5th Calvary, worked as a Pinkerton, tracked down Geronimo, and then became a selfstyled exterminator of "Rustlers". Horn allegedly stated that killing men was his specialty. He was convicted of slaying a 14 year old boy in Laramie County, WY and then escaped. A wanted poster was printed and circulated in Aug, 1903 and a reward of $5,000.00 was offered by Laramie County Commissioners for murder and escape from lawful custody.

Kinch McKinney
Kinch was the leader of a gang of cattle rustlers and received an eight year sentence for his activities in 1892. A wanted poster was printed and circulated in Oct, 1894 and a reward of $500.00 dead or alive for grand larceny and escape from the penitentiary. Notify Laramie County Sheriff or any Wyoming Police Officer. He had a long history of escape and trouble making but is not considered a killer.

Robert Meldrum~"Bad Bob"
Robert escaped after a bond of $18,000.00 was posted for him by some local ranchers after his murder trial ended in a "hung" jury. A wanted poster was printed and circulated in Jan, 1916 and a reward of $1,500.00 offered by Carbon County Commissioners for murder and unlawful flight. He is known for his cold and ruthless nature, reportedly having killed many men. He was also associated with Tom Horn as an assassin.

George Parrott~"Big Nose"
George was the leader of a gang who operated in the Medicine Bow and Carbon area. A wanted poster was printed and circulated in Jan, 1916 and a reward of $2,000.00 dead or alive for murder, attempted train robbery and various other crimes. Contact Carbon County Sheriff. While in Montana he boasted of the killings of a Deputy Sheriff and the sheriff's friend near Elk Mountain in WY.

Clark Pelton~"The Kid"
It is thought that Bill Bevins taught Pelton the ways of a road agent. He also ran with other noted outlaws who plagued the stage line that ran the Cheyenne River. A wanted poster was printed and circulated in Oct, 1877 and a reward of $1,000.00 for an arrest and $200.00 for his body was offered by Cheyenne-Black Hills Stage & Express Co for murder, rustling, Highway robbery and interfering with the mail.

James Wall
Wall was often confused with "The Kid" Pelton because of their high hairlines and the fact that they operated in the same gang. He disappeared from the Lander area after the arrest of his partner, Bill Bevins. A wanted poster was printed and circulated in Nov, 1877 and a reward of $1,000.00 for an arrest and $200.00 for the body was offered by Cheyenne-Black Hills Stage Co for Highway robbery, assault and attempt to kill, grand larceny, horse stealing and obstructing the mail.

Robin Hood of the West
Butch Cassidy, born Robert Leroy Parker, was a notorious train robber, bank robber and leader of the Wild Bunch Gang in the Old West. He was also known as the “Robin Hood of the West” for sharing his loot with people whose lives had been ruined by the cattle barons and bankers. Not your typical outlaw, Butch preferred bowler hats and a gentleman appeal of the finer things in life.

He was a charming thief, who was well liked and is believed to have never killed anyone.

Cassidy embarked on what is considered the longest stretch of successful train and bank robberies in American history as a member of the “Wild Bunch.” Members included such infamous bandits as Harry Longabaugh (the Sundance Kid), Harvey Logan (Kid Curry) and his brother Lonny Curry, “Laughing” Sam Carey, Ben Kilpatrick (the “Tall Texan”), Black Jack Ketchum, William Ellsworth Lay (Elzy Lay), and George “Flat Nose” Curry.

Portrait of Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch Gang The group hit banks and trains in South Dakota, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming. Robert Lawson, a mail clerk working on the Union Pacific Railroad, was in the mail car of a train stopped by the “Hole-in-the-Wall Gang” in the wilds of Wyoming. He recounted his experience in the June 8, 1899, issue of our local newspaper the Buffalo Bulletin.

Between robberies, the men would lie low at the Hole-in-the-Wall, one of the most famous hideouts located in southern Johnson County, Wyoming. This is also where several other outlaw gangs (the Logan brothers and Jesse James among others) holed up.

Named after a pass in an eroded rock wall mesa rising over the rolling plains and canyons, the name fits the location. A steep climb over loose rock to the top of the wall, with sweeping 360-degree views, the pass was well situated to spot approaching lawmen – and the narrowness of the approach made it easy to defend.

Today the area is a part of the Willow Creek Ranch, a working spread with a large herd of cattle. Accessible today by a series of dusty, two-track roads, the trail to the Hole-in-the-Wall attracts history buffs & tourists alike.

Butch Cassidy, John D. Rockefeller Jr,
my grandfather, me (Don M Ricks)

A narrative thread, slender but certain, weaves Butch Cassidy, John D. Rockefeller Jr, my grandfather, and me into the history of western Wyoming. n 1889, a few weeks after the bank in Telluride was robbed, Cassidy walked into the Amoretti bank in Lander and sat down with the young assistant manager, E. A. Amoretti Jr. When Cassidy left he had opened an account with a large cash deposit, had made a new friend, and had been hired to work on Amoretti’s EA Ranch, five miles north of Dubois. In 1922, the rough wagon road through Togwotee Pass was upgraded to a rough road for motor traffic. Amoretti established the Lander-Yellowstone Park Transportation Company. It hauled tourists from the new Chicago & Northwestern terminal in Lander to Jackson Hole. He built the Brooks Lake Lodge for his guests, as well as the Amoretti Inn at Moran, near the site of what one day would become the Jackson Lake Lodge. My grandfather, Cody Simonson, was one of the young men in Dubois who Amoretti hired to drive his motor stages.In 1926, John D. Rockefeller Jr visited Jackson Hole with his family, noticed the Grand Tetons, and was inspired to create a national park. The historical record confirms they travelled from Lander and stayed at the Amoretti Inn. It does not disclose the name of their driver. I wish I could report that, like Butch Cassidy and my grandfather, I once worked for Eugene Amoretti Jr. But that would not be true. In 1950, when I was 13, Francis Amoretti hired me for the summer as chore boy on the EA Ranch. That was in June. Her husband had died in March.

Photos: In this photo (above) the Dubois area at the time.—A motor stage like the one my Grandfather drove for Amoretti—The “upgraded” Togwotee Pass road. (Photos: Wyoming Tales and Trails)

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