STAR VALLEY HISTORICAL SOCIETY HISTORICAL BOOKS INVENTORY DETAILS
1. Overview
Title: Star Valley Was Part of the Last Frontier
Author: W. W. N.
Subject: Outlaws
Publisher: Jackson Courier
Publishing Date: July 15,1948
Number of Pages: 2
ID#: 504
Location: Website
2. Evaluation
Evaluator's Name(s): Kent and Polly Erickson
Date of Evaluation: January 2015
Key Words: outlaws, Brown's Hole, Hole-in-the-Wall, Long Riders, Robber's Roost, Wild Bunch
Included Names: Matt Warner, Tom McCarthy, George Leroy Parker, Rosa Rumel. Sadie Morgan, Katie Davis, Harry Longabaugh, Harvey Logan
3. Svnopsis
This newspaper article tells of some outlaws. Star Valley played a role as a hideout ofsorts. Mention is made oftheir saloon in Afton. Some oftheir law- breaking exploits are described; these took place outside of Star Valley. Matt Warner married Rosa Rumel, a local girl, in 1889. This article contains references to names or terms connected to outlaw lore such as Sundance Kid, Kid Curry, Butch Cassidy,
4. Other of n plnii to i(yij Ihn 1)ntik nnd liad UHMitlonrd In the Courier, received come to give warnlnK. TIjc presi a rcquc.st to Irall down a bunch of star Valley Was Part dent heard details of the plot ana about sixty horses reported stolen then asked liis caller how he hap the previous fall from the Padlock !Of The Last Frontier pened to know so much about It. ranch. With his chlcf deputy, a W. W. N4' McCarthy grinned and said "Be- Texan named Bob Calverly, he met up with a sheriff from Mon A, a hidccul for l.orse thieves'P'"""'''' tana and they followed certain clues that led them lo Star Valley. so.U°okL^°iion^5',L^'" u"®' •"= "'•""d Moffnt to draw Informed that two men,In charge Xl dMhfni , 5. ^ " "'"I' »!2".<"").oi.d plcsonl it ' of the horses were receiving mall FnuLn,l ^l?r^ romance. !at the cashier's window and get at Aflon, called for each week by iZiivT V.:"' To en-force•" his request he bran a girl named Kate Davis, a local great source of envy to other west dished what purported to be a bot rancher's daughter, Utah author, published Ihe'| loon. McCarthy, "Warner and Cas- momentarily stunned and came to, iruILi of much research lhat the 1sidy are credited with the robbery securely handcuffed. late Mall Warner of Price, Utah,.! July 24, 1000, of the ibank In Tel- Tried before Judge Jesse Knight became known as the proprietor..! lurlde, Colorado, while Bert Mad- at Lander, Cassldy . was convicted And If mention here of that namejj dern .watched the horses. The loot and servlenced lo the penitentiary fails to register In your memory," was estimated nt $10,500. They for a term of two years. Al Hainer Cosmopolitan Magazine for March !headed for RofUber's Roost in soulh- was acquitted. It was the -fourth inso, In an article by. Murray E. jern Utah bul eventually relumed but firsl serious arrest for Butch King, describes Mall Warner asi to Star Valley. They were report- and although his 'career' was Just "The Last of the Bandit Riders." edly In love -with Rosa Rumel and beginning, it was destined to be Through the courtesy of spring her/ step sister, Sadie Mbrgan, his last. He entered tJie pen as No. housecleaning by Adeline Neilson, daughters of a Star Valley ranch 107, July 15, 1094, at the age of a copy of the magazine Is now in er. Although 'her parents objected, 27 years. I the files of the Courier. Rosa and Mall were married In When his time was about three Correspondence last summer September thai same year. fourths over, Cassldy made a deal with Mr. Kelly gave the writer After the marriage, the Rumel for pardon with William A. Kicn- perntisslon .to quote freely from family moved to Bulte, (Montana, ards, former president of the Wyo "The Outlaw Trail" wherein It Is while the McCarthys and Warner, ming Slockgrowers Association, revealed lhat Malt Warner's part who then took the name of Ras who had been elected governor. ner In Ihe saloon al Aflon was his Lewis, transferred their operations Ch.ssidy wouldn't give his word to brother-m-law, Tom McCarthy, to Oregon. One of Malt's thrilling quit rustling, as the governor re A one itlme leader of the famou.^ 'Mc- escapes irom a posse there was In quested, ibut it is claimed Uiat he Cart^iy Gang' of southern Utah. swimming his hor.se across the did promise lo forego furUier rust Doth were close" friends and assoc nearly mlle-wlde Columibla river ling in Wyoming. With his 'lime so iates of George LeRoy Parker who al lhat point while he clung to a nearly up, lhat was a point, indeed,' Is more romantically remembered stirrup and .$20,000 In gold and lo 'be considered. The pardon was' as Butch Carsidy. The latter hai greeivback.s. They reached safety signed Jatuiary 19, 1090, and, many personal friends still llvlnc from Ihe swift current only ten] Bulch was never In Jail again. In western Wyoming, Including feel above where the river bank In the meantime. Matt Warner's some in Jarkson Hole. R becomes an Impassable, perpen- wild career had landed him in Jail But gelling back to the saloon, jcllcular cliff, .. al Vernal, Utah. Ever loyal lo his Tom, as Mamcs Smith' and IVlall, Cassldy probably did hot accom friends, Cassldy -paid him a per as 'Doherly Willard,' with pockets pany his friends to Oregon, wherjs sonal visit and promised lo hire a bulging with gold and greenbacks, their :trail was one of disaster, but lawyer. are reported to have been -two of instead went back lo southern Utah On August 13. 1090.-threc men the most popular men In Star Val where he worked on various lied their horses lo a Jiitch rack In' ley. The wall of the saloon 'behind ranches, -During his years there he front of a saloon Jn Montpelier, the bar was decorated with cur became acquainted with Brown's Idaho, about forty miles west and rency of many denominations, In Hole,' one of the famous outlaw south of Star Valley. They had all cluding one $10,000 1)111, and drinks hideouts of the -west. He also work been working on a ranch a few on the house was Ihe order of the ed In a Rock Springs .butcher shop miles north of Cokeville, Wyom day. Under Ihe name of Bob Par where he acquired the 'title' he ing, Just over the Idaho line. ker, Butch Cassldy spent the win carried .through all his later years. Butch Cassldy and partners, prob \ ter of 1809-90 there with his Then, with a partner named Al ably Elza 'Lay and Bob Meeks, frlerKls. ' Hainer, Cassldy went into dhe called for a drink as they kept an On Mbrch 30, 1089. sliortly be- ranching business near Lander, eye on the Montpelier bank near fore the saloon was opened for, ,, „3„t by. About closing time. Cashier buslnep. two meri hcld.upand rob-:„„^,, nurae flu vie- Gray came out of the bank and bed the First National Bank of tlms during the -winter of 1092-93 stood talking to a man on the side Denver. Tom McCarthy, with a full gained him many loyal friends. walk. Ca.ssldy and Lay, with guns beard and dressed In rough cloUies But the 'following .spring, 1093, the concealed under their coals, ap but with a complete changc of at hvo sold the ranch and with Lan proached the two men and quietly tire in a .suitcase,, walked boldly in der for headquarters, became prom ordered them Into the bank. and asked to see the ibank presi inent as horse traders. dent, Dave Moffat. When Ahe lat With A. N. Mackintosh, paying •A-bout 'this thne 'Sheriff John ter Inquired hl.«; 'business. Tom ex- teller, and a girl stenograplier, Ward of Ulnla" County, recently ptnlned (hat he had Just learned they were lined up faces to the \v;»ll while llir rnsli In .ilfiht, abuul $7,105 wns scooped hito n gunny IJrovvn'fl Hole is n niounlnln- sack. Across Uie street n mnn held wailcd valley on Green Jllvcr, three horses Ihnt soon ivere lost In partly in Utah, partly in Colorado a cloud of dust down the rood. A and partly In Wyoming. At one posse followed but turned back time it probably sheltered from the I long before they entered Brown's law more fugitives, rustlers and Hole. The horses pursued were horse thieves than any comparable very fast, with fresh relays kept area in the west. It -was there that ready along the way. 'I'om Horn, later Jianged in Chey The late D. A. Preston of Hock enne ior the iciliing of Willie Nic- Springs, later to become attorney keil, is reported to -have dry- general of "Wyoming, was an at gulched "Matt Hash and .the negro torney for tlie defense. However,' cowboy, Isom Dart, to put a stop Wnrner and another defendant, to rustling. The name lias since William Wall, -were convicted, al been dignified by changing •Hole though a Uilrd defendant, Cole- to Paric. man, was released. The two served On lower Green River, west and about three and one half year.i north of its confluence -with the • a live year sentence (before their Colorado, in the sandy Escalanlc- "discharge January 21/ IDOO.- War- desert country of ca.-jiern Wayne : ner, who UieiTTpturnHlTto his for County, Utah, Is the highland oncc mer haunts In southern Utah, prab- known as Robber's Roost. Long 'ably never did revisit his old sa distances between small, liolf' loon In Afton. -lie lived to 'become hidden water holes, added' to the !a rejpected citizen and peace offl- difficulty of Us approach. When ' cer. once an outlaw reachcd its Inner ' Cassldy. however, returned to fastness, the ordinary posse would "Star Valley togetlier with Harry turn back. Longabaugh, known also as "The Sundance Kid" and Harvey Log Hole-ln-tlie-Wnll is a small, green' an, alias Kid Curry, following rob valley jn Johnson county, Wyom-i bery September 10, 1000, of the Ing. It lies about 30 miles west of- First Natonal Bank-^t—Winnelnuc- Kaycee which was named for the! ca, Nevada. A posse following the old K-C ranch some 4G miles south trAU by way of Rdbber'a Roost, Is of Buffalo. On the north side of Said ' to have turned (back beforo Uie valley Is a wall of red sand reaching the valley and without stone armosc^'iuou icet m neiguc contacting -Butch or any of the extending for about 35 miles In an gdng. east-west direction. The hole, or That is probably the last time narrow gate near Barhum, cut any of the "Wild Bunch" lieaded through the wall by erosion, was for Star Valley with a posse In the only natural, acce.ssible en-, pursuit. Their operations were trance. Approach from oUier sides many and coverecl a -wide territory was only by long, detoured travel with mention here only of those through extremely rough country 1 bearing relation .to their early-day over sharp ridges a n d narrow, saloon In Afton. They say the ten brush-filled creek bottoms. It Is! thousand dollar 'bill was never said to have 'harbored more rust-: changed because the bank -had p lers thah any other place In Wyo record of Us number. ming except Brown's Hole. Cassldy and the Sundance Kid In olden daj's the 'long riders' .went to
