STAR VALLEY HISTORICAL SOCIETY HISTORICAL BOOKS INVENTORY DETAILS 1. Overview Title of Book: Butch Cassidy and the Wild bunch in Star Valley, Wyoming 1889-1896 Author: Pamela Call Johnson Subject: Star Valley Publisher: CJJ Publishing Publishing Date: 2010 Number of Pages: 32 ID#: 98 Location: Website 2. Evaluation Evaluator's Name(s): Kent Erickson Date of Evaluation: March 2014 Key Words: Wild Bunch, Winter of 1889, Crow Creek Road, Half-Way House, Auburn, Telluride Bank robbery. The Outlaw Trail. Signal Hill Included Names: Tom McCarty, Butch Cassidy, Matt Warner, Elzy Lay, Rose Morgan, Sary Lehmberg, Al Hainer 3. Svnopsis: This booklet tells of events surrounding the time Butch Cassidy and other outlaws spent in Star Valley, Wyoming, Two of the events described were the Johnson County War and the Montpelier Bank Robbery. 4. Other "^Hand drawn sketches of people and places *Poem: "Somebody's Son" by Pamela C. Johnson "^Notes ^Bibliography B/iicFi. Gassidff ami ITtc iViId B/ii/if/ in Star Valley, Wyoming 1889-1896 The rock church where outlaws courted Mormon girls. Pamela Call Johnson £tcim Valley Historic,.'.! Society Butch Cassidy and The Wild Bunch in Star Valley,Wyoming 1889-1896 Pamela Call Johnson Butch Cassidy and The Wild Bunch In Star Valley,Wyoming 1889-1896 Introduction Star Valley can officially claim Butch Cassidy, Tom McCarty, Matt Warner, and Elzy, (pronounced Elza) Lay as outlaw residents. Some believe it likely the Sundance Kid, including any who were members of the "Wild Bimch", were also among those who knew Star Valley as a useful hide-out. The Wild Bunch is defined as any outlawsassociatedwith Butch Cassidy in the North American West. Firm evidence ofoutlaws in the Star Valley exists from 1889to 1896,but indications are they could have been there both much earlier and later than these dates. This book is a departure from my usual family history path - or is it? Maybe I haven't stumbled offmy path at all, but have been extremely slow in seeing what was there to see all along. Some ofmy Star Valley pioneer family called some ofthe outlaws friends. I believe a few were kin which means they were not close enough to attend family reunions, and were a bur in the side (whom we would rather forget - and almost succeeded). Nevertheless, they were there. This is their story. -Pamela Call Johnson "/try to keep ihis grave neat," she apologized. "Maybe he wm only a rustler, butI guess somebody loved him, *' Mattie Edwards to author, Charles Kelly at the grave ofoutlaw, Charles W. Seger 1867-J891. (Kelly,304) Somebody Loved Him He was somebody's son, for all the wrong he done. He was mean; he was bad. He'd use his gun, then he'd run. He betrayed his kin; foimd fiiends instead in 'holes' and 'roosts' then slept in the bed the sheriffgave to him. Finally, he died, as he had lived, a bi^et in his heart. But, he was still somebody's son, for all the wrong he'd done. As long as there was a mother with a match; the lamp was lit so he could see the path to her front door - or to the back - in case it was at night he come. As long as her lips could move or her mind form thoughts, prayers were said for God to please bless the bad man who was her son. -Pamela Call Johnson "We hadfamilyprimers together, kneeling at our chairs aroundthe table. IfHive to be two hundred, I will always rememberMother'sferventprayers, pleading with God to turn her boy around and bring him home safely, that he mightgo straight"Lula Parker Betenson, sister ofButch Cassidy. (Betenson, 237) BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE WILD BUNCH IN STAR VALLEY, WYOMING 1889-1896 Table ofContents Introduction i Somebody Loved Him, Poem ii Tom McCarty and Matt Warner in Star Valley Page 1 The Pioneer Interstate Page 9 The Crow Creek Road Page 11 The Hole in The Wall Page 14 Johnson County War Page 15 The Illegal Arrest Page 16 Going Straight, Or Not? Page 24 Butch Cassidy and Elzy Lay in Star Valley Page 25 The Montpelier Bank Robbery Page 27 ©Pamela Call Johnson 2010 (revised) Shelley, Idaho All rights reserved CJJ [email protected] TOM MCARTY AND MATT WARNER Inthe early days, people came from all over Star Valley to attend dances at a unique rock church in Auburn, Wyoming; a small town onthe north end ofa Mormon settlement on the western edge of Wyoming, and part of the Lander cut-off ofthe Oregon trail. Among the recorded social minded outlaws were Butch Cassidy, Matt Warner, TomMcCarty, Elzy Lay, BubMeeks, and A1 Hainer. Lee Call, in A History of Star Valley and its Communities, (See cndnote 2, page 32) writes that the dance hall was usually so crowded the dance tickets were numbered andjust onethird of those attending could dance at a time. Some of the young men bought a number of tickets sothey could getin more dances. The rock church was the center of social and religious activity in the early days. ^ t I. to TOM MATT Page 1 Sary Lehmberg, who married Tom McCarty, was the daughter ofAugust Lehmburg. Lehmberg came to Auburn in 1870. The Lehmberg and Welch families were the only two permanent families in Auburn for a number ofyears; but about a dozen families spent the winter of 1886-1887 near Auburn, the town in which the rock church would soon stand. However, the first church meetings were held in the Lehmberg home until the rock church was built. Other settlers included the George Davis and Seth Putnam families. Rose Morgan's stepfather, Mr. Romel, was among the families who were there for a short time and then returned to Utah. Rose Morgan married Matt Warner. Matt Warner and his brother-in-law, Tom McCarty, who was a widower on his arrival in Star Valley (according to Warner) raced into the valley in 1889 just after robbing the Telluride bank in Colorado. McCarty and Warner were chased by a posse to the edge ofthe canyon that entered the valley. The posse was stopped by a snowstorm. Lucky break for the outlaws; they beat the snow that closed them in for the winter. (»(>! Page 2 MATT'S CABIN McCarty, Warner, and Cassidy robbed the Telluride bank together, but Cassidy was not a part ofthe wild escape into Star Valley. The former two outlaws couldn't resist spending their money in Lander (east ofStar Valley at the beginning ofthe Lander trail) on women and wine, which is where they went after the robbery, and where the posse found them. Butch stayed away from the town at a friend's ranch. He felt it wasn't safe to be in towns yet. Cassidy, from the first, was the smart canny, outlaw - the one who lived with caution on his side, never taking risks. Therefore, when the posse showed up in Lander, Butch was not there. Cassidy did spend time in Star Valley, but, not in 1889. The winter after the bank robbery was to be one ofthe toughest in Star Valley history with no one, including the law, able to make it in or out ofthe valley. Lee Call explained that the snow would fall, then melt a little, fall then melt some. Before winter was finished, stove pipes from homes could be seen but not the houses themselves. Matt decided he couldn't last the winter without alcohol. The settlers, for the most part, were good Mormon folks. No drink to satisfy Matt was near enough. Matt hired someone to get a load ofwhiskey. Page 3 According to Matt's book, The Last Outlaw Rider. somehow this whiskey got through the Crow Creek road which was a main route in and out ofthe valley (by then, according to his own account a closed mountain pass.) It is also said locally not all the whiskey was accounted for that was ordered, and some was broken (on purpose?) at a place now called Whisky Flats on that road. It is perplexing how Matt could get whiskey in, but the law couldn't get in to take him out. The sequence ofevents according to Matt might be in question. There are other such perplexities in his book. Some ofwhich will be explained later. The settlers nearly met their demise for lack offood and other necessities that winter. Animals were fed deer mixed with straw from under carpets. People ate wild game too, when they could get it; but there was not any fat on the meat. When things were really desperate, men would try skiing, or snowshoeing to Montpelier to bring home, on their backs, a sack offlour to their families. This could literally mean death in a forbidding mountain pass. Page 4 .StarValley residents loved the dances at the rock church. A store hadrecently beenopened in the valley. When people asked for credit, theowner refused. According to Matt Warner,'the Mormon bishop tried to intervenewith thestorekeeper to persuade the store owner to give credit until spring. When he wouldn't, Matt Warner and Tom McCarty pulled a 'benevolent robbery.' Mattwrote they forced the storekeeper undergunpoint to give the people what theyneeded. The bishop, with his counselors, kept record ofwhat was taken. The outlaws paid halfin cash. Matt felt the store owner came out to the good with the cash payment. Valley people later held a dance wearing clothes taken in the robbery. A version of this episode is told in several history books aboutStarValley. Elements that staythe same in each account are that the robbery did take place, and goods were given outto thepeople.