29. See, for example, Patterson, Butch Cassidy, pp. xii, 181; Ernst, The Sundance Kid, p. 4.
30. Description in LoC, box 89, folder 13.
31. Patterson, Butch Cassidy, p. 106; see also Kelly, The Outlaw Trail, p. 136.
32. Baker, The Wild Bunch at Robbers Roost, p. 188.
33. The biographical material about Longabaugh and his outlaw career has been drawn from numerous sources, including: Baker, The Wild Bunch at Robbers Roost; Ernst, Sundance; Ernst, The Sundance Kid; Horan, Desperate Men; Kirby, The Rise and Fall of the Sundance Kid; Meadows, Digging Up Butch and Sundance; and Patterson, Butch Cassidy.
34. Description in LoC, box 93, folder 1.
35. Patterson, Butch Cassidy, p. 123.
36. Description in LoC, box 92, folder 2.
37. Wanted poster in LoC, box 92, folder 8.
38. The details of the attempted bank robbery at Belle Fourche vary according to the source. Among the differences are whether there were five or six robbers, whether three or four went into the bank, whether O’Day was holding the horses or had arrived first and gone to a saloon down the street, and, most important, whether Longabaugh was involved. For excellent but differing summaries, see Ernst, The Sundance Kid, pp. 65–70, and Patterson, Butch Cassidy, pp. 125–28.
39. For years Harry Longabaugh has been listed as one of the bank robbers at Belle Fourche. However, Donna Ernst has argued persuasively that a letter written by David Gillespie, a friend of Longabaugh’s, gives proof that Sundance was still working on a ranch in Wyoming (The Sundance Kid, pp. 69–70).
40. JM, letter to GDB, Dec. 8, 1903: LoC, box 92, folder 10; see also Patterson, Butch Cassidy, p. 1; Pointer, In Search of Butch Cassidy, pp. 131–32.
41. The murder of Willie Strang, the killing of Valentine Hoy, and subsequent events, including the actions by the governors of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, are covered in detail in Pointer, In Search of Butch Cassidy, pp. 141–48, and Patterson, Butch Cassidy, pp. 131–40.
Chapter 17: On the Trail of the Wild Bunch
1. Despite it being a well-known event in the history of the Old West, the details about the Wilcox train robbery vary greatly among different sources. Among the “facts” reported differently were the number of robbers (between three and six), how they actually got the conductor to stop the train, which side of the bridge the train first stopped on, whether charges had already been set on the bridge, the total value of the items stolen, and which members of the gang were actually involved and which ones were in which party after they split up. Such variation in detail is common throughout the history of the Wild Bunch. This account of the Wilcox robbery loosely follows those given in Patterson’s Butch Cassidy (pp. 143–47), Meadows’s Digging Up Butch and Sundance (pp. 33–34), Ernst’s The Sundance Kid (pp. 83–94), and in the local newspapers of the time, such as The Buffalo Bulletin, Carbon County Journal, and Natrona County Tribune.
2. Ernst, “The Wilcox Train Robbery.”
3. Quoted in Patterson, Butch Cassidy, p. 145.
4. Lamar, Charlie Siringo’s West, p. 201; Patterson, Butch Cassidy, p. 146.
5. Frank Murray, letter to Frank A. Hadsell, March 6, 1901, Frank A. Hadsell Papers, Wyoming State Archives, Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources.
6. JM, letter to GDB, July 22, 1899, LoC, box 31, folder 1.
7. RAP, note to GDB, written at bottom of: JM, letter to GDB, July 22, 1899, LoC, box 31, folder 1.
8. CAS, “Pinkerton’s Cowboy Detective,” pp. 307–8, LoC, box 61, folder 2, and Riata and Spurs, p. 211.
9. CAS, A Cowboy Detective, pp. 310–11, and Riata and Spurs, pp. 212–13.
10. Among the items stolen from the Union Pacific train was thirty-four hundred dollars of “incomplete currency” being sent by the U.S. Treasury to Portland, Oregon. Not only had the serial numbers of this currency been recorded, but the notes had been damaged in the explosion, so that banks, hotels, and merchants—who had been contacted by a variety of law-enforcement agencies—could report its use. This allowed Siringo and other detectives to discover exactly where the money was being spent. See Ernst, The Sundance Kid, p. 92.
11. CAS, “Pinkerton’s Cowboy Detective,” p. 312, LoC, box 61, folder 2.
12. CAS, A Cowboy Detective, pp. 313–24, and Riata and Spurs, pp. 215–18.
13. Ibid., pp. 324–25, and Ibid., pp. 218–19.
14. CAS, A Cowboy Detective, p. 335.
15. The Kansas City Star, Feb. 28, 1900; see also, Ernst, The Sundance Kid, pp. 92–93.
16. See The Morning Times-Citizen, Feb. 28, 1900, for details of the arrest.
17. CAS, A Cowboy Detective, p. 330, and Riata and Spurs, p. 222.
18. MacKell, Cripple Creek District, pp. 98–99.
19. On Jan. 15, 1900, Horn sent a letter to Edmund C. Harris, the division superintendent for the Union Pacific, laying out his investigation as of that date. Five months later, Frank Murray of Pinkerton’s Denver office sent a copy of the same letter to U.S. Marshall Frank A. Hadsell. The initial letter might have been sent directly to Harris because the Union Pacific was employing Horn, and the company might have forwarded a copy to the Pinkerton’s Denver office. However, it is also possible that the letter to Harris was initially sent to Pinkerton’s, copied, and then sent on to Harris, as was the case with most such investigations in which Pinkerton’s was hired, including the Molly Maguires, Siringo’s work for the Territory of New Mexico, Siringo’s undercover operation in the Coeur d’Alenes, etc. See Tom Horn, letter to Edmund C. Harris, Jan. 15, 1900, and Frank Murray, letter to Frank A. Hadsell, June 7, 1900, Frank A. Hadsell Papers, Wyoming State Archives, Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources.
20. Tom Horn, letter to Edmund C. Harris, Jan. 15, 1900, Frank A. Hadsell Papers, Wyoming State Archives, Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources.
21. Ibid.
22. Frank Murray, letter to Frank A. Hadsell, June 7, 1900, Frank A. Hadsell Papers, Wyoming State Archives, Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources.
23. JM, letter to Frank M. Canton, Nov. 25, 1899, Frank M. Canton Collection, box 1, folder 30, Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma.
24. For an excellent study of Canton, see DeArment, Alias Frank Canton; for specifically his interest in being a bounty hunter after leaving federal employment in Alaska and his correspondence with Pinkerton’s, see pp. 239–49.
25. JM, letter to Frank M. Canton, Nov. 25, 1899, Frank M. Canton Collection, box 1, folder 30, Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma.
26. JM, letters to Frank M. Canton, Jan. 13, Feb. 3, 1900, Frank M. Canton Collection, box 1, folder 30, Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma.
27. Kelly, The Outlaw Trail, pp. 261–62.
28. Lamar, Charlie Siringo’s West, p. 201; Patterson, Butch Cassidy, p. 143.
29. For a full account of the Folsom train robbery and the following events, see Burton, The Deadliest Outlaws, pp. 162–92.
30. McGonagill’s name has been widely misspelled in this tale, and some have wondered if he was somehow tied to the Wild Bunch. That appears extremely unlikely, however. Instead, he was just a regular cowboy who went on to become a very successful professional rodeo performer. For background on McGonagill, see Whitlock, Cowboy Life on the Llano Estacado, pp. 112–15, and Axford, Around Western Campfires, pp. 27–29.
31. French, Some Recollections of a Western Ranchman, pp. 273–74.
32. Ibid., p. 274.
33. Burton, The Deadliest Outlaws, p. 257.
34. CAS, A Cowboy Detective, pp. 354–55, and Riata and Spurs, pp. 240–41.
35. Ibid., pp. 355–56, and Ibid., p. 241.
36. Kelly, The Outlaw Trail, pp. 263–65.
37. The full story of what became known as the Tipton robbery is told in Patt
erson, Butch Cassidy, pp. 161–65, and Kelly, The Outlaw Trail, pp. 273–76.
38. The New York Herald, Sept. 1, 1900.
39. Kirby, The Rise and Fall of the Sundance Kid, p. 79; Patterson, Butch Cassidy, p. 163.
40. Although the lawmen of the time and many historians thereafter believed that Cassidy and Longabaugh were among the robbers, Donna Ernst found a note in a Pinkerton’s file that she wrote indicated they were already on their way to Winnemucca, Nevada, and therefore could not have participated in the Tipton robbery; see Ernst, The Sundance Kid, pp. xx, 127. Burton supported this with the argument that those two and Will Carver simply could not have reached Winnemucca if they had been involved in Tipton (The Deadliest Outlaws, pp. 274–75), although Patterson illustrated that they could have made it there had they been willing to take a train (Butch Cassidy, p. 166). Other individuals said by Burton to be among the robbers were Ben Kilpatrick and Bill Cruzan (p. 275).
41. The story of Cassidy’s efforts to arrange an amnesty in return for going straight is told in Patterson, Butch Cassidy, pp.158–61; Kelly, The Outlaw Trail, pp. 266–72; Betenson and Flack, Butch Cassidy, pp, 151–60.
42. Quoted in Patterson, Butch Cassidy, p. 161; see also Kelly, The Outlaw Trail, p. 271.
43. Ibid., p. 161, and Ibid., pp. 271–72.
44. Patterson, Butch Cassidy, p. 172; Kelly, The Outlaw Trail, p. 277; Burton, The Deadliest Outlaws, p. 275.
45. CAS, A Cowboy Detective, pp. 340–41, and Riata and Spurs, pp. 230–31.
46. Ibid., p. 351; Ibid., p. 238.
47. Ibid., p. 348; Ibid., p. 235.
48. Ibid., pp. 355–56; Ibid., pp. 240–41.
49. For the story of Siringo’s work with the men on the fringes of the Wild Bunch, see CAS, A Cowboy Detective, pp. 358–80, and Riata and Spurs, pp. 244–51. In these accounts, Ferguson was “Jim F.” and “Jim Foss,” respectively.
50. Quoted in CAS, A Cowboy Detective, p. 362; CAS, Riata and Spurs, p. 246.
51. CAS, A Cowboy Detective, p. 367, and Riata and Spurs, p. 249.
52. Ibid., pp. 362–74; Ibid., pp. 246–51.
53. CAS, “Account of Charles A. Siringo.”
54. Kelly wrote that the gang was heading to the famous red-light district known as Hell’s Half Acre to hide out and “paint the town” (The Outlaw Trail, p. 281). Baker, Meadows, and Burton indicated that the trip to Fort Worth was to celebrate recent successes against the railroads (The Wild Bunch at Robbers Roost, p. 193; Digging Up Butch and Sundance, p. 35; The Deadliest Outlaws, p. 279). Patterson reported that the trip was “for a little rest and relaxation” (Butch Cassidy, p. 175). And Lamar suggested that attending Carver’s wedding was the reason for going (Charlie Siringo’s West, p. 204).
55. Patterson, Butch Cassidy, pp. 176–77; Meadows, Digging Up Butch and Sundance, pp. 35–36. Intriguingly, the biography of Dodge, based on his extensive journals and correspondence, does not mention this incident; see Lake, Under Cover for Wells Fargo.
56. WAP, letter to RAP, July 31, 1902, LoC, box 16, folder 2.
57. Numerous authorities—including Meadows (p. 37), Patterson (pp. 185-86), and Burton (p. 281)—indicate that Cassidy left on the same steamer as Longabaugh and Place. However, others, such as Kelly (pp. 282–86), have suggested that he remained behind and took part in the Wagner train robbery before joining his friends in South America.
58. JM, letter to GDB, March 5, 1901, LoC, box 30, folder 11.
59. For an account of the final days of Will Carver’s life, see Ernst, From Cowboy to Outlaw.
60. For a complete account of the Wagner train robbery, see Patterson, Butch Cassidy, pp. 187–91; Kelly, The Outlaw Trail, pp. 282–86.
61. Burton, The Deadliest Outlaws, pp. 320–21.
62. For a full account of the final years of Harvey Logan’s life, see Ernst, Harvey Logan, and Lynch, Harvey Logan in Knoxville.
63. For background on Dimaio and his first major case—the investigation into the 1890 Mafia murder of New Orleans police chief David Hennessy—see Horan, The Pinkertons, pp. 418–41. For Dimaio’s role in Pinkerton’s investigation into Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, see Frank P. Dimaio, report, Sept. 17, 1941, LoC, box 89, folder 13. Also see Patterson, Butch Cassidy, pp. 198–200; Meadows, Digging Up Butch and Sundance, pp. 40–42.
64. Patterson, Butch Cassidy, p. 199; Meadows, Digging Up Butch and Sundance, pp. 42–43.
65. There are many different theories expounded as to the deaths (or not) of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in Bolivia, including whether they were killed by the Bolivians or by their own hands as they ran out of ammunition. There are also many tales of their supposed survival and return to the United States. Among the most thoughtful and carefully researched of the available accounts are Patterson, Butch Cassidy; Meadows, Digging Up Butch and Sundance; and Ernst, The Sundance Kid.
66. The Sun, Sept. 13, 1903.
Chapter 18: The Man in Charge
1. For year-to-year changes, see Pinkerton’s advertisements in Ballenger & Richards’ Annual Denver Directory and The Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, both for the years 1900–10.
2. Ballenger & Richards’ Thirty-First Annual Denver City Directory [1903].
3. Gale, A Dashiell Hammett Companion, pp. xiii–xiv.
4. Hammett, Red Harvest, pp. 108–9.
5. JM, letter to WAP, Dec. 27, 1900, LoC, box 142, folder 6.
6. The Seattle Daily Times, Aug. 17, 1903.
7. Ringling Brothers, The Circus Annual, Tuesday, July 28, 1902.
8. Quote from Lukas, Big Trouble, p. 172; for background on the Elks, see Fehrenbach, Elkdom.
9. The Salt Lake Herald, Aug. 12, 1902.
10. McMenamin, The Pinnacled Glory of the West, pp. 173–74.
11. Suggs, “Religion and Labor in the Rocky Mountain West.”
12. Lukas, Big Trouble, p. 194. For background on and the organization of the Knights of Columbus, see Kaufmann, Faith & Fraternalism.
13. See “McParland’s History as a Knight of Columbus,” ERN, p. 111.
14. Lukas, Big Trouble, pp. 194–95.
15. Susan Brosnan, archivist, Knights of Columbus Supreme Council, personal communication, Nov. 29, 2011; Sean Espy, grand knight, Council 539, Knights of Columbus, personal communication, Dec. 1, 2011.
16. McMenamin, The Pinnacled Glory of the West, p. 173.
17. Quote from San Francisco Chronicle, Aug. 7, 1901. The details of the robbery and investigation are taken from contemporaneous accounts in the Boston Post, The New York Times, The San Francisco Call, San Francisco Chronicle, and The Washington Times.
18. Boessenecker, Lawman, p. 295.
19. JM, quoted in The San Francisco Call, Aug. 13, 1901.
20. Ibid.
21. Philpott, The Lessons of Leadville, p. 2.
22. U.S. Senate, A Report on Labor Disturbances in the State of Colorado, p. 88.
23. Philpott, The Lessons of Leadville, pp. 7–10.
24. Wyman, Hard Rock Epic, pp. 53–54.
25. U.S. Senate, A Report on Labor Disturbances in the State of Colorado, p. 96.
26. Philpott, The Lessons of Leadville, pp. 4–5.
27. Wyman, Hard Rock Epic, pp. 171–72.
28. Quoted in Lukas, Big Trouble, p. 213; see also Jensen, Heritage of Conflict, p. 67.
29. Carlson, Roughneck, pp. 51–52, 58.
30. Lukas, Big Trouble, p. 166.
31. Phipps, From Bull Pen to Bargaining Table, pp. 59–65.
32. Jameson, All that Glitters, pp. 71–72.
33. Suggs, Colorado’s War on Militant Unionism, pp. 39–41.
34. Baker, The Reign of Lawlessness, p. 52.
35. Details of the initial Colorado City strike and its repercussions are taken from Jameson, All that Glitters; Suggs, Colorado’s War on Militant Unionism; and U.
S. Senate, A Report on Labor Disturbances in the State of Colorado.
36. MacNeill had actually been a Pinkerton’s client on and off since 1892. According to McParland, Crane was not the only agent at the USRRC, as he noted, “[W]e have at present three operatives detailed on work for him” (Pinkerton Detective Agency Reports, University of Colorado at Boulder Libraries Archives). The information about Crane’s role is drawn from Friedman, The Pinkerton Labor Spy, pp. 30–40.
37. WAP (for JM), report to FRG, June 4, 1906, ISA, folder 13.
38. See Friedman, The Pinkerton Labor Spy, pp. 41–50.
39. Details of the Cripple Creek strike and its repercussions are taken from Blevins, Nicholl, and Otto, The Colorado Labor Wars; Jameson, All that Glitters; Rastall, The Labor History of the Cripple Creek District; Suggs, Colorado’s War on Militant Unionism; and U.S. Senate, A Report on Labor Disturbances in the State of Colorado.
40. Details about Gratias’s role during the strike are taken from Friedman, The Pinkerton Labor Spy, pp. 52–64. McParland’s directives are detailed in the Pinkerton Detective Agency Reports, University of Colorado at Boulder Libraries Archives.
41. Haywood, Bill Haywood’s Book, pp. 157–58.
42. For background on the Citizens’ Alliance, see Suggs, Colorado’s War on Militant Unionism, pp. 68–72.
43. Grover, Debaters and Dynamiters, pp. 47–48; Jameson, All that Glitters, p. 206.
44. First quote: Rastall, The Labor History of the Cripple Creek District, p. 99; second quote: The Rocky Mountain News, Dec. 11, 1904.
45. Quoted in Baker, “The Reign of Lawlessness,” p. 43. For the illegal arrest of the staff of the Victor Daily Record and the efforts to continue publishing it, see Langdon, The Cripple Creek Strike, pp. 149–51.
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