The Bradenton Herald posted a great article on Eunice Gray - one of the many women thought to be the "true" identity of Etta Place - over the weekend.
"During the 1950s, a newspaper editor befriended the elderly owner of a run-down tenement house in downtown Fort Worth.
The Waco Hotel at Calhoun and 15th streets was an eyesore.
Yet Eunice Gray called it home, a place where she had lived for decades in the faded elegance of a finely furnished apartment. A French tapestry hung from one wall of her room. Vases and other delicate treasures collected over a lifetime filled a mahogany china cabinet. The spinster slept in an old-fashioned four-poster canopy bed."More...
On a November afternoon 99 years ago, two American outlaws straggled into this forlorn mining town, 14,500 feet above sea level, and sought lodging in an adobe hut.
They didn't know that a posse in hot pursuit had already settled in another hut and soon would get word of the Americans' arrival. (More...)
The modus operandi of the gangs owes much to the memories of the cowboy bandits of Hollywood fame. Three to four men pose as passengers to board the trains, which are often heading south from Milan, subdue the guard, rob the couchettes and then pull the emergency cord to enable them to jump off and be picked up by accomplices in the countryside.
Last year there were 29 such robberies, up from eight in 2005 and only four in 2004. One night journey in December even witnessed a brawl between two rival gangs over the right to rob the train they had boarded. "Transport police used to ride the trains, but their numbers have been cut and the thieves are getting more confident," said Balotta "We need better alarms for staff and the police back on board." - Guardian Unlimited
On Friday morning, June 2d, 1899, a party of masked robbers held up the first section of train number one of Union Pacific Railroad Company, almost ten miles west of Rock Creek Station, Albany County, Wyoming, and after dynamiting bridges, mail and express cars, and robbing the latter, disappeared. The second section of this train, being the Overland Limited Passenger, following ten minutes behind, was fortunately stopped by the brakemen of the first section who escaped the robbers.
Three of the robbers went north mounted and were followed eight hours later by a posse. The robbers crossed the Platte River at Casper about three o'clock Sunday morning, and were followed from Casper by another posse from that point who overtook them about four o'clock in the afternoon about twenty-eight miles northwest of Casper, where a running fight occurred, the robbers shooting three of the horses of the pursuing party, and escaping to a point about fifteen miles further on, where they were again overtaken the following Monday morning by both posses, at which time Sheriff Hazen of Converse County, was shot and killed from ambush. In the confusion which followed, the robbers eluded the posses and are supposed now to be somewhere in Johnson or Big Horn Counties, and are being closely followed by the pursuing parties.
A description of these three robbers is as follows: One man about 31 or 32 years of age: bright, five feet eight or nine inches: weight 185 pounds: complexion and hair light: if moustache, likely to be long by not heavy: blue eyes: peculiar nose, flattened at bridge and heavy at point: round, full, red face: walks slightly stooping: may be slightly bow-legged: bald forehead: when last seen wore number eight cow-boy high-heel boots. Two men look like brothers: smaller, five feet seven inches: age about 26: weight 135 pounds. Largest, five feet five inches: about 30: weight 145 or 150: may have slight growth of whiskers: complexion of both very dark: one-quarter Cherokee Indian: smaller man sometimes wears mustache: both have dark hair, indicating Indian: eyes dark.
When overtaken about forty miles north-west of Casper where Sheriff Hazen was murdered, their horses were captured, described as follows:
An Arabian horse, weighing 1100 or 1200 pounds: strawberry roan in front, shading lighter to the rear: rump and back, white, with small black spots: has collar mark on right shoulder: short mane and tail: indistinct brand on right shoulder.
Second horse: dun color, or clay hank, with white mane and tail: weighs about 1100 pounds: is branded "spade or heart J" on left shoulder: has worked in harness.
Third horse: small sorrel, well shaped head: weighs about 950 pounds: white face and white hind legs: white ring around right fore-leg at knee joint: several indistinct brands on left shoulder, one resembling the letter "H", another resembling a "flying diamond": also three perpendicular bars - long bar in center.
These horses are now in safe keeping at Cheyenne.
It is probably that these three robbers, when driven from their present hiding, will make for the north into adjoining states, or possibly British Columbia. Have not up to this time succeeded in locating the other three men, but it is probable will be able to do so soon.
In order to prevent the escape of these three robbers who are being pursued, it is important that posse be organized without delay in your state, and that they be dispatched at once in the direction of the present supposed hiding place in northern Wyoming to capture them if they attempt to cross the line.
Union Pacific Railroad Company and Pacific Express Company have jointly offered two thousand dollars per head, dead or alive, for each of these men, and the United States Government has also offered a reward of one thousand dollars each, making three thousand per head for each of these men.
Any information concerning these bandits should be promptly forwarded to Union Pacific Railroad Company and the United States Marshall of Wyoming at Cheyenne.
UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY
PACIFIC EXPRESS COMPANY
Omaha, Nebraska June 19th, 1899
(This wanted poster has been added to the Print Archive. Also uploaded a graphic of another Wilcox wanted poster over in the Image Archive.)
Both WOLA (Western Outlaw Lawman History Association) and NOLA (National Association of Outlaw and Lawmen) have conventions coming up.
WOLA's convention runs July 11th - 14th in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Among the speakers is Donna Ernst, author of Sundance, My Uncle. Donna will be speaking about the Wild Bunch's exploits in Wyoming. For more information click here.
NOLA's 2007 Rendezvous will be held July 25th - 28th in Rapid City, South Dakota. NOLA's convention features Wild Bunch author Ed Kirby and a trip to Deadwood. For more information click here.
The timelime listed an incorrect date for Gunplay Maxwell's death, it's now been fixed. While I was fixing it, I came across two interesting articles related to Maxwell...
The first is a five-part series featured in Utah's Daily Herald written by D. Robert Carter.
I also came across a story about Maxwell on Nevada-History.org regarding a stagecoach robbery near Rawhide, Nevada. Click here for the article. (It's the second one down)
I've added a Google search box to each page. You can access it from the link on the left, or by scrolling to the bottom of any page. The web search option will work immediately, but the "search this site" feature will probably take a week or two until the next time Google crawls the site.
