Harvey Alexander Logan (p.2)

The posse caught up with the bandits on September 22, 1897 and the two parties were soon engaged in a shootout. Logan was shot in the wrist and surrendered. A short time later Sundance and Punteney were in custody as well.

The outlaws were taken to Billings and held on charges stemming from the Belle Fourche robbery. Butte County Bank employee Harry Ticknor was brought to Billings and positively identified the outlaws. The trio were then transported to Deadwood, South Dakota and placed in the Lawrence County jail to await trial. In Deadwood, the outlaws were reunited with Tom O’Day, held there ever since his capture in Belle Fourche.

On Halloween night 1897, the outlaws escaped the Lawrence County jail along with another inmate. Punteney and O’Day were recaptured a few days later, but Logan and Sundance made a clean escape.

On July 14, 1898, Logan joined the Sundance Kid and “Flat Nose” George Currie in the robbery of a Southern Pacific shortly after it pulled out of the Humboldt House train station in Humboldt, Nevada. The outlaws snatched $450, before disappearing into the night.

The three bandits struck again on April 3, 1899, this time in Elko, Nevada. Logan, Sundance and Currie relieved the Club Saloon of up to $3000 before fleeing into the night.

Two months later, Logan and his brother Lonnie joined the Wild Bunch in the robbery of a Union Pacific Overland Flyer near Wilcox, Wyoming on June 2, 1899. After separating the passenger cars from the rest to the train, the outlaws used dynamite to blow the safes.

The resulting explosion not only blew the safes, but tore the express car to shreds as well. The outlaws spent two hours picking up the money that had scattered about the area. It was time well spent as the outlaws picked up between $30,000 and $60,000 before fleeing the scene.

During the Wilcox escape, the outlaws split up.  A posse led by Converse County Sheriff Josiah Hazen and Natrona County Sheriff Oscar Hiestand caught up with Logan’s group (Harvey Logan, Lonnie Logan and “Flat Nose” Currie) near Casper, Wyoming. The confrontation soon turned into a shootout. Sheriff Hazen was shot in the stomach, presumably by Logan, and died the following day.

On February 28, 1900, Lonnie Logan was in Dodson, Missouri when he was spotted passing bank notes stolen from the Wilcox robbery. He was confronted by officers and killed on February 28, 1900.

A month later Harvey Logan and Will Carver were spotted near St. Johns, Arizona. A postal clerk the motley looking duo to authorities. Sheriff Edward Beeler responded by forming a posse to hunt down the two men. After several days of no luck, most of the posse went home. Two members of the posse, Andrew Gibbons and Frank LeSeuer, opted to keep up the hunt. On March 28, 1900, Logan got the jump on the two men and killed them both.

Logan and Carver made their way towards the WS Ranch in Alma, New Mexico. Fellow Wild Bunch members Butch Cassidy and Elzy Lay had found work at the ranch and it had become something of a refuge for the outlaws. Along the way the outlaws caught the attention of Sheriff George Scarborough and Walter Birchfield. The two men followed the outlaws only to have their pursuit cut short when Logan ambushed the two men. Logan shot Birchfield, who later died from his injuries.

Logan was dealt another blow when he learned of the death of his mentor, “Flat Nose” Currie at the hands of the law. Sheriff Jesse M. Tyler shot and killed Currie in Utah on April 17, 1900. His brother and mentor both dead in a matter of months, Logan was seething with anger.

Vowing revenge, Logan hunted down Tyler and killed the officer along with another man, Sam Jenkins, on May 26, 1900.