Matt Warner (p.3)

After the close call in Afton, Warner and McCarty left town with their wives under the pretext of taking an extended honeymoon. The men were still trying to hide their outlaw past from their new brides, and with the authorities back on their trail, the only solution was to hit the road.

Quickly running out of money, Warner and McCarty sent their wives back to Star Valley and  robbed a gambling hall in Butte, Montana. The $1,800 take in the robbery was far less than the outlaws needed and they were soon planning another heist. Warner and McCarty headed down to Bill McCarty’s North Powder River ranch near Baker City, Oregon. Finding Bill receptive to their plans, the three men came together as The Invincible Three.

The Invincible Three’s first crime was robbing a mining camp in Sparta, Oregon. The job netted the outlaws $600 in cash along with some gold nuggets. Once back at Bill McCarty’s ranch, they hid the nuggets for safekeeping where Bill’s son Fred discovered them. Fred McCarty traveled up to Boise and treated himself to a shopping spree on The Invincible Three’s dime.

Eventually Warner sent for Rose to join him at the McCarty ranch. The Invincible Three continued to pull jobs throughout the area until it got too hot. They moved on to the Big Bend area on the Columbia River in Washington State. The outlaws purchased a ranch from Frank Beasley for $700, which they named the 7U Ranch. Located 35 miles from Wenatchee and 100 miles from Spokane, the 7U would serve as the outlaws base of operations. During this time Warner was using Ras Lewis as his alias.

The Invincible Three planned to rob the Forepaugh Circus in Moscow, Idaho. Along the way to Moscow, they met Sam Hildreth and recruited him to participate in the robbery. Shortly before the robbery, Hildreth disappeared. Arriving at the circus, The Invincible Three discovered the circus had been alerted to their plans, likely by Hildreth. The three outlaws wisely chose to escape into the crowd rather than face the dozens of rifles pointed at them.

Undaunted by their failure in Idaho, the outlaws moved on to Enterprise, Oregon where, on October 8, 1891, they robbed the Wallowa National Bank. The Invincible Three netted $9,000 in the robbery which would have gone off without a hitch if it were not for Warner’s horse going wild on him as they made their escape. From Enterprise, the outlaws hid out at Bill McCarty’s ranch for a couple weeks before returning to the 7U Ranch.

Back at the 7U, Warner felt bad for leaving Rose alone during his escapades and made the fateful decision to bring her sister, Sarah Jane Morgan, to the ranch to keep her company. Tom McCarty and Sarah Morgan hit it off and began dating. The Invincible Three continued to make several robbery runs during this time until Bill McCarty returned to his North Powder River ranch to care for his ailing wife.

After Bill McCarty left, Warner and Tom McCarty learned Butch Cassidy was in the Star Valley area and set out to meet their old friend. Cassidy was preparing to help out in the Johnson County War and the three men made a deal. Warner and McCarty would join Cassidy in a raid against the cattle barons of Johnson County and when they were done, Cassidy would return with them to the 7U.

The trio rode into Belle Fourche, South Dakota and picked up about fifty head of cattle. They soon found themselves pursued by a posse and were forced to abandon the cattle and split up. Warner headed towards the Wind River and was forced to cross at high flood to escape to freedom.

Making his way towards the 7U ranch in an attempt to reconvene with his friends, Warner met a fellow outlaw by the name of Bill Rose. At first Rose mistook Warner for a lawman however, after the initial confusion, the two men agreed to team up. In no time the two outlaws relieved a couple of English cattlemen of $30,000. They attempt to escape to the 7U but are thwarted at every turn. It would be two years before the men could escape Wyoming; in the meantime they continued to pull heists at every opportunity. One of these crimes was a botched attempt to rob a Union Pacific train. Warner and Rose used dynamite to blow the safe, destroying the car and rendering the safe impossible to open in the process.

Eventually the two were able to escape Wyoming by posing as father and daughter settlers heading west in search of a homestead. Unfortunately for Warner, the role of the daughter was his. The ruse worked and the two managed to get out of Wyoming, splitting up in Huntington, Oregon. From Huntington, Warner made his way to Bill McCarty’s ranch where he reunited with the McCarty brothers.

The McCarty’s were shocked to see their old friend as it was reported that Warner was died drowning in the Wind River. Bill McCarty’s ranch was about to be foreclosed, but Warner paid it off for him before returning to the 7U to reunite with Rose.