Tom McCarty

Tom McCarty and Matt Warner were brothers-in-law as a result of McCarty’s marriage to Warner’s sister, Teenie Christianson. The two men developed a tight bond that lasted long after Teenie’s death. While several years older than Warner, the two men shared a love for the outlaw life and became solid partners.

Exactly when and where McCarty first became involved in the outlaw life is unknown, but it is generally recognized that he was more experienced than his brother-in-law. Legend has it that it was McCarty who taught Warner and Butch Cassidy the art of train robberies.

Warner reconnected with his brother-in-law shortly after robbing a bank in St. Johns, Arizona. McCarty was on his way to stage a cattle raid and Warner was quick to join him. Following a successful raid, the two men split up with McCarty going onto another raid, this time for horses, while Warner returned to his Diamond Mountain ranch.

Warner and Butch Cassidy stayed with McCarty in Cortez while they raced Warner’s prized mare, Betty, throughout southwestern Colorado. When Warner and Cassidy got into a confrontation with some Indians who lost a race to Betty, it was McCarty who fired the fatal shot that put an end to the confrontation.

Along with Warner and Cassidy, Tom McCarty is suspected of robbing an eastbound Denver & Rio Grande passenger train near Grand Junction, Colorado. No evidence was ever produced to connect the three men with the crime and later four others were arrested and convicted for the robbery.

On March 30, 1889 two men robbed the First National Bank of Denver. One man walked into the bank and produced a vial of what he claimed to be nitroglycerin. He then demanded a check for $21,000 to be written and immediately cashed. The bank personnel were quick to meet the robber’s demands, but not before slipping a $10,000 bill into the moneybag. Once he received the money the robber walked out of the bank, handed off the money to his waiting partner, and was never seen again. Though both men later denied participation in the robbery, legend has it that the $10,000 note found itself tacked on the wall above a bar in a cabin owned by Tom McCarty and Matt Warner.

Later that same year, on June 24, McCarty, Warner and Butch Cassidy robbed the San Miguel Valley Bank in Telluride, Colorado. The robbery netted the three men approximately $20,000. Following the robbery, the outlaws escaped into Robbers Roost before heading north to Lander, Wyoming. Just outside of Lander the brothers-in-law split with Cassidy who wisely chose not to go into town.

Once in Lander, McCarty and Warner set their sights on the nearest bar and were quickly spotted by a posse. Leaving town as quickly as they entered, the two men were again pursued by the law, this time armed with bloodhounds. Eventually the two men escaped their pursuers and ended up in Afton, Wyoming.

Under the aliases Tom Smith and Matt Willard, the two outlaws posed as Montana cattlemen looking for a new ranch. They soon found a cabin that met their liking and settled down. It wasn’t long before love was in the air and both McCarty and Warner found themselves married to local women–McCarty to Sary Lemberg, Warner to Rose Morgan. The couples married in Montpelier, Idaho. While in Montpelier they were spotted by authorities and soon after returning to the Afton area a posse came in search of the outlaws. After chasing the posse out of town, the pair decided it was time to hit the road.

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