Tom McCarty Page 2

Taking the wives with them under the guise of an extended honeymoon, the outlaws traveled throughout the West. Their money running short, McCarty and Warner sent the wives back to Star Valley and proceeded to rob a gambling hall in Butte, Montana. They managed to steal $1,800; a decent score, but far less than the outlaws required. Consequently they were soon planning another heist.

The two men headed down to McCarty’s brother Bill’s ranch on the North Powder River near Baker, Oregon. Finding Bill ready and willing for some criminal action, and more importantly the money that comes with it, the three men came together as The Invincible Three.

The Invincible Three’s first order of business was robbing a mining camp in Sparta, Oregon. The heist put $600 in cash, along with some gold nuggets, in the outlaws’ pockets. They hid the money in various locations around Bill McCarty’s ranch for safekeeping. Safe from prying eyes maybe, but not safe from Bill’s son Fred who discovered the nuggets and treated himself to a shopping spree on The Invincible Three’s dime.

The Invincible Three continued to pull jobs in the area, using Bill McCarty’s ranch as a base, until it got too hot for them to continue. From Oregon the trio headed into Washington and purchased a ranch near the Columbia River they christened the 7U.

Once they were settled in Washington, the three outlaws made plans to rob the Forepaugh Circus in Moscow, Idaho. Along the way they met up with Sam Hildreth who, after a lengthy bragging contest with Tom McCarty over their outlaw exploits, agreed to join The Invincible Three in Moscow. Shortly before arriving in town, Hildreth went missing, the outlaws suspected a rat, but went ahead with the plan anyway. Arriving at the circus grounds, the outlaws were met with a dozen or more rifles pointed at them by waiting circus employees. It was obvious someone, likely Hildreth, tipped the Forepaugh Circus off to the plan. The outlaws managed to escape into the crowd without incident.

The Invincible Three quickly regrouped after their failure in Idaho and ventured down to Enterprise, Oregon where, on October 8, 1891, the three men robbed the Wallowa National Bank. After relieving the bank of $9,000 the three men raced to Bill McCarty’s North Powder River ranch where they hid out for a couple weeks before returning to the 7U.

Before The Invincible Three could plan another robbery, Bill McCarty was called home to care for his ailing wife. Tom McCarty and Matt Warner leaned their old fried and partner, Butch Cassidy, was in the Star Valley area and the brothers-in-law set out to find him. Cassidy was the area preparing for a cattle raid to help out in the Johnson County War. Upon reuniting with his old friends, Cassidy recruited McCarty and Warner to help him with the raid.

It didn’t take long for the experienced rustlers to gather fifty head of cattle. It took even less time for the outlaws to find themselves pursued by a posse. Outnumbered three to one, the bandits were forced to abandon the cattle and split up. Warner took a dip in the Wind River making his escape, it is unknown how McCarty and Warner managed to elude their captors.

According to Warner’s autobiography, The Last of the Bandit Riders, when he finally made it back to the North Powder River ranch, nearly two years after the outlaws split up at Wind River, Tom McCarty was there. Bill McCarty was having financial problems at the time and Warner paid off his ranch for him. The three men then returned to the 7U.

Reunited, The Invincible Three made plans to rob the payroll of the Benjamin E. Snipes & Co in Roslyn, Washington. This robbery would prove to be The Invincible Three’s last ride. The robbery itself went off without a hitch. During the escape the three men were forced to split up. The McCarty brothers got away clean while Warner initially escaped the pursuing posses, only to be captured at the 7U several weeks later.

With The Invincible Three no more, Tom and Bill McCarty, along with Bill’s son Fred, planned to rob the Farmers & Merchants Bank in Delta, Colorado. Fred McCarty waited outside with the horses while Tom and Bill went inside the bank. During the robbery, Tom McCarty shot two bank employees – killing one instantly and severely wounding the other. Alerted to the robbery by the gunshots Ray Simpson, a local hardware store owner, ran outside and saw the outlaws making their escape. Simpson fired two shots, killing Bill and Fred McCarty. Tom McCarty never looked back and escaped Delta with his life.

After the death of his brother and nephew in Delta, Tom McCarty gave up the outlaw life. It is said he became a hermit, living on the cliffs above Green River, Utah to be near his sons Len and Lew McCarty. When he was in need of supplies, McCarty would like a fire to signal his sons. In The Last of the Bandit Riders, Warner tells a slightly different tale, stating McCarty was killed in a gun battle with another man in Bitterroot County, Montana.

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