Harvey Logan - from Wikipedia
Production and usHarvey Alexander Logan (1867 – June
17, 1904), also known as Kid Curry, was an American outlaw and gunman who
rode with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid's infamous Wild Bunch gang
during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Despite being less well-known
than his fellow gang members, he has since been referred to as "the wildest
of the Wild Bunch", having reputedly killed at least nine law enforcement
officers in five different shootings and another two men in other instances.
He was involved in numerous shootouts with police and civilians and participated
in several bank and train robberies with various gangs during his outlaw
days.
Early Life
Logan was born in Richland Township, Tama County, Iowa
in 1867. His mother died in 1876, and his brothers, Hank, Johnny and Lonny,
moved to Dodson, Missouri to live with their aunt Lee Logan. Until at least
1883, Harvey made his living breaking horses on the Cross L ranch, near
Rising Star, Texas. While there, he met and befriended a man named "Flat
Nose" George Curry, from whom he took his new last name. His brothers soon
adopted the same last name. The Logan brothers were known as hard workers
until they got paid. Money did not stay in their pockets for long. They
all had a taste for alcohol and women. Kid Curry would often return from
a train or bank robbery, get drunk and lay up with prostitutes until his
share of the take was gone. After Kid Curry became famous, the prostitutes
would frequently name him as the father when they became pregnant. The
children were referred to as "Curry Kids". It is believed that Kid Curry
was credited with as many as eighty-five children, though the number of
children he actually fathered was probably fewer than five. Descendants
of the "Curry Kids" remain scattered throughout Eastland County, Texas
and the surrounding areas to this day.
In 1883, Curry rode as a cowboy on a cattle drive to Pueblo,
Colorado. While in Pueblo, he was involved in a saloon brawl. To avoid
arrest, he fled, settling in southern Wyoming, where he began work at the
"Circle Diamond" ranch. By all accounts, when sober, Curry was mild-mannered,
likable, and loyal to both his friends and brothers.
Outlaw life
The events that changed the course of his life began when
his brother Hank and friend Jim Thornhill bought a ranch at Rock Creek,
in what was then Chouteau County, Montana (now Phillips County). The ranch
was near the site of a mine strike made by local miner and lawman Powell
"Pike" Landusky. Landusky, according to some reports of the day, confronted
Curry and attacked him, believing Curry was involved romantically with
Landusky's daughter, Elfie. Landusky then filed assault charges against
Curry, who was arrested and beaten.
Two friends of Curry's, A.S. Lohman and Frank Plunkett,
paid a $500 bond for Curry's release. Landusky's daughter, Elfie, later
claimed it was Curry's brother, Lonny, with whom she had been involved.
However, the confession came much too late. On December 27, 1894, Curry
caught Landusky at a local saloon, and hit Landusky, stunning him. Curry,
evidently believing the fight was over, began walking away. Landusky pulled
his pistol and began threatening Curry, who was unarmed. Curry's friend
and his brother's partner, Jim Thornhill, gave Curry his pistol. Landusky's
gun jammed and Curry shot him dead.
Curry was arrested but was released at an inquest when
it was judged that he acted in self-defense. However, a formal trial was
set. Curry believed he would not get a fair trial because the judge was
close friends with Landusky. For this reason, Curry left town.
Riding with the Black Jack Ketchum gang
Curry started riding with outlaw Tom "Black Jack" Ketchum.
Pinkerton detectives began trailing Curry shortly after his departure from
Montana. In January 1896, Curry received word that an old friend of Landusky's,
rancher James Winters, had been spying on him for the reward offered in
his arrest. Curry and two of his brothers, Johnny and Lonny, went to Winters'
ranch to confront him. However, a shootout erupted. Johnny was killed,
while Curry and Lonny escaped. Shortly after, Curry and Lonny argued with
Black Jack Ketchum over the take in a train robbery. The two brothers left
the gang and joined the circus.
Forming his own gang
The brothers then received employment on a cattle ranch,
arranged by their cousin, Bob Lee, near Sand Gulch, Colorado. Pinkerton
agents trailing Curry gave up his trail briefly. Curry, Lonny, Walt Putnam
and George Curry formed their own gang around this time. Curry temporarily
left Colorado, intending to scout good targets for potential robberies. |
Born |
Harvey Alexander Logan - 1867
Iowa |
Died |
June 17, 1904 (age 36-37)
Parachute, Colorado |
Cause of Death |
Self inflicted gun shot wound in Colorado |
Resting Place |
Rosebud Cemetery |
Other name |
Kid Curry |
Occupation |
Cowboy, bank robber, train robber, outlaw |
Criminal |
Murder |
Front Row: l to r
Harry A Longbaugh, alias SUndance Kid
Ben Kilpatrick, Alias Tall Texan
Robert Leroy Parker, alias Butch Cassidy
Back row: l to r
Will Carver
Harvey Logan, alias Kid Curry |
|
On April 15, 1897, Curry was reportedly involved in the killing
of Deputy Sheriff William Deane of Powder River, Wyoming, as he and his
gang gathered fresh horses on a ranch in the Powder River Basin. After
this, he returned to Colorado to the ranch where he was working.
By June 1897, the cowboy job had ended, and Curry ventured
north with the rest of the gang. They robbed a bank in Belle Fourche, South
Dakota, and met resistance outside the bank from the townspeople. One of
their friends, Tom O'Day, was captured when his horse spooked and ran away
without him. The others escaped, but while planning a second robbery a
posse from the town caught up with them in Fergus County, Montana. During
a shootout, Curry was shot through the wrist, and his horse was shot from
under him, resulting in his capture. George Curry and Walt Putnam were
also captured. All three were held in the Deadwood, South Dakota jail,
but only briefly; they overpowered the jailer and escaped. They headed
back into Montana and robbed two post offices.
Riding with Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch
During this time Curry began riding with Butch Cassidy's
Wild Bunch gang. On June 2, 1899, the gang robbed the Union Pacific Railroad
Overland Flyer passenger train near Wilcox, Wyoming, a robbery that became
famous. Many notable lawmen of the day took part in the hunt for the robbers,
but they were not captured.
During one shootout with lawmen following that robbery,
Kid Curry and George Curry shot and killed Converse County Sheriff Joe
Hazen. Tom Horn, a noted killer-for-hire and contract employee of the Pinkerton
Agency, obtained information from explosives expert Bill Speck that identified
George Curry and Kid Curry as Hazen's murderers, which Horn passed on to
Pinkerton detective Charlie Siringo. The gang escaped into its hideout
at the Hole-in-the-Wall. Curry and the Sundance Kid may have used a log
cabin, now preserved at Old Trail Town in Cody, Wyoming, as a hideout while
planning to rob a bank in Red Lodge, Montana. However, they never robbed
the Red Lodge bank and the Sundance Kid's participation has never been
proven. Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, and other desperados met at another
cabin brought to Old Trail Town from the Hole-in-the-Wall country in north-central
Wyoming. It was built in 1883 by Alexander Ghent.
Siringo had been assigned the task of bringing in the
outlaw gang. He became friends with Elfie Landusky. Elfie was using the
last name of Curry, alleging that Lonny Curry had got her pregnant. Through
her, Siringo intended to locate the gang. Siringo changed his name to Charles
L. Carter, disguised himself as an on-the-run gunman, and began mingling
with people who might know the Currys, becoming friends with Jim Thornhill.
However, Kid Curry was hiding in Robbers Roost, another
hideout used by the Wild Bunch in the remote canyon country of Utah. Curry
then went to Alma, New Mexico, with Cassidy and others, intending to hide
for a while. On July 11, 1899, while working at the W.S. Ranch, Curry robbed
a Colorado and Southern Railroad train near Folsom, New Mexico with gang
members Elzy Lay and Sam Ketchum, the brother of Tom "Black Jack" Ketchum.
A posse led by Huerfano County, Colorado Sheriff Ed Farr cornered the gang
near an area called Turkey Creek, which resulted in two gun battles over
a period of four days. Lay and Ketchum were both wounded and later captured,
with Lay killing the sheriff and mortally wounding Colfax County Deputy
Henry Love in the process. Ketchum died from his wounds days later while
in custody, and Lay received a life sentence for the murders. Curry escaped,
but he, Cassidy, and other members of the gang were forced to leave New
Mexico. Curry traveled to San Antonio, where he stayed briefly. While there
he met prostitute Della Moore (also known as Annie Rogers or Maude Williams),
with whom he became romantically involved. At the time of their meeting,
she was working in Madame Fannie Porter's brothel, which was a regular
hideout for the Wild Bunch gang. |
Logan with Delta Moore |
Revenge killings
On February 28, 1900, lawmen attempted to arrest Lonny
Curry at his aunt's home. Lonny was killed in the shootout that followed,
and his cousin Bob Lee was arrested for rustling and sent to prison in
Wyoming. Kid Curry was now the last surviving Logan brother. Meanwhile,
Curry was identified in St. Johns, Arizona as he was passing notes suspected
of being from the Wilcox robbery. Local Apache County Sheriff Edward Beeler
gathered a posse and began tracking Curry, who was accompanied by Bill
"News" Carver. The posse shot it out with Curry and Carver on March 28.
Curry and Carver killed Deputy Andrew Gibbons and Deputy Frank LeSueur.
On May 26, Kid Curry rode into Utah and killed Grand County Sheriff Jesse
Tyler and Deputy Sam Jenkins in a brazen shootout in Moab. Both killings
were in retaliation for Tyler and Jenkins having killed George Curry and
his brother Lonny.
Curry then returned to the Wild Bunch. On August 29, 1900,
they robbed Union Pacific train No. 3 near Tipton, Wyoming, from which
newspaper stories claimed the gang got more than $55,000. The gang again
split up, with Kid Curry and Ben Kilpatrick heading south to Fort Worth,
Texas, while Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, and Bill Carver immediately pulled
off another robbery in Winnemucca, Nevada.
Siringo, still working the case for the Pinkertons, was
in Circleville, Utah, where Butch Cassidy had been raised. Curry rejoined
the gang, and they hit a Great Northern train near Wagner, Montana on July
3. This time, they took over $60,000 in cash. Gang member Bill Carver was
killed in Sonora, Texas by Sutton County Sheriff Elijah Briant during the
pursuit following that robbery.
Again the gang split up. In October 1901, Della Moore
was arrested in Nashville, Tennessee for passing money tied to an earlier
robbery involving Curry. On November 5 and 6, gang members Ben Kilpatrick
and Laura Bullion were captured in St. Louis, Missouri. On December 13,
Kid Curry shot Knoxville, Tennessee policemen William Dinwiddle and Robert
Saylor in a shootout and escaped. Despite being pursued by Pinkerton agents
and other law enforcement officials, Curry returned to Montana, where he
shot and killed rancher James Winters, who was responsible for the killing
of his brother Johnny years before.
Capture, escape, and death
Curry then traveled back to Knoxville. In a pool hall
on November 30, 1902, Curry was captured after a lengthy physical fight
with lawmen. He was convicted of robbery because facts in the murder of
the two policemen were not definite and no witnesses would testify, and
he received a sentence of 20 years of hard labor and a $5,000 fine. On
June 27, 1903, Curry escaped. Rumors that a deputy had received an $8,000
bribe to allow his escape spread, but this was never proven.
On June 7, 1904, Kid Curry was tracked down by a posse
outside of Parachute, Colorado. Curry and two others had robbed a Denver
and Rio Grande train outside Parachute. As they escaped, they stole fresh
horses owned by Roll Gardner and a neighbour. The next morning, when they
discovered their horses had been stolen, Gardner and the neighbour set
out in pursuit of the gang. They joined up with a posse and continued tracking
the outlaws. The gang shot Gardner's and his neighbour's horses from under
them; Gardner found cover while his neighbour started running. Kid Curry
took aim at the neighbour and Gardner shot Curry. The wounded Curry decided
to end it at that time, and fatally shot himself in the head to avoid capture.
The other two robbers escaped. The rifle Gardner used is still in the family
today. Rumors persist that Curry was not killed in Parachute and was misidentified,
having actually departed for South America with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance
Kid. Charlie Siringo resigned from the Pinkertons, believing they got the
wrong man.
Curry is buried in Pioneer (Linwood) Cemetery overlooking
Glenwood Springs, Colorado, a short distance from fellow gunfighter Doc
Holliday's memorial.
In popular culture
Curry appears as a character in Mr American by George
MacDonald Fraser. The novel, set in 1909, uses the controversy surrounding
Curry's death to portray him as surviving the shootout near Parachute and
later tracking the novel's protagonist, Mark Franklin, to England, where
Curry attempts to kill Franklin.
Phillip Pine played Kid Curry in the episode "Kid Curry"
on the TV series Tales of Wells Fargo (1959).
Ted Cassidy played Curry in the 1969 film Butch Cassidy
and the Sundance Kid.
Ben Murphy portrayed a fictionalised Kid Curry in the
1970s television show Alias Smith and Jones.
The MythBusters tested the claim that Curry could drop
a silver dollar off his hand and then draw and fire five shots from his
revolver before it hit the ground. They found the claim to be highly unlikely.
Curry appears in the video game Call of Juarez: Gunslinger
and is a boss-level duel opponent.
In 2015, Rocky Mountain Distilling + Bottling located
in West Valley City, Utah began producing Kid Curry Vodka. In 2016, Kid
Curry Silver Rum was released by the same company.
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