Butch Cassidy is Free

On January 19, 1896, Butch Cassidy was released from prison in Laramie. His release came after serving 18 months of a two-year sentence for horse thieving. Reportedly the horse he was caught with was valued at five dollars.  Looks like the courts really were serious about stealing horses in the old days.

Butch Cassidy

Wyoming Governor William Richards freed and pardoned Cassidy after talking with the outlaw in Laramie. The people of Fremont County were afraid Cassidy, who may have been running an illegal protection racket there, might come back. They convinced the governor that a pardon might keep Cassidy on the up and up.  Governor Richards said that Cassidy, "told me that he’d had enough of Penitentiary life, and intended to conduct himself in such a way as to not again lay himself liable to arrest."

Governor Richards Thought it Sounded Like a Good Deal

Later many locals joked that he may have meant that he intended to become a better criminal and would not get caught again.

Not a Single $5.00 Horse Here

Me and Bill Nye

Bill Nye, as frequent readers of this blog know, is one of my all-time favorite Wyomingites. His columns, written over one hundred years ago still make me smile. On June 1, 1877 his column topic was a recent Laramie jail break. Never one to miss a chance at humor, he picked on not the jail breakers but the people that were worried that something might happen to them because of the jail break. The old, they might come to my house idea. Below are excerpts from his column.

“Different rumors pervaded the town last evening between the hours of 8 p.m. and 10. Some had understood that the jailor had been struck in the cerebellum, others that he was struck in the act of locking the iron gate. It was earnestly reported at one time that the court house had been surrounded by a large Russian force, and that some were rushin’ in and others rushin’ out.”

“He ends the column as only Bill Nye could. “Two hundred and eleven women looked under two hundred and eleven beds before retiring, and the man of the house put his trusty Smith and Wesson under his pillow where it wouldn’t be stolen. During the still hours of the night he would feel that he must shoot somebody, and as a slight noise greeted his ear he would creep to the door and shoot a hole in the rain-water barrel.”

I have twice used a photo of Edgar Wilson, ‘Bill,’ Nye, so thought you might enjoy a Wyoming sunset – I took this photo about seven this evening.

Mae Urbanek - A Wyoming Writer

Wyoming

Green of the pine, grey of the sage,

Mixed with the rocks crumbling with age;

Guarded by mountains touching the sky,

Blessed with a grandeur none can deny.

Mae Urbanek

 

Mae Urbanek will never be forgotten, at least in Wyoming she will not. Why? Her wonderfully researched book, Wyoming Place Names, has been continuously in print since its first edition in 1967. Few books can still be found in stores a half century after publication. I am in awe of someone who could do the amount of research needed to write this book, and before the internet.

Because of this book I know that, Bill, Wyoming was named after four ranchers, all named Bill, whose corners met here. Wyoming writer C.J. Box could have found the inspiration for his fictional town of Saddle String, Wyoming thanks to Mae Urbanek and her research of this tiny Johnson County abandoned post office. A saddle string, by the way, is what cowboys used to tie extra bundles and mail behind their saddles.

 Mrs. Urbanek was not only a writer of nonfiction but a poet and a writer that dabbled in some fiction over the years. Her fiction book, The Second Man, of which I proudly own a copy, is a wonderful read that just never got enough circulation to be a best seller. Maybe this book was before its time.  

She published other books, now out of print, and nearly impossible to find, too bad, I have read as much of her stuff as I could find, she was a gifted writer and researcher. Too bad someone can’t bring back all of her work for modern readers to enjoy.

She lived a wonderful and long life, passing in 1995, a few months before her 92^nd birthday.

 

Wyoming Top 10

Last week I posted numbers 1-5 of my famous Wyoming people top ten, today numbers 6-10 will complete my list. Like my five of a week ago these are in no particular order, only random.

Edgar Wilson (Bill) Nye (1850-1896) - Founded a Wyoming newspaper with one of the most unusual paper names in all of America, the, Laramie Boomerang. Nye was also a, worldwide know, humorist who traveled widely with both James Whitcomb Riley and Mark Twain. His column was so widely read that the Boomerang was sent to every state in the union and to several foreign countries. Nye wrote several political or historical humor books that sold very well. I have read all that I could of him and his writings over the years and posted quite a few times about him. Mostly forgotten now, too bad.

Chief Washakie (1804/1808-1900) - Shoshone chief who was convinced that peace with the whites would be the only sensible thing to do. So well respected by the American government that he was the last Indian leader to be able to pick the land for his people’s reservation. Famous for keeping peace among the Wyoming tribes by fighting and killing Crow Chief Big Robber at Crowheart Butte Wyoming. The two chiefs fought over tribal hunting grounds instead of letting the tribes fight it out.

Curt Gowdy (1919-2006) – Famous sports announcer and personality, possible best known in later years as the voice of the Boston Red Sox. Gowdy spend decades announcing, football, baseball and several Olympics. But what I remember was his job of host of the long running, American Sportsman. Being an avid outdoorsman I loved this fishing and hunting themed show.

Buffalo Bill Cody (1846-1917) – His life and time spanned the end of the old west but his promotion of the old west let it live on for several more decades. His life story has been well documented, from Pony Express rider, to scout and Indian fighter and Medal of Honor winner and Wild West show promoter. A remarkable man in real-life and in fiction. The wonderful Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody, Wyoming is a must see for everyone that yearns for the good old days.

Chris LeDoux (1948-2005) – Some might wonder about this cowboy singer and his place on my list, but none should. He was a world champion bareback rider and wrote songs about life and cowboys and rodeo. Garth Brooks describes his music as a combination of western soul, sagebrush blues, cowboy folk and rock ‘n’ roll. LeDoux sold over five million records and was also an accomplished artist working mostly in bronze.

 “Sleeping on the ground and takin’ a bath in the creek. That’s the stuff that really made it worthwhile, anybody can stay in a motel.” (Chris LeDoux)

 Can’t be any more Wyoming-like than that.

James (Jim) Bridger (1804-1881) - The legendary mountain man spent much of his adult life in Wyoming, and some of it not far from where I sit writing at this moment. Here is a man who never learned to read or write but quoted widely from the Bible and Shakespeare. Couldn’t read a real map but drew maps that helped build the Oregon Trail, find South Pass and the lay-out the Trans-Continental Railroad. Wyoming has a fort, a mountain, mountain range, river, plains, buildings and many more things named after this mountain man, affectionately known as old Gabe.

I know what you are thinking, this is six not five. Never was good at math and it was too difficult to list only ten – this may be the only top eleven ever written.

If only I would have written a top 12, I could have listed myself. Neil Waring - “He wrote the most well-known top-11 in Wyoming history, I could have been famous!