Harvey Logan

Harvey Logan, (1867 - June 17, 1904) also known as Kid Curry, was a notorious outlaw and gunman who ran with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid's infamous Wild Bunch gang. Despite being less well known than his counterparts, he has since been referred to as "the wildest of the Wild Bunch". [http://hometown.aol.com/Gibson0817/KidCurry.htm Kid Curry, the Wildest of the Bunch ] ] He was responsible for the killing of at least nine law enforcement officers in five different shootings, and another two men in other instances, as well as several shootouts with posses and civilians during his outlaw days.

Early life

Kid Curry was born Harvey Alexander Logan in Iowa. 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, Curry made his living breaking horses on the "Cross L" ranch, near Big Spring, 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.

He rode as a cowboy on a cattle drive to Pueblo, Colorado, in 1883. While in Pueblo, he was involved in a saloon brawl. To avoid arrest, he fled, settling in southern Wyoming. In Wyoming, Curry worked for the "Circle C" and the "Circle Diamond" ranches. By all accounts, Curry was mild-mannered, likable, and loyal to both friends and his brothers.

Outlaw life

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desc noneThe events that changed the course of his life began when his brother Hank, and friend Jim Thornhill, bought a ranch at Rock Creek, in Chouteau County, Montana. The ranch was near the site of a mine strike made by local miner 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 brothers partner, Jim Thornhill, gave Curry his pistol. Landusky's gun jammed and Curry shot him dead.

Curry was arrested and at an inquest was released 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

He started riding with outlaw "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, resulting in Curry's brother Johnny being killed. Curry and Lonny escaped. Shortly after that incident, Curry and his brother Lonny argued with Black Jack Ketchum over the take in a train robbery. The two brothers left the gang.

Forming his own gang

They both 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, his brother Lonny, Walt Putnam and George Curry formed their own gang around this time. He temporarily left Colorado, intending to scout good targets for potential robberies. Around April 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 since they took an opportunity and overpowered the jailer to escape. They headed back into Montana and robbed two Post Offices. [ [http://genforum.genealogy.com/wy/messages/2863.html Deputy Sherriff William Deane-killed April 1897 {Powder River} ] ] [http://www.odmp.org/officer.php?oid=6276 Sheriff Josiah Hazen, Converse County Sheriff's Office ] ]

Riding with Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch

It was during this time that he began riding with the Wild Bunch gang, under Butch Cassidy. He did not become as well known as the Sundance Kid, who was considered "the fastest gun in the West", despite not being known to have been in more than two shootings, without any confirmation of killing anyone. On June 2, 1899, the gang robbed a Union Pacific Railroad overland flyer 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, both Kid Curry and George Curry shot and killed Sheriff Joe Hazen. Noted "killer for hire" and contract employee of the Pinkerton Agency, Tom Horn, obtained information from explosives expert Bill Speck that revealed that George Curry and Kid Curry had shot Hazen, which Horn passed on to Pinkerton detective Charlie Siringo. The gang escaped into the Hole-in-the-Wall, an area that the gang used as its hideout. Curry and the Sundance Kid used a log cabin at Old Trail Town as a hide-out before they robbed a bank in Red Lodge, Montana. 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. [ [http://www.codywyomingnet.com/attractions/old_trail_town.php Cody Wyoming: Old West Trail Town, History ] ]

Siringo had been assigned the task of bringing in the outlaw gang. He became friends with Elfie Landusky, who was using the last name of Curry, alleging that Lonny Curry had gotten her pregnant. Through her, Siringo intended on locating the gang.

Siringo changed his name to Charles L. Carter, disguised himself as an on-the-run gunman, and began mingling with people that might know the Currys, becoming friends with Jim Thornhill. However, Kid Curry was in a place referred to as "Robbers Roost", in 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 train near Folsom, New Mexico, with gang members Elzy Lay and Sam Ketchum. A posse led by Sheriff Ed Farr [ [http://www.odmp.org/officer.php?oid=4738 Sheriff Edward J. Farr, Huerfano County Sheriff's Department ] ] 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 wounding deputy Henry Love in the process. He received a life sentence for the murders. Ketchum died from his wounds days later while in custody, and deputy Love died from wounds he received [ [http://www.odmp.org/officer.php?oid=15714 Posseman Henry M. Love, Colfax County Sheriff's Department ] ] . Curry escaped, but he, Cassidy, and other members of the gang were forced to leave New Mexico. Sam Ketchum was the brother of Tom "Black Jack" Ketchum. 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.

Moab revenge gunfight, other killings to avoid capture

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 brother. In March 1900, Curry was identified in St. Johns, Arizona as he was passing notes suspected of being from the Wilcox Robbery. Local Sheriff Edward Beeler gathered a posse and began tracking Curry, who was accompanied by Bill Carver. The posse came into contact with Curry and Carver on March 28, and during a shootout, Curry and Carver killed Deputy Andrew Gibbons and Deputy Frank LeSeuer. On May 26, Kid Curry rode into Utah and killed Grand County, Utah Sheriff [http://www.odmp.org/officer.php?oid=13524 John Tyler] and Deputy Sam Jenkins in a brazen shootout in Moab [ [http://www.odmp.org/officer.php?oid=7094 Deputy Sheriff Samuel Jenkins, Grand County Sheriff's Department ] ] . Both killings were in retaliation for them killing George Curry and his brother Lonny.

Curry then returned with the Wild Bunch, and they robbed a train near Tipton, Wyoming. Newspaper stories claimed the gang took more than $55,000 in that robbery. 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 went back out and 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 another Union Pacific train near Wagner, Montana. This time, they took over $60,000 in cash. Gang member Will Carver was killed by Sheriff Elijah Briant during the pursuit of the robbers 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 December 12, gang members Ben Kilpatrick and Laura Bullion were captured in Knoxville, Tennessee. On December 13, during a shootout with lawmen to avoid capture, Kid Curry killed Knoxville policemen William Dinwiddle [ [http://www.odmp.org/officer.php?oid=16704 Patrolman William Dinwiddie, Knoxville Police Department ] ] and Robert Saylor [ [http://www.odmp.org/officer.php?oid=16703 Patrolman Robert Saylor, Knoxville Police Department ] ] , and escaped. Curry, despite being pursued by Pinkerton agents and other law enforcement officials, 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, killed by posse

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 20 year hard labor sentence, and a $5,000 fine. However, on June 27, 1903, Curry escaped. Rumors that a deputy had received an $8,000 bribe to allow his escape spread, but nothing could be proven.

On June 17, 1904, Kid Curry was tracked down by a posse outside of Parachute, Colorado. A massive shootout ensued, and it was claimed by some that Kid Curry had taken his own life during the hopeless battle. Reports that Logan escaped persisted well into the 20th century, and his mysterious "death" has long been subject to controversy and debate, much like the rumors of Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. It is, however, generally accepted that the life of Kid Curry was claimed by Colorado lawman Billy Bindo, known for loading his guns with Golden Bullet brand bullets.

Appearance in literature and cinema

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.

Ted Cassidy played Kid Curry / Harvey Logan in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid".

Ben Murphy portrayed a fictionalized Kid Curry in the 1970s television show "Alias Smith and Jones".

References

External links

* [http://www.butchandsundance.com/players/harveylogan.htm Harvey Logan on ButchandSundance.com]