Wanted!

"Sulky bulldog appearance: looks rather like a blacksmith coming from work; wears cap pulled well down over face."

I came across this wanted poster some time ago and thought it was fake. But, no, Dan Breen was a member of the IRA during the Irish War of Independence and later a major player in Irish politics. This was the poster issued seeking his arrest. 

Curious, I wondered if such hyperbole on a wanted poster was an Irish thing (because, you know...the Irish like to use their words to embellish), but after looking further, I found similarly descriptive Wanted posters in early American criminal history.

I suppose in a time before TV coverage and video recordings, the authorities had to provide the details the best they could, though I expect even the Irish in the early 20th century were scratching their heads over the description, "looks rather like a blacksmith coming home from work."  (by the way, I love the quantifying word "rather" thrown in that sentence.)

I live across the street from a commuter train station, and if someone was described as looking like a "patent lawyer after a grueling week, coming home and looking forward to a G&T," I doubt I'd be able to nab the miscreant.

With the innovation of photography, the police were able to drag the criminal off to the local photographer to have his or her mug shot taken before throwing them in the cell; and thus ending many a criminal career. Newspapers, telegraphs, and now their faces plastered in quick order all over the country!

One incident to illustrate the point is the famous Fort Worth Five Photograph taken in 1900 by John Schwartz, which put an end to Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch.

Forth Worth Five Photograph of the Wild Bunch

Butch and the boys had gathered together in Fort Worth, TX for the occasion of  Will "News" Carver to Lille Davis, a prostitute he met at Madame Fanny Porter's brothel (spoiler alert: not a long and happy union). Someone had the bright idea that it would be a hoot to get dressed up like dudes and have their picture taken. Huge mistake!

One version of the story is that Schwartz was so proud of his work he put the photo in the window of his shop, and when the local law next brought in a criminal for a mugshot, he recognized some the gang. Keep in mind that at this time the law still wasn't clear on who was in the Wild Bunch. So, this was an important development. 

Bam! The Fort Worth Five portrait went directly onto a wanted poster. Go directly to jail, do not pass go. 

To make matters worse, Wanted posters could be churned out and disturbed so quickly, an outlaw had to be almost constantly on the move. There was one incident where "News" Carver had an unfortunate encounter with a skunk. Immediately, posters went out adding the detail that one of the gang stunk like a skunk.

Though some of the gang were slow to realize it, the days of train robbing was over for the Wild Bunch, and in fact for all the gangs. 

Butch and  the Sundance Kid along with Etta Place definitely got the memo saying the game was up and escaped to South America to start a new life.

But....

"Wedding" (if they were legally married) Photo of Harry Longabaugh, AKA, The Sundance Kid and Etta Place (if that was even her name). 

...before embarking on their fresh start, Sundance and Etta had their picture taken in New York, even sending copies to friends and relatives. And, you guessed it, the picture was used on Wanted posters traveling even as far as South America. Now the Pinkertons had Etta as well.

Spanish language poster provided by Pinkerton detectives to local authorities in South America (photo courtesy of True West)

I note with amusement the following description on one of the Wanted poster for the Sundance Kid:

"Complexion, dark (Looks like a quarter breed Indian)

Eyes, Black

Features, Grecian type"

There are so many things wrong about this description, I hardly know where to begin. Okay, let's begin with "black eyes." Unless he has two shiners, I doubt "black" eye color is an accurate description. And then I picture folks in the old west puzzling over Grecian features while they are comparing various skin tones. This description seems more likely to confuse than aid the good citizens.

In any case, this exposure spelled the end for their brief experiment in going straight. They went back to a life of crime on the run--even Etta at times. She eventually had enough of it and went back to the states to disappear from history. Butch and Sundance, depending on which version of history you subscribe to, either were killed in Bolivia or went on to live peaceful lives under assumed names.  But whatever their fate the Wanted posters certainly contributed to their end as train and bank robbers.

Just like the Wanted poster helped end the careers of many a notorious outlaw in the Old West, it is a wanted poster that brought down a character in my new release, Den of Thieves. 

Blurb:

When his identical twin brother is arrested, the Pinkerton Detective Agency enlists Wynne Palmatier to go undercover and impersonate his outlaw brother, Ennis. His mission is to infiltrate his brother’s gang. Ennis tells Wynne everything he needs to know. Except for one thing: there are two women with the outlaws, and one of them is his wife. 

Lucy House is still paying for the day she strayed away from decency. Now the handsome outlaw she ran away with has lost his appeal and she longs to get away from this life. As the danger mounts, can Wynne and Lucy escape this den of thieves?

Excerpt:

Wynne tied up his horse at the hitching rail and walked in. The sheriff sat with his boots up on his desk. He dropped his boots back down to the floor with a dull thunk when Wynne filled the doorway.

“Sheriff Holden? I’m—”

 The other man stood up, fingers looped in his belt. “I know who you are.” He studied him a good long moment. “Incredible. You look just like him.” The sheriff pointed over Wynne’s shoulder.

“Yeah, that’s one of the defining aspects of identical twins,” he said, turning to see what the sheriff had pointed at.

He gasped. It was a shock to see his visage on a wanted poster.

Mesmerized, he wandered across the room to come face to face with the mugshot. His stomach dropped at the sight. It was one thing to know your brother was an outlaw, but it was another thing entirely to see his face on a poster. “So this is the poster that brought him down.”

Flashes of that same face in more innocent times. Flirting with girls at dances. Singing along with everyone else while Dad played the guitar. Wrestling with a younger cousin and laughing when he pretended to be pinned down by the much smaller boy.

“Yep. He was in Fort Worth having himself a good old time at a faro table when somebody recognized him as one of the gang who robbed a train the week before. They took him into custody without a struggle.”

Listening to the sheriff, he studied the details on the poster. Wanted. Notorious Outlaw. Ennis Green. Six foot tall. 165 pounds. Auburn hair. Green eyes. Reward $500.

 “And then, he escaped. Tricked a deputy into thinking he was having a heart attack and then took the man’s gun off of him when he went to his aid.”

“Nice fellow, my brother.”

“He escaped, but now the Pinkertons have a face to put to his name.”

“Yes, I heard. Someone from our hometown happened to see a copy of the wanted posters and recognized Ennis Green was the Ennis Palmatier who he grew up with. A Pinkerton detective came knocking on our door. Gave my mother quite a shock.”

“Didn’t she know he was an outlaw?”

Always burned in his memory was that day his nephew ran into the store and told him to lock up and come directly home. Then, walking in the parlor to see his mother, her face drained of color and her lips pinched tight as she twisted a handkerchief in her hands. A stranger in the room turned when he came in, his mouth falling open with surprise. “You look exactly like him.” The man, it turned out, was with the Pinkerton’s Detective Agency.

“We weren’t sure if he was even alive. The last thing my father did before he died was kick him out. We knew whatever he was up to, it probably involved being on the wrong side of the law. But we didn’t know how successful he become in his chosen profession.”

What he didn’t add was that he never thought his brother was dead. He knew he’d sense it if he died. Even with the intervening years and miles, he had a feeling in his gut he was out there somewhere, much like the man who loses an arm can still feel it. Right now, with only a floor separating them, he felt a peculiar buzzing in his body.

Available at Amazon

Rose Dunn aka “Rose of the Cimarron”

On Friday, while taking my *ahem* break at work, I spotted a news story, followed a trail, dashed down a rabbit hole and found…

Rose Dunn aka “Rose of the Cimarron”

Born September 5, 1878, Rose Ella Dunn was the youngest daughter and one of ten children of William H. Dunn and Sarah C. (Brenner) Dunn. She was four days shy of her 15th birthday and living with her mother, stepfather, Dr. W.R. Call, and younger brother in Ingalls, Oklahoma Territory, when the shootout between U.S. deputy marshals and members of the Doolin gang occurred in front of the OK-Hotel. Rumor has it she was sweet on one of the gang members, George “Bitter Creek” Newcomb.

She was dubbed "Rose of the Cimarron" not because she was a sweetheart of an outlaw, but because she could ride a horse better than most men and loved riding her horse across the sandbars of the Cimarron River, that ran near her brother’s place.

“Rose of Cimarron” was first introduced to readers in 1915 in a little red paper-covered book titled Oklahoma Outlaws. In the book and subsequent movie portrayal of the Ingalls battle between 13 lawmen and six members of Bill Doolin’s gang, Rose of Cimarron makes a dramatic exit from the OK-Hotel, carrying a rifle through a hail of bullets to her wounded lover, Newcomb.

Now, historians doubt she was anywhere near the gunfight, but an 1873 Winchester with the engraved “Rose of Cimarron” plate in the stock was authenticated by U.S. Marshal E.D. Nix as the rifle Rose Dunn took to Newcomb. It was picked up on an Ingalls street after the gun battle.

Also in doubt was whether Rose was involved with Newcomb at all. In fact, it is believed that Rose told her brothers that George Newcomb would be at her home in Norman, OK on May 12, 1895. When Newcomb and fellow gang member, Charley Pierce, arrived, Rose’s brothers shot and killed them both, and collected the $5,000 bounty…which they, of course, shared with their sister.

For more information, check out the article on Rose in True West Magazine:

http://www.truewestmagazine.com/who-is-rose-of-cimarron/

Tracy Garrett

I'm excited to announce my next release from Prairie Rose Publications -- TEXAS GOLD!

COMING APRIL 22, 2017!

Previously published as TOUCH OF TEXAS

 Award-winning, multi-published author Tracy Garrett has always loved to disappear into the pages of a book. An accomplished musician, Tracy merged her need for creativity, love of history, and passion for reading when she began writing western historical romance.

First published in 2007, Tracy joined Prairie Rose Publications in its inaugural anthology in 2013.  Tracy resides in Missouri with her husband and their fuzzy kid, Wrigley.




Find out more about Tracy at:
TracyGarrett.com
Prairie Rose Publications blog 
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Billy the Kid is Still an Outlaw!

A couple of year back, there was talk about the possible pardon of the notorious outlaw, Billy the Kid. It ended up not happening.   Billy the Kid is still an outlaw. 

In his last day in office, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson announced on New Year’s Eve he would not grant a posthumous pardon to the infamous Old West bad guy, after drawing international attention by entertaining a petition on Billy the Kid's behalf. 

The pardon request had centered on whether Billy the Kid, who was shot to death in 1881 after escaping jail where he awaited hanging in the killing of Lincoln County Sheriff William Brady in 1878, had been promised a pardon from New Mexico's territorial governor, Lew Wallace, in return for testimony in killings he had witnessed. 

But the descendants of Wallace and Sheriff Pat Garrett, who fatally shot the fugitive, were outraged over the proposal.  Pauline Garrett Tillinghast expressed her concern that a pardon would tarnish her grandfather's legacy. Though the pardon might have been narrowly tailored, she said, "It's ridiculous to pardon a murderer.  Hollywood has turned him into some sort of a folk hero."  Pat Garrett's grandson J.P.Garrett and Wallace's great-grandson William Wallace also publicly opposed the possibility of pardon.

  

According to legend, Billy the Kid killed 21 people, one for each year of his life. The New Mexico Tourism Department puts the total closer to nine. The Kid was a ranch hand and gunslinger in the bloody Lincoln County War, a feud between factions vying to dominate the dry goods business and cattle trading in southern New Mexico. Billy the Kid killed two deputies while escaping jail. 

The person filing the request for pardon argued that LewWallace promised to pardon the Kid, also known as William Bonney or Henry McCarty. She said the Kid kept his end of the bargain, but the territorial governor did not. But, J.P.Garrett of Albuquerque said there's no proof Gov. Wallace offered a pardon -- and may have tricked the Kid into testifying. 

"The big picture is that Wallace obviously had no intent to pardon Billy -- even telling a reporter that fact in an interview on April 28, 1881," he wrote. "So there was no 'pardon promise' that Wallace broke. But I do think there was a pardon 'trick,' in that Wallace led Billy on to get his testimony."

Garrett also said that when the Kid was awaiting trial in Brady's killing, "he wrote four letters for aid, but never used the word 'pardon."'

William Wallace of Westport, Conn., said his ancestor never promised a pardon and that pardoning the Kid "would declare Lew Wallace to have been a dishonorable liar." 

According to historians, The Kid in fact wrote Wallace in 1879, volunteering to testify if Wallace would annul pending charges against him, including a murder indictment in Brady's death.

A tantalizing part of the question is a clandestine meeting Wallace had with the Kid in Lincoln in March 1879. The Kid's letters leave no doubt he wanted Wallace to at least grant him immunity from prosecution.  Wallace, in arranging the meeting, responded: "I have authority to exempt you from prosecution if you will testify to what you say you know."

But when the Las Vegas, N.M., Gazette asked Wallace shortly before he left office about prospects he would spare the Kid's life, Wallace replied: "I can't see how a fellow like him should expect any clemency from me." 

The historical record on the pardon is ambiguous, and there are no written documents "pertaining in any way" to a pardon in the papers of the territorial governor, who served in office from 1878 to 1881. 

Of interest, Governor Richardson’s office set up a web-site so citizens could weight in on the subject of the pardon. His office received 809 e-mails and letters, with 430 favoring a pardon and 379 opposed. Comments came from all over the world.  I’d say the issue was fairly split down the middle probably along moral and political line, I suspect.

Governor Richardson said that he decided against a pardon "because of a lack of conclusiveness and the historical ambiguity as to why Gov. Wallace reneged on his promise."  Richardson states said the Kid is part of New Mexico history and he's been interested in the case for years. 

I’m not writing this post from a political point of view, strictly from an historical one.  The interesting part is some 136 years after killing numerous people, including lawmen, and being shot to death, the life and legend of Billy the Kid still can’t be put to rest.

So tell me who is your favorite controversial historical figure?