Search This Blog

Showing posts with label The Wild Bunch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Wild Bunch. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Bad Girls, Bad Girls, Part 3, the Bassett Sisters of Brown's Park

Ann Bassett
"Throwing caution to the winds, I pushed cattle off the range. I had to work alone. My neighbors did not support me in this, my challenge to Haley, and defiance of law and order. No other stockmen were responsible for what I did. I turned the heat against myself by an open declaration of war."--Ann Bassett on going to war with Two-Bar Ranch owner, Ora Haley, in revenge for the murder of her fiance, Matt Rash.

"Let's just say some men are harder to get rid of than others." --Josie Bassett on the suspected death by poisoning of her fifth and last husband.

"Why hasn't a mini-series been made about these people yet?"--Me

In the second part of this series on the wild women, we saw how a certain place in combination with an event could take things in unexpected directions. The devastating winter of 1887 changed cattle ranching forever, putting a lot of cowboys out of work. Some of those cowboys ended up mixing with outlaws in Knickerbocker, Texas, spawning a new generation of outlaws. In case you missed the post about Laura Bullion here it is again: https://prairierosepublications.blogspot.com/2018/08/bad-girls-bad-girls-part-ii-laura.html


Likewise, in the story of the Bassett sisters, place and event combine to create a page in outlaw history. The place: Brown's Park. The event: conflict between the large, wealthy ranchers and the homesteaders.
Brown's Park, or Brown's Hole as it originally was called, is an isolated mountain valley spanning Utah and Colorado. Difficult to penetrate by the law the area remained one of last pockets of lawlessness at the end of the 19th century.


The Bassett Ranch (Photo Credit State of Utah Historical Society)
It was here that Herb Bassett, his wife Elizabeth, and their two children Samuel and Josie while on their way from their home in Arkansas to a new life in California, decided to settle rather than continue west. Their daughter Ann was the first white person born in the valley. The baby was put in the care of an Indian tribe when Elizabeth couldn't breastfeed her. Ann liked to claim she was part Indian.
And, wild she was. When I first thought about doing this series on the women of the Wild Bunch, I saved the Bassett girls for last, because I wondered how wild two women who went to boarding schools out east could be? As it turns out on a scale of tame to wild, the Bassetts were near-feral. Their father sent them to boarding school in an attempt to control them. In school Ann seemed to have spent more time in prohibition than not.
Both sisters preferred the cowboy life and returned to the family ranch. At this time cattle rustling between neighboring ranches was the norm. Herb had health problems and preferred to spend time in his library or playing piano, and he also acted as post master for the area. His wife, Elizabeth, stepped up to run the day to day activities of the ranch.
The southern belle who rode sidesaddle was one tough customer. She had to be to protect their home. She was someone who not only knew where the bodies were buried, she likely had a hand in placing them there (...That time three Texans disappeared and the ranch acquired three new shotguns...). These were violent times, which she met by forming the Bassett Gang with her ranch hands Matt Rash, Isom Dart, and Jim McKnight.

Isom Dart, close friend and supporter of the Bassett Family
Elizabeth was a feminist and raised her daughters without the usual restrictions of gender. The girls were a match for any man in roping, shooting, and riding. When Elizabeth died suddenly in her thirties, her offspring well-able to take over the reins, which included cattle rustling.
The larger ranchers set out to eliminate the troublesome smaller holdings. They enlisted the notorious Tom Horn to act for them. When I saw he was involved, I worried about everyone in the valley (Horn was later hung for the cold-blooded murder of a 14 year old boy. Bragging about it was what got him arrested). Horn moved around under an fake name, pinning notes to the cabins of the small sheep and cattle farmers, and invited them to leave--or else.
Here is where the outlaws come into the picture. Besides having a natural hideout in the wild valley, the small ranchers welcomed the gangs and the protection as well as the money they spent on horses and provisions. In addition, the ranchers saw the outlaws plaguing the railroad and banks as kindred spirits as they themselves were David to the Goliath of the wealthy ranchers. Rumor had it that the Bassett family was left alone due to Kid Curry threatening anyone who went after them.
The valley was so popular with gangs that the Bassett Ranch was often the final destination of letters left along the secret postal system dotting the outlaw trail. Messages would be left in designated spots like hollow tree stumps so passing outlaws could pick up the "mail" and deliver it to Brown's Park where everyone was likely to end up.
The family's ranch was a favorite spot to cool their heels. Butch Cassidy was said to enjoy Herb's library and the musical nights. It didn't hurt that the Bassetts had two beautiful daughters.
With all the handsome cowboys and outlaws passing through, Ann and Josie enjoyed an active love life. They had romantic relationship with several of the Wild Bunch outlaws. Their relationships were so complex I made a chart for you, which is easier than trying to go into details:


Love Connections among the Wild Bunch. (dotted line denotes a possible)
Both girls were romantically involved with Butch Cassidy, though not at the same time. Ann began an on again, off again affair with Cassidy that spanned seven years, beginning when she was 15. She was one of only five women allowed into Robber' Roost where she stayed with Cassidy for a few months along with Elzy Lay and his girlfriend.
But, the sisters didn't limit their attentions to the Wild Bunch. Ann became engaged to Matt Rash, who was the nephew of Davy Crockett. Sadly, before they could marry Tom Horn shot Rash in the back while he was eating his lunch in his cabin where he was found dead. Not long after Isom Dart was shot and killed from a distance when he stepped out of his cabin.

Matt Rash
After the murders, Ann focused her energy on revenge. She spent the following years stealing Two-Bar cattle, running them off cliffs or drowning them when she couldn't, and sabotaging the other ranch's water supply. She was so successful she earned the nickname Queen Ann. She bought her own cabin and became one of the frontier's first female ranch owners.
She was so determined to bring down the Two-Bar that she went so far as to steal away the foreman of the rival ranch, by marrying him to help him run her own ranch. Hyrum "Hi" Bernard was twenty years her senior. The marriage lasted six years and did little to deter Haley.
After her divorce, Ann continued to run her ranch be herself. When a stock detective found butchered cattle belonging to the Two-Bar, Ann was arrested for rustling. The opera house was used to hold her trial to accommodate the crowd. One witness was killed and another disappeared, and Ann was acquitted to the delight of the residents who hated Haley. Ann was paraded through town in triumph.
As for the suggestion that Ann Bassett and Etta Place were the same woman, after reading about Ann, I'd say she was far too busy at Brown's Park to run off to South America. Part One, in case you missed it: https://prairierosepublications.blogspot.com/2018/07/bad-girls-bad-girls-whatcha-gonna-do.html
Meanwhile back at the ranch, Josie found herself pregnant by six foot tall, Scotsman Jim McKnight (It's a wonder this didn't happen more often) and they married. She had two sons by him before running him off with a frying pan (or shotgun, in some versions) when she couldn't tolerate his drinking.
They say Josie, who stayed on her father's ranch, was the more domestic of the two sisters. Maybe. She sure liked getting married. She had five husbands, divorcing four and surviving one.
Ann remarried in 1928 to cattleman Frank Willis. They moved to Utah where they went on to live a happy life. He doted on her and after she died of a heart attack at age 77 in 1956, unable to part with her, he carried around her ashes in his car until his death 1963. She wanted her ashes spread in Brown's Park and finally got her wish upon his death.
Ann Bassett Willis in later life
When Josie's last husband died and traces of strychnine poison were found in his drinking cup, she was arrested for his murder. Josie was acquitted and swore off men. Donning bib overalls, she lived alone without electricity in a cabin that her son helped her build. She enjoyed hunting and fishing and living off the land like a homesteader with a herd of cattle penned in a nearby box canyon.

Cabin of Josie Bassett
Continuing alone, she remained a presence in Brown's Park into the next decades. During the Great Depression she helped out less fortunate neighbors. During Prohibition she made bootleg whiskey. She was arrested in 1936 for cattle rustling, but played her I'm-just-a grandma card and was acquitted. In 1963 she fell and broke her hip which led to her death at 90 years old.

Josie Bassett McKnight Ranney Williams Wells Morris
One more thing: Josie said Butch Cassidy visited her in Brown's Park decades after his supposed death in Bolivia. She said they stayed up all night reminiscing.*
There is a lot more to say about these fascinating women and Brown's Park, and I hope I whetted your appetite to read more about them. I couldn't fit all the stories into one blog post.
So, what do you think? Mini series? Who would you like to see playing all of these characters?

*Josie wasn't the only one who claimed to have seen Butch long after his supposed death in Bolivia. Several of his former girlfriends and acquaintances made the same claim. His own sister, Lulu Parker Betenson, said he visited his family and told her he'd just come from visiting Sundance and Etta in New Mexico (I threw that in for you romantics out there). Lulu claimed he died much later under an assumed name, and both his grave and the name he was buried under are Parker family secrets as they don't want him disturbed.
Ann Bassett also claimed to have paid a visit to Butch's grave in Utah decades after the Bolivian incident.
It is interesting to note that Alan Pinkerton of the famed detective agency who'd been hot on Butch and Sundance's trail didn't believe Butch died in Bolivia and didn't close the case until 1920. No evidence has ever been found that Butch and Sundance were killed in that shootout. If such a shootout even occurred. The story of their death was told by a friend of Cassidy's who owed him a favor.

Thank you for reading along with me on my series featuring these fascinating women: Etta Place, Laura Bullion, and the Bassett sisters whose tales are all so different from one another. For a bonus I'm throwing in photos shot from the interior of Butch and Sundance's Hole-in-the-Wall cabin. Yes! I stood inside their cabin!!! The cabin, along with other historic buildings from the old west, now stands in Old Trail Town, Cody, WY. I will sneak in my own vacation pics whenever I get a chance.















Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Bad Girls, Bad Girls, Part II: Laura Bullion

Since my current work in progress involves outlaws and the women who run with them, I've been researching the members of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch. Interesting characters indeed, but their female consorts are just as interesting, if not more so. I thought I'd write one single post about them, but their own stories are so rich, I'm take them in parts. We'll look at Etta Place, Laura Bullion, and the Bassett sisters, Ann and Josie separately.
Facts to keep in mind:
The Wild Bunch core members consisted of Butch Cassidy (Robert Leroy Parker), the Sundance Kid (Harry Longabaugh), Elzy Lay, Ben "the Tall Texan" Kirkpatrick, Will "News" Carver, Camila "Deaf Charlie" Hanks, Laura Bullion, George "Flat Nose" Curry, Kid Curry (Harvey Logan), and Bob Meeks.
The Outlaw Hideouts: Places to shelter strung out along the outlaw trail where different gangs could rest, restock ammunition, and refresh horses. Place such as Hole-in-the-Wall, Robbers Roost, and Brown's Park. Often there was a give and take between the outlaws and the surrounding ranchers.

In case you missed part one here's the link: https://prairierosepublications.blogspot.com/2018/07/bad-girls-bad-girls-whatcha-gonna-do.html

The Wild Bunch. The most successful gang of bank and train robbers the old west has ever produced. Their heists were meticulously planned, but more importantly, so were their escapes. Immediately after a robbery, the gang would scatter in different directions, where fresh horses would be waiting at intervals along the escape routes—an advantage the pursuing posse didn’t have. At a later time the gang members would assemble again at one of the hideouts.

 Another signature of the Wild Bunch, compared to other gangs at the time, was to eschew physically harming their victims, preferring to use other means of persuasion. Not that there weren’t a couple of violent psychopaths in the group (I’m looking at you Kid Curry, you maniac), but in these heists, at least, violence was discouraged. Butch boasted that he never killed a man—which if your moral high bar is set at Never Killed a Man, you may want to reset your bar.

Who were they? Most people can readily name Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Some of you might be able to dredge up some of the lesser known characters like Kid Curry or Elzy Lay. But did you know there was the woman who sometimes rode with the Wild Bunch? Her name was Laura Bullion.
 
A Young Laura Bullion
Laura was born around 1876 to a Native American father and a German immigrant mother. There is some dispute about where she was born, but one thing everyone agrees on is that she was raised in Knickerbocker, Texas. What’s noteworthy about Knickerbocker is that it acted as a meet-and-greet, networking venue for outlaws and cowboys. Several of the Wild Bunch members as well as other notorious outlaws sprung out of Knickerbocker.

This mingling of cowboys and outlaws became significant in 1887. In that year there was a blizzard so devastating that it changed the west forever. Ranchers lost about 90% of their cattle. The risks of open range ranching became clear. After that, Ranchers went in for fencing in smaller herds, and putting more effort into growing hay for feed. What this change meant was that not as many cowboys were needed to run to ranch. Suddenly we have a surplus of cowboys.

This drastic change would alter the life of many of our players. For instance, in Pennsylvania when an introverted, bookish boy, Harry Longabaugh, fed on a diet of dime store novels, headed out west by himself at the age of 14 to become a cowboy, after the winter of 1887, he found himself struggling to survive. Like many others, the steady work ran out and the temptation to turn to crime was too much. Longabaugh turned to theft and continues on this course as the Sundance Kid.

It’s in this milieu we find young Laura. Her father, Henry, was a bank robber. It was through him that Laura met the outlaws passing through Knickerbocker, including a few men who would become significant in her life at a later date.

Laura’s early life was rocky to start with, becoming worse after her parents divorced when she was 5. After that her mother, Fereby, shuffled her offspring between her relatives whenever she picked up with a new boyfriend, which became a permanent situation when Henry died during a robbery. Fereby, free to marry again, left her children with her parents.

When Laura was 14, her aunt, Viana, married Will Carver. Will would come to be known as “News” Carver a core member of the Wild Bunch, but at this time he was only a cowboy who was head over heels in love. Unfortunately, this marriage would end in within months when Viana died of fever. Maybe it was losing this stabilizing influence that turned Will toward a life of crime, because after this he joined Black Jack Ketchum’s* gang of outlaws.
 
William "News" Carver
At 15 Laura began a romantic relationship with Carver. This was also the age she became a prostitute in San Antonio.

Two years later she went back to Knickerbocker and attempted to clean up her act, going back to school and otherwise behaving as a good citizen. All the while she and Carver maintained a correspondence.

This connection with the bad boy, Carver, may have proved too much a pull for her, because at age 20 she left home to support herself in Texas and Wyoming as a dance hall girl, and back to prostitution at the infamous Madame Fannie Porter’s high end brothel, a favorite haunt of the Wild Bunch. This is possibly where Sundance met Etta Place.

To us today the thought of working in a brothel might seem dismal, but to a someone from a poor and chaotic family, hanging out with other lady-friends at Madame Fannie’s with its silk sheets, gorgeous clothes, cold champagne, and luxurious furnishings was not the worst a girl could do. Madame Fannie herself was said to take care of her girls like a mother. (Laura would periodically return to Madame Fannie's even after she became involved with the Wild Bunch. A time I would think she didn't have to turn to prostitution unless she wanted to.) 

In the early days when Carver was with Ketchum, he would take up with Laura at Madame Fannie's between robberies. Carver was a handsome, though moody guy. I think of him for Laura as that bad boyfriend you can't seem to get out of your system. By the way, he got the nickname “News” because he was so fond of seeing his own name in print.

Anyway, Laura whether it was because she romanticized her father’s outlaw life, had a streak of larceny herself, or because she wanted something more from her boyfriend than the occasional visit, asked to join the Ketchum gang. Black Jack said no to that.

After the death of Jack Ketchum, News starts to ride with the Wild Bunch. Butch was okay with a female outlaw, so in comes Laura, and the so called, Wild Rose or Thorny Rose was born. It’s not clear what her exact role was, but she fenced goods for the gang, forged bank notes, and perhaps held the horses for them during robberies. If she participated in the hold ups herself at this time is debatable, though one lawman declared she was quite capable.

Then in 1901, Carver married Lille Davis, another prostitute from Fannie Porter’s. His marriage to Lille was the reason the gang met up in Fort Worth where they posed for the infamous Fort Worth Five portrait, which immediately went onto Wanted posters.

Quite understandably, Laura wasn’t happy about this marriage, and a rift ensued between her and Carver. Instead she took up with Ben Kilpatrick, the Tall Texan, and possibly other gang members.
 
Ben "the Tall Texan" Kilpatrick
But, Carver, quickly tired of his new bride and went back his old ways, which included Laura. (See what I mean about the bad boyfriend. She... can’t... seem... to... shake...him). However, in 1901 Carver was shot and killed in an ambush with the law, which ended their relationship once and for all. He was 32 at the time of his death.

At this point, Laura and Ben become an exclusive item. He was a handsome man with an easy-going manner who lavished Laura with gifts and trips. He was one of nine children from a family with outlaw tendencies, so he and Laura were cut from the same cloth. Ben became acquainted with Carver and the Ketchums in Knickerbocker.

I’m going to jump in here to remind you I’m a storyteller, not an historian. There are so many conflicting accounts and facts I couldn't verify, that I'm leaving things out. For instance, I read one description of Ben as having "yellow eyes with a violet spot in each" and as much as I'd like to believe such an extraordinary feature could exist on a human being and pass that on, I couldn't find any other references to his having yellow eyes. So, I have to leave that out, sorry.

Other times I’m going to interject my personal opinions. For instance, there is actually a debate as to whether the Tall Texan was tall or merely average height. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say unless he was ironically nicknamed the Tall Texan, he was tall. And, you can clearly see in the Fort Worth Five photograph, he’s not a pint-sized guy. Sundance was said to be a tall man, but Ben looks taller


The Fort Worth Five Photo. Left to Right: the Sundance Kid, Will Carver, Ben Kilpatrick, Kid Curry, and ButchCassidy

After the gang appeared on Wanted poster, the game was up, and the Wild Bunch disbanded. Butch, Sundance, and Etta head off to start a new life in South America. Remaining behind, Laura and Ben along with Kid Curry planned and carried out a train robbery in Wild Bunch style.

The robbery was successful and Laura and Ben retreated to live it up in St. Louis. Unfortunately for them the Pinkertons had sent serial numbers of the stolen bank notes all over the country. The noose was truly tightening on the outlaws. Again, it's a little murky who was arrested first and how, but the end result of passing stolen money was they both ended up being arrested.


 
Mugshots
Laura spent three of her five-year sentence in the Missouri State Penitentiary. Ben was sentenced to fifteen years to be served in Atlanta. While incarcerated, the two kept up a correspondence. Interesting to me is that Ben’s family in Texas also sent Laura letters and even money, which attests to how established their relationship was. The Pinkertons also thought it interesting and intercepted letters between all parties involved in hopes of getting clues of where Butch and Sundance were. 

Laura to Ben:
“Darling, the warden tells me I will be out next week. I will not leave the city but I will get some kind of work near here and will wait until you are released. I have figured out that by good behavior you can get out in December 1911. I will wait and you will see me when you get out. I wanted to see you but they said it was against the rules.
                              I am your loving wife,
                                         Laura”

When she got out of prison she did attempt to visit Ben under a false name but was denied. There is an article in a newspaper dated 1905 about the outlaw Laura Bullion petitioning for Ben Kilpatrick early release.

He did get released early in 1911. Except he was immediately arrested again for murder and extradited to Texas! Even though he was acquitted this may have been the moment Laura threw her hands up in the air. He may have too, because upon his release he went back to train robbery.

In 1912 Ben and another man attempted to rob a train in Texas. Ben took an express messenger hostage while he looted the safe. The hostage managed to grab and hide in his coat an ice mallet. He then pointed to the ground (I have to take a deep breath here) and said something along the lines of “Oh, look you forgot something on the ground there.” (Don’t fall for it, Ben!) ...Ben bent down. He was killed instantly by a blow to the back of the head. He was 38 years old.

He and Laura never had the chance to reunite, and Ben has the distinction of being the last train robber for this really was a dying way of life by now.

Laura Bullion went straight, changed her name to Freda Bullion Lincoln, and claiming to be a WWI widow moved to Memphis. She also shaved ten years off her life. I’m really curious about her love life after Ben but all I was able to find was that she had four lovers after him but I couldn't find anything about who they were.
 
The Modest Home of Freda Bullion Lincoln, Interior Decorator, Memphis
According to the census, she took up housekeeping and then drapery making. In later years she is upgraded to interior designer, which is quite a career trajectory from outlaw. In 1961 the last member of the Wild Bunch dies quietly of heart disease in Memphis. She was 85.
Final Resting Place


Next up, The Bassett Sisters of Brown's Park.

*Black Jack Ketchum will go down in history as an example of what can happen if the hangman gets the ratio of length of rope to height and weight of the condemned person wrong. Instead of getting his neck stretched Black Jack lost his head.

Bonus: watch Laura's mugshot get colorized. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTo3cdosbrI