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Cattle rustler, train robber, and bank robber are three virtually iconic characters of the Old West, the region west of the Mississippi River from the 1860s through 1900. The Wild Bunch, also known as the Hole in the Wall Gang that included Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, Kid Curry, and Flat Nose Curry, were among the most notorious — and romantically portrayed — criminals of the Old West.
Bandit Heaven: The Hole-in-the-Wall Gangs and the Final Chapter of the Wild West, by Tom Clavin, examines outlaws and lawmen of the last two decades of the 1800s, and the places where outlaws hid. It looks at the background where these actors played their real-life roles.
The era was filled with conflict between large ranchers and smallholding settlers, including range wars. Cattle rustling flourished. Big ranchers and smallholders both stole each other’s strays. Within limits, stock lifting was almost legitimate.
Yet Clavin shows how limits were crossed, from theft of a stray horse or cattle to organized gangs working on large scales, needing places to hide their take. Major hideouts included Robbers Roost, Brown’s Hole, and Hole-in-the-Wall. All were sheltered valleys with restricted access, giving those hiding there advance warning of intruders. Fight or flight followed depending on the size of the posse entering the hideout. They were truly bandit heavens.
Clavin follows several men who crossed the line from stock rustling to train and bank robbery. He opens with the 1899 Wilcox train robbery masterminded by Butch Cassidy and follows the participants through their criminal careers. Each man’s biography is presented, giving their background as they drift into crime. He follows each man’s exploits after Wilcox until each one is run to earth by the law.
He also introduces the various sheriffs, Pinkerton agency detectives, and federal marshals who tracked down the bad guys. Among them was the legendary Charlie Siringo. Some, like Tom Horn, crossed into criminality themselves. They were as colorful as the men they tracked.
If you enjoyed Clavin’s previous Old West histories, which included Follow Me to Hell and The Last Outlaws, you will want to read Bandit Heaven. Clavin revisits many of the tropes of his earlier work, but they remain enjoyable. Clavin reveals new information about the Wild Bunch and the bandit heavens of the northern Rockies. It is accompanied by numerous interesting side excursions that take readers through the outlaw trail Old West desperadoes followed.
“Bandit Heaven: The Hole-in-the-Wall Gangs and the Final Chapter of the Wild West,” by Tom Clavin, St. Martin’s Press, October 2024, 304 pages, $30.00 (hardcover), $14.99 (e-book), $14.75 (audiobook)
This review was written by Mark Lardas, who writes at Ricochet as Seawriter. Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, historian, and model-maker, lives in League City, TX. His website is marklardas.com.
Discussion (9)
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I like Clavin’s Old West books and this is the only one I hain’t read. Thanks for the review!
P.S. Flat Nose Curry sounds like an entreé at the worst Indian restaurant in the world.
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So does Kid Curry. Maybe fusion with a Mexican place.
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I'm curious about the extent and legitimacy of cattle rustling in the Old West. I've read numerous accounts of cattle rustlers being given summary execution, especially before the open range was closed at the end of the 19th century. Local associations of ranchers and vigilantes were formed to combat it. This fits with newspaper accounts and local histories that I've read about the Oklahoma Panhandle where I grew up. I know it happened, but it was a good way to wind up at the end of a short rope.
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Are ye from Guymon? (Playing the panhandle percentages.)
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He goes into it in this book. The "almost legitimate" part refers to cutting out unbranded strays from a neighbor's herd and branding them yourself. A maverick was considered fair game. However, inducing cattle in a neighbor's herd to stray, then "finding it" went beyond that into illegality. But it was hard to prove and generally let slide within limits. Beyond that it was out and out theft.
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