— THE BOGUS KID CURRY —
One of the country’s most hunted outlaws slumped against the wall in a darkened cell in Knoxville, Tennessee, awaiting transfer to federal prison. But he didn’t plan on waiting around for relocation formalities.
Harvey Logan, better known as Kid Curry, worked his way east from Wyoming, robbing banks and trains until he got into a shootout with police in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Despite being wounded, Logan shot three police officers and escaped. Authorities, however, tracked him down.
Logan’s long journey on the wrong side of the law began when he turned nineteen. He and two brothers and a cousin left Missouri and headed for Wyoming, where they stole enough cattle to start a ranch.
Logan learned the art of cattle rustling at the hands of a master—Big Nose George Curry, who plied his trade along the Powder River in the 1870s.
Big Nose Curry’s luck ran out, however, and he was shot and killed on April 17, 1900, by Sheriff Jesse Tyler.
After Curry died, Logan decided to adopt his mentor’s surname. He began calling himself Kid Curry and built a reputation as a bank robber and stone-cold killer.
Some accounts say he tangled with at least eight men in street gunfights and sent them to their graves. Others paint a much darker picture, suggesting Logan may have killed more lawmen than any frontier outlaw.
However, author Mark T. Smokov, in his book He Rode with Butch and Sundance: The Story of Harvey “Kid Curry” Logan, disputes the claims.
He said the facts don’t add up, pointing out that no one has ever substantiated the number of killings attributed to Logan.
Regardless of the numbers, William Pinkerton of Pinkerton Detective Agency considered Logan a man with no redeeming value.
Hunted by the law on fifteen murder warrants, Pinkerton described Logan as “the only criminal I know of who does not have one single good point.”
Curry joined up with Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch, one of the most successful bank and train robbing gangs throughout the West.
When the law started closing in on the Wild Bunch, Cassidy and the Sundance Kid decided to flee to South America.
Logan, in the meantime, kept robbing banks and trains and made his way east.
His luck ran out in Tennessee when authorities took him into custody for forging banknotes.
The notes were the same ones stolen June 2, 1899, when the Wild Bunch robbed the Union Pacific Overland Flyer near Wilcox, Wyoming.
On November 30, 1902, the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court sentenced Logan to 20 years of hard labor.
Less than a year later, he escaped and, according to the Pinkerton agency, ended up in Colorado.
After a botched train robbery the following year near Parachute, Colorado, Logan was wounded during a gunfight.
But rather than face the medicine, the outlaw committed suicide with a bullet to his head on June 17, 1904.
However, some disputed the suicide and suggested Harvey “Kid Curry” Logan ended up in South America.
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Your story of Kid Curry made me think of a distant relative. The kind not spoke of in polite society. I was wondering if you have ever come across the names James P Richardson or Fred Lonnie Carter. Richardson was born in Missouri and migrated to California with his sister. He was suspected of killing a Fresno city police officer and later a county deputy. He moved to Wyoming and then Kansas at some time changing his name to Fred Carter. He served in France during WWI. He lived his life Oklahoma and it seems he was never connect to the murders. He kept the place and date of his birth. He was suspected of being in a criminal gang but I can’t find any more information. I have a couple of photos, newspaper clippings and the reward notice from the Fresno Police Department for $1000. I know it’s a long shot but if you come across anything I sure would like to see it. Thanks. I love you work and look forward to it every week. Keep it coming.
Hi Steven, thanks for dropping by and glad to hear you enjoy these stories. After I read your message I took a deep dive into the internet surf but came up empty handed on both Richardson and Carter. I’ll give another go later and see if I can nail anything down. If so, I’ll let you know.
Again, thanks for visiting the site.