KID CURRY
Most of the big Montana cow outfits moved their herds north of the
Missouri River between 1888 and 1894. The point of crossing on the
Missouri was an old steamboat landing called Rocky Point where Jim
Norris had a saloon.
When I crossed the river there in 1889, there was no one living there
but the little old man. He had an old hand ferry boat that he took
people across the river with. The night I stayed with him, he told me he
had some fine gin and gave me a drink, which I found out was straight
alcohol and the one drink nearly strangled me, but old Uncle Jim, as he
was called, drank it like water and seemed to do quite well on it. Every
little while he would go to the bank of the river and holler at the top
of his voice, “Do you want to bring your wagon over?” There would not be
anybody in sight, but he seemed to get a great kick out of make-believe.
I worked with Kid Curry that summer on the roundup. He worked for the
Diamond outfit and I worked for the DHS. Both outfits worked the range
together. Kid was a fine fellow at that time and a good cowboy—that was
before he became an outlaw. I have read where some writers told what a
cold-blooded killer he was and where he had held up banks and so forth,
and I know from some of the dates given that he was blamed for a great
many things he did not do.
I am not trying to make a hero out of the Kid or say that I approve of
some things he done, but the public at large does not know all the
circumstances leading up to where he first got into trouble.
Charlie Russell knew Kid Curry and has given me his analysis of his
character (and he seldom made a mistake in the reading of human nature).
Charlie figured any normal man might have went the route the Kid did.
I am going to set down some of the facts regarding the Kid’s becoming an
outlaw. His name was Harvey Curry. He had an older brother, Henry Curry.
They had a little ranch in the Badlands of the Missouri River and ran a
few cattle and horses. Both the brothers were fine boys at that time and
would give anyone the shirt off their back if they were in need.
Now there was a little mining town sprung up in the Little Rockies not
far from the Curry Ranch. The outstanding character in that town was a
man by the name of Pike Landusky, a prospector who had found some fairly
rich prospects, and as there was some excitement about the find quite a
lot of people went to the mining camp and Pike being about the first one
on the ground, the town was named Landusky.
The town was about fifty miles from the railroad and farther from the
Sheriff’s office, so Pike was appointed a Deputy Sheriff. Now Pike was
not a bad sort of a fellow as a rule, but had a reputation as somewhat
of a gun-fighter and was rather proud of it—he didn’t have much
education and very little intelligence—but was proud of his authority as
a Deputy Sheriff.
The Kid was in town one night with some friends, having a few drinks and
celebrating in the ways of the early West, when Pike decided Harvey had
violated some law and arrested him, and not having any jail in the camp,
handcuffed him for safekeeping. During the time he was handcuffed, the
Kid said Pike abused him shamefully and cast reflections even on his
mother, who was dead and whom Pike had never known or seen, which burned
very deeply into the Kid. During the abuse the Kid told Pike, “I won’t
always be handcuffed, Pike, and when I get out of this trouble, you are
going to get a licking you will remember.” Pike said, “I will be ready.”
Some time after this incident Pike and the Kid met in the saloon in
Landusky and had a fist fight. Of course the Kid started it and Pike got
a bad licking. When the fight started both men had guns on. Neither one
knew the other had a gun. Pike’s gun was in a holster under his arm.
Kid’s gun was fastened to his pants. In the fight, the Kid’s gun fell on
the floor. A friend of the Kid’s picked it up and when the fight was
over handed it to him. Both Pike’s eyes were pretty well closed, but he
raised up on his knees and was trying to get a bead on the Kid—so he
shot Pike and killed him.
Of course this was a very serious offense as he had killed an officer of
the law, and the sentiment of the people was divided—and the Kid did not
know whether to give himself up or not. Anyway, he and a few of his
friends went to the ranch and talked the matter over and decided it
would be best for the Kid to cache himself in the Badlands for a while.
And his friends would bring him food—and, of course, the longer he
stayed a fugitive, the less chance he had of getting acquitted if he did
give himself up. So after dodging around for a while and having lost his
older brother, Hank, as he was known, who had died and was always the
leader and adviser, the Kid and a couple of his friends held up the
Great Northern Railroad train which had a shipment of currency—they got
away with it all right and got the money, but it was new money and had
not been officially signed, so of course it was not much good to them.
However, they did pass some of it. The Kid had two half brothers who
come to Montana from Missouri. Their names was Lannie and Johnny Logan,
and they tried to pass some of the money without much success. Lannie
was caught in Kansas City and killed with $10,000 of it on his person.
Johnny was killed in the Little Rocky country in a gun fight with
another cowboy.
The Kid was caught in Tennessee after several years and sent to the
Knoxville pen—I believe for life. However, he didn’t stay there very
long. The papers said he roped a guard and tied him up and got away. My
personal opinion is he got help in some other way. I was told by a very
reliable party that he went to the Argentine country. Anyway he has
never been heard of since. If he is alive now, he would be about 70
years old.