Category: History & Biographies (Books)

Written by Tom Clavin

SUMMARY:

Released by St. Martin’s Press in 2024, this 288-page hardcover explores the nefarious exploits of the Old West’s last desperadoes and the lawmen chasing after them.  The prologue relates a middle-of-the-night train robbery in proximity to Wilcox, Wyoming, on June 2, 1899.  Not only was it another successful raid for Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch, but its notoriety nationwide signaled the end was coming for the Old West’s most elusive desperadoes. 

As an unintended consequence of Western expansion, Clavin elaborates on how the vast frontier spanning from Canada to Mexico supplied three prominent outlaw hideouts: Brown’s Hole, the Hole-In-The-Wall, and Robbers’ Roost along the so-called ‘Outlaw Trail.’  For years before the 19^th Century’s close, rival bandits could share these remote locales gloating over why savvy posses wouldn’t dare breach these sparse strongholds.  The likelihood of hidden ambush, exhausted horses, and a scarcity of food and water (if you didn’t know where to find it) frankly provided no incentives to further these pursuits.

Aside from introducing comparatively obscure bandits meeting foul ends (i.e. George Parrott; the Blackjack Ketchum gang; etc.), Wyoming’s infamous Johnson County War and Arizona’s Pleasant Valley War are discussed.  With virtually exclusive control of livestock (i.e. cattle) and, therefore, grazing lands at stake, both range wars would accumulate scores of wanton casualties.  Local police, U.S. Marshals, and even the private-sector Pinkertons already had their hands full with smaller-scale crooks to contend with essentially organized crime, including range assassins. 

Dogged efforts of undercover operatives, such as the Pinkertons’ Charlie Siringo, at least ensured valuable surveillance over time on fugitives would be shared in a growing law enforcement network.  Roving outlaws, in that sense, became hard-pressed to outrace the practicality of telegraphs.    

Among the ‘Wild Bunch,’ Butch Cassidy, “The Sundance Kid” Harry Longabaugh, and their incorrigible cronies (including the psychotic “Kid Curry”) usually managed to evade capture.  Yet, the brazen Wilcox heist signaled that their profitable fun-and-games would soon end. With Cassidy and Longabaugh absconding to South America (along with Longabaugh’s wife, Etta Place), the region’s remaining bandits would be hunted down, one by one, as necessary, into the early 20^th Century.  Of the Wild Bunch’s known membership, only ex-convicts Elza Lay and Laura Bullion would live to see past middle age.  

Upon their discreet escape to South America, the final fates of Cassidy, Longabaugh, and Etta Place still remain murky.  As Clavin acknowledges, the trio shares a lingering Old West enigma that present-day forensics has no certain answers for.  

Note: This title is available digitally and as an audiobook.  Presumably, Bandit Heaven will be re-released in paperback form at some later date.

REVIEW:

As an author, Tom Clavin’s narrative style for Bandit Heaven is admirably consistent with his prior Old West works.  Concocting briskly conversational yet still historically accurate text, Clavin delivers all the necessary goods, including welcome sprinkles of humor.  His propensity for extended side stories shouldn’t, otherwise, impact a solid read revisiting The Wild Bunch’s capers and long-befuddled posses in pursuit. 

With the infamous Johnson County War as a prelude, Clavin focuses on the era’s most notorious bandits, their cronies, and really, by extension, more cronies of cronies.  The same applies to his detailed takes on the Pinkertons and local law enforcement, as their successes often proved hard-earned.  Along with his excellent mini-biography of Charlie Siringo, Clavin examines manhunters Tom Horn, Frank Canton, and lesser competition like Joe Lefors, with precision. 

Hence, Clavin would make a stellar professor in the classroom engaging students on his subject matter’s less-than-glamorous realities.  He also knows better than to pitch unprovable theories and sticks to grounded history.  For instance, Clavin doesn’t speculate much on Ethel “Etta” Place’s tantalizingly unknown fate beyond mentioning some possibilities that historians have considered. 

Among them is a quick footnote indicating that Place and fellow Wild Bunch girlfriend, Ann Bassett, weren’t the same person since their conflicting known whereabouts at certain times makes such an intriguing notion impossible.  Still, given their startling physical resemblance (even evidently sharing the same birth year), let alone Place’s seemingly non-existent past, it does make one wonder about strange coincidences possibly linking Place with Bassett. 

As for the unsolved Butch & Sundance mystery dating back to 1908 in San Vincente, Clavin explores it as much as he can – without going overboard.  Clavin mentions that at least other two fellow American bandits the duo knew were working South America at the same time, so misassumptions on shady aliases were common.  His reporting leave open a remote chance that Butch & Sundance’s inexplicable mistakes in San Vicente weren’t made by them.  No matter how slick this dynamite duo (read Clavin’s text on their train heists for this pun) was in its prime: they were either very much off their game that fateful night – or some luckless copycats pretended to be them one last time. 

Considering members of Cassidy’s family claimed he survived under an alias to old age, again one wonders.  Clavin doesn’t even mention it, but a similar claim has also been made before of Sundance – that is, to a far lesser degree.  Unless reliable forensic evidence is excavated from a San Vicente cemetery, it appears the same ‘what-if Butch & Sundance’ scenarios from over a century ago are still on the table.      

Much of what Clavin reports is often found elsewhere, but there are occasionally obscure gems that one wouldn’t expect.  For instance, the unfulfilled prospect of Butch and his pals enlisting as U.S. soldiers in the Spanish-American War in hopes of securing amnesty is a curious notion.  For that matter, having his boys instead hold off from robbing unguarded trains during the war, shows what a patriotic and generous soul the wily Butch Cassidy was (wink-wink).  Or how about The Sundance Kid’s failed efforts at commanding his own spin-off faction?  Such details and anecdotes are Clavin’s forte, so even if one already knows much of this material, you can appreciate these enlightening revelations.  

The only caveat is a heads-up for the squeamish: specifically, Clavin discusses the macabre use of bandit George Parrott’s remains – though true, it’s wincing to read.  The author, otherwise, doesn’t delve much into grisly details (i.e. the brutal demise of ex-Wild Bunch desperado Ben Kilpatrick is mentioned but not elaborated upon).  Instead, as with his other works, Clavin wisely lets the history speak for itself – along with his knack for well-played sarcasm. 

For armchair historians (older teens and up), Bandit Heaven delivers a contemporary Old West history lesson well worth taking for a ride.    

ADDITIONAL FEATURES:

After the table of contents, Clavin supplies some helpful maps: 1. A North-to-South map titled ‘The Outlaw Trail;’ 2. A map of the Wild Bunch’s robberies; and 3. Butch & Sundance’s ‘Final Years’ tour of South America.  Midway through, there is an intriguing sixteen-page black-and-white photo section.  Please note, though not graphic, that a few images depict post-mortem glimpses of lesser-known Wild Bunch members.  A ghoulish picture proving bandit George Parrott’s dubious legacy, however, may be cringe-inducing. 

In addition to his detailed footnotes, Clavin provides the following sections: two pages of acknowledgements, a three-page ‘selected bibliography,’ and a very helpful nine-page index.  The last page offers a brief Clavin biography, which is duplicated on the inside back cover jacket.   

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                       8 Stars

Note: Also recommended is Clavin’s prior work, The Last Outlaws (his take on The Dalton Gang is really a ‘second-to-last-chapter’ on the Wild West).  Also, from a visual perspective, there is the 2014 PBS ‘American Experience’ episode: Butch Cassiday and the Sundance Kid.  Far grimmer than Clavin’s text, this documentary adds supplemental insights into the real ‘Butch & Sundance’ – further distancing them from their romanticized cinematic counterparts.  

Written by Tom Clavin

SUMMARY:

Released in 2023 by St. Martin’s Publishing Group, this Tom Clavin title is available in multiple formats: digital, hardcover, audiobook, large-print hardcover, and, presumably, paperback, at a later date. Per the photo below, the edition reviewed here is the large print edition — it is distributed through Thorndike Press and shares the same cover artwork as the St. Martin’s hardcover. 

The prologue begins in April 1931, as an aging Emmett Dalton briefly returns (with his wife) to Coffeyville nearly forty years after the infamously botched dual bank heist where multiple citizens and four Dalton Gang members were killed.  With mixed emotions, Emmett personally reflects upon the headstone he had purchased to adorn the shared gravesite of his brothers, Bob and Grat Dalton, and associate Bill Power. The somber departure of Emmett and his wife from the cemetery initiates Clavin’s narrative in flashback.

‘Act I: The Daltons’ summarizes the Daltons’ ancestral past and their maternal link as cousins to the Youngers: Cole, Jim, Bob, and John (who was killed years prior to the failed Northfield raid). More so, Clavin describes the Youngers’ criminal activities with brothers Jesse & Frank James dating back to the Civil War. By war’s end, the Youngers and the two James brothers had shifted from Confederate guerillas to professional criminals.  Upon the James/Younger Gang’s bloody failed 1876 bank heist in Northfield, Minnesota, Jesse and Frank James had fled back to Missouri.  The three wounded Youngers, however, were left behind to face capture and then be sent to prison for decades. 

In the years to come, Judge Isaac Parker and a vigilant division of U.S. Marshals would be hard-pressed protecting the Mid-South region from a seemingly unending reign of terror by roving criminals.  After the heinous murder of older brother Frank Dalton, as one of Parker’s deputy marshals, brothers Grat, Bob, and Emmett Dalton all briefly pursued careers as lawmen. 

Corruption and incompetence ended the three younger Daltons’ law-abiding aspirations and precipitated their escape to California.  Bungling their first train heist, Bob and Emmett’s antics implicated Grat, and much to his chagrin, another older brother: Bill.  Simmering with resentment, Bill’s subsequent attitude was that, if he was going to be unfairly branded an outlaw (by his surname), then he might as well become one.

Having fled back to Oklahoma and Kansas, now-professional thieves Bob and Emmett officially assemble their dubious gang in mid-1891, per ‘Act II: The Gang.’  Including Bill Doolin and a fugitive Grat, the gang’s notoriety over a series of train robberies soars – even if they were really more lucky than good making their escapes and evading capture. 

‘Act III: The Lawmen’ examines the U.S. Marshals, an assortment of local posses, and the train industry’s detectives, as they all join the hunt for the elusive Daltons and their cronies.  Among these determined manhunters are U.S. Deputy Marshals Bill Tilghman, Chris Madsen, and Heck Thomas – each of whom is profiled.

By early October 1892, the Daltons intend to make one last profitable score and then flee the region – all the way to South America, if necessary. As Emmett would readily acknowledge decades later, the relentless pursuit by Heck Thomas and his posse had expedited the gang’s decision-making. Specifically, they sensed that Thomas was only mere days away from catching up to them.

Opting to rob their hometown’s two banks simultaneously in broad daylight, the Daltons’ grisly demise in Coffeyville unfolds in ‘Act IV: The Shoot-Out.’  Left out of the Coffeyville disaster, the remaining gang members would soon reassemble under Bill Doolin and Bill Dalton’s shared command.  This spin-off group of desperadoes became known as the Doolin-Dalton Gang — this gang’s other monickers include the original ‘Wild Bunch;’ ‘The Oklahoma Long Riders,’ and, though Clavin doesn’t mention it: ‘the Oklahombres.’ 

Per the concluding ‘Act V: The Desperadoes,’ the two Bills (Doolin and Dalton) lead a more successful and evidently competent crew over the next few years.  Still, due to the persistence of Thomas, Madsen, and Tilghman, virtually all of the Doolin-Dalton contingent and various associates are ultimately killed or nabbed one by one.  Saved for last, Clavin reveals the fates of the surviving players and/or their families.  As far as Clavin is concerned, though long overlooked by history, he considers the wily Bill Doolin the Old West’s ‘last outlaw.’    

Note: Though Clavin makes a logical case for Doolin, two of this desperado’s old associates could make equally valid claims as the Old West’s ‘last outlaw.’ Including stints in prison and then Hollywood (I kid you not), these other two outlaws/killers would Roy Daugherty (aka ‘Arkansas Tom’ Jones) and Belle Starr’s distant nephew, Henry Starr – both of whom Clavin briefly profiles.

After years in prison and a failed try at Hollywood fame, Daugherty/Jones went back to bank robbing. As a fugitive from justice, he was ultimately killed in 1924 in a shootout with a Joplin, MO policeman.

Curiously reminiscent of Emmett Dalton, Starr’s post-prison life including a memoir and even starring in his own bio-pic. Per his own return to bank robbing, Starr updated to the 20th Century by switching to fast cars and automatic weapons for his getaways. He later suffered mortal wounds ‘on the job’ in 1921 during a Harrison, AR bank heist. Hence, Starr was a high-profile predecessor for the likes of John Dillinger, “Baby Face” Nelson, Bonnie & Clyde, and “Pretty Boy” Floyd.

REVIEW:

Aside from a few sporadic typos (which might be limited to the large print edition), Clavin pens another solid and insightful narrative.  That said, The Last Outlaws isn’t Clavin’s best work on the Old West – too often, his conversational style is somewhat languid and excessively constructed to fit his dramatic five-act storyline. 

For instance, the prologue depicting an aged (and semi-remorseful) Emmett Dalton and his wife revisiting Coffeyville comes off as a dialogue-driven sequence meant for historical fiction (or even a film).  Unlike Clavin’s other Old West works, readers will sense that he sometimes overindulges into theatrics vs. sticking to the reporting of historical facts.  Though intentionally hilarious, Clavin’s propensity for jibes (i.e. sarcastically discussing ‘unenviable’ names and nicknames in Act V) may also be a bit distracting to readers.  The flip side is that Clavin’s humor offers some welcome compensation for unavoidable monotony explaining the historical framework.   

It surely isn’t Clavin’s fault that the biographies of his primary subjects (Bob, Emmett, Grat, and Bill Dalton) are more pathetic than compelling in this ‘good brothers gone bad’ account.  Had Clavin instead structured his book around the ‘Three Guardsmen of Oklahoma:’ Heck Thomas, Bill Tilghman, and Chris Madsen (and thereby demoting the Daltons to secondary importance), that concept might have had intriguing possibilities. 

Nonetheless, Clavin’s research is reliable enough in spelling out the complete Dalton/Doolin gang activities and how law enforcement finally brought these cretins to justice.  The Last Outlaws, in that sense, likely presents one of the best contemporary analyses of this subject – especially the underrated efforts of ‘The Three Guardsmen.’

ADDITIONAL FEATURES:

A table of contents is provided, where the book’s thirty-five chapters are divvied up within five ‘Acts.’  That’s not counting Emmett Dalton’s prologue and an epilogue further detailing the fates of some survivors and/or their families. 

Next up is a black-and-white map of the American Midwest in the early 1890’s.  Prior to the actual text, the author’s note readily acknowledges that his book’s title isn’t quite accurate – given the notoriety of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’s ‘Wild Bunch’ out West had still yet to come.

Clavin includes an acknowledgments section, a bibliography, and a brief summary of his credits.  Though it would have been helpful, there isn’t an index.     

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                     7 Stars