Theoretically, “Bandit Heaven” is about three bandit havens — Robbers Roost, Brown’s Hole and Hole in the Wall — in Wyoming and Utah. Canyons with only one way in, easily guarded by a few men from perches high above any approaches, they provided refuge for criminals on the run.
According to author Tom Clavin, these three were the most important in a series of hideouts along what was known as the Outlaw Trail, which stretched from Canada to Mexico.
The book is less about the sanctuaries, though, than the men who frequented them in the late 19th century. It was a lawless time — on both sides. Yes, there was Kid Curry, who, like Johnny Cash (in song), would shoot a man just to watch him die.
But there were also sheriffs who didn’t wait for trials to gun down miscreants and vigilantes like the mob wearing masks that “burst into the calaboose” to grab and hang George “Big Nose” Parrott.
Author Clavin brings that era alive with stories about those complicated folks. Consider Tom Horn, who wrote in “Life of Tom Horn: Government Scout and Interpreter, Written by Himself”: “Killing Men is my specialty. I look at it as a business proposition, and I think I have a corner on the market.”
Horn was a cavalry scout, a peace officer and a Pinkerton operative. Interestingly, he wrote his memoir while in jail, waiting to be hanged for killing a teenager.
Or Tom McCarty, who uttered a line that would find its way into hundreds of Hollywood westerns: “They’ll never take me alive.”
Or Joe Walker, who agreed to a “time out” during a gun battle with a wounded deputy sheriff. Brought the deputy some water and then left.
