He Rode with Butch and Sundance: The Story of Harvey “Kid Curry” Logan

Western outlaw Harvey Alexander Logan (1867–1904), aka Kid Curry, has the reputation of a bloodthirsty killer, a man minus conscience and of limited intelligence. In this rock-solid recreation of Old West grit and gunsmoke, western historian Smokov writes, “The only killing that can definitely be attributed to Curry, arguably in self-defense, was the result of his saloon brawl with miner ‘Pike’ Landusky in Montana.” Smokov—noting that Logan was not dull-witted, as usually depicted—examines and dissects numerous conflicting sources throughout this well-researched biography. Nine years old when his mother died, the Kid was raised with his brothers and sister by their aunt and uncle in Missouri, later working as a cowboy and Montana rancher. After the bloody 1894 encounter with Landusky, Curry went into hiding and was tracked by Pinkerton detectives as he pulled off bank and railroad robberies during the years he was friendly with the Sundance Kid: “The two ‘Kids’ were virtually inseparable from 1897 through 1900.” Exploring archives and court records, Smokov shows how writers have embellished the Kid Curry legend, and he successfully separates raw reality from myth and speculation in this definitive profile of a cunning criminal. Photos, map. (Aug.)