Ben Blackie Kilpatrick, notorious train robber and member of Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch, was joined by two fellow gang members, Harvey “Kid Curry” Logan and O. C. Hanks, on their latest heist. Their target was a train halted abruptly by engineer Thomas Jones less than six miles east of Wagner, with Logan holding a revolver to Jones’s head, compelling compliance.
With the fireman, Mike O’Neill, unable to move under threat, Logan instructed him to detach the baggage and express cars from the passenger cars, while rancher John Cunningham, sensing trouble, attempted to flee towards Malta on his horse. Kilpatrick, leaping from the passenger car, shot at Cunningham, toppling him from his mount, before turning his attention to the train’s occupants, warning them to remain seated under threat of gunfire.
Ignoring Kilpatrick’s orders, a brakeman named Woodside and a traveling auditor were shot through the shoulder. The trio of bandits then commandeered the express car, forcing the mail clerk and express messenger away from the safe, which Kilpatrick proceeded to dynamite open, securing a haul estimated at $50,000, according to the July 4, 1901, edition of the Great Falls Tribune.
Meanwhile, a fourth accomplice, disguised as a man in trousers, work shirt, boots, and duster, awaited their escape with the stolen goods and horses. Months later, it was revealed that this individual was, in fact, a woman named Laura Bullion, Kilpatrick’s lover and co-conspirator.
As night fell, a posse was dispatched from Malta to pursue the bandits through the Missouri Breaks, while days later, an auditor for the Great Northern Express Railway confirmed the loss from the robbery amounted to $41,500.
The authorities’ suspicions regarding the perpetrators of the Great Northern Railway Flyer No. 3 robbery were only partially accurate. Notably absent from the scene were Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and no one anticipated the involvement of a woman in the theft.
According to Pinkerton files from the early 1900s, Laura Bullion was categorized as a “consort of criminals.” Born on October 4, 1876, in Mertzon, Texas, to parents of questionable repute—her father, Ed, being a thief, and her mother, Fereby Elizabeth Bullion, known for her dubious associations—Laura and her siblings were predominantly raised by her maternal grandparents, Elliot and Serena Byler, in the outlaw-infested Knickerbocker, Texas.
Laura’s social circle in Knickerbocker included notorious figures such as Tom “Black Jack” Ketchum, his brother Sam, Ben and George Kilpatrick, and William “News” Carver, who was married to Laura’s aunt, Viana E. Byler. After leaving home, Laura found employment at a San Antonio brothel owned by Fannie Porter, adopting the alias “Della Rose” while catering to clients.
Porter’s establishment attracted the likes of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, who frequented the brothel along with other members of the Wild Bunch, including Ben Kilpatrick and William Carver, who took a particular interest in Laura following his wife’s demise. Laura’s discretion and ability to keep secrets appealed to Kilpatrick, leading to their involvement in numerous illicit activities, including the Great Northern Railway robbery near Wagner, Montana.
Following the heist in July 1901, law enforcement agencies formed posses to apprehend the culprits, with some even anticipating fatalities. In early November 1901, stolen banknotes from the robbery began surfacing in St. Louis, Missouri, leading police and Pinkerton detectives to Ben Kilpatrick, who was arrested on November 5, 1901, in possession of forged banknotes.
Upon searching Kilpatrick’s belongings, authorities discovered a key to a room at the Laclede Hotel, where they intercepted Laura Bullion with a suitcase filled with counterfeit currency the following morning. Despite interrogation attempts, both Kilpatrick and Bullion remained tight-lipped, frustrating authorities.
The St. Louis Police Department, undeterred by their silence, resorted to filling in the gaps themselves. Chief William Desmond, suspecting Kilpatrick to be Harry Longabaugh (the Sundance Kid) and Laura to be Laura Bullion, based their conclusions on circumstantial evidence, including a notebook found in Laura’s possession containing a description matching Longabaugh. This led authorities to believe they had captured significant members of the Wild Bunch, despite the duo’s reticence to cooperate.