Frank Taggart (1861?-1884)
- A cowboy who was thought to have originally been from Texas,
Taggart made his way to western
New Mexico,
where he hooked up with several cowboy outlaws including Kit
Joy. On November 24, 1883, Taggart, along with Kit Joy, Mitch
Lee, and George Washington Cleveland robbed a Southern Pacific
Train several miles east of Gage Station,
New Mexico,
killing railroad engineer
Theophelus C. Webster in the
process. He was soon arrested on January 14, 1884 in Apache
County,
Arizona
by Sheriff Harvey Whitehill of Grant County,
New Mexico and jailed at Silver City. On March 10, 1884, Taggart, his
three train robbing cohorts, and several other prisoners
escaped from jail but were quickly pursued by a posse. When
the authorities caught up with them, a gun battle erupted, in
which George Cleveland and a posseman named Joe Lafferr were
killed. Though Mitch Lee was severely wounded, he and Taggart
were returned to the jail, but Kit Joy was able to escape.
However, shortly after their return, enraged citizens, angered
over the death of Joe Lafferr, pronounced them guilty of
murder in a hastily put together "court" and lynched the
wounded Mitch Lee and Frank Taggart. Kit Joy was apprehended
ten days later and soon sentenced to life in prison.
Charles Fletcher Taylor (1842?-1912)
- Rode with
William Quantrill during the
Civil War and
was involved in a number of battles including the
Lawrence,
Kansas
raid. He started his own command in late June, 1864 and became a Captain
of a Missouri Partisan Ranger band. In August, 1864 was wounded and had to
have his arm amputated. When the
Civil War
was over, he briefly joined up with the
James-Younger
Gang and allegedly
participated in the Liberty,
Missouri Bank Robbery in 1866. But, Taylor soon went
"straight," moved to Joplin,
Missouri
where he made his fortune in the lead mines. At some point he was elected
to the
Missouri
State Legislature.
After his brief stint in politics, he moved on to
Nebraska,
and then about 1892, to
California.
He died at the age of 70 and was buried in the Odd Fellows Cemetery, San Francisco,
California.
 Harry Tracy,
aka: Harry Severns (1874?-1902)
- Born in Wisconsin,
Tracy's real name was Harry Severns. At a young age, he ran
away from home, first landing in
Chicago,
where he worked in the stockyards. Later, he migrated to
Colorado,
where he labored in the gold fields before moving on to
Billings, Montana, and learning the cowboy trade.
However, it appears that Tracy was more interested in making
his way more easily -- rustling cattle. After killing a deputy
sheriff named Arly Grimes, he fled back to
Colorado,
where he reportedly killed two more men.
He soon
hooked up with Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch, again
rustling cattle and committing highway robbery. In 1898 after
the gang had killed a boy named William Strong during a
robbery, the Wild Bunch was aggressively pursued and
when a
gunfight erupted, posseman, Valentine Hoy, was killed. Tracy
and three other men were arrested but Tracy escaped an Aspen,
Colorado
jail, by nearly killing a guard with a lead pipe.
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He then made
his way to Portland,
Oregon,
where he hooked up with outlaw, Dave Merrill, and continued
his life of crime. Both men were arrested again in February,
1899 and Tracy was sentenced to 20 years in the Salem,
Oregon
penitentiary. Merrill was also sent up. However, on June 9,
1902, with the help of a female accomplice, Tracy and Merrill
escaped the prison, killing three men and wounding another in
the process. With the two on the lamb, Tracy felt that Merrill
was becoming weak and killed him on June 28th, near Chehalis,
Washington. Continuing on his own, he made his way to the
Seattle area, where he killed Detective Charles Raymond and a
deputy named John Williams during a shootout on July 3rd.
Fleeing once again, the
killer was pursued to a ranch southeast of Creston,
Washington, where once again, a gunfight occurred on August
6th. In the melee, Tracy killed posse members Cornelious Rowley
and Enoch Breece. However, he the cornered outlaw took a shot
in the leg. Surrounded by authorities and unable to
escape this time, Tracy committed suicide rather than being
taken in again.
Continued
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