The Hole-in-the-Wall Gang was active in the 1880s- 1890s in Hole-in-the-Wall Pass in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming.

The Hole-in-the-Wall Gang was not one organized gang of outlaws but several separate groups and individuals who used the pass in Johnson County, Wyoming, as a hideout.

These outlaws used the pass not only as a hideout, but also as a base of operations. The gangs formed a coalition, each planning and carrying out its robberies with very little interaction with the other gangs. However, at times, members of one gang would ride along with other gangs; usually, each gang operated separately, meeting up only when they were at the hideout at the same time.

Geographically, the hideout had all the advantages a gang needed to evade the authorities. It was easily defended and impossible for lawmen to access without detection by the outlaws concealed there. It contained an infrastructure, with each gang supplying its own food, livestock, and horses. A corral, livery stable, and numerous cabins were constructed, one or two for each gang. Anyone operating out of there followed specific camp rules, including a particular way of handling disputes with other gang members and never stealing from another gang’s supplies, cattle, or horses. The coalition had no leader, as each gang had its own chief of command. The hideout also served as shelter, where outlaws could lay up during the harsh Wyoming winters.

It was a favorite hiding place for the infamous Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch Gang, who often hid out in an 1883 log cabin preserved at the Old Trail Town Museum in Cody, Wyoming. The Wild Bunch included cattle rustlers and train-bank robbers such as William Ellsworth “Elzy” Lay, Harry “Sundance Kid” Longabaugh, Ben “Tall Texan” Kilpatrick, Harvey “Kid Curry” Logan, William “News” Carver, Laura Bullion, and George “Flat Nose” Curry.

Other members of the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang included such infamous desperadoes as Camilla ‘Deaf Charlie’ Hanks, Bob Meeks, Bob Smith, Al Smith, Bob Taylor, Tom O’Day, “Laughing” Sam Carey, Black Jack Ketchum, and the Roberts Brothers, along with several lesser-known outlaw gangs of the Old West. Jesse James was also said to have visited the Hole-in-the-Wall hideout.

Several posses trailed outlaws to the location, and several shootouts occurred as they tried to enter, most of which repelled them and forced them to withdraw. No lawmen ever successfully entered to capture outlaws during its more than 50 years of active existence, nor did any undercover attempts to infiltrate it succeed.

The encampment hosted a steady stream of outlaw gangs from the late 1860s to the early 20th Century. However, by 1910, very few outlaws used the hideout, and it eventually faded into history.

 

©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated September 2026.

Also See:

Butch Cassidy

Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch

Hole-in-the-Wall Pass

Outlaw Gangs

See Sources.