Kid Curry’s Grave

“Darkness had fallen on the rainy night of June 7, 1904 when an unwanted passenger hopped the No. 5 Denver and Rio Grande train near Parachute, Colorado, about 45 miles west of Glenwood Springs. A gun-toting bandit with his face blackened ordered the engineer to uncouple all the trail cars except the engine and the express car and to stop a couple of miles west of town where tow more rovers boarded the train. The safes in the express car were dynamited and the thieves left with an undisclosed amount of money. They rowed a boat across the Grand (Colorado) River to the south where horses were hitched and started their getaway to the southeast.

Two days later, with a posse on their trail, the robbers demanded breakfast and fresh horses from the Banta Ranch. What the outlaws didn’t know was that the Bantas had a telephone and were able to alert the neighborhood. The posse cornered the group on East Divide Creek and a shootout ensued. One of the robbers was severely wounded and declaring that he was “done for,” took his own life. His two companions escaped.

The dead man’s body was brought to Glenwood Springs, photographs were taken and he was buried in the Potter’s Field section of Linwood Cemetery under the name J.H. Ross, an alias he had used to obtain a job a few days prior on the railroad crew. Pinkerton detective, Lowell Spence, who was very familiar with the unlawful exploits of Kid Curry, identified the robber by the death photo as Harvey Logan, alias “Kid Curry.” Spence had been tracking Curry since his escape from jail in Knoxville, Tennessee the previous year. As additional proof, Spence asked that the body be exhumed and examined by a doctor for any scars or other telltale features. Dr. McAlister, a physician for the Glenwood Hot Springs Company, performed the examination and indicated, “His whole appearance marks him as a moral coward…every line in his face indicates a degenerate.”

Dr. McAlister gave his detailed report to the Pinkertons who decided, in one last effort to prove their case, to come to Glenwood Springs and take a look for themselves. Detective Spence ordered the body dug up a second time and after seeing the man for himself, declared that he was indeed Harvey Logan. Spence had spent considerable time with Logan during the trial in Knoxville, seeing him every day for weeks, and felt confident that the dead outlaw was him.

With reward money in the balance, not all law enforcement officials agreed with Spence’s conclusion, leading to doubt and speculation that lingers even today. However, most historians agree, due to the fact that Logan never surfaced again, that Linwood Cemetery is the final chapter in the Kid Curry saga.

As there was no headstone for Logan, the Frontier Historical Society, along with the City of Glenwood Springs, installed this marble headstone in Potter’s Field in 2009.

Harvey Logan

Harvey A. Logan was born in Iowa in about 1867 to William and Eliza Logan. It is known that he had at least five brothers and one sister. His father often left the family and even spent some time in jail. Harvey’s mother died in about 1876 during childbirth. After her death, the children moved to Dodson, Missouri, to live with relatives. As a teen, Harvey and his brothers headed west, ending up in Montana presumably to take up ranching before getting into trouble and setting out on a life of crime. Harvey, being the youngest brother was called “Kid” and took the name Curry, possibly in honor of his mentor, George “Flat Nose” Currie.”