Utah Centennial County History Series - Emery County 1996

This reputation was magnified in subsequent years through the activities of the "Wild Bunch" who made the Robbers Roost area one of their hideouts. Robbers Roost is a region of high benches and slickrock canyons in eastern Wayne County, but outlaw trails and activities extended into Emery County. Green River, the closest town to the Roost except for the hamlet of Hanksville, served as a supply point and was on the trail between the Roost and other outlaw havens at Brown's Park and Hole in the Wall. Pearl Baker, whose family later operated a ranch at Robbers Roost, dated the beginning of outlaw activities to the mid- 1870s, when Cap Brown pastured stolen horses there before selling them in the Colorado mining camps. The most active period, however, was the 1890s, when the Burh brothers of Denver operated a cattle and horse ranch at the Roost. The Burh foreman, Jack Moore, reputedly kept the welcome mat out for men wanted by the law all the way from Texas to Wyoming.llo This single decade provided the stuff of legends, as notorious outlaws such as Butch Cassidy, Matt Warner, Joe Walker, the McCarty brothers, Elzy Lay, and "Flat Nose" George Curry frequented the Roost and the surrounding country. While most of the Wild Bunch's depredations were committed in other places, some episodes occurred in and around Emery County. On 24 March 1897 Emery County sheriff Azariah Tuttle and Sheriff Allred of Carbon County surprised Joe Walker at Mexican Bend on the San Rafael River with a herd of horses stolen from the Whitmore ranch. Sheriff Tuttle was hit in the hip during the exchange of gunfire and lay unattended for thirty-six hours while Sheriff Allred rode to Price for assistance."l Tuttle recovered from his wound but walked with a painful limp for the rest of his life. The county commission posted a $250 reward for the arrest and conviction of Walker. Walker met his end the following year when he was shot at Florence Creek on the Green River by a nine-man posse including sheriffs Tuttle and Allred."'

The most sensational event of 1897 was the daring payroll robbery at Castle Gate on 2 1 April. Butch Cassidy and Elzy Lay relieved Pleasant Valley Coal Company paymaster E. L. Carpenter of a satchel full of gold and made their escape by riding up Gordon Creek then across the Washboard Flat to Desert Lake and from there to Buckhorn Flat and Mexican Bend.l13Joe Walker reportedly assisted