Harvey Alexander Logan, also known as “Kid Curry,” was an American outlaw and gunman who rode with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’s infamous Wild Bunch gang during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Take a look below for 29 more interesting and weird facts about Harvey Logan.
1. Despite being less well-known than his fellow gang members, he has since been referred to as “the wildest of the Wild Bunch,” having reputedly killed at least nine law enforcement officers in five different shootings and another two men in other instances.
2. He was involved in numerous shootouts with police and civilians and participated in several bank and train robberies with various gangs during his outlaw days.
3. Logan was born in Richland Township, Tama County, Iowa in 1867.
4. His mother died in 1876, and his brothers, Hank, Johnny and Lonny, moved to Dodson, Missouri to live with their aunt Lee Logan.
5. Until at least 1883, Harvey made his living breaking horses on the Cross L ranch, near Rising Star, Texas.
6. While there, he met and befriended a man named “Flat Nose” George Curry, from whom he took his new last name.
7. His brothers soon adopted the same last name.
8. The Logan Brothers were known as hard workers until they got paid. Money didn’t stay long in their pockets as they all had a taste for alcohol and women.
9. Logan would often return from a train or bank robbery, get drunk and sleep with prostitutes until his share of the take was gone.
10. After he became famous, the prostitutes would frequently name him as the father when they became pregnant. The children were referred to as “Curry Kids.”
11. It’s believed that Logan was credited with as many as 85 children, though the number of children he actually fathered was probably fewer than five.
12. Descendants of the “Curry Kids” remain scattered throughout Eastland County, Texas and the surrounding areas to this day.
13. In 1883, Curry rode as a cowboy on a cattle drive to Pueblo, Colorado.
14. While in Pueblo, he was involved in a saloon brawl.
15. To avoid arrest, he fled, settling in southern Wyoming, where he began work at the “Circle Diamond” ranch.
16. By all accounts, when sober, Logan was mild-mannered, likable and loyal to both his friends and brothers.
17. On October 2, 1894, Logan and Johnnie Logan, along with their brother in law, Lee Seif, got into an altercation with a neighbor named James Ross.
18. As a result of the confrontation, Harvey found himself charged with assault with a deadly weapon. It was just the first of many incidents that would drive Logan into a life of crime.
19. The next incident occurred when local miner Powell “Pike” Landusky attacked Logan, believing that he was romantically involved with his daughter. When Logan got the better of Landusky, the miner filed assault charges against him and was arrested and beaten.
20. When Logan ran into Landusky in a local saloon, the two got into a dispute that quickly escalated into a fist fight. However, when Logan began to walk away, Landusky pulled a gun and threatened the unarmed Logan. His brothers quickly threw him a gun and when Landusky’s gun jammed, Harvey shot him in the head.
21. With the police on him and a bounty on his head, Logan fled to New Mexico, where he rode with the Black Jack Ketchum Gang.
22. Logan returned to Montana when he received word that a friend of Landusky’s, a rancher named James Winters, had been trying to get the reward on his head.
23. In January, 1896, Logan, along with his brothers, Johnnie and Lonnie, confronted Winters at his ranch. When a shoot-out erupted, Johnnie was killed.
24. On July 14, 1898, Logan joined the Sundance Kid and “Flat Nose” George Curry in the robbery of a Southern Pacific shortly after it pulled out of the Humboldt House train station in Humboldt, Nevada.
25. On June 2, 1899, the Wild Bunch robbed a Union Pacific Railroad overland flyer near Wilcox, Wyoming. Aggressively pursued, a gunfight erupted between the trailing posse and the robbers, and Sheriff Joe Hazen was killed.
26. On July 11, 1899, Logan, along with Elza Lay and Sam Ketchum, robbed a train near Folsom, New Mexico. A posse led by Sheriff Ed Farr cornered the gang near an area called Turkey Creek, which resulted in a gun battle that wounded both Elza Lay and Sam Ketchum.
27. In a pool hall on November 30, 1902, Logan was captured after a lengthy physical fight with lawmen. He was convicted of robbery because facts in the murder of the two policemen were not definite and no witnesses would testify, and he received a sentence of 20 years of hard labor and a $5,000 fine.
28. On June 27, 1903, Logan escaped. Rumors that a deputy had received an $8,000 bribe to allow his escape spread, but this was never proven.
29. On June 7, 1903, Logan was tracked down by a posse outside of Parachute, Colorado. Logan and two others had robbed a Denver and Rio Grande train outside Parachute. As they escaped, they stole fresh horses owned by Roll Gardner and a neighbor. The next morning, when they discovered their horses had been stolen, Gardner and the neighbor set out in pursuit of the gang. They joined up with a posse and continued tracking the outlaws. The gang shot Gardner’s and his neighbor’s horses from under them; Gardner found cover while his neighbor started running. Logan took aim at the neighbor and Gardner shot Logan. The wounded Logan decided to end it at that time, and fatally shot himself in the head to avoid capture.
One Comment
James logan
October 25, 2019 at 2:31 amI am the direct descendant of Harvey logan. Great great nephew