Harvey Logan was an outlaw of the American West to whom several killings in Montana, Wyoming and Tennessee between 1894 and 1901 are attributed, and who is linked to a series of train robberies with the Wild Bunch, the group of Western outlaws associated with Butch Cassidy. He is known as Kid Curry in many accounts. None of the killings attributed to him was ever tried. His one conviction came in federal court at Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1902, and concerned federal banknotes taken in a Montana train robbery the year before. He was sentenced to twenty years, escaped in June 1903, and died in Colorado in 1904.
Logan was born in Dodson, Missouri, in the 1860s; 1865 is the year most often given. He later lived in Montana, in the Landusky district, where the dispute that made him a fugitive took place.
On December 27, 1894, Pike Landusky, a resident of the Landusky district in Montana, died after a quarrel with Logan. Landusky had earlier brought an assault charge against Logan. Logan left the district before any trial, and an inquest is reported to have found self-defense. Later Pinkerton accounts of the death are regarded by modern historians as distorted. One writer treats it as the only killing definitely attributable to Logan. No court tried him for it, and it is attributed to him only.
On June 2, 1899, a Union Pacific train was robbed near Wilcox, Wyoming. A posse followed the robbers, and about June 6, 1899, Converse County Sheriff Josiah Hazen was killed at Castle Creek. Several histories attribute his death to Logan, while others call his responsibility likely but uncertain. He was never charged or tried for Hazen's death.
In July 1901 a Great Northern express train was robbed near Wagner, Montana. The robbers took a quantity of unsigned national banknotes. Pinkerton circulars named Logan as one of the group, and the notes later led to him. A man named Jim Winters was killed in Montana on July 25, 1901. A grand jury concluded only that a fugitive involved in the robbery was responsible and did not name Logan. Winters's death is listed as Logan's by some writers and rejected by others; it is attributed only.
In December 1901 Logan came to Knoxville, Tennessee. During a disturbance in the city, two Knoxville police officers, Robert Saylor and William Dinwiddie, were injured. The city's police memorial lists both men and names Logan as the person responsible. He was never charged in connection with either officer. Logan left the city and was found two days later near Jefferson City, Tennessee, then returned to Knoxville. Notes in his possession carried serial numbers matching those taken in the Montana robbery.
In 1902 Logan was tried in federal court at Knoxville and was convicted of uttering forged or altered bank notes, the federal notes taken in the Montana robbery. On November 30, 1902, the court sentenced him to twenty years' hard labor, to be served in a federal penitentiary once his appeals ended.
Logan escaped from custody in Knoxville in June 1903, shortly before he was to be taken to the penitentiary. He was not recaptured, and a reward was offered for his return.
In June 1904 a Denver and Rio Grande train was held up near Parachute, Colorado. Logan died in Colorado in June 1904 after that robbery. Pinkerton officials identified the dead man as Logan, and Knoxville authorities who had held him in 1901 and 1902 identified him from photographs. Whether the dead man was Logan has been questioned, and one historian holds that he lived into the 1930s; that claim is not established.
The 1902 case was a federal prosecution, heard at Knoxville in the Sixth Circuit's territory, and it concerned the forged notes, not the killings, which were matters for state law in Montana, Wyoming and Tennessee and never reached a court. The Pinkerton National Detective Agency circulated descriptions of Wild Bunch members from 1900, and the agency's lists credited Logan with between three and nine killings; modern historians regard those lists as unreliable.
No death attributed to Logan was tried. Responsibility for the Landusky death and its circumstances are disputed. Hazen's death is attributed to him in some histories and called uncertain in others. The Winters death went before a grand jury that did not name him.
1894 (December 27): Pike Landusky dies at Landusky, Montana; attributed to Logan; no trial.
1899 (June 2): Train robbed near Wilcox, Wyoming.
1899 (about June 6): Sheriff Josiah Hazen is killed in Converse County, Wyoming; attributed to Logan; no trial.
1901 (July): Great Northern train robbed near Wagner, Montana.
1901 (December): Two Knoxville police officers injured; Logan found near Jefferson City two days later.
1902: Tried and convicted in federal court at Knoxville of an offense concerning forged bank notes.
1902 (November 30): Sentenced to twenty years.
1903 (June): Escapes custody in Knoxville.
1904 (June): Train held up near Parachute, Colorado; Logan dies in Colorado.