Elzy Lay
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Elzy Lay (November 25, 1868-November 10, 1934) was an outlaw of the Old West best known as being a member of the Wild Bunch gang, operating out of the Hole-in-the-Wall Pass in Johnson County, Wyoming. Despite history depicting the Sundance Kid as outlaw Butch Cassidy's best friend, it was actually Lay who was closest to Cassidy, and Lay assisted Cassidy in leading the Wild Bunch gang. [1]
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[edit] Early life
Elzy Lay was born William Ellsworth Lay on November 25, 1868, in Mount Pleasant, Ohio. His father was John Landis, and his mother was Mary Jane Lay. Shortly after his birth, the family moved to northeastern Colorado. At the age of 18, Lay left home looking for adventure with his childhood friend William McGinnis. McGinnis soon returned home, claiming he was homesick.
[edit] Outlaw life
In the fall of 1889, Lay met outlaw Butch Cassidy while in Utah. The two became close friends, and Lay began dating Josie Bassett, the daughter of a rancher that often sold beef and horses to the outlaws, while Cassidy began dating her sister, 15 year old future female western outlaw Ann Bassett. He worked briefly on the ranch of cattleman Matt Warner, and it was Warner who gave Lay his first tip for a robbery. From Warner, Lay learned that a shopkeeper nearby had a large sum of cash. Warner, his nephew Lew McCarty, and Lay robbed the man and split the money.
Lay then opened up a gambling house in Vernal, Utah. For a time, it was profitable, until it was shut down by county Sheriff John T. Pope. Following his business being closed, Lay moved back to Matt Warner's ranch, where he renewed his relationship with Josie Bassett. He remained there until Butch Cassidy was released from an eighteen month prison sentence he had been serving. During that time, Lay became involved with another girl, Maude Davis, whose brother Albert Davis was a smalltime outlaw. Outlaw Ben Kilpatrick began dating Cassidy's girlfriend Ann Bassett during that time. Cassidy and Lay, after Cassidy's prison release, obtained their own cabin on the Green River. Ann Bassett ended her relationship with Kilpatrick, and returned to her involvement with Cassidy.
In August, 1896, Matt Warner killed two prospectors named Dick Staunton and Dave Milton, during a shootout near Vernal. Warner had been employed by E.B. Coleman to intimidate Staunton and Milton away from a mining claim. The intimidation turned into a gun battle. Warner, Coleman, and hired gunman Bill Wall were arrested, and eventually transported to Ogden, Utah, where they were held in jail. In a plea for help to Butch Cassidy, Warner said he needed a lawyer. Cassidy and Lay then robbed a bank in Montpelier, Idaho, using the funds to secure an attorney for Warner. Warner and Wall were convicted of manslaughter, and received a five year sentence, while Coleman was found not guilty. [2]
[edit] The Wild Bunch gang
Cassidy and Lay began hiding out at what was called "Robbers Roost", in Utah. Girlfriends Maude Davis and Ann Bassett joined them there, Lay having ended his relationship with Ann's sister, Josie, who by that time was involved in a relationship with Lay's outlaw friend Will "News" Carver. In April, 1897, the two women were sent home, while Cassidy and Lay began planning the robbery of a payroll shipment in Castle Gate, Utah. In a recent September 26, 2006 History Channel documentary on the Old West, this robbery is described as Cassidy's boldest. On April 21, 1897, the payroll arrived, and Cassidy and his gang members simply walked out in broad daylight and took it at gunpoint. In the robbery they took $7,000. A gang member named Joe Walker is alleged to have disabled the telegraph lines to prevent word of the robbery being put out to nearby law enforcement.
By this time, Maude Davis was pregnant with Lay's child. She insisted he leave the outlaw life and settle with her. He refused, they fought, and the two ended their relationship. Cassidy and Lay traveled to New Mexico, and by this time were calling their gang the "Wild Bunch". There, they worked for a short time on the "WS Ranch", before heading north to Wyoming. They committed their most famous robbery on June 2, 1899, by robbing a Union Pacific train near Wilcox, Wyoming. Following the robbery, they fled to the Hole-in-the-Wall, successfully evading posses that were in pursuit. Kid Curry, who was by this time a member of the gang, killed Sheriff Josiah Hazen during that pursuit. The gang split up in different directions for a time, which was a common action following any of their robberies.
[edit] Capture, murder of Sheriff Farr and a deputy
Cassidy, Lay, Kid Curry, and other gang members Sam Ketchum and Bill Carver headed to New Mexico. On July 11, 1899, without Cassidy, Lay led Curry, Ketchum and Carver in the robbery of a train near Folsom, New Mexico. The robbery was successful, but a well led posse under the direction of Sheriff Ed Farr soon cornered them near an area known as Turkey Creek. In the first gun battle that followed, Deputy Kent Kearney was shot, dying the next day. Another deputy was wounded, along with Sam Ketchum being badly wounded.
The gang was able to escape, briefly, but Ketchum's bad wounds held them up, and again they were cornered in the same area on July 16, 1899. They engaged Sheriff Farr and Deputy Henry Love in a gun battle, resulting in Lay being wounded, and Sheriff Farr being killed. Love was also badly wounded, and died a few days later. Ketchum was captured shortly thereafter, hiding on a ranch, and he died while in custody only days later. Curry and Carver escaped, as did Lay. However, on August 16, 1899, while gathering supplies, Lay was cornered in Carlsbad, New Mexico and captured.
He was convicted in the killings and the robbery, and received a life sentence. Cassidy, Kid Curry, and Bill Carver all left New Mexico. The loss of Lay deeply affected Cassidy, and for a time he made attempts at getting amnesty from the Governor of Utah. Several factors weighed in during that time to prevent this, to include several killings committed by Kid Curry, and other robberies committed by the gang. Lay spent seven years in prison. He was pardoned by Governor Miguel Antonio Otero on January 10, 1906. [3]
[edit] Retirement, later life
Lay never had any known contact with Butch Cassidy following his release. By that time, Cassidy and the Sundance Kid had escaped to South America, where they were alleged to have been eventually killed while committing a robbery in Bolivia. While Lay was imprisoned, Kid Curry was killed during a shootout with lawmen in Colorado, Ben Kilpatrick and Laura Bullion were captured in Knoxville, Tennessee, and George "Flat Nosed" Curry was killed by lawmen in Utah. Several other members of other gangs that formerly were a part of the Hole in the Wall Gang were also by that time either dead or in prison. [4]
Lay is alleged to have visited Ann and Josie Bassett in Utah. Afterward, Lay moved to California, where he met and married Mary Calvert. He died in Los Angeles of natural causes on November 10, 1934.
