Georgen and Baskin Talk About Saloon Murders at History After Dark Program

The Museum at the Big Horns History After Dark lecture series returned on October 20. Jessica Salzman, Museum Collections Manager, introduced the speakers.

Cynde Georgen, local historian, and her husband Steve Baskin presented “Whiskey Shots and Gunshot Chasers: Thirty Years of Throwin’ ‘Em Back and Shootin’ ‘Em Down in Sheridan County Saloons, 1885-1915.”

Georgen explained that the title might be a little misleading as the program focused on the alcohol fueled violent deaths in Sheridan, and not just about the saloons.

She said that between 1881 and 1941, more than 80 men, women and children in Sheridan County died at the hands of others. 0ver 75% were from gunshot wounds. “Not surprisingly, alcohol was involved in about 30% of these deaths.” she added.

Finding alcohol was not a problem in early Sheridan County. Georgen talked about how many saloons Sheridan and the surrounding area once had. By 1915 there were 31 saloons, most on Main Street. She said there were also Speakeasies in the red-light districts and tent saloons located between the Sheridan city limits and the coal mines outside of town.

Georgen narrated the program, while Baskin provided the voices of the “good guys, the bad guys and the newspapers who reported on them,” Georgen said. One of the first murders they talked about happened in 1885, at the Palace Saloon between Peter Jones, bartender, and Dick Buckley, customer.

According to the Big Horn Sentinel newspaper, “Dick Buckley, a well-known character in the West, makes a rapid transit across the River of Life.”

Another murder took place in 1892 in Higby, in Case’s Saloon, between an unidentified Gunman who shot down Dan Sullivan and Andrew Case.

One story was the murder of Charles Murray by bartender Fred Hyle in the town of Rockwood, a tie camp town on the Big Horn Mountains. “Hyle was an opportunist,” Georgen said. “He opened saloons in new towns where he could make a lot of cash off of railroad workers and lumbermen.”

Hyle was found guilty of second-degree murder, and he was held in the Sheridan County Jail. But in April of 1898, he escaped, and rode off into the unknown, never to be heard from again.

They talked of one murder that happened in the coal town of Monarch, in which a pocketknife was the murder weapon. It took a while for the saloon customers to take the murder seriously.

Times change. Georgen talked about the end of the era in Sheridan, and the decline of deaths occurring in the saloons.

All in all, Georgen talked about 11 killings that happened in the area during those years. Most were with guns but two of the murders, like the one in Monarch, were committed with knives.

Around 25 people attended, and upcoming events at the Museum include Halloween at the Museum on Oct. 29, from 1-3 p.m., and History After Dark on Nov. 10, speaker to be determined. The events are free to museum members, but there is an admission charge for non-members.

For more on this story go to Sheridanmedia.com