View source for Hole-in-the-Wall Gang

{{short description|Wild West criminal gang}}
{{other uses|Hole in the Wall Gang (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox Criminal organization
| name                 =  Hole-in-the-Wall Gang
| image                = 
| founded              =
| founding location    = [[Hole-in-the-Wall]], [[Big Horn Mountains]], [[Johnson County, Wyoming]]
| founded by           =
| years active         = 1880s–1890s
| territory            = Northern [[Wyoming]]
| ethnic makeup        = White-American
| membership est       = 9
| criminal activities  = Horse and cattle theft, stagecoach and highway robbery, store and bank robbery
| rivals               =
}}

The '''Hole-in-the-Wall Gang''' was a gang in the [[United States|American]] [[American frontier|Wild West]], which took its name from the [[Hole-in-the-Wall]] Pass in [[Johnson County, Wyoming]], where several outlaw gangs had their hideouts.

==Description==
[[File:Tom O'Day, alias Joe Chancellor, member of the Hole in the Wall gang, head-and-shoulders portrait LCCN2006680241 (cropped).tif|thumb|left|Tom O'Day, alias Joe Chancellor, member of the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang]]

The Hole-in-the-Wall Gang was not simply one large organized gang of outlaws but rather was made up of several separate gangs, all operating out of the Hole-in-the-Wall Pass, using it as their base of operations. The gangs formed a [[coalition]], each planning and carrying out its own robberies with very little interaction with the others. At times, members of one gang would ride along with other gangs, but usually each gang operated separately, meeting up only when they were each at the hideout at the same time.

Geographically, the hideout had all the advantages needed for a gang attempting to evade the authorities. It was easily defended and impossible for lawmen to access without detection by the outlaws concealed there. It contained an infrastructure, with each gang supplying its own food and livestock, as well as its own horses. A corral, [[livery stable]], and numerous [[log cabin|cabins]] were constructed, one or two for each gang. Anyone operating out of there adhered to certain rules of the camp, including a certain way of handling disputes with other gang members, and never stealing from another gang's supplies. There was no leader, with each gang adhering to its own chain of command. The hideout was also used for shelter and a place for the outlaws to lay up during the harsh [[Wyoming]] winters.

Members of the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang included such infamous criminals as [[Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch]] which consisted of [[Butch Cassidy]] (also known as Robert Leroy Parker), the [[Sundance Kid]] (also known as Harry A. Longabaugh), [[Elzy Lay]], [[Ben Kilpatrick|Tall Texan]], [[William Carver (Wild Bunch)|'News' Carver]], Camilla 'Deaf Charlie' Hanks, [[Laura Bullion]], [[George "Flat Nose" Curry]], [[Harvey Logan|Harvey 'Kid Curry' Logan]], Bob Meeks, Kid Curry's brother Lonny Curry, Bob Smith, Al Smith, Bob Taylor, Tom O'Day, [[Sam Carey|'Laughing' Sam Carey]], [[Tom Ketchum|Black Jack Ketchum]], and the Roberts Brothers, along with several lesser known outlaw gangs of the Old West. [[Jesse James]] was also mentioned to have visited the Hole-in-the-Wall hideout.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Hole-in-the Wall Outlaw Hideout |url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/hole-in-the-wall-outlaw-hideout |journal=[[Atlas Obscura]] |access-date=19 August 2018}}</ref>

In 1899, after the [[Wilcox train robbery]] by the Hole-in-the Wall Gang, [[Pinkertons|Pinkerton detectives]] were deployed. [[Charlie Siringo]] was one of them. Siringo wrote of the gang, "[[Alma, New Mexico|Alma]] being the southern rendezvous for the 'Wild Bunch', while Hole-in-the-Wall, in Wyoming, was their northern hang out."<ref name=Ben>{{cite book |last1=Pingenot |first1=Ben |title=Siringo |date=1989 |publisher=Texas A&M University Press |location=College Station |isbn=0890963819 |pages=59–61}}</ref><ref name="Charles">{{cite book |last1=Siringo |first1=Charles |title=A Cowboy Detective |date=1912 |publisher=Arcadia Press |isbn=9781545001882 |pages=120, 136, 146}}</ref>

Several [[posse (law enforcement)|posse]]s trailed outlaws to the location, and there were several shootouts as posses attempted to enter, all resulting in the posses being repulsed, and being forced to withdraw. No lawmen ever successfully entered it to capture outlaws during its more than fifty years of active existence, nor were any lawmen attempting to infiltrate it by use of [[undercover]] techniques successful.

The encampment operated with a steady stream of outlaw gangs rotating in and out, from the late 1860s to the early 20th century. However, by 1910, very few outlaws used the hideout, and it eventually faded into history. One of the cabins used by Butch Cassidy still exists today, and it was moved to [[Cody, Wyoming]], where it is on public display.
{{clearleft}}

==In popular culture==
The Hole-in-the-Wall Gang has been featured in various works, including:
*  [[western film|Western]] fiction films:
** ''The Three Outlaws'' (1956), starring [[Neville Brand]] as Butch Cassidy and [[Alan Hale Jr]] as the Sundance Kid, and depicting the duo's exploits (with Wild Bunch member William "News" Carver as the third outlaw of the title)<ref>{{IMDb title|qid=Q15650917|title="The Three Outlaws" (1956)}}</ref>
** ''[[Cat Ballou]]'' (1965), western comedy starring [[Jane Fonda]] (as the [[heroine]] of the title) and [[Lee Marvin]], in a gang who rob a train, providing adequate motivation for an expedition against not only them but everyone at Hole-in-the-Wall, forcing the remnant of aged outlaws there to eject her from the refuge  
** ''[[Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid]]'' (1969), starring [[Paul Newman]] and [[Robert Redford]], film dramatization of the historical outlaws
* "The Good, the Bad, and the Tigger", animated parody (in the series ''[[The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh]]'') of the historical and dramatized gangs, with outlaws "Pooh" and "Tigger" being referred to as the "Hole in the Head Gang"
* In the ''[[Scooby-Doo! Mystery Adventures]]'' game ''Showdown in Ghost Town'', which takes place in the fictional Western [[ghost town]] of Los Burritos, multiple references are made to the "Brick-in-the-Wall Gang", an apparent play on the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang's name. The fictitious gang takes its name from stealing large amounts of [[gold bullion]] and disguising them as bricks in gang-owned buildings.
*In ''[[Outlawed (novel)|Outlawed]]'', a 2021 [[alternate history]] novel by [[Anna North]],<ref>{{Cite web|last=Grady|first=Constance|date=2021-01-14|title=How novelist Anna North built a Western around a gang of gender-nonconforming outlaws|url=https://www.vox.com/culture/22216958/outlawed-anna-north-interview|access-date=2021-03-06|website=Vox|language=en}}</ref> a band of barren women come together to form the Hole in the Wall Gang, led by The Kid, determined to create a safe haven in a world where barren women are hanged as witches.
*In ''[[Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition]]'', the Hole in the Wall Gang are the main antagonists of the second mission in the "Shadow" ([[Lakota people|Lakota]]) campaign. In the mission, they operate more like an army than an outlaw gang, attacking not only with outlaw units but also [[hussar]]s and [[dragoon]]s.

==References==
===Notes===
{{reflist}}

===Bibliography===
* {{cite book
|last=Eckhardt
|first=C. F. 
|title=Tales of Badmen, Bad Women, and Bad Places: Four Centuries of Texas
|accessdate=2008-03-23
|year=1999
|publisher=Texas Tech University Press
|isbn=0-89672-420-4
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qr4eVGwidIwC&dq=%22Hole+in+the+Wall+Gang%22+subject:%22Biography+%26+Autobiography+/+Criminals+%26+Outlaws%22&pg=PA141
|page=141
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Gulick
|first=Bill
|title=Manhunt: The Pursuit of Harry Tracy
|accessdate=2008-03-23
|year=1999
|publisher=Caxton Press
|isbn=0-87004-392-7
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bZSdHchp3WkC&dq=%22Hole+in+the+Wall+Gang%22+subject:%22Biography+%26+Autobiography+/+Criminals+%26+Outlaws%22&pg=PA171
|page=171
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Horan
|first=James D. 
|author2=Dullenty, Jim
|title=Desperate Men: The James Gang and the Wild Bunch
|accessdate=2008-03-23
|year=1997
|publisher=University of Nebraska Press
|isbn=0-8032-7307-X
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gukyHjOws9UC&dq=%22Hole+in+the+Wall+Gang%22+subject:%22Biography+%26+Autobiography+/+Criminals+%26+Outlaws%22&pg=PA215
|page=215
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Kelly
|first=Charles
|author2=Meadows, Anne |author3=Buck, Dan
 |title=The Outlaw Trail: A History of Butch Cassidy and His Wild Bunch
|accessdate=2008-03-23
|year=1996
|publisher=University of Nebraska Press
|isbn=0-8032-7778-4
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bvs-N18JqF8C&dq=%22Hole+in+the+Wall+Gang%22+subject:%22Biography+%26+Autobiography+/+Criminals+%26+Outlaws%22&pg=PA129
|page=129
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Patterson
|first=Richard M.
|title=Butch Cassidy: A Biography 
|accessdate=2008-03-23
|year=1998
|publisher=University of Nebraska Press
|isbn=0-8032-8756-9
|url=https://archive.org/details/butchcassidybiog00patt
|url-access=registration
|quote=Hole in the Wall Gang subject:Biography & Autobiography / Criminals & Outlaws.
|page=[https://archive.org/details/butchcassidybiog00patt/page/146 146]
}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Outlaw gangs of the American Old West]]
[[Category:Gangs in Wyoming]]
[[Category:Johnson County, Wyoming]]
[[Category:Crime in Wyoming]]