P a g e 2 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r presumably due to his admiration of Flat Nose George Curry, a well-known Wyoming outlaw who rode the Outlaw Trail. The Logan family was thereafter known as the Currys. Recreation for the Curry boys consisted of riding into Landusky and shooting up the town or riding their horses into business establishments. Jew Jake’s Saloon was a favorite target. One encounter between the Currys and one-legged Jew Jake is reported to have lasted several hours with Jake winning the battle by blasts from a shotgun, which caused the Currys to retire with perforated skins. I visited Landusky in the summer of 1987. As I gazed down the deserted main street with its twin rows of tumbling down false-fronted buildings, I tried to visualize the volatile mixture of humanity which had trod its environs during the gold-rush days: the miners, the last of the meat hunters, freighters, cowboys from distant ranches seeking any available entertainment, a few Indians, such riders of the Outlaw Trail as the Sundance Kid, Butch Cassidy, Deaf Charlie, and, of course, the Curry bunch. The only representative of the law within a hundred miles was the town constable, Pike Landusky. Presumably the owner of a business catering to those on the wild side could not have been expected to be overly diligent in enforcing law and order. There are as many versions of what brought about the bad blood between Pike Landusky and Kid Curry as there are accounts of the actual shooting of Pike by the Kid in 1894. One account states the incident took place while the two were engaged in a fistfight in Jew Jake’s Saloon. Another- places the scene at Landusky’s Saloon, where, after an argument, a quick-draw gunfight took place in which Pike came in second and died instantly. Another version claims he was shot in the back. Having killed the representative of the law, Kid was now a fugitive from the law. He and Loney joined the Wild Bunch riding the Outlaw Trail, robbing trains and banks from northern Montana to the far Southwest. The original Landusky gold strike petered out, and the town quieted down to a mere supply point for area ranchers. The coming of Prohibition removed the last vestiges of the old wild days. The giant Pegasus Gold Inc. is on the mountainside just above the old town. The open-pit mine produced millions in gold, silver and zinc. Below it, the little town on the Outlaw Trail fades slowly into its violent past, and the remains of its founder rest in peace in the grass of the Landusky graveyard.—Courtesy of the Eastern Montana Outlaw News in Cooperation with Missouri River Country. To learn more about all the adventures awaiting you in northeast Montana, visit: https://missouririvermt.com The killing of Pike Landusky by Kid Curry, as pictured by O. C. Seltzer, Great Falls artist who was widely known for his paintings and drawings depicting western life. Courtesy of The Kevin Review, Aug. 30, 1928, Accessed via: https:// chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/
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