Name Harry Kid" | ||
Harry Head a/k/a Harry the Kid, was a cattle rustler and stagecoach robber in southern Arizona. He is known to have died in 1881; however, his birth year and date weren’t recorded. One of his better known robberies occurred in Contention City, Arizona. He was with three outlaws named Bill Leonard, Jim Crane, and Luther King, when they all attempted to rob a stagecoach that was carrying 26,000 dollars in Wells Fargo money. (The Complete List of Old West Outlaws)
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Drew Station Stagecoach Robbery
On March 15, 1881 Kid and three compatriots were set to rob a Wells Fargo stagecoach; however, it is rumored that the monetary gain wasn’t the only motive for robbing the stagecoach, it has been said that killing Bob Paul was a secondary objective. Bob Paul was a special agent who was sent out with the stagecoach to prevent robberies from occurring. Obviously this made robbing what used to be unguarded stage coaches much more difficult. Therefore two well -known families during the time, the Clantons and the Earps, are rumored to have been behind the attempt to kill Paul.
The coach was carrying 26,000 dollars and eight passengers. Twelve miles from the stagecoach's’ final destination Bob Paul changed seats with the driver of the stagecoach, which temporarily brought the stagecoach to a halt. Shortly after the change of seats the stagecoach came to a part of the road that had a very steep grade. This is the part of the road were Crane, Head, King and Leonard decided to ambush. In order to conceal their identities the stagecoach robbers wore wigs and false beards. At the start of the ambush Crane fired at the guard’s seat, which was where Bob Paul should have been sitting, but because he had just switched seats with the stagecoach driver he was spared and the driver, Budd Philpot, was killed. After Philpot was shot he fell forward into the horses pulling the stagecoach causing them to charge forward. By this time Paul had drawn his weapon and had started to fire, he was able to wound Leonard. The firefight continued and one of the stagecoach robbers shot and killed a passenger named Pete Roerig. Paul was then able to gain control of the stagecoach and bring the rest of the passengers to safety.
There was a rumor that the notorious Doc Holliday was involved in the stagecoach robbery, at the time he was living in the nearby city of Tombstone and was known to visit the local hacienda were the suspects supposedly camped a week before the attack on the stagecoach. Doc claimed that he had a sufficient alibi and that he was in no way involved in the robbery. But in July a warrant was sworn out for his arrest. Doc was then taken into custody and questioned but was later released on bond. Four days later his case was dismissed for insufficient evidence.
Death
After the ambush on the Wells Fargo stagecoach, Paul and Wyatt Earp, started an investigation; they put a price on the heads of those that were involved in the ambush and set it at 2,000 dollars dead or alive. Paul should have notified the local sheriff immediately after the incident occurred, however; the sheriff at the time, Gary Behan, was known to be a “friend of the cowboy element.” As the manhunt for the perpetrators of the Drew Station Stagecoach robbery continued it was discovered that Kid and his remaining compatriots managed to flee across the Mexican border.
The investigation did turn up Luther King who was arrested under the suspicion of being one of the robbers. King went peaceably even though he had “a Winchester, two six-shooters and twenty boxes of cartridges with him.” Before escaping the jail King said that he was only there to hold the horses and he also revealed that his accomplices were Harry “the Kid” Head, Billy Leonard, and Jim Crane. Kid and Leonard were able to elude capture for several months. However, after three months they attempted a robbery at a store in Eureka, New Mexico. The owners of the store Bill and Ike Haslett fought back and were able to kill Kid and Leonard. Crane, who was an accomplice with Kid and Leonard for the initial stagecoach robbery attempt, later hunted down the Haslett brothers and exacted revenge on them for killing Kid and Leonard. Crane used the help of his friend William Brocius; together they assembled a team that included Frank Stillwell, Pony Deal, Pete Spence, and at least five other men, to help them in their attempt to silence the Hasslett brothers.