Wanted Poster - Escaped Convicts Wanted! $300.00 In Rewards Will Be Paid For The Arrest And Detention Of These Five Men

ALSTON, FELIX, [WARDEN, WYOMING STATE PENITENTIARY, RAWLINS, WYOMING]

Publication: Privately printed by Felix Alston, Warden, Wyoming State Penitentiary, October 12, 1912, Rawlins, Wyoming

First edition. An unusual 8 1/2" x 6" four-page escape bulletin that provides detailed physical description, a photograph and exact reward amount for each of the five escapees. Rare 4-page WANTED! circular issued by Wyoming State Penitentiary in Rawlins, dated October 12, 1912, offering $300 in reward money for the capture and detention of five escaped convicts, at least one of whom was an associate of the infamous Whitney Gang, with price breakdowns provided for each convict if captured separately. Wyoming WANTED! circulars are uncommon at this date. The five wanted escapees (Bert Dalton, Joe Turner, Roy Smith, George Wilson and Lawrence Williams) were part of a group of twenty convicts who escaped from the Wyoming State Penitentiary’s stockade on October 12, 1912. The escapees terrorized the townspeople of Rawlins as they fled to the hills. Several citizens were injured; one was killed. Wyoming Governor Cory sent state militia in to assist local armed posse in the manhunt. Within days nine of the nineteen escapees were caught, but Bert Dalton was not. Dalton was a drifter, sheepherder, bank robber, and convicted murderer associated with the Whitney brothers. It was Dalton who had engineered the spectacular Rawlins prison break, and had assumed the leadership of the convicts who were still hiding out in the hills around Rawlins. He remained on the loose for two and one-half months, and was finally captured at Big Piney, Wyoming, clad only in his under-clothes, after being pursued through deep snow all night. Felix Alston, the warden of the Rawlins Penitentiary at the time, was well known for his passion for baseball and forcing prisoners who were good ballplayers to play, promising them special treatment as long as the prison team kept winning. On page four is the good warden’s message: "Hold and notify me by telephone or telegraph, at my expense, when an officer with necessary papers will be sent." Two faint horizontal folds else a fine copy of a rare four-page reward poster.

Inventory Number: 51631