Boone May was a bounty hunter and a hired gun, and bandits feared him like he was a human bloodhound. His reckless exploits should have meant a place in history equal to Wild Bill Hickok or Calamity Jane. But today the story of Boone Mary is one of the great forgotten sagas of the Old West.

    Take the time when Boone May was escorting the Cheyenne-Deadwood Stage. At a place called Robber's Roost on the Cheyenne River, the stage was ambushed. May was riding rear guard, but came galloping to the rescue by shooting dead bandit Frank Towle. Towle was buried on the spot.

    Only later did May discover Cheyenne City was offering a reward for any man bringing in Towle, dead or alive. But since Cheyenne was over two hundred miles away, May balked at the idea of taking a corpse that distance on horseback. Instead, May dug up the body, chopped off the head which he put in a sack, and rode off to collect the reward.

    At Cheyenne, May rolled the skull onto the desk of a startled official. But no reward was paid, as the bounty had been lifted. May carried his ghastly trophy around for days in a vain effort to collect bounty.

    One year after this event, Boone Mary helped track down an outlaw named Curly Grimes. Grimes was no ordinary criminal. He was the fastest gun, some said, west the Missouri.

    May helped capture Grimes on Elk Creek, and was escorting the prisoner to Sturgis when an escape attempt was made. According to May, Grimes had asked that his handcuffs be removed because of the sub-zero temperatures.. Shortly thereafter, Grimes made his break for freedom, and was shot in the back. But because Boone May had a "trigger happy" reputation, he was indicted for murder. A jury settled issue with a "not guilty" verdict. Curly Grimes was buried where he fell, across the Interstate from Black Hills National Cemetery.

    Boone May became a major character in "A Sole Survivor." a collection of tales by Ambrose Bierce. (May's exploits were also chronicled by Edgar Beecher Bronson). Bierce met May in 1880 and hired him to protect gold taken from the Rockerville Flume project. When there was criticism for hiring a man still under indictment for the Grimes killing, a defiant Bierce made this entry on the payroll: "Boone May-Murderer."

    Stage coach robbers feared no one more than Boone May. But with the coming of railroads, May's bold talents were no longer required. He drifted down to South America where he found a new frontier and another chance to chase desperados.

 

10/01/03