Author: Ron Franscell

Remember that story about wild man Earl Durand who killed five people in Powell in 1939? The horrible rampage ended partly because of a teenager named Tipton Cox, who wounded Durand at the end. But even more interesting: Tipton Cox grew up to become a pilot in WWII. He was one of two pilots who…

In 1939, mountain man Earl Durand went on a rampage. He killed five people during a sprawling chase through the mountains, ending in a daring daylight bank robbery in Powell. A wounded Durand shot himself dead at the end. He had become a national media sensation. So many people wanted to see Durand’s body at…

In 1964, at Jackson’s famous Wort Hotel, two little girls were raped, strangled and bludgeoned brutally with a large rock. .Andrew Pixley, a 21-year-old transient dishwasher, had sneaked into the room through an open window. Convicted and sentenced to die, Pixley asked to be executed in 1965. And his one other request was also granted:…

In 1957. actress Judy Tyler had just wrapped up her first starring movie role, playing opposite Elvis Presley in “Jail;house Rock.” She was heading back East to appear on a CBS game show when she was tragically killed with her newlywed husband in a car crash outside tiny Rock River. She was 24.

You already know Butch Cassidy was the most famous outlaw in the infamous Wild Bunch. This is his 1894 mugshot from the Wyoming Territorial Prison in Laramie. What you probably didn’t know is that in the late 20th century and even into the early 21st century, the Wyoming Department of Corrections refused to release the famous…