There’s More To “Wild Man” Earl Durand Than His Murderous Final 11 Days

In March 1939, Earl Durand killed four law officers and attempted to rob the First National Bank in Powell, Wyoming, before taking his own life.

Dubbed “The Tarzan of the Tetons” by national news publications, Durand’s infamous legacy has defined him as a poacher, outlaw and murderer.

Author Jerred Metz has spent several decades trying to get into the mind of Durand. And while he died a “wild man” outlaw and murderer, some also considered him a good neighbor. During a recent lecture at the Cody Library, Metz told a small crowd of Park County residents that Durand was a complicated man who had 26 years of life before the murderous rampage that defined the 11 days leading to his death.

Metz is working on a podcast about Durand’s life and the trail of terror he wreaked in northwest Wyoming in hopes that it might provide a more complete understanding of the notorious and tragic events that continue to resonate in northwest Wyoming and beyond.

“People see two sides to the story,” he said. “He was either a good guy who should have been left alone or a bad guy who got what he deserved.

“The way I look at it is that when he was among his neighbors in town, he was a good neighbor. When he was in the mountains, he was a wild man. These two sides came together at the end, and one of them dominated him.”

The Last 11 Days Of Earl Durand

After Earl Durand was arrested for poaching an elk in March 1939, he escaped jail when he stole Deputy Noah Riley’s pistol. Durand subdued the deputy when he entered his cell to deliver a meal, hitting him over the head with a glass milk bottle.

“Everyone called him ‘Milk Bottle Riley’ after that,” Cody resident Laurie Sigurdson told Cowboy State Daily.

She said she cared for many people in nursing homes and assisted living facilities who knew Durand while they were growing up around Heart Mountain.

“They said that Earl was a strange person,” she said. “He liked to be by himself.”

Durand forced Riley to drive him to his parent’s home, only to find Deputy Sheriff D.M. Baker and Town Marshal Chuck Lewis waiting for him. For reasons known only to him, Durand shot and killed both men, then fled into the Absaroka Range to avoid being captured or killed.

That began an 11-day manhunt that included artillery from the Montana Army National Guard and a plane loaded with tear gas and dynamite.

Meeteetse resident Arthur Argento and rodeo cowboy Orville Linaberry were shot and killed by Durand during the manhunt.

The saga ended March 24, 1939, when Durand attempted to rob the First National Bank in Powell. He took several hostages inside while Powell residents armed themselves and surrounded the bank.

Bank teller Johnny Gawthrop, one of the hostages, was killed in the crossfire between Durand and the armed residents. After being shot in the chest by 17-year-old Tip Cox, Durand took his own life with a self-inflicted gunshot to the neck.

The total death count from the 11 days was six people, including Durand. The dramatic events of March 1939 became a national sensation before they were over.

The New York Times and Time Magazine covered the dramatic events. Tip Cox became a national hero and “Wyoming Outlaw,” a film starring John Wayne that was inspired by the events, was released three months later in June 1939.

Before The End

Metz, who has taught at the universities of Rhode Island, Minnesota and Pittsburgh, published “The Last Eleven Days of Earl Durand” in 2005.

The narrative of Earl Durand’s life includes 15 firsthand accounts from people associated with Durand’s life and last stand gathered by Metz, who started the project in 1978.

Metz’s book was released as a graphic novel in 2022, featuring artwork by legendary comic book artist Vic Carrabotta.

Metz said the first-person accounts he compiled had “no deviations or contradictions” from each other, which added to their veracity.

“They weren't all in the same place at the same time, but the accounts they gave of what they did in those spots were completely consistent,” he said. “From my point of view as a historian, those methods of verification led me to conclude that everything that I was told was accurate.”

Despite the title of his book, Metz said he wanted to present the full scope of Durand’s life and not leave him defined by the death and suffering he caused in those final days.

“I’m looking at his life before the last 11 days,” he said. “He lived for 26 years before that happened, and I’m looking at him to get a fuller perspective.”

The Good Neighbor

According to Metz, the Durand family has been neighborly and well-respected since they moved to northwest Wyoming shortly after Earl’s birth in 1913. Earl Durand spent most of his life outside and had a unique calling card that every neighbor recognized.

“He'd take the butt of his rifle and tap it three times against the door,” he said. “That’s how people would know Earl was stopping by for a visit.”

Metz described Durand as extremely energetic with incredible stamina. The 6-foot-2, 250-pound man spent most of his time outdoors, working on farms and hunting in the mountains.

“Every neighbor wanted him to come and work for them,” he said. “Earl would do any manual labor. He would shuck all day and make 10 or 15 more rounds than anybody else. When the work was over, he would stick his pitchfork in the ground and take off across the field on the run. He had that kind of energy and stamina and loved to work.”

There are several accounts of Durand’s skills with firearms. Metz described Durand as “a magician with a gun.”

“Ronnie Cadell told me about meeting Earl for the first time,” he said. “They were playing catch, and Earl said to him, ‘If you throw that ball up, let's see if I can hit it.’ The ball went up, and Earl would hit that ball several times in a row.

“For another trick, he told Ronnie to hold two Carnation evaporated milk cans with the bottom showing. I don't know how many of you would be willing to hold out your hands and have somebody shoot them, but Ronnie did, and Earl shot them right through the middle.”

The Wild Man

Durand might have epitomized a good neighbor, but he also embodied the archetype of “the wild man.”

Metz compared Durand to the mythical figures of Prometheus and Hercules, saying he was a man of exceptional strength and stamina that rubbed against the grain of conventional society.

“Earl ate raw meat,” he said. “Once, when Earl shot a beef cow, he went up to it, cut the tenderloin, skinned it and started gnawing on it. That chunk of tenderloin was still around his neck later that day. He was hungry, but I don't think most people would go and shoot a cow to satisfy their hunger.”

Despite his intelligence, Durand dropped out of school in the eighth grade, preferring manual labor and outdoor pursuits to schoolwork. He would spend months in the mountains, living off the land and only returning to earn money for his next adventure.

Metz acknowledged Durand was “a minor criminal” throughout his short life. He was known to break into empty cabins and steal items he took a fancy to, like knives and rifles. There were codes adopted by society and outfitters that Durand ignored.

Durand ignored codes of conduct followed by society in town and outfitters in the wild. This was especially true when it came to hunting, the source of the death and drama that unfolded in March 1939.

A Known Poacher

Durand was a skilled hunter — and a known poacher. He had several run-ins with law enforcement for poaching before his arrest for elk poaching in March 1939.

“Earl didn't think much about hunting limits in those days, as long as there was no more than one carcass per man,” he said. “If game warden questioned a group of hunters, (Durand) would say each man had killed an animal. There’s a bit of complicity. Who doesn't break the speed limit once in a while?”

However, Metz said Durand had a justification for his illegal actions. With the region still stricken by the Great Depression, Durand poached to ensure the poor families in Powell could put food on the table.

“The poach that began all this was to get elk meat for a family, a widow and her children who needed food,” he said. “It was 10 years after the depression started, and in this part of the country there was pain. He hunted not for the support, not for the trophies, but to get some good meat to these families.”

Others agreed with Metz’s altruistic assessment of Durand's hunting.

“He had poached for years,” Sigurdson said. “He did feed a lot of the people in Park County. He would go out, poach a deer or an elk, and always take the meat to a family.”

Metz admitted that it was hard to reconcile Durand’s neighborly disposition and free spirit with the decisions that took the lives of six people, including his own.

“It is hard to get over what happened,” he said. “I don’t know when or why he decided to do that, but there was no good reason for that to have happened.”

They Didn’t Have A Choice

After escaping jail and killing two law enforcement officers in the driveway of his family’s home, Durand determined to remain a fugitive and hold out for as long as he could. He visited several neighbors throughout the night before heading into the mountains.

Metz described Durand’s demeanor with his neighbors as “firm, forceful and friendly.” Witnesses told him that Durand instructed them to say they were threatened into helping him so they wouldn’t face punishment for enabling his escape.

“He told them, ‘I want you to be able to say that you didn't give me these things voluntarily,’” Metz said. “He kept a gun on his thigh so they could truthfully say they didn’t have a choice, they didn't volunteer, they weren't on the side.”

When Durand reached the residence of the Smith family, he asked 17-year-old Dick Smith for a shave and a haircut. He went to the home of the Graham Family to get the .30-30 Winchester rifle he knew their son had just bought.

Durand wrote an odd letter to Park County Sheriff Frank Blackburn while stopping at the Grahams, recommending that the sheriff have his head “mounted and hung in the courthouse.” He signed the letter “your beloved enemy” and had “Earl Durand, Undertaker’s Office, Powell, Wyo,” as the return address.

When he reached the Thornburgs, Durand had a home-cooked meal before demanding the elderly couple drive him to the Absaroka Mountains. They were the last people to see Durand before the March 24 bank robbery.

Shouldn’t Have Happened

Metz didn’t discuss the details of Durand’s escape from the Cody jail, the 11-day manhunt in the mountains or the March 24 robbery of the Powell First National Bank during his lecture. His focus was on the complexities of the man that led to the events of his final days.

“People are always perplexed,” he said. “Was he a good guy or a bad guy? My answer is he was a good neighbor and a wild man.”

Metz said his podcast on Durand's life and death will be another venue to share the intriguing complexities of “The Tarzan of the Tetons.” He hopes his work will help others see the different perspectives he’s been grappling with for decades.

“It’s an amazing story, and I have several different approaches to the story,” he said. “(A podcast) might be another way to tell parts of the story and interest people in it from various points of view. None of the accounts I’ve collected contradict each other, but each illuminates the story in its own way.”

In the final days of his life, realizing the enormity of his actions, Durand shared the same farewell with the people he encountered.

“The last thing he said was, ‘See you at my funeral,’” Metz said. “There are at least four occasions where he said almost the identical thing to those people. There were so many things that shouldn't have happened in the end, and yet they did. He knew what was coming."

Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.