Virgil Rule Rice tracked horse thieves through the snow, engaged in shootouts in outlaw shanty towns and herded cattle with future members of the Hole in the Wall Gang.
He was the first sheriff of the Bighorn Basin, but his story has been nearly lost to history.
Rice arrived in Wyoming in 1880 when he was 14 years old. He had joined his mother’s brothers, Robert and Jay Torrey, at Fort Washakie in the Territory of Wyoming.
By the time he was 16, he was working on his uncle’s ranch along the Owl Creek Mountains in what would become Hot Springs County.
He eventually partnered with his uncle Jay Torrey in the Embar Cattle Co., which was one of the biggest ranches in the Owl Creek region and employed many members of the Hole in the Wall Gang before becoming their biggest nemesis.
Nicknamed “Bones,” Rice was the range foreman for the Embar. The Fremont Clipper newspaper reported that he was well-liked by the men who worked for him.
Pursuing Horse Thieves
In the winter of 1892, 26-year-old Rice went in pursuit of horse thieves, the Nutcher brothers, who had worked for the Embar Ranch. He was accompanied by Walter Punteney and Andrew Price, and the three young cowboys tracked the thieves through snow and mud.
After their trail was snowed over three times, Rice pushed on alone to Casper and took a train to head off the thieves, following rumors of their whereabouts.
The Fremont Clipper later reported, “Rice secured the assistance of the sheriff and after Nutcher left town they took his trail; (Joe) Nutcher was located and arrested upon coming out of the cabin the next morning at daylight; he was at once taken to Alliance (Nebraska) and Rice brought him back and landed him in the Lander jail singlehanded.
“A plot was planned for Nutcher’s rescue, but Rice thwarted it by going on an unexpected trail and riding so fast that the would-be pursuers could not catch up.”
All three cowboys were awarded with silver inlayed saddles and gear by Rice’s uncle, Jay Torrey, for their recovery of the horses. However, their friendship would soon be threatened when Assistant Cattle Foreman Punteney was accused of stealing cattle from the Embar just four years later.
Punteney had left the Embar to run his own cattle at the neighboring Padlock Ranch but soon after, Torrey had accused Punteney of stealing Embar cattle. Punteney not only lost his ranch, but he then fled to the Hole-in-the-Wall and joined the outlaws there. Punteny later hinted that he had been forced into outlawry by false charges.
Whatever the reason for his downfall, it was to become a pattern for Rice. Many of his former cowhands such as Butch Cassidy and Tom O’Day rode and even led the loosely organized gang.
The Den Of Thieves
Rice was not afraid to confront those who would dare to steal, not just from the Embar, but from the local businesses.
On Election Day 1894, the only voting place for those in the original townsite of Thermopolis was at Embar, about 30 miles above the town at the mouth of Owl Creek. With the exception of three men, the inhabitants of the little town had gone to Embar to vote and attend an election dance.
That afternoon, outlaws from the Andersonville shacks on the opposite side of the Bighorn River from Thermopolis, robbed the store safe.
The Fremont Clipper once more reported on the incident:
“The owner, Ed Enderly put up a desperate fight, but was overcome, only after receiving a blow over the head with a six shooter that all but scalped him. They forced him to open his safe and obtained some two thousand dollars and mounted their horses and attempted to escape.
“But here they reckoned without their host. Slane and the blacksmith, who were in another house, were attracted to the scene by the noise of the fight just in time to open fire upon them. A running fight ensued which resulted in the capture of one of the bandits, Jacob Snyder.
“The fight had been so hot that the money was dropped by the holdups in the road. This was recovered. Snyder was held by his captors in the back room of Enderly’s store, but during the night was retaken by his friends across the river.”
Rice joined the posse to recapture Snyder and the men rode fast from the Embar to the shanty town, known in the region as a hideout for members of the Hole in the Wall gang.
“Arriving in the middle of the night they immediately posted guards and patrolled the town until daylight, when they crossed the river and surrounded all the big cabins there and demanded the immediate surrender of the inmates,” The Fremont Clipper reported.
“The greatest resistance was met in a house of ill repute that was conducted there. After much parlaying, all hands surrendered and, with them, Snyder who was secreted in this house. Snyder was released on bail, but before the trial was caught stealing cattle of the Embar company, prosecuted and convicted of grand larceny.”
Inspired American Folklore
The same year he helped thwart the safe robbers, Sheriff Rice had married Elizabeth Lanigan, a Lander socialite. His uncle stood as his best man and their wedding was the talk of the region. His life seemed blessed.
However, only seven years later, Rice died of “throat complications” in a Casper hospital. He left behind his pregnant widow and three small boys. Tragedy stalked the family when his wife was declared insane and the children parceled out to relatives.
Although Rice is not often brought up anymore, his legacy lived on in fiction.
Rice’s Uncle Jay Torrey was good friends with the young author, Owen Wister. When Wister was collecting stories for his short story and ultimately his novel, “The Virginian,” he most likely met Rice since they were running in the same social circles. There are those that believe that Rice was one of many cowboys that Wister used as his composite for his character, the Virginian.
When his book had been released, a first edition was sent by Wister to his friends on the Owl Creek. The community eagerly read the novel to see if they recognized any of the characters. After reading it, many claimed that one famous scene was inspired directly by their former Sheriff Virgil Rice. The scene that captured the attention of the Wyoming residents from the Virginian is as follows:
It was now the Virginian's turn to bet, or leave the game, and he did not speak at once.
Therefore, Trampas spoke. “Your bet, you son-of-a—.”
The Virginian's pistol came out, and his hand lay on the table, holding it unaimed. And with a voice as gentle as ever, the voice that sounded almost like a caress, but drawling a very little more than usual, so that there was almost a space between each word, he issued his orders to the man Trampas: “When you call me that, SMILE.” And he looked at Trampas across the table.
Wister claimed that he did not know the origin of the original story that he had heard told by the cowboys he had interviewed, however, the people of old Thermopolis said they knew the man who uttered those words. They said it was none other than Virgil Rule Rice, a young cowboy and the first Sheriff of the Bighorn Basin.
Rice’s old friend and former outlaw, Walt Punteney, later said that it had occurred in a dark saloon in Old Thermopolis and Rice had muttered those words at an impatient card player during a poker game many years before.
Although Rice may no longer be remembered by most, his words well forever be immortalized in Western fiction.
Jackie Dorothy can be reached at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com.
