Walter Earl Durand (1913–1939) was an American from Wyoming who became known as an outlaw after he escaped from jail. He killed a total of four officers in the course of resisting capture, two at his house, and two who tried to apprehend him during an 11-day manhunt in the Beartooth Mountains (near the mouth of Clarks Fork Canyon) of Wyoming.
Early life and education
Walter Earl Durand was born in 1913 to parents who were farmers in
Powell, Wyoming
Powell is a city in Park County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 6,314 at the 2010 census. Powell is an All-America City and home to Northwest College.
History
Powell was incorporated in 1909. Powell was named for John Wesley Powel ...
, where he grew up.
He learned all about farming and hunting.
Mountain man
Durand was a
mountain man
A mountain man is an explorer who lives in the wilderness. Mountain men were most common in the North American Rocky Mountains from about 1810 through to the 1880s (with a peak population in the early 1840s). They were instrumental in opening up ...
who lived off the land in the mountains of Wyoming during the years following the
Great Depression.
He was arrested for
poaching
Poaching has been defined as the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights.
Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set ag ...
elk, as he did not believe in the new
hunting license
A hunting license or hunting permit is a regulatory or legal mechanism to control hunting, both commercial and recreational. A license specifically made for recreational hunting is sometimes called a game license.
Hunting may be regulated ...
system and refused to get a license.
While in jail in
Cody, Wyoming
Cody is a city in Northwest Wyoming and the seat of government of Park County, Wyoming, United States. It is named after Colonel William Frederick " Buffalo Bill" Cody for his part in the founding of Cody in 1896.
The population was 10,066 at ...
, Durand escaped by taking a Deputy sheriff/Jailer's gun and forcing the officer to drive him into the countryside
before he returned to his home. Durand shot and killed two police officers who came to his house to take him back to jail; then he armed himself and headed into the wilderness of the Beartooth Mountains.
The prosecutor initially deputized 10 men to form a posse to find and bring Durand in for trial.
Durand shot and killed two of the possemen who were searching for him.
The manhunt grew to include the
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...
, sharp shooters, the
Wyoming National Guard with
artillery
Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieg ...
from
Fort Warren, civilians, and an airplane fitted with
tear gas
Tear gas, also known as a lachrymator agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the early commercial aerosol, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the eye to produce tears. In ...
and
dynamite bombs.
During the manhunt, Durand eluded the pursuers for several days. He car-jacked a vehicle and drove it to Powell, where he attempted to rob a bank.
He spent several minutes shooting at the windows and walls of the bank.
Durand took several hostages, one of whom was killed by a citizen trying to shoot and take down Durand as they left the bank.
After being shot by Tip Cox, Durand crawled back into the bank; there he killed himself with a shot to the neck.
Representation in other media
The 11-day manhunt was widely covered by the national press,
with Durand being nicknamed "
Tarzan
Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...
of the Tetons".
Inspired by the manhunt, the film ''
Wyoming Outlaw'' was rapidly produced: the
B movie
A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feat ...
starring
John Wayne appeared in theaters 3 months after Durand's death.
Durand was later portrayed by
Peter Haskell
Peter Abraham Haskell (October 15, 1934 – April 12, 2010) was an American actor who worked primarily in television.
Early years
Haskell was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Rose (née Golden) and geophysicist Norman Haskell.
He at ...
in a Hollywood biopic, ''The Legend of Earl Durand'' (1974). Singer/songwriter Charlie Brown's "The Ballad of Earl Durand", from his 1967 album ''Teton Tea Party'', was included on ''The Best of Broadside 1962-1988''.
Further reading
* A collection of interviews with participants and witnesses.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Durand, Walter Earl
1913 births
1939 suicides
1939 deaths
American outlaws
American mass murderers
Criminals from Wyoming
People from Park County, Wyoming
Suicides by firearm in Wyoming