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An outlaw in the Old City

In the early 20th century, wild west outlaw Harvey Logan, came to Knoxville and caused quite a stir.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — 1901. 

On a cold December night in the Old City, an outlaw walked into Ike’s Saloon.

“Harvey Logan was the meanest man that ever came here,” said Knoxville resident A.B. Luttrell. 

A former member of the recently disbanded Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid gang, Logan was a counterfeiter and the wildest member of “The Wild Bunch.”

“Everybody in the west was after him and had a big price on his head,” Luttrell said. 

Known as “Kid Curry,” Logan blew into Knoxville to be with his girlfriend, but on this night, he ran into local tough, Luther Brady. 

The two came to blows over a game of pool, with Logan getting the upper hand.

“He knocked him out with his gun barrel. That’s the way they did it back then. Hit a guy across his nose, break his nose, and knock him out. That’s better than shooting a guy, but somebody went after the law," Luttrell said. 

The officers on the beat that night were Robert Saylor and William Dinwiddie. 

When they entered the saloon, Logan shot Saylor three times before Dinwiddie splintered his billystick over Harvey. Dinwiddie was then shot in the chest and Logan escaped. 

Credit: WBIR
Newspaper depiction of Harvey Logan shooting officers Saylor and Dinwiddie.

Logan escaped out of the back of the saloon, falling to the ground. He was injured but still managed to escape the authorities. 

In the days that followed, Logan was found near Jefferson City. 

He was brought back to Knoxville and after having his wounds tended to, was jailed. 

When word spread that the famous Kid Curry was being held here, thousands came out to get a glimpse of the famous outlaw. 

Harvey was imprisoned for a total of 18 months.

“In the summer of 1903, he escaped. Back in those days, they used to keep a wire around a broom. He loosened that wire from the broom, and he put it around a guard’s neck and threatened to choke him to death,” Luttrell said. 

Using trim from a window made into a pole, Logan retrieved a shoe box with two guns at the end of the hallway, let himself out of his cell, and escaped the jail. 

Credit: WBIR
"Kid Curry" Harvey Logan

He found the sheriff’s horse and took off down the Gay Street Bridge. 

The horse was eventually found grazing in South Knoxville with Harvey Logan nowhere in sight.

Officers Dinwiddie and Saylor succumbed to their wounds, and in 1904, Harvey Logan died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after a shootout in Parachute, Colorado.

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