The Woman Who Rode With the Wild Bunch | Chris Enss on Laura Bullion

By 1901, Laura Bullion had traded the ranches of her childhood for life with the Wild Bunch, the outlaw gang associated with Butch Cassisy and the Sundance Kid, and took part in the Great Northern train robbery that would eventually send her to prison. After years spent waiting for Ben Kilpatrick, she reinvented herself as a seamstress in Memphis, leaving the people around her with no idea about the life she had once lived.

In this episode of Zone 7, Sheryl McCollum welcomes back New York Times bestselling author Chris Enss to talk about Laura Bullion and her newest book, The Last Ride. Chris shares the circumstances that connected Laura to the Wild Bunch, what her prison letters tell us about her relationship with Ben Kilpatrick, and why women like Laura have been largely overlooked in the history of the American West.

Highlights:

(0:00) Sheryl welcomes Chris Enss and introduces Laura Bullion, the little-known female outlaw of the Wild Bunch

(1:15) Laura’s childhood in Texas and the circumstances that put her among cowboys who would later turn to crime

(4:45) The complicated relationship between Laura and Will Carver, and how he connected her to the Wild Bunch

(7:15) Laura’s role in the 1901 Great Northern train robbery and the gang’s refuge at Hole-in-the-Wall

(8:45) How the famous Fort Worth Five photograph helped the Pinkerton detectives identify members of the Wild Bunch

(11:45) What Laura’s prison letters tell us about her dysfunctional relationship with Ben Kilpatrick

(14:30) Laura Bullion’s mugshot, her aliases, and the years surrounding the train robbery

(17:15) Remembering Laura as a criminal in her own right

(20:00) How brothels like Fannie Porter’s became a home base for members of the Wild Bunch