Cowboy Poetry
Joe Charter, (pictured above, with Butch Cassidy pistol)
This Pistol was given to Bert Charter by Butch Cassidy although Bert and Sundance were much closer friends.
Specs on the "Sundance Colt"
Make: Colt
single action army revolver caliber 38 - 40
4 & 3/4 inch barrel
nickel factory finish - factory hand engraved
grip mother of pearl with hand engraved steer head
S was engraved on the but of the gun later personalized mark for Sundance.
Shipped from the factory 1893 headed to undetermined location in Texas, but intercepted during a train hold up along the way. It has been said that a gun peddler had it on him at the time of the hold up and it was kindly taken from him.
Kid Madden was Bert Charters' alias while riding with Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid.
His first hold up job was Intelluride Colorado where Bert was the Horse wrangler and held the steeds while the bank hold up deed was done.
Years later, going strait and narrow, Bert Charter bought his first ranch in Pinedale Wyoming. Later he sold that ranch and bought a ranch in Jackson's hole (at Antelope Flats Road - now known as Mormon Row) in 1916 from Bill Redmond, it was known as the "Spring Gulch Ranch" at that time. It became one of the best cattle ranches around the area. When the Charter family made their move from Pinedale to Jackson It was a cold minus 40 below. So cold that they traveled up the river on the Ice with a herd of cows, Horses and a 6 hitch wagon with the family. At one point on the trip they were on a grade where the wagon rolled down and emptied family and all and had to be repacked before continuing on. Needless to say it was a hard trip. The first winter in Jackson was hard on the cattle ranch, half of the herd wandered out on the ice behind a beaver dam and fell through, a great loss in one swipe.
The barn on the old ranch is still there, however the house has been long gone. The barn is now the most photographed barn in the world.
Grandmother Charter (Bert's wife) sold the ranch to their neighbors - the Simpsons (whose son became governor of Wyoming some time later).
She decided to sell because their son Boyd went to World War II, she was certain her son wasn't coming home. It drove her a little off kilter.
So she sold the farm to the neighbors, sold the pack horses, sold all the sellable items and burned all the family picture albums. She was elated and suprised when Boyd Charter came home, Boyd was suprised too.
Joe Charter was born in Jackson's Hole 1946, it was 40 below zero.