Ep 7 Bub Meeks Pt 2:🤠Prisoner #574, Good Teeth🦷 , Mustache & Size 7 Boots🥾

The strategy of planning, the thrill of the heist, pulling your hat down over your ears during the galloping getaway, and the adrenaline of lining your pockets with nare a few moments worth of actual work. For those of you who might have been a little titillated by the previous story, this is what Mr. Harvey would refer to as “the rest of that story”, and it ain’t perty. In the final years of Bub’s “Flash-Bang” life he quickly realized the high cost of low living.

CHARACTERS:
Henry Rhodes Meeks Jr.
Butch Cassidy
Bub Meeks
Will Parry
Roy Toyer
J.C. Edwards
George Hailey
H.H. Albers
Judge Waters
Sheriff Joe White
J. H. Robinson
Dave Norwood
Samual Burd
Warden Charles VanDorn
Tom Welch
Wild Bunch
Tom Widdup
Warden Charles Arney
Guard Burns
George Eden
Clerk Robert Tschudy
Selam
Guard Donnelly
Joe Meeks
Warden R. Fulton
Mr. Meacham
Jed Bullock

LOCATIONS:
Montpelier, Idaho
Bank of Montpelier
Blackfoot, Idaho
Shoshone Journal
Mercer, Pennsylvania 
Holt & Gilmore
Idaho State Prison
Boise, Idaho
Green River, Wyoming 
Idaho State Hospital
Burnt Fork
Idahna Hotel, Boise, Idaho
Mississippi
Boise River
The Statesman Newspaper
Ada County
Idaho Daily Statesman 
Idaho Historical Society
Lonetree, Wyoming
Fort Bridger, Wyoming
Evanston News
State Asylum, Evanston, Wyoming 
Uinta County
Wild West

Transcript

The strategy of planning, the thrill of the heist, pulling your hat down over your ears during the galloping getaway, and the adrenaline of lining your pockets with nare a few moments worth of actual work. For those of you who might have been a little titillated by the previous story, this is what Mr. Harvey would refer to as “the rest of that story”, and it ain’t perty.

For Henry Rhodes Meeks Jr (More commonly known as Bub) life after the 1896 Montpelier Bank robbery is like watching a train wreck in slow motion, over several years. Its important that we look beyond the FLASH BANG life of an outlaw, learn from the tragedy, see the struggle and consequences of what from most accounts were acts of juvenile thievery bridging into his irresponsible and lawbreaking years of manhood. Riding with Butch Cassidy seemed to have some unwritten rules about when you were allowed to use your gun (self defense only), how to treat women and children, and make sure that everything is meticulously planned so that the operation is quick, with minimal hiccups, and without a gunshot if possible. Though I could find no accounts of Bub Meeks ever taking a life, he was absolutely involved in a risky occupation that many of his cohorts paid the ultimate price for. They didn’t get prison photos. They were usually photographed at room temperature while propped up against a wagon or resting in a pine box. Was Bub more fortunate? Gosh I dont really know if I can answer that. There were times when Bub wondered that as well. 

Ok Shoshone Journal…what do you have for me today?

Hmmmm…lets start out in the juiciest section…Here we go, the Local and General Round-up?

“Will Parry has quit the grocery business to go to school.” Are you surprised by that? He’s always been such a smarty pants.

Roy Toyer has accepted the position as baggageman at the depot (toot toot). Nice. Hopefully he doesnt take the sack of potatoes approach like the last guy they hired on. 

J.C. Edwards, Brakeman on the main line, had the index finger of his right hand taken off while coupling cars Monday. 

And not to be outdone, George Hailey tried to stop a sausage mill with his finger yesterday. He is now a finger short and the mill one sausage ahead. 

Sunday morning a cow belonging to H. H. Albers was struck by the engine of No. 1, at the Walnut Street crossing, and quite badly crippled. 

Judge Waters will have to surrender his diploma as a veterinary surgeon, for malpractice. Sheriff White called the judge to prescribe for a valuable cow of his which was very ill. The judge examined his patient, sent for the medicine, mixed together, gave it to the cow and it killed her instantly. Joe says he could not have killed her quicker with a Gatling gun.

J. H. Robinson and family left for Mercer Pennsylvania last Tuesday night, where they will reside. Its a slippy trip to Mercer from here. Good luck to Yinz on your travels.

What else we got here. Oh goody, here’s the advertisements for dry goods…

Pens are 5 cents a dozen

Ink 5 cents a bottle

Nursing bottles only 15 cents?

Ma….You want another baby, the bottles are only 15 cents….oh ok, wha…thats not a good reason…whats that? Ask you next week? ok dear.

Hair brushes…from 15 cents on up

Tooth brushes 10 cents

Florida water, the very best, 25 cents per bottle (cork pop sound)

And A1 razors, fully guaranteed, $1.50

Well tickle my ears and cough up a lung…if I smoke enough cigars (one coupon per cigar), I can win the graphophone at Holt & Gilmore. All i gots to do is Call and see it. Seems simple enough.

What else have we got here (rustling newspaper sounds) Well look at that…

September 10, 1897, Halfway down Column 3 of Blackfoot Idaho’s own Shoshone Journal it reads…”Dave Norwood, the murderer of Samual Burd has been re-captured after he escaped from jail last April. Norwood’s crime was particularly cold-blooded and brutal. Beating an old man to death with a pick handle. It is to be hoped that he will be condemned to stand on nothing and look up at a rope.”

Well Bubs your uncle, Look at that!!!

Bob Meeks, the Montpelier bank robber, passes through town in the custody of Warden VanDorn Tuesday, in route to the state prison, at which institution he will spend the next 35 years. 

Is that a typo? Shouldn’t it be 3 to 5 years? He didnt kill anyone, He robbed a bank, in Montpelier, and if i recall correctly he never even went into the bank, or wielded a weapon. That sentence feels pretty excessive. Ol Bub must’ve really made em mad. 

Its been noted that History books, newspapers and prison records called him “Bob, Robert, Henry Robert, Wilbur” or “Henry Wilbur” but his real name was Henry Rhodes Meeks, Jr.

Whatever has transpired up to this point there’s surely a tangled phase of Bub’s life to be happening behind those prison walls. Bub Meeks, was neither as bright nor as lucky as Butch Cassidy. That would be proven out time and time again in the remaining years of Bub’s rather short life.

The Boise, Idaho newspaper declared that, “Bub’s prison record had been one of the best and he had been a model prisoner. He was a semi-trusty. He was good natured and jovial and quite popular among his fellow prisoners.” It was all a ruse for Bub. Anything it took to get privileges enough so that opportunity for escape could be had. 

Bub was not made for prison, and prison could barely handle Bub. He felt like a pork chop in a synagogue being all locked up like that. Kinda like shaking a mad wolverine in a gunnysack.

There were some notes kept in an old trunk in the living room of Tom Welch, who was living, in his 90’s, on Main Street, in Green River, Wyoming. Tom was a former “associate” of the Wild Bunch. The notes had been sent to Tom Welch by Henry “Bub” Meeks while he was imprisoned in the Idaho State Penitentiary and the State Hospital at Blackfoot, Idaho. The following was probably written just before his first escape in December 1901.

Dear Tom,
Tom Widdop visited me the other day and I am going to send this note out with him, which he will give to you. I could have told him what I wanted you to know like before but I don’t want any detail missed up (or messed up) or looked over because I aim to be out and home by Christmas or pay the price for not making it. Do you know the old tree by the hole in the rock on Burnt Fork? Have me a good six shooter there in the old tree where we always left the mail and make it a 44 with two boxes of dry cartridges wrapped up to keep the snow and rain out of them and the same with the 44. Tom W. is going to get me a fresh horse and stake it out where we talked about and I will be home by Christmas. Will you tell Ma to watch out for me and have my things ready and I will try to go there first but can’t stay. I have one man here who watches me all the time and I know he would like to bring me down but I won’t stay any longer than I can, you be sure of that. Don’t fail me Tom for I will be out on schedule. (Signed “Bub”).

‘Twas the night before Christmas 

when all through the prison, 

Bub Meeks didnt know,

Parole was granted on condition

Warden Arney had planned 

The surprise as a present,

But Bub fled the scene

And the results were unpleasant. 

It was Christmas Eve. The warden HAD been planning to surprise Bub with the news that his 35 year sentence had been slashed to 7 years, and that he had only had 3 years remaining to serve. Knowing the full picture now, I’m not sure if anything short an immediate release would’ve been acceptable for Bub. You see he had an incurable case of Prison Fever. 

That Tuesday afternoon, December 24th, 1901, Meeks and six other prisoners under guard Burns were working at the hog house on the prison reservation. Convict George Eden was behind the reins of the prison team as he drove up to the root house. 

(Clerk Robert Tschudy) “Henry, I need you to go help George to unload that wagon. I need everything stacked nicely out of the weather, I ‘spect there’ll be more snow before the weeks out.”

(Henry) “Sure thing Robert…Sure thing….Hey George, let me get that for you.”

(Convict George Eden) “Thanks Henry”

George and Henry unloaded the wagon

(Henry) “Ok George, thats all of it. Let me just go check on our famous steed….hello there Selam, aren’t you just a strong and capable…..mode of transportation, uhuh.”

Seeing an afternoon opportunity, Henry deliberately unhitched Selam from the wagon and jumped astride the animal, harness and all. 

(Loud Whispering) - Hyaw hyaw hyaw….merry Christmas to meeeeeeee

(George) “Well…..um…..Henry? Selam?

(prisoner) “Did I just see Henry giving ol Selam the over and under as he sprung this place? Is he on Holiday?

(George) “It would seem so…Im just not sure if i should be alarmed or envious. Kinda torn as to whether I should shout the alert or run after him and ride double over to that new fangled Idahna Hotel.”

(Prisoner) “Not me, I hear that place is haunted, or is gonna be eventually.”

(George) “Oh and this place isnt?! I feel haunted every time my cell door shuts.” (Cell door shutting)

(Prisoner) “yeah, thats pretty spot on as well. Well maybe a sporting head start would be an appropriate Christmas present for Henry and Selam, before they turn the blood hounds onto his trail.”

(George) ”97 Mississippi 98 Mississippi 99 Mississippi 100 Mississippi. All right, that outta be enough of a head start for Henry…. 

“Robert? Officer Tschudy? Selam & Henry went dashing through the snow, in a one horse getaway…Or that field he went, laughing all the way….and I dont think he’s a comin back.”

(Robert) “Very funny George. We’ll see about that now wont we. Henry is gonna be eating Christmas dinner outta his honey pot….(YELLING) Get the dogs…Warden Arney!!! We got a prison break….Everybody else back inside NOW!”

The guards followed the trail north until dark. Then followed it again before sun up the next morning. Prisoner #574, Henry Meeks, was apprehended by 10 o’clock Christmas morning “up the Boise River.” 

"Why did I escape? Well, that's easy," said the prisoner yesterday in his cell. "I saw what I believed was a good chance to get away, and availed myself of the opportunity. I knew old Selam, and if anybody could give me freedom it was he. So I took the long chance. It's all off now, and I suppose I will have to take my medicine for the effort that failed. 

Do you have any complaints about your treatment here at the penitentiary?

No, I have no complaint to make about treatment while an inmate of the penitentiary. The warden and his  assistants have been very kind to me, as well, as to the other prisoners, and what more can a poor outcast expect? 

I tell you it's hard, “old man” (speaking to the reporter),  to do time for something you never done, and it rankles in a fellow's breast. But what can you do? Liberty is sweet for a man isolated and dead to the world. When the feeling comes over you, even with death staring you in the face, a lost soul is willing to take the big chance. I took it, but I failed. I am now satisfied, and I will take my punishment like a man." 

Guard Donnelly stated that when the defendant was captured up the Boise river, the only statement he made regarding his action was, “I had to go.”

Warden Arney was quite jubilant over Meeks' capture when seen at penitentiary yesterday. "I am glad Meeks has been recaptured, for the effect it will have on the other prisoners," said the warden. "I am equally glad that we have Selam back. He is a noble animal and It would be a pity to have the horse knocking around among those who would not appreciate his worth. Meeks says he was good to the 'thoroughbred,' and I believe he was, for he shows It. When I told Meeks I was going to have him for horse-stealing  he said, "Warden, I don't blame you. You have been very good to me,  and perhaps you didn't deserve the treatment I gave you." 

Well so much for Bub’s Christmas Gift. His sentence had previously been reduced to twelve years but the judge was so angry he revoked the parole and increased Bub’s sentence to 35 years again. Later it was commuted down to 20 years.

A poem written by Bub goes:

“My head is dizzy my bones thay ache, thay punish me hard for meret sake. But sutch is life. Tha all tell me ive suffered with pain till I can hardly sea but after while this pain will cease. through the power of god ill be Released. if thrue this fake I make my escape hive credit to the lord he did it for my sake. I bleed for self a little just for a stoll. my friends might think I am easy if I look weak and git careless.” (As copied) 

When the privileges of good behavior failed him, Bub turned to insanity. Or rather Bub wanted to be diagnosed as insane. So that he could be transported to a different facility with a much lower security presence. So he began to intentionally display insane behavior, but he never could “pass the test.” The prison adjudged him insane for a brief time and he was evaluated more than once, but authorities decided he was faking. There was a rather halfhearted attempt to cut his wrists, and although actual prison records don’t mention it, one real story is that Bub ate soap to make himself sick, get transported to the hospital, and then escape…Well the first part of that plan worked, almost too well, that soap nearly kilt him actually, once recovered he was returned to his cell. 

(This note was probably written prior to his 2nd attempt to escape – February 1903.)

Dear Tom,
I guess that Tom Widdop told you that I didn’t make it. God, this place is hell but I am going to be the warden’s good boy until I can make it again. They have spies all over this place and it will take some doing but will you keep in touch with Tom W. and wait until I go again? I don’t know when it will be but when I can get my chance. I am already watching a way which might work but I won’t say until I am ready. Tell Ma to have Joe fix the old cabin on the upper fork for me in case I make it out. I can’t say anything in my letters or they read it all. You have been a close friend Tom and I hope you will stick by me until I am out. (signed “Bub”)

Bub undertook another escape in February 1903. For reasons known only to him, Bub had taken off his shoes and was in his stockinged feet as he sneaked past a grocery wagon, and began a sprinting  

(Bub running)

(Guard 1) Halt, Halt!

(Guard 2) Halt or we’ll shoot!

(Bub running)

(Distance Shots fired)

(Door opening - Close shot fired)

(Screaming)

Bub had sprinted 300 yards before Deputy Warden R. Fulton “shot and struck the ‘fleeting prisoner’ 

(Guard 1) Henry…what in tarnation were you thinking, and why are you outside in your socks? Looks like you’ve been hit on your left leg. I hope the doc can do something with this, Its a long ways from your heart, but he might have to amputate. Dang you Henry for putting us in this situation. Now come on, lets get you to the doc.  

Henry had been shot just below the left knee. The impact had shattered the bone… rendering amputation of the limb necessary.

Family members always insisted that the leg wasn’t that serious but officials supposed that a one-legged bandit would be no more trouble. Little did they know!

Found in his cell, scrawled on the back of a copy of prison rules, Bub had written: (Handwriting sounds)

“Just a word or to. sum people say I am not a bleaver in god but its not so I am a bleaver in god. the people hav trancelated the bible so much that it may have caused a great meny weak minded men to disbleave in god. I would like to sea a cristen world for I love everybody. please dont scorn my people throu my down foll. hive them a true cristen hand and may god bless all nations. My parents gave me good advice and I clear them of all stain. I told Mr. Meacham a story about my brain which was not so. I was trying to git to talk with som of the leaden men of this state. and if I had I would of pulled through all right I think. but I hope it will all be for the best and may gods simpethey be with all nations. I will take advanteg of one little play ruthern to impose up on my political friends. god bless all that foll in this starm to justefy men’s evil wishes.”

In 1903 the now one-legged outlaw was watching a prison baseball game from one of the prisons towers and when it was over the officials called for him to come down and he replied that he needed a couple of minutes because his leg was numb. He then yanked the ladder up and “shinnied up the tower ‘like a monkey’. The Statesman reported that, “he was working on the tower” and that, “he was sunning himself from the 35-foot tower. He yelled “Harrah for H- -l! Harrah for H- -l! Here goes! … and raising his hands above his head, palms outward, then he just dived for the ground.” It was reported that when they got him to the prison hospital he grabbed a pair of scissors and struggled with the guards and a doctor while trying to stab himself in the heart. Although some prison records show “no injuries” he did have a broken shoulder.

Guards and inmates all liked Bub. He had a charming personality, and was polite and well mannered. After his header off the tower the inmates and guards were worried about him and asked his mother to come and talk sense into him. She couldn’t leave her cattle to make the long horseback ride so they took up a collection and bought her a train ticket. She arrived April 3, 1903 and it was reported that he was better for a short while. But He was soon put on 24-hour suicide watch with the inmates being the watchers. 

On April 22, 1903 Bub was sent to an insane asylum by the probate court in Ada County.

At 5’11” and 200 pounds” Bub was described on record as “affable, courteous, good natured, jovial.” They also described him as “desperate, and ingenious.” He just didn’t like being confined. The Idaho Daily Statesman of April 22, 1903, states that he was judged insane and sent to the asylum in Blackfoot, Idaho. All of his newspaper and prison records use the name Bob Meeks. Bub was very conscious of the shame he had brought on to his Christian family. The article says, in part, “It was shown that Meeks was afflicted with suicidical mania and otherwise out of mental balance. His removal from the penitentiary will relieve the prison authorities of a great deal of annoyance as he was a very troublesome prisoner.” The doctors decided that he was “crazy like a fox” and quickly returned him to Boise.

But it seems that within 4 months, Bub was back again at the asylum, for his final stay. 

(The following note must’ve been written between Apr 1903 (while in the hospital) and his final escape in Aug 1903.)

Dear Tom,
It is all set up. They won’t stop me this time or if they do I will go down dead before I go back in that prison. They have me in the hospital now and they think I’m a god forsaken cripple that can’t run, but they will find out different soon enough. I have horses enough laid out to get me home…but Tom…I need a good rifle and six shooter with four or five boxes of cartridges waiting for me at the old tree. If you don’t do it soon Tom, they will have me back in the walls and I won’t stand a chance ….Have the guns waiting and don’t fail because I might have a fight of it. and I will try to steal one if I can after I get out. But a cripple makes a dammed poor thief. and I probably will ride hell on for burnt fork and won’t delay… Tom I mean it…if I don’t make it this time out…I will not live to regret it…if I have to do the job myself. They have it in for me in that place Tom..and I wouldn’t last another year…so one way or another I am going out…and I think I can make it from this place so with luck I will be thanking you in the flesh before too long. (Signed “Bub”)

It is noted that Bub Meeks escaped from the State Hospital at Blackfoot, Idaho on August 9, 1903. Tom Welch was asked if he actually supplied the guns as Meeks asked him to. Tom smiled and remarked, “Well, he didn’t die in prison. I went to his funeral.”

His hospital evaluation showed the notations; “Strength – feeble. Attempted suicide some weeks ago … Fractured left leg by gunshot by Pen guard when attempting escape. Leg amputated soon after … Rather dull delusions of persecution…eloped (escaped) August 9, 1903:

Now “Eloped” wasnt a romantic notion in 1903. It flat out meant “escaped”. No one rightly knows how Bub pulled it off but On August 9, 1903 he stole the doctor’s coach mare from the asylum and made his final escape. Now to Bub’s credit, He was reported to have sent the horse back with a note stating that it was the best horse he ever rode.

Jed Bullock carved him a wooden peg leg just like his own. The Idaho Historical Society records that nothing was known about what became of “Bub” Meeks after he sort of disappeared from the penitentiary records. Not too surprising that they’d rather forget about Bub, I think he had worn out his welcome in Idaho. Henry Rhodes Meeks Jr. went back to Wyoming, near Lonetree, and lived there until he finally drove himself crazy waiting for the law to come and get him. He used to sit in the top of a cedar tree with a rifle, all day, and wait to be arrested. This delusional & paranoid behavior as well as some of the more aggressive personality traits that are rumored to have developed from Bub into his final years made more sense upon his death. 

The law caught up with Bub at his brother’s ranch in Fort Bridger, Wyoming. Evanston News States “He is now a total physical wreck and the officers claim that it would be inhuman to again put him behind the grated bars. The officers of this county who were serving at the time of the Montpelier robbery were instrumental in securing Meek's arrest. When he received a sentence of thirty-five years, however, they at once attested their disapproval by openly declaring that the sentence was far too severe.”

 Bub’s sentence was mysteriously reduced to conform to time already served. He had, theoretically, completed his sentence for the robbery and was supposed to begin his sentence for jailbreaks and the record just ends there.

One reports states that Bub was committed to the asylum in Evanston, Wyoming. On his death certificate it states: Henry Meeks, Evanston, Uinta, Nov 22, 1912, Cause of Death General Paresis. 

Now “General Paresis” is also known as paralytic dementia and is a severe neuropsychiatric disorder. It was originally considered to be a type of madness due to a dissolute character. But in the late 1880s the condition was connected with cerebral atrophy in late stage syphilis. Symptoms of this disease first appear from 10 to 30 years after infection. So it is possible that Bub lived his entire life with this disease. 

As with most of life’s lessons, Medicine advances one funeral at a time. By the 1920’s syphilis was treated by pyrotherapy and soon was rendered avoidable and curable with penicillin. Prior to this it was inevitably fatal and accounted for as much as 25% of the deaths in psychiatric hospitals. 

The escapades of Bub Meeks were over. It was the end of the life of one of the little known…yet…colorful rancher rustler outlaws of the west.

1“Boys, I wish you all a long and prospers life. but I am a little short on that. but I have ben wise to that for a long time. I have tried hord to beat the place. but made a fale of it. I was rite and I hope you boys will admit it I have tried hard to see my People, but I can not. but send my body to some of my people, please when you git through with it. may the world prosper love to all nations from Henry Meeks. I ask you one thing…did god demand me to suffer? or was it my misfortune? things has ben translated so much that it puts men in great study. I am a bleaver in hear after…and I bleve ther is salvation for oll no matter how you pass off…and I bleave I am right “ (As copied).

There is no doubt that Bub was colorful. He lived a FLASH - BANG kind of life. Never married, No children. He was a product of his time and those he kept company with, certainly not his upbringing. It was truly the “Wild West.” Rest In Peace Uncle Bub. 

THE END

Henry Rhodes Meeks, Jr. 5/9/1869 – 11/22/1912 Buried Lyman, WY