Tom O’Day & the Flying Saucer
He was a cowboy, and depending on who you talked to, good-natured prankster, desperate as a demon, harmless, a notorious horse thief, and rumored to be one of the quickest guns of the west.
This “lucky” Irishman was a true pioneer of Hot Springs County, Wyoming.
The Pioneers of Outlaw Country.
Cowboys, Lawmen and Outlaws… to the businessmen and women who all helped shape Wyoming.
Here are their stories.
Tom O’Day & the Flying Saucers
Before we dive into another exciting true story of Wyoming, I want to take a moment to welcome you to another edition of Pioneers of Outlaw Country. I am your host Jackie Dorothy, seventh generation Wyomingite and Outlaw Historian. I am thrilled to announce that this is going to be an exciting year for all our listeners here at Pioneers of Outlaw Country - so hold on to your saddles!
Not only will we continue sharing the stories of our Wyoming pioneers, but we will also bring you short stories of exciting events, interviews with authors of both Wyoming history and fiction, cowboy poetry and even stories of our most ancient of pioneers – the dinosaurs.
This podcast would not have happened without our history partners. The Hot Springs County Pioneer Association Board are actively collecting the oral histories of our present-day pioneers and are eager to help bring this show to the airwaves. Past episodes of this podcast were made possible by the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund and now the Wyoming Humanities have given the Hot Springs County Pioneer Association a grant which has resulted in not one episode – but a series of episodes on Owen Wister, author of the Virginian. We will be highlighting the true people behind his characters of one of the most famous westerns of all time.
Now… back to the show and Tom O’Day!
Tom O’Day and the Flying Saucer
In 1903, one of the most known – and well-liked – of the outlaws was Tom O’Day. Certain reporters tried to paint him as a desperate two-bit bandit while Wyoming residents in Cheyenne, Casper, Lost Cabin and Thermopolis laughed and called O’Day the go-lucky Irishman.
“O’Day fails miserably to live up to his newspaperdom reputation!” shouted the headline of the Cheyenne Daily Leader. “The people of Casper consider him harmless and have been considerably amused at the effort of the press to make a bad man of Tom O’Day.”
A parody piece in Riverton, Wyoming’s Bill Barlow’s Budget mocks the reporters as well.
“And now it is Tom O’Day – as desperate as any demon who slit a maverick’s ear or swiped a halter rope with something tied to it. Some of us have known Tom a long time – know him well – know that he is nothing but a common, every-day, two-by-four thief whose weakness is the embellishment of cattle brands but whose professional instincts and ethics include most any old thing laying around loose. And yet he is today pilloried in the public press as a too-sensitive gun-fighter and confirmed man-eater with a private cemetery.”
Three decades later, author Tacetta B. Walker describes him thus, “Tom O’Day was notorious chiefly as a horse thief. Though he was implicated in some of the holdups of the Hole-in-the-Wall gang, he seemed to confine his activities to horse stealing. Dark eyed, with a heavy mustache, he was often seen around Thermopolis and vicinity. He rode with the cowboys on the range, sometimes taking a job as cowboy himself. Like all of his gang, he was a crack shot and quick on the draw. He had many friends among the cowboys but he also had his enemies. He was not the congenial sort of person as was Butch Cassidy.”
It was February 20, 1903. Tom O’Day had been recently acquitted on a charge of robbing the bank in Bridger, Montana and was enjoying his breakfast in Thermopolis. Although accounts differ slightly on the details, everyone agrees that O’Day was unarmed on this particular morning.
His friend and fellow outlaw, Walt Punteney, claimed that O’Day was asked by the town marshal to turn in his revolver for “the good of the town,” which O’Day did with some reluctance. Walker said she was told that when O’Day came into the saloon, he took out his Colt 45, unbuckled his belt of cartridges and handed them over to the bartender to keep for him while he should eat.
According to the rumors that flew across Wyoming and were reported in all the state newspapers, O’Day was breakfasting that morning with Louis Bagby in Harkins’ restaurant on the main street of Thermopolis. O’Day owned several race horses, and Bagby had been taking care of one for him. As the two men ate their breakfast together, O’Day accused Bagby of mistreating the animal.
Bagby was furious at the accusation and according to the Thermopolis Record, stormed over to the butcher shop.
Bagby borrowed a gun from Frank James, another member of the Hole-in-the-Wall gang and cousin to the infamous Jesse & Frank James. This revolver had a sawed-off trigger which created a fast-fanning contraption. There were six shots in the chamber at all times in this “quick-barkin’ pistol which had the reputation as a shooting machine.
It was now about 7:30 o’clock in the morning, and, according to Punteney, Bagby, who had been watching O’Day’s movements from behind a mannequin in the window of a haberdasher’s, slinked across the street, braced himself against the door and came flying into the restaurant, bellowing, “You’re in for it now, Tom!”
O’Day froze in his seat and stared, wide-eyed, as Bagby raised James’s pistol and prepared to fire. However, the unfortunate Bagby had never fired a pistol without a trigger and the result was that as Bagby instinctively raised the pistol, cocked the hammer with his thumb into what had always been the locked position and let go of the hammer, the weapon discharged immediately, throwing a .45-caliber slug into the ceiling, the shock practically knocking Bagby off his feet.
O’Day, unfrozen by the noise and the realization that this was actually happening to him, jumped from his chair, knocking his table halfway across the room, and dashed behind the cook’s counter, where a tray of porcelain coffee mugs was placed. Grabbing the tray, he began hurling the mugs at Bagby and, to the accompanying sound of erratic, out-of-control shooting, hoots, howls and shattering porcelain, drove his assailant into the street.
The Wyoming Tribune in Cheyenne reported, “The laugh was on Bagby. He, a man with a gun, was running from another who had only dishes for weapons. Bagby made the door, leaving the victory to O’Day. O’Day, laughing, then put on his pistol and swore never again to be so foolish as to play law abiding citizen.”
Though reporters first stated that Tom O’Day had been shot seriously in the face, later stories were amended to say he had been grazed on the cheek by a bullet.
After the fight, without waiting for attention to his wound, O’Day went to the office of the justice of the peace and gave himself up, offering to pay a fine for disturbing the peace. The justice refused to consider his proposition, believing that O’Day was right in the quarrel.
Bagby was later arrested and taken to District Court. Bonds were fixed at $1,000, which were immediately furnished and the defendant released.
O’Day’s action in fighting, unarmed, an armed man is in accordance with his reputation, the reporters of the day announced. As usual Tom’s luck was with him and he wasn’t touched. O’Day is said to be absolutely fearless, and to have at one time been a member of the celebrated Curry gang. He has been shot at no less than 400 times during his career and this was the first time he had been wounded.
But let it be known, he defended himself against a gun – with a coffee mug.
Thank you for listening to Hot Springs County Pioneers. Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss a single episode of this historic series. The stories of our pioneers were brought to you by Hot Springs County Pioneer Association.
This program has been made possible through a grant from Wyoming Humanities.
This was a production of Legend Rock Media.
