Isom Dart For Western Wednesday...!

Although he wasn't born with that name, Isom was one of the better known outlaws in the old west.

His story is an interesting one, to say the least. Well known around the Wyoming Territory, he just couldn't seem to go straight for very long. Here is a bit of his story.

Isom Dart

A Black outlaw and rustler was Ned Huddleston (also known as Isom Dart) he was born a slave in Arkansas in 1849.

He earned a reputation as a rider, roper and bronco-buster and was called the “Black Fox” and the “Calico Cowboy.”

He was also a notorious Wyoming Territory outlaw.

In 1861 twelve-year-old, Huddleston accompanied his owner, a Confederate officer, to Texas during the Civil War.

Huddleston was freed at the end of the war and took off for the southern Texas, Mexico border region where he found work at a rodeo as a stunt rider and became a master horseman.

He join a notorious band of rustlers called, The Tip Gualt Gang, and changed his name to, Isom Dart.

He trained horses for the Wild Bunch, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’s gang, and was a successful rustler.

He tried many time to give up his rustler’s life and go straight, but the call of the wild was too strong for him and he keep going back to it.

This would be his downfall.

On August 3, 1900, as he came out of the front door of his ranch, the notorious, range detective, Tom Horn, who had been hired by local ranchers to rid the area of rustlers, shot him dead..

How many of you have ever heard of Mr Dart? I thought so!

I've often thought that some of these guys must have really loved their work as outlaws to stay in it as long as they did. I think some of their relatives must be in the cities and carrying on the family traditions, ya know?

Better have our coffee inside this morning. Rain, along with a cold front, is moving back in.