The Incarceration of a Wild Bunch Member

112 years ago on this date, Henry "Bub" Meeks was arrested in Fort Bridget, Wyoming. While initially charged with a robbery charge, the authorities were more interested in Meeks for a crime that had been committed in the state of Idaho. Just under a year before his arrest, it was alleged that Meeks, together with Wild Bunch gang members Butch Cassidy and Elzy Lay, had held up a bank in Montpelier, Idaho. Unfortunately for Meeks, he had been designated lookout on the heist and as such, did not wear a bandana over his face. Since Cassidy and Lay both entered the bank and held it up, they did although it was generally well acknowledged that the bank had been hit by the "famous" Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch.

Due to the easy identification, Meeks was found guilty of the crime and sentenced to serve time at the Old Idaho Penitentiary in Boise. During his stay, Meeks made two failed escape attempts. For his efforts in his last attempt, he received a bullet in the leg that later required amputation. Now severely handicapped, he turned to attempting suicide to escape the prison's walls. In one of the cases, he managed to climb a 35-foot wall and made a dramatic leap to his supposed demise. He received only minor injuries. The story of Meeks did not end there and he is only one of many stories of the Old Idaho Penitentiary.

Click here to read more.

-Casey H.

The Death of Idaho's Lady Bluebeard

On this date in 1958, a woman in Salt Lake City, Utah suffered a heart attack and died. Her body was brought back to her home state of Idaho and buried in the Sunset Memorial Park in Twin Falls under the name of "Anna E. Shaw." On the surface, this was a fairly normal story. However, this woman was far from ordinary.

She was better known as Lyda Southard, who was convicted of murdering her husband Edward Meyer and sentenced to 20 years in the Idaho State Penitentiary in Boise (see Old Idaho Penitentiary). Of course, that was the murder she was convicted of. The authorities were convinced that she was responsible for five more, including the death of her daughter and a brother-in-law. Like Meyer, the other three bodies were those of Lyda's three husbands. The motive was plain and simple - insurance money. The method - Boiling flypaper and extracting the arsenic, which she then fed to them in their meals (known colorfully today as Lyda Southard's Famous Apple Pie).

Lyda Southard married a total of seven times. What happened to the other husbands? Well, none of them attended her funeral.

Read more about Lyda and Sunset Memorial Park on Dark Destinations.

-Casey H.

This Date in History at the Old Idaho Penitentiary

On this date in 1901, inmate Samuel Bruner and the prison's fastest horse, Old Selam, were found missing from the former-Idaho State Penitentiary. Ironically, it was the horse's second (though presumably against its will) such escape that week. On December 24, one of Idaho's most famous prisoners, Bub Meeks who rode with Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch gang, had made a similar attempt. Meeks had been tracked by the prints left behind in the snow and was recaptured only a day later. Bruner was more successful as he and the horse were never seen again. Today, the legacy of the horse is celebrated in the annual Old Selam Endurance Ride, which originally sought to retrace the possible escape route of both Meeks and Bruner, but has since been moved away from the old penitentiary.

December 30 has another tie to the Old Idaho Penitentiary as well. On this date in 1905, former Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg was assassinated when a bomb rigged to his front gate exploded at his home in Caldwell. The subsequent investigation led to the arrest of one Harry Orchard who ultimately confessed to the crime and, in doing so, implicated three leaders of the Western Federation of Miners. According to Orchard, the three men had hired him to take out Steunenberg (along with seventeen others) as payback for the apparent favoritism shown towards mine owners during Steunenberg's time in office. The case led to one of the most famous trials in Idaho history that even pulled in famed-lawyer Clarence Darrow to help defend one of the accused. In the case of Orchard, he was incarcerated at the prison where he would remain until his death.

These stories only crack the surface of the history and tales of the Old Idaho Penitentiary. In its over-a-century of use, the prison housed the famous and the infamous, was the site of riots, executions, and escapes, and today is considered a hotspot for accounts of paranormal activity. The former penitentiary was even recently featured on a recent episode of the Travel Channel series, Ghost Adventures.

Serve time with the ghostly history of the Old Idaho Penitentiary.

-Casey H.