They weren’t friends, but they were familiar. George C. Heard and Fremont County Deputy Sheriff Fred Northern were often on opposite sides of the law after July 1, 1919.
Wyoming went dry on June 30 of that year after a bill banning alcohol in Wyoming passed the state legislature the previous February. It was alcohol that proved to be the “lubricant” to the relationship between Heard and Northern.
Saloons were big business in Lander, Riverton, Shoshoni, Lost Cabin, Lysite, Bonneville, and Moneta. Prohibition had a profound effect on the local economies of these small towns. It was such a blow that Riverton and Lander began imposing a business tax to offset the loss of revenue from liquor sales.
Heard suffered from various ailments. His father, Dr. William Heard, was a physician in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He was only 31 years old when he set off on the Chicago North Western passenger train for Arkansas.
He was the eighth of 11 children to Dr. Heard and his wife, Mary Catherine Moore Heard.
Wyoming State Journal – May 19, 1919-
“George C. Heard at the last moment decided to go to his home at Marshall, Arkansas, for an operation at the hands of his father, who is a skilled physician and surgeon and left on Friday morning’s train for the east. He had hesitated to undertake the long trip, but Dr. Huckins advised him that there was no great danger at this season of the year.”
The operations were successful, and Heard returned to Lander later that summer.
Wyoming State Journal July 25, 1919
“George C. Heard returned Tuesday evening from Hot Springs, Ark., where he has been convalescing after a series of severe operations. He was accompanied by his brother, James Heard, who expects to go in with him in leasing a ranch.”
He did lease a ranch with his brother, but he ran a more lucrative business in downtown Lander.
As soon as the alcohol ban became law, enterprising individuals began to find ways around it. A preponderance of “soft drink parlors” opened in Shoshoni, Lander, and Riverton. Yes, they served carbonated beverages, but in back rooms and basements, they continued to serve alcohol, much of it locally produced in stills from the top of South Pass to the foot of Birdseye Pass, 75 miles across the vastness of Fremont County.
George C. Heard was one of the first.
Wyoming State Journal – August 15, 1919
“George C. Heard and Sam Helms have opened a cigar store and soft drink parlor in the rooms formerly occupied by the Cash Grocery. Mr. Helms has also installed a barber chair at the new shop.”
He wasn’t in business very long when he was “pinched” by Deputy Sheriff Northern and other members of the Fremont County Sheriff’s office.
Wyoming State Journal – September 26, 1919
“Frank Miller and Andrew Offstead who were arrested last week on a charge of bootlegging, were bound over to the District Court by Justice Wells under $1,000 bonds which was the amount fixed in the case of George C. Heard charged with a similar offense.”
George Heard was no longer a local businessman, a rancher, or a man with a good reputation. He was a bootlegger. He had a lot of company. Police officers in Casper, game wardens in Thermopolis, and just about everyone in Rock Springs and Kemmerer were running stills. Nearby Hudson and isolated Moneta, both along the Chicago North Western tracks, were big distributors as well.
His reputation shot in Lander, Heard moved 50 miles to the northeast. Shoshoni was often referred to as a “wide open town” in the 1920s. Gambling, prostitution, and moonshining were some of the biggest businesses in the little crossroads town. Trains on the Chicago North Western passed through regularly, as did the Chicago Burlington and Quincy line just three miles north in Bonneville. A rapidly improving highway from Casper to Lander with a lower quality road to Yellowstone brought an influx of early motorists.
Shoshoni was a great location for a bootlegger. George Heard wasn’t the best at the trade and was constantly getting caught by Fred Northern and other deputies.
Riverton Review – September 7, 1921
SHOSHONI BOOTLEGGER
CAUGHT BY OFFICERS
“George Heard of Shoshoni, who conducted the Green Light saloon in Lander previous to the time that prohibition went into effect, was arrested Saturday morning in Shoshoni by Deputy Sheriff Fred Northern. In his possession were fifteen gallons of 116 proof corn whiskey, commonly known as moonshine. Heard is being held in the county jail at Lander without bail or preliminary hearing to be tried at the next term of the district court.
Heard is said to be an old offender and his actions have been watched by the authorities for some time.”
This arrest, fine, and short confinement in the Fremont County Jail in Lander was the last straw. Heard abandoned his wife, Ethel, and left for the Midwest to work on the rigs in the Salt Creek Oilfield.
Ethel filed for divorce. Heard caught wind of the impending action and came back to Shoshoni, after telling associates he was going to kill Ethel before he allowed her to divorce him.
Lander Evening Post – May 31, 1922
BOOTLEGGER DEAD AND SHERIFF WOUNDED IN SHOSHONI PISTOL DUEL
“…He arrived in Shoshoni late Sunday evening, presumably with the intention of carrying out his threats but did not find his wife in her room as she had taken the train to Riverton that evening for the purpose of having some dental work done. He therefore took possession of the room and awaited her return.
Friends of Mrs. Heard called her over the phone and informed her of his presence and she thereupon called the sheriff’s office. Deputy Northern was assigned to the case and boarded the train at Lander with instructions to arrest Heard and return him to Lander. State Law Enforcement Commissioner A. B. Roach was returning to Cheyenne and accompanied Northern on the trip as far as Shoshoni. They were joined at Riverton by Mrs. Heard, but upon their arrival in Shoshoni Roach continued his journey after receiving Northern’s assurance that he could handle the case alone.
Deputy Northern and Mrs. Heard then made their way to the hotel and knocked at the door of the room, located on the first floor. When Heard responded Northern informed him that he was under arrest and as the man did not offer any objections Northern granted his request to return to the room for his coat.”
Northern made a critical mistake; he led Northern toward the hotel lobby. Heard pulled a revolver and fired three shots into the deputy’s back. Northern spun around, with his .45 Colt revolver ready to return fire, but Ethel was standing behind Heard in the line of fire. He hesitated as Ethel dived into a room.
Northern had the reputation as a crack shot with his sidearm, and it proved well deserved. He fired five quick shots into Heard.
One hit him in the heart. Another landed just two inches above it. A third punctured his right lung. His fourth shot hit Heard in the upper lip, ripping through his jaw and the back of his neck. The final shot hit him in the left side between his shoulder and hip as he fell to the floor.
Heard fired two more shots, one wild into the hallway ceiling and the other a grazing shot on Northern’s hip.
Lander Evening Post – May 31, 1922
BOOTLEGGER DEAD AND SHERIFF WOUNDED IN SHOSHONI PISTOL DUEL
“Heard fell to the floor and was dead in less than five minutes. Northern walked up to him and after looking at him for a moment walked away from the scene and put in a call for Dr. Jewell.
Northern was removed to the Shoshoni hospital and his wounds attended. Examination disclosed that one bullet entered his back about the middle of the upper portion of his right shoulder blade, another pierced the fleshy portion of his left arm and the third went through the muscles of his left side. The bullet that entered his shoulder has not been removed and is lodged in the fleshy portion of that member. As soon as he has regained sufficient strength to withstand an operation the lead will be taken out.
Mrs. Heard was the only eyewitness and at the coroner’s inquest conducted by County Coroner Benson, she corroborated Northern’s story of the shooting. The verdict is as follows:
We, the Coroner’s Jury, being first duly summoned and sworn by the coroner for said county do diligently inquire and true presentment make, when, how and by what means, a certain person whose body lay dead before us on this 29th day of May, A D 1922, came to his death, according to our knowledge and the evidence given us, upon our oaths do say that the said person whose name we found to be George C. Heard came to his death on the 29th day of May, A D 1922, at
The Town of Shoshoni, in the county and state aforesaid, by gunshot wounds inflicted upon and into the body of the said George C. Heard, deceased, by a certain gun loaded with gun powder and leaden balls then and there being and held in the hands of one Fred Northern, a Deputy Sheriff of said county, while in pursuit of official duty.”
Northern recovered from his wounds quickly. His heroic act spread across the newspapers of Wyoming and became a nationwide sensation. Eastern papers referred to the shooting as an example of the “Wild West” still alive and well in Wyoming. At the Fremont County Sheriff’s office and in Cheyenne, his bravery was noted as well.
Wind River Mountaineer – June 23, 1922
“For his heroism and courage in killing George Heard, Shoshoni bad man, after he himself had been severely wounded by the man he was trying to arrest, Deputy Sheriff Fred Northern of that town is to be promoted. Carl Jackson, federal prohibition director for Wyoming, has offered Northern a position as an operative working out of Cheyenne.”
Northern continued his work to the dismay of the growing population of bootleggers in Fremont County. His raids under the direction of Sheriff Jimmy Thompson became legendary.
Hudson Herald -September 22, 1922
LARGE STILL AND 400
GALLONS OF MASH TAKEN
BY SHERIFFS AT HUDSON
“The largest still to fall into the hands of the sheriff of Fremont County was found on a ranch four miles down the river from Hudson last Thursday evening by Deputy Sheriff John Burch and State Officer Fred Northern. The still is estimated to have a daily capacity of about thirty gallons of finished “moon.” Between 300 and 400 gallons of mash were also found on the ranch with the still. The operator was not at home when the officers called and was thereby deprived of a ride to Lander to confer with Judge Brown. The officers claim, however, that they have a good line on him and that he may soon accept their invitation to report. The ranch on which the distillery was located is not occupied.”
Charles Heard was buried in Shoshoni. There wasn’t a service, and his demise as an undesirable citizen of Fremont County fit his reputation.
Ethel returned to Arkansas. She lived a long life, passing on January 5, 1959, at age 69. She spent her final years in Gatlin, Arkansas, in Columbia County.
Fred Northern and his wife, Vernelia Rebecca Carlile, moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1928. His wounds gave him twinges at times over the years, but he lived a long life as well, passing at 84 years of age in 1967.