Virgil Rule Rice followed horse thieves through the snow, engaged in gunfights in illegal slums, and herded cattle with future members of the Hole in the Wall Gang.
He was the first sheriff of the Bighorn Basin, but his story is almost lost to history.
Rice arrived in Wyoming in 1880 when he was 14 years old. He had joined his mother’s brothers, Robert and Jay Torrey, at Fort Washakie in Wyoming Territory.
By the time he was 16, he was working on his uncle’s farm along the Owl Creek Mountains in what would become Hot Springs County.
He eventually worked with his uncle Jay Torrey at the Embar Cattle Co., one of the largest ranches in the Owl Creek region and employed many members of the Hole in the Wall Gang before becoming their greatest nemesis.
Nicknamed ‘Bones’, Rice was the Embar’s foreman. The Fremont Clipper newspaperR reported that he was loved by the men who worked for him.
Chasing horse thieves
In the winter of 1892, 26-year-old Rice went hunting for horse thieves, the Nutcher brothers, who had worked for the Embar Ranch. He was accompanied by Walter Punteney and Andrew Price, and the three young cowboys followed the thieves through snow and mud.
After their trail was covered in snow three times, Rice continued alone to Casper and took the train to avoid the thieves, based on rumors of their whereabouts.
The Fremont Clipper later reported, “Rice secured the assistance of the sheriff, and after Nutcher left town they followed his trail; (Joe) Nutcher was located and arrested when he emerged from the cabin at daylight the next morning; he was immediately taken to Alliance, Nebraska, and Rice brought him back and single-handedly committed him to Lander Jail.
“A plot was planned for Nutcher’s rescue, but Rice foiled it by going on an unexpected track and driving so fast that the would-be pursuers could not overtake him.”
All three cowboys were rewarded with silver-encrusted saddles and equipment by Rice’s uncle, Jay Torrey, for their recovery of the horses. However, their friendship would soon be threatened when assistant cattle foreman Punteney was accused of stealing cattle from the Embar just four years later.
Punteney had left the Embar to run his own cattle on the neighboring Padlock Ranch, but soon afterward Torrey accused Punteney of stealing Embar cattle. Punteney not only lost his farm, but then fled to the Hole-in-the-Wall and joined the bandits there. Punteny later hinted that he had been forced into exile by false accusations.
Whatever the reason for his downfall, it would become a pattern for Rice. Many of his former cowhands, such as Butch Cassidy and Tom O’Day, even drove and led the loosely organized gang.
This is the only known photo of Sheriff Virgil Rice. He is pictured with Ben Hanson and Tom Bird. Hanson, the founder of Thermopolis, later shot Bird and fled to the Hole in the Wall country. (Hot Springs County Museum)
The Thieves’ Den
Rice was not afraid to confront those who would dare steal, not only from the Embar, but from local businesses as well.
On Election Day 1894, Embar was the only voting place for those in the original town of Thermopolis, about 30 miles above town at the mouth of Owl Creek. With the exception of three men, the town’s residents had gone to Embar to vote and attend an election dance.
That afternoon, bandits from the Andersonville cabins across the Bighorn River from Thermopolis robbed the store safe.
The Fremont Clipper reported the incident again:
“The owner, Ed Enderly, fought desperately but was overcome, only after receiving a blow to the head with a six-shooter that nearly scalped him. They forced him to open his safe and obtained about two thousand dollars, mounted their horses and attempted to escape.
‘But here they reckoned without their host. Slane and the blacksmith, who were in another house, were attracted to the scene by the noise of the battle just in time to open fire on them. A fight ensued that resulted in the capture of one of the bandits, Jacob Snyder.
“The fight had been so fierce that the robbers dropped the money on the road. This was recovered. Snyder was held by his captors in the back room of Enderly’s store, but was recaptured by his friends across the river during the night.’
Rice joined the group to recapture Snyder and the men quickly drove from the Embar to the slum, known in the region as a hideout for members of the Hole in the Wall gang.
“Arriving in the middle of the night, they immediately posted guards and patrolled the city until daylight. Then they crossed the river, surrounded all the large huts there, and demanded the immediate surrender of the prisoners,” The Fremont Clipper reported.
“The greatest resistance was met by a house of ill repute that was held there. After much parlay, all hands surrendered, and with them Snyder, who was hidden in this house. Snyder was released on bail, but before trial was caught stealing cattle from the Embar company, prosecuted and convicted of grand theft.
Basin, Wyoming, circa 1910. Virgil Rice, the area’s first sheriff, pursued bandits throughout the Bighorn Basin. (Wyoming Stories and Routes)
Inspired American folklore
The same year he helped thwart the vault robbers, Sheriff Rice had married Elizabeth Lanigan, a Lander socialite. His uncle acted as his best man and their wedding was the talk of the town. His life seemed blessed.
However, just seven years later, Rice died of “throat complications” in a Casper hospital. He left behind his pregnant widow and three small boys. Tragedy haunted the family when his wife was declared insane and the children were divided among relatives.
Although Rice is not often discussed anymore, his legacy lived on in fiction.
Rice’s uncle Jay Torrey was good friends with the young author Owen Wister. When Wister was collecting stories for his short story and eventually his novel “The Virginian,” he most likely met Rice because they moved in the same social circles. There are those who believe that Rice was one of the many cowboys that Wister used as a composite for his character, the Virginian.
When his book came out, Wister sent a first edition to his friends at Owl Creek. The community eagerly read the novel to see if they recognized any of the characters. After reading it, many claimed that a famous scene was directly inspired by their former sheriff Virgil Rice. The scene that caught the attention of the Virginian’s Wyoming residents is as follows:
It was now the Virginian’s turn to bet or leave the game, and he didn’t say anything right away.
That’s why Trampas spoke. “Your bet, you son of a….”
The Virginian’s gun came out and his hand was on the table, unintentionally holding it down. And in a voice as soft as ever, the voice that sounded almost like a caress, but a little drawler than usual, so that there was almost a space between each word, he gave his orders to the man Trampas: ‘If you call me that, SMILE.” And he looked at Trampas across the table.
Wister claimed he did not know the origin of the original story he had heard told by the cowboys he had interviewed, but the people of ancient Thermopolis said they knew the man who said those words. They said it was none other than Virgil Rule Rice, a young cowboy and the first sheriff of the Bighorn Basin.
Rice’s old friend and former outlaw, Walt Punteney, later said that it had taken place in a dark saloon in Old Thermopolis and that Rice had muttered these words to an impatient card player during a poker game many years earlier.
While Rice may not be remembered by most, his words will forever be immortalized in Western fiction.
Jackie Dorothy can be reached at [email protected].
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