Montana Territorial Prison

Mary Shane's husband stole $60,000 in a train robbery and was imprisoned in Montana Territory for the crime.[1] But there were no railroads in the territory before the 1880s.[2]

The closest, and by far the most likely railroad, to Montana in 1871 when the crime was committed would have been the Union Pacific in Wyoming Territory,[2] upon which Wells Fargo often shipped its treasure boxes.[3]

Since train robbery was not a federal crime until 1902, anyone convicted of such a crime would have been imprisoned in the territory where the crime was committed.[4] Shane should have been imprisoned in Wyoming Territory.

However, such robberies often involved disturbing the U. S. Mail, which was a federal crime in 1871. A conviction of mail theft aboard the same train carrying Wells Fargo money could have landed the guilty party in any state or territorial prison.[4]

Though not mentioned in "Ghost Rider," it is likely that Shane was sent to the brand new, overcrowded facilities of the Montana Territorial Prison in Deer Lodge for mail theft, not train robbery.[5]

Felton wanted dead or alive

Bret Maverick captured Felton and turned him in to the sheriff in White Rock, Texas, along with $60,000 of recovered Wells Fargo treasure. Wells Fargo paid Bret five percent, amounting to $3,000. As the precise amount the Kid stole from Bret in Gunsight, Texas, Bret came out of "Ghost Rider" with exactly what he started. But if Felton was wanted "dead or alive," why was there no mention of an additional reward for his capture?[1] Perhaps because Felton was wanted in the Montana Territory and he was arrested and tried for different crimes in White Rock, the reward money was not applicable.[5]

Mary Owen Shane's grave marker

When Bret Maverick first spotted the cemetery on the road outside of White Rock, Texas, he was relieved to find his coat draped neatly over a grave marker. Bret never believed in ghosts but somehow, Mary Shane's grave had some very mysterious properties of its own. The inscription, and even the shape of the marker itself, clearly changed once Bret reclaimed his coat.[1]

Two Gun Mamey's grave marker

If Mary Shane's grave was marked only nine days earlier with the date of June 3, 1872, how is it that Two Gun Mamey's grave, directly behind it, is clearly dated 1873?[1]

Some things in "The Long Hunt" are wild as the wind in Oregon, such as: