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Jack Babcock
Life had been pretty kind to the Jack Babcock family by the year 1992. Son Brad, married with three daughters, was now a practicing dentist. Daughter Deborah was a teacher, married...view moreLife had been pretty kind to the Jack Babcock family by the year 1992. Son Brad, married with three daughters, was now a practicing dentist. Daughter Deborah was a teacher, married with one son. Second daughter Sallie, a physical therapist, married with a family. And the caboose of the family, Wendy, was now teaching music and married with a family of her own.
My wife and I had started a general Insurance agency and real estate business in Gillette, Wyoming. I was the chief salesman and had begun to travel outside our immediate area seeking clients. On one such trip, I spent the night at the historical Irma Hotel in Cody, Wyoming. I was facing a rather boring evening by myself when I began to recall my friendship with Sheriff Blackburn. I again began thinking of the story of Earl Durand, so I decided to wander over to the county library to seek further details on the history of the Durand event. I was told that a significant file was preserved about the event, but that the file was kept at the Powell library.
I drove the thirty or so miles to Powell that evening, trying to follow the route that Durand had used for his escape. I spent the rest of that evening until the library closed tape recording the contents of that file. Most of the information in the file was from newspaper articles, and some reports tended to dwell on the spectacular. It was then that I decided to seek out the actual witnesses who were still living and interview them personally. Finally, after that very interesting experience, I was satisfied that I had a handle on the true story of Earl Durand.
The tape recording and notes from interviews still lay around our house in a drawer until I finally decided that I wanted to get the true story written.view less