Thursday, September 8, 2011

Bud Blount

I've previously mentioned all the desperadoes who came out of the rough and tumble mining town of Granby, Missouri, and I think I've specifically talked at least a little about Allen "Bud" Blount (often spelled Blunt). One of the chapters in my Desperadoes book will be about Blount. In fact, it will be one of the longer chapters in the book, because, to say the least, Bud Blount led an eventful life. So, to condense his life to a few lines here will be difficult, but I'll give it a try.
Born near Poplar Bluff, Missouri, around 1850, Bud moved west with his family about ten years later and eventually settled in Granby, where he grew up among the rough characters who populated the mining town. Bud, also called Newt, first got in serious trouble in 1871 when he was implicated as a possible accessory in the murder of a man on the streets of Granby. A few months later he was charged with felonious assault in Newton County. In the mid 1870s the whole Blount family moved to Arizona but came back to Mo. and settled at Carterville. Shortly afterward, Bud and his sidekicks terrorized Webb City in what became known as the "Webb City Riot" or the "Blunt Raid."
Not long after this, Blount went west again, committed several crimes in Colorado, and killed a man in Arizona.
Back in this territory in the mid 1880s after a hitch in the Arizona prison, he was sent to the Kansas State Prison for stealing horses or cattle in Mongomery County. When he got out around 1890, he came back to Carterville, and, on a visit to his old hometown of Granby, killed a railroad brakeman. He was sentenced to death but the sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment. Still later, he was paroled and still later pardoned altogether. Around 1900 or shortly after, he came back to his hometown area and became a bartender at Joplin. In his old age, he went to the State Hospital at Nevada, where he died in the 1920s.

1 comment:

Civil War Horror said...

I never tire of reading about these characters from times past. Missouri and Arizona, two states where I've lived, seem to have more than their fair share. It's amazing how many of them survived long enough to die of old age!

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