Granby Outlaws Revisited

I said a couple of weeks ago that, in my next several posts, I would be discussing some of the chapters of my upcoming book entitled Desperadoes of the Ozarks. One of those chapters is about George Hudson and another is about Bob Layton, two of Granby's notorious outlaws. However, since I've discussed both of these men in previous posts, I'll lump them together here rather than devote a separate post to each man, and I'll be brief. Suffice it to say about George Hudson that, during the post-Civil War era, Granby was home to a lot of desperate characters, and he was the most desperate of the bunch. Based on the number of crimes he committed, what amazes me most about him is that he wasn't gunned down or brought to justice much sooner than he was. Layton, on the other hand, was probably a victim of circumstances to a certain extent. Growing up in Granby, he fell in with the Blount-Hudson gang, and the association quickly led to his downfall. He was never one of the leaders of the gang, but he paid with his life for his allegiance to the group, in particular his allegiance to Hudson.