Clarence L. "Gunplay" Maxwell and a partner robbed the Springville Bank late in May 1898. Townsmen peddled word of the startling crime through the quiet Utah Valley town via bicycle, and soon a sizeable posse mounted horses and cut to the chase. Less than two hours after Gunplay scooped up the last of the bank's hard money and stuffed the final roll of its bills into his pocket, the Springville avengers had cornered and captured the two criminals near the mouth of Hobble Creek Canyon.

Ironically, George Packard and several of his colleagues took Gunplay prisoner without firing a shot, but Maxwell's partner went down shooting. Joseph Allan stopped him with a well-aimed shot to the chest after the crook, with a blast from his Colt .45, had pruned Allan's left limb out from under him.

After a preliminary hearing in Springville, Sheriff George A. Storrs transferred Maxwell to the Utah County Jail in Provo. Lawmen and local officials soon found Gunplay to be a witty and affable person.

One of Maxwell's friends later claimed the outlaw possessed the energy and good qualities that, if channeled in the right direction, could have made him a valuable member of society. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, when Maxwell was sober, he "was almost charming." That newspaper also described him physically: "He was lithe and limber and quick as a flash in his every movement."

Gunplay Maxwell's criminal tendencies did not likely result from a deprived upbringing. Who was this enigmatic masked man, and how did he become an outlawfi Utah State Prison records show Maxwell's true name was James Otis Bliss, although during his life he became a man of several aliases -- Johnson, Dick Carr, John Carter, Catamount, William H. Seaman, Thomas Bliss and, of course, Clarence L. Maxwell.

Historic newspapers and other sources provide scant information about Maxwell's early life. Frank Adams, who wrote an article describing what was likely Gunplay's last robbery, asserts that the outlaw was born about 1860. Newspapers say Maxwell came from the East, but they disagree on whether he was born in Boston or Baltimore. His second wife, the former Bessie Hume, told the Tribune that Maxwell was born into a prominent family in Baltimore, but sketchy genealogical information indicates Taunton, Bristol, Massachusetts, was his place of birth.

Mrs. Maxwell also informed the newspaper Gunplay told her he was a descendent of a titled Italian family, and the woman said she had the papers to prove it. Bessie claimed Gunplay's parents, Alphonso and Lidia Bliss, died years earlier and bequeathed him $100,000. If this is true, Gunplay had apparently spent it all by 1898.

Newspaper accounts say Maxwell shot a youthful companion in a saloon brawl. Adams believes this happened about 1875. When the victim died, the murderer fled to the West rather than pay the consequences. Concerning his volatile personality, the Tribune wrote, "When under the influence of liquor, he was at his worst, and at such times he lost all control of his temper and his emotions."

When Maxwell was a prisoner in the Utah County Jail, he told lawmen that he received a fair education before he came to the West. His fluency in the English language and his beautiful penmanship on an application for pardon from the Utah State Penitentiary indicate that he was telling the truth.

Maxwell fled the East for Texas, according to a Tribune article. He moved from there to Montana, where he participated in that state's war between cattlemen and sheep men. From Montana, Maxwell drifted into Wyoming and Utah, where he became a cattle rustler "with gambling as a sideline." Author Charles Kelly stated that Maxwell drifted into Eastern Utah in the 1880s. Gunplay possessed an attribute that helped him more easily break into his new occupation. Although he was small in stature, he was fearless.

The future robber of the Springville Bank joined a man named Johnson sometime during the 1890s and drove some horses from Wyoming to Nebraska to sell. After they had sold all of the horses, Maxwell, who was also going by the name of Johnson at the time, took all of the money and skipped out. When he returned to Wyoming, he went by the name "Catamount," which means puma or lynx.

Wyoming authorities charged Maxwell with grand larceny and jailed him. He escaped, but was recaptured. According to Frank Adams, Gunplay eventually served three years in the Wyoming State Prison, starting his term in 1893. Adams states that about halfway through Maxwell's term in the prison he met Butch Cassidy. They were discharged within a week of each other, and their association continued after their release.

For the next several years, Maxwell, frequently using the alias Dick Carr, plied his trade in Wyoming and Eastern Utah, where he became a member of the Robbers' Roost Gang. A Vernal girl, Ada Helen Slaw, married Gunplay, and the outlaw became the father of a daughter. Ada's parents, John and Matilda Slaw, lived in Pleasant Grove before moving to the Uinta Basin.

Maxwell experienced some exciting adventures while he was in Utah. In his book, "The Outlaw Trail: The Story of Butch Cassidy," Charles Kelly relates several of Gunplay's encounters with the law and with his fellow outlaws. One of Maxwell's experiences involved the Alfred Starr family, who ran a cattle ranch in the Henry Mountains near Mt. Hillier.

While Maxwell and other rustlers were fleeing from the law, they helped themselves to some of Starr's choice saddle horses. The Starr family threatened to run Maxwell and his buddies out of the country.

Kelly claims the rustlers kidnaped Mr. Starr that autumn and kept him in a cave near the Colorado River until spring. Then they sent the rancher back to his spread with an edict to gather his family and leave the country within 24 hours.

When the Starrs refused to comply with the robbers' mandate, the "steernappers" started stealing cattle from Starr's rangeland. Within a few months, most of the stock belonging to the Starrs seemed to vanish in thin air, forcing the family to move to Central Utah and start over again.

Gunplay may have joined the Robbers' Roost Gang, but he mostly worked in Nine Mile Canyon in the vicinity of Preston Nutter's ranch. Kelly maintains that many of the cattle Maxwell rustled in the canyon were slaughtered and sold in a butcher shop his brother operated in Price.

Occasionally, Maxwell helped the law, if doing so furthered his own interests. Another outlaw in the area, Joe Walker, specialized in rustling fine horses in the vicinity of Price, especially from the Whitmore Ranch. Maxwell suspected Walker of trespassing on what he considered to be his preserve in Nine Mile Canyon, so when Walker ran off some of Whitmore's valuable horses, Maxwell agreed to guide the posse in pursuit of the horse thief.

The lawmen cornered the outlaw in the San Rafael Country near Mexican Bend. They trapped Walker in some rocks, and Sheriff Ebenezer Tuttle, J.M. Whitmore and Maxwell tried a risky, daylight, frontal assault on Walker's hiding place. The cornered horse thief waited for his chance and fired his first shot at Maxwell, whom he considered a traitor. The shot glanced off Maxwell's rifle barrel, and from that point on, Gunplay wisely stayed out of the fight. He claimed Walker's slug ruined his rifle.

Walker's next shot broke Sheriff Tuttle's thigh bone, and that essentially ended the fight at 4 p.m. on March 26, 1897. After dark, Whitmore and Maxwell sneaked back to their horses, and Walker escaped into the night.

Tuttle lay wounded and unattended until late the next morning, when members of the posse finally went to his aid. Officers notified Orangeville's Dr. Winters, and he drove to Mexican Bend in a buckboard to retrieve the wounded sheriff. Despite his harrowing experience, Tuttle eventually recovered.

Maxwell kept busy in 1897. He appeared in Vernal as a defense witness in the trial of some of his lawbreaking friends. When the trial began going against for his buddies, Gunplay threatened Prosecuting Attorney Samuel Thurman.

In response, Sheriff John T. Pope disarmed all court spectators and stood at the door with a sawed off shotgun in his hands. After the trial, Pope told Gunplay to make himself scarce, and the outlaw grudgingly obeyed.

According to Charles Kelly, later that year Gunplay tried to make a reputation for himself by standing up to Butch Cassidy. Maxwell sent word to Cassidy to leave Vernal or suffer the consequences.

After receiving the challenge, Cassidy rode toward Maxwell's camp, and Gunplay rode out to meet him. The men approached each other with guns drawn. When the two men met, Cassidy warned Maxwell he had five seconds to leave town or there would be a funeral, and Gunplay would be in the coffin. Gunplay made up his mind in roughly three seconds, and he galloped back toward Nine Mile Canyon.

The Salt Lake Herald and Provo's Daily Enquirer covered another of Maxwell's 1897 exploits. In March, the Herald reported that a man named J.D. Smith secured the services of Attorney William King. The lawyer plead Smith's case before a judge and won a $600 judgement against S.H. Browlee and Clarence L. Maxwell for possession of a premises in Price and damages done to that premises resulting from the defendants occupying the structure.

Being aware of Gunplay's volatile personality, Carbon County's sheriff refused to act on the case. Attorney King endeavored to secure a court order forcing the sheriff to take action.

The law also wanted to question Maxwell and Pete Francis about 70 cattle stolen from the herd of George Whitmore, a resident of Nephi. Since Carbon County authorities would not budge, Utah County Deputy Sheriff Ren Wilkins entered Nine Mile Canyon with a posse composed of Whitmore and some of his herders.

Wilkins refused to allow Whitmore and his men to travel all the way to the outlaw's cabin.

The sheriff feared that the families of the wanted men might be in the cabin with the criminals. He did not want women and children hurt in a shootout, so he left the rest of the men down the canyon and proceeded to the cabin alone.

The Enquirer reported that Maxwell's wife let Wilkins into the cabin where Gunplay sat near a window with a hand on each of the two revolvers hanging from his gun belt. On the table in front of the outlaw sat two Winchester rifles.

Deputy Wilkins told the rustler he came to serve a warrant on him and take him into town. The gunman invited the deputy to sit down, and the two quietly talked over the matter.

Gunplay told the deputy that he had trained one of his Winchesters on the lawman as he rode up the canyon.

The desperado claimed that if Whitmore and the others had come up the trail, he would have shot them out of their saddles, mounted his horse and ridden to parts known only to himself. Since Wilkins had acted like a man, Maxwell said he decided to treat him like a man.

After some discussion, Maxwell agreed to accompany the officer back to civilization.

He insisted, however, on one stipulation. Gunplay wanted to keep his weapons in order to defend himself against Whitmore and the others if they tried to kill him. Wilkins agreed to allow the wanted man to carry his arms. At this point, Pete Francis entered the cabin. He also agreed to accompany Wilkins under the same arrangement.

Maxwell's wife was the only one who protested the plan. The Enquirer quoted her as complaining to her husband, "Why you damn coward, they'll get you in jail, and keep you there."

In spite of Mrs. Maxwell's warning, the outlaws offered Wilkins lodging for the evening, and all of them retired about midnight.

When Wilkins woke up the next morning, Mrs. Maxwell greeted him and informed the lawman that her husband had taken her advice and departed during the night. Gunplay may have carried the revolvers, but on this occasion, Mrs. Maxwell wore the pants in that family.

Francis still agreed to go to town with Wilkins, but since it was doubtful that a case could be made against him, Wilkins did not take Francis back to the posse's camp. Much to the disappointment of Whitmore and the others, Wilkins returned from the cabin empty handed.

The Enquirer felt this was likely the best case scenario. The newspaper pointed out Maxwell had many desperate friends. It was "exceedingly doubtful if he could be held by the officers, even should they succeed in arresting him, unless the posse were a very strong one."

Maxwell and his gang pulled off at least one more dastardly deed before storm clouds darkened his day in the sun. The rustlers stole about 35 cattle from a Ute. Maxwell put Preston Nutter's brand on some of the animals and convinced the Indian that Nutter had stolen them. The Herald claimed it was likely that butchers in Price and Castle Gate cut up and sold the rest of the animals.

In early April 1898, Utah Governor Heber M. Wells offered a $500 reward for the capture of Maxwell and about a dozen other members of the Robbers' Roost Gang. By dong this, Wells hoped to reduce the amount of rustling and general lawlessness in parts of Utah. The state wanted Maxwell, labeled "one of the best horsemen in America," for grand larceny committed in Carbon County in March 1896.

A Wyoming sheriff almost collected the reward that same month. Fremont County Sheriff John C. Gatlin arrested Maxwell, alias Dick Carr, and his partner for horse theft. Maxwell had his wife and little girl with him when he was taken into custody.

The woman and child soon departed for Massachusetts to visit relatives.

Maxwell and his partner also vacated the area ere long. They overpowered Gatlin, got his gun and escaped on April 18, 1898, with two horses, two guns and an outfit.

Gunplay and his colleague soon met with some of their associates and planned a big heist. The two desperadoes traveled to the Great Basin via Provo Canyon and entered Utah Valley on their way to fulfill their blind (or at least a shortsighted) date with destiny in Springville.

To be continued

D. Robert Carter is a historian from Springville. He can be reached at 489-8256. "Tales From Utah Valley" is now available at local bookstores.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page B2.