Western Outlaw and Lawman. Born Willard Eratus Christiansen to Mormon parents, he used the alias Matt Warner after he thought he had killed a cowboy in a dispute. During the early 1880's, he built his ranch at Diamond Mountain and supplemented his income by various criminal activities. After joining in a large rustling raid with outlaw Cherokee Bangs, his career as an outlaw began. He later on his own, picked up with a wagon train headed for Arizona. From there, he held up several stores and the bank in St. Johns. An unexpected chase by a local posse ran him all the way back to Robber's Roost in southeastern Utah. During this time in the outlaw hideouts of Utah, he met Butch Cassidy and Tom McCarty. Tom McCarty became his brother-in-law marrying his sister Tennie in 1876. Between 1885 to 1889, with the Wild Bunch desperadoes he robbed the Denver & Rio Grand train lines and a Telluride, Colorado bank. After several more robberies from New Mexico to Washington State with Tom McCarty, he settled down on a ranch in Utah. About 1896, while on a prospecting trip, he was ambushed in a gunfight, killed two, wounded a third, was arrested and convicted. After serving four years of a five-year sentence for this shootout, he was pardoned and released by Utah Governor Heber M. Wells in 1900. In the early 1900's he became a justice of the peace, deputy sheriff and a detective in Price, Utah. He lived the rest of his life with his family as a respected man of the community. At the time of his death, he was one of the longest-surviving members of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch Gang. In 1981, the E Clampus Vitus Mountain Charles Utah Outpost Chapter No. 1850, dedicated a bronze plaque to his memory at the Carbon County Court House Price, Utah.
Western Outlaw and Lawman. Born Willard Eratus Christiansen to Mormon parents, he used the alias Matt Warner after he thought he had killed a cowboy in a dispute. During the early 1880's, he built his ranch at Diamond Mountain and supplemented his income by various criminal activities. After joining in a large rustling raid with outlaw Cherokee Bangs, his career as an outlaw began. He later on his own, picked up with a wagon train headed for Arizona. From there, he held up several stores and the bank in St. Johns. An unexpected chase by a local posse ran him all the way back to Robber's Roost in southeastern Utah. During this time in the outlaw hideouts of Utah, he met Butch Cassidy and Tom McCarty. Tom McCarty became his brother-in-law marrying his sister Tennie in 1876. Between 1885 to 1889, with the Wild Bunch desperadoes he robbed the Denver & Rio Grand train lines and a Telluride, Colorado bank. After several more robberies from New Mexico to Washington State with Tom McCarty, he settled down on a ranch in Utah. About 1896, while on a prospecting trip, he was ambushed in a gunfight, killed two, wounded a third, was arrested and convicted. After serving four years of a five-year sentence for this shootout, he was pardoned and released by Utah Governor Heber M. Wells in 1900. In the early 1900's he became a justice of the peace, deputy sheriff and a detective in Price, Utah. He lived the rest of his life with his family as a respected man of the community. At the time of his death, he was one of the longest-surviving members of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch Gang. In 1981, the E Clampus Vitus Mountain Charles Utah Outpost Chapter No. 1850, dedicated a bronze plaque to his memory at the Carbon County Court House Price, Utah.
Bio by: John "J-Cat" Griffith
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