The Legend of Earl Durand

One Man Alone Is An Army

The Legend Of Earl Durand was the story of a young child whose family lived near DuBois, Wyoming and made Earl live in a hut in the wild because they thought he had a contagious disease.When the local Aboriginal people discovered his plight, they took him under their wing so he grew up as a sort of wildman, completely able to live off the land. He was known as the 'Robin Hood' of the West because he hunted game on Federal land (e.g. Yellostone) which was very illegal and gave the meat to the poor. He was eventually arrested by a brand new warden fresh from Brooklyn and incarcerated. No jail could hold him. Eventually the National Guard mounted a gigantic posse to recapture him. Earl managed to integrate himself into their ranks and figured prominently in the fruitless search. The story of how John D Patterson found the tale is a series of incidents as gripping as the tale itself. John's son (of the same name) was one of the cinematographers of 'The Sopranos'.