Who Was Laura Bullion?

Her grave marker refers to her as the Thorny Rose, so who was Laura Bullion? Laura had a hardscrabble life. She had flings with many men and among her trades, worked in Fannie Porter’s bordello in San Antonio. She fell in love with Will “News” Carver of the Wild Bunch but he dumped her for another woman. She then took up with another member of the Wild Bunch, Ben Kilpatrick, the “Tall Texan.” Ben was one of the train robbers at the Wagner, Montana train robber.

She and Ben went on a spending spree traveling together as man and wife using a variety of aliases. They were caught passing forged banknotes from the robbery and sentenced to prison. Her sentence was shorter and she got out earlier and waited for him. However, Ben got out of prison and was killed in another train robbery.

Far as we know she had no children. She was a pretty girl, described as “soft-spoken, well dressed with a graceful figure.” Eventually she was disowned by her family. She changed her name to Freda Lincoln and her last years were spent alone. Laura died in Shelby County’s Charity Ward in 1961. She was the last person intimately connected to the Wild Bunch.

For more information on Laura and the other women of the Wild Bunch I recommend Donna Ernst’s Women of the Wild Bunch.