Willard Erastus Christianson

Willard Erastus Christianson, also known as Matt Warner, Ras Lewis, and The Mormon Kid, (1864 – December 21, 1938), was a notable figure from the American old west that was a farmer, cowboy, rancher, ferryman, rustler, bank robber, justice of the peace, lawman, and a bootlegger. He operated in the Robber's Roost area of Utah before teaming up with Butch Cassidy. While on the run from the law he married Rose Morgan. For a while he operated a cattle ranch in Washington's Big Bend Country. Later he operated a ranch on Diamond Mountain in Utah.

Early life

The son of a Swedish farmer and a German mother who had come to Utah as Mormon Converts. During a fight as a teen in 1878 he thought he had killed a man and ran away from his parents home with the intention of becoming a cowboy. He instead became a rustler and earned the name the Mormon Kid.^[1]

Gunfights

• In 1896 he had an argument with a Mexican on Diamond Mountain Utah near the Green River. He was sentenced to 5 years in Utah State Prison for this incident. The other man did survive.
• 1892 Roslyn, Washington after robbing a bank along with Bill and Tom McCarthy, known as the invincible 3 by some, the bystanders attempted to stop them and shooting broke out. Two people were injured.
• Later in 1892 he was jailed in Ellensburg, Washington for the bank robbery in Roslyn. He and his cellmate George McCarthy broke out two days before his trial. He shot one citizen, nobody was killed. he later beat the charges against him and left Ellensburg a free man.
• In 1897 Uinta Mountains, Utah, He was involved in a gunfight where two men were killed and he was later convicted of manslaughter for this incident.

Later life

After his release from prison, his wife had died, he remarried and settled in Carbon County, Utah. He ran for public office under his real name, Willard Erastus Christianson, and lost. He then had his name officially changed to alias Matt Warner, the name most people knew him by, and was elected justice of the peace and then served as a deputy sheriff. Later he worked as a night guard and detective in Price, Utah He died a natural death on December 21, 1938 at the age of seventy-four.^[2]

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