"Lucky" Lenford Kemp

"Lucky" Lenford Kemp, born Lenford Ellis Kemp on July 5, 1870 in Haverhill, England, is an outlaw, miner, and frontiersman, as well as a previous member of the Cowboy Dan Posse.

## Early Life

Kemp was born on July 5, 1870 in Haverhill, England. He spent much of his early childhood in and around Cambridge, England, until his family emigrated to the United States sometime around 1875. From 1875 until 1879, the Kemp family lived in squalor in New York City, until the family headed west in hopes of buying land and becoming landowners.

## Life in Columbus

In their search for land, the Kemp family rented a property for some time near Columbus, Ohio. During this time, Kemp learned to speak Cree from a Native American family who had moved up from Indian Territory.

## Moving to Dallas and Involvement with the Cowboy Dan Posse

At the age of 11, Kemp moved to Dallas, Texas, to serve as an apprentice under his uncle as a manufacturer of mining explosives. At the age of 15, Kemp would be recruited by members of the Cowboy Dan Posse to provide them with explosives for the upcoming Fort Lackman heist. Eventually, they would offer Kemp cash to participate in said heist, after which he spent some time hiding out with gang member Gib Herbert out west.

In 1891, Kemp was reportedly among the dead from the Porcupine Canyon train wreck. However, this was disproven when he was arrested in Kansas City in 1901 for attempted armed robbery with Gib Herbert.

## Post-Death Life And Bandit Career

It turned out that Kemp survived the train wreck and fled to the American south, where he laid low as a cotton farmer near Savannah, Georgia under the alias of Reuben MacNab. Kemp lived in such fashion for roughly a decade before being discovered.

On March 15, 1901, Kemp received news that another Posse member had been spotted in the swamps of Florida. He headed south to Florida to investigate. While he was gone, Savannah police raided his farm and discovered his true identity. Kemp was forced back into lawlessness. On March 18, Kemp found the other posse member had been killed by local south Florida law enforcement. He began to head home, but heard news of his discovery and warrant near Jacksonville. Instead, Kemp headed to Jacksonville.

Slipping through Macon, Kemp headed north to Virginia to escape the south. In Virginia he first heard rumors that Baumgartner was still alive, so he decided to head west. He met up with Gib Herbert in Arkansas on the 9th of April, and the two performed several robberies in the Dallas area, staying in and around Dallas for a little over a week. They then headed further west to try and discover the whereabouts of Posse members Jock Thurston and Esteban Guerrero Sanchez. Kemp failed to find Thurston, and traveled all the way to Tijuana to discover that Sanchez had been executed for witchcraft by an angry mob, then headed back east to Texas. Along the way, the pair robbed several banks and stagecoaches to build funds. The pair was attempting to rob a restaurant in Austin, Texas, when they were picked up by law enforcement.

## First Playthrough Party

Kemp traveled with the First Playthrough Party for around six weeks. In Fouke, Arkansas, he was left alone with Gib Herbert and Jock Thurston. After a heated argument, he shot both, leaving both for dead, and headed west to locate Cowboy Dan Bamgartner. He was later encountered in the Rocky Mountains west of Denver, where he led his own small group of outlaws on a search to find Baumgartner. The First Playthrough Party encountered them during a highway robbery, where they were fought off. Kemp was severely injured, tied up, disarmed, and left to die just like he'd left Herbert and Thurston to die (a few party members wanted to kill him, which, notably, led to the party's first Mexican Standoff). The party rode off, leaving Kemp's fate unknown...