Wells quickly fell into a life of crime — committing highway robberies and robbing banks throughout several states. He killed a Mormon bishop in Utah in 1876. And in July 1881, he stole a couple of horses from a farmer near Sidney in southwest Iowa and rode to neighboring Riverton, where he robbed the bank of $4,600.

Fremont County Sheriff Dan Farrell put together a posse of local citizens, and they took off over the prairie in pursuit of Wells. The sheriff followed Wells all the way to Randolph, Wisconsin, where a shoot-out occurred. Carrying at least three bullets in his body from Farrell’s gun, Wells was taken back to Iowa. (Wells once claimed his body housed 27 bullets from various encounters over his career.)

Back in Iowa, Farrell collected a $1,000 reward; and Wells pleaded guilty to highway robbery and was sentenced to 10 years at Fort Madison Penitentiary. Only a month into his sentence, Wells escaped by overpowering a prison guard with chloroform; the guard, John Elder, died.