Matt Warner
April 12, 1864-December 21, 1935
The Bandit Who Became Judge
Matt Warner was born Willard E. Christiansen in Ephraim, Utah. He left home at the age of 14 after a fight in which he thought he killed the town bully. He took the name Matt Warner, became a cattle rustler, bank robber and rode with Butch Cassidy until going to prison on trumped up charges in 1897. He was released in 1900, with a full pardon from Governor Wells. In the following years, he became one of the best deputy sheriffs, city police officers, and justices of the peace Carbon County has ever known. As a man of the law, Warner won the love of all Carbon County, except the lawyers, and stuffed shirts. He was strictly a man of the people.
This historic marker is located on the Carbon Hotel at 262 South Main Street in Helper, Utah and was dedicated by the Utah Outpost Mountain Charlie Chapter 1850 of E Clampus Vitus on July 25, 1981.
