Harry W. Lawton: Dies at 77

Harry W. Lawton, a journalist and author whose account of the 1909 manhunt for an American Indian fugitive inspired the movie "Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here," has died. He was 77.

Lawton's 1960 book "Willie Boy: A Desert Manhunt" chronicled the hunt for a 28-year-old Paiute-Chemehuevi Indian who had shot and killed his girlfriend's father because he had forbidden the distant cousins from marrying.

Willie Boy and the 16-year-old girl, Carlota Boniface, eluded a posse for 12 days, traversing 600 miles of Southern California desert in 100-degree heat. Carlota ultimately was shot and killed and Willie Boy killed himself.

Lawton's work, which included interviews with surviving posse members, won the James D. Phelan Award in Literature for best nonfiction and the Southwest Literature award for a historical work. It was turned into a 1969 movie that starred Robert Redford as the deputy sheriff in charge of the posse, Robert Blake as Willie Boy and Katharine Ross as Carlota. Lawton served as a consultant on the film.