He worked, for a time, as a cowboy on the "Half Circle Six Ranch" in Tom Green County, before venturing west to Wyoming and Utah.

By 1896 he was riding with the "Black Jack" Ketchum gang, taking part in numerous robberies in New Mexico, and becoming friends with outlaw Ben Kilpatrick.

By early 1900, Carver was involved with a prostitute named Lille Davis, whom he had met at Fannie Porter's brothel in San Antonio, a place frequented by members of the Wild Bunch gang.

[citation needed] He was shot and killed in Jack Owens' Bakery the night of April 2, 1901 in Sonora, Texas, by Sheriff E. S. "Lige" Briant and his deputies.

[3] With guns drawn on entry, they attempted to arrest Carver and George Kilpatrick on suspicion of the murder of Oliver Thornton in Concho County.