Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch Sitting (l to r): Harry A. Longabaugh, alias the Sundance Kid, Ben Kilpatrick, alias the Tall Texan, Robert Leroy Parker, alias Butch Cassidy; Standing (l to r): Will Carver, alias News Carver and Harvey Logan, alias Kid Curry

Roster of Thieves The following men were the core of the Wild Bunch: * Harry Longbaugh (a.k.a. Sundance Kid), nicknamed possibly from Sundance, Wyoming, where he was caught as a horsethief * Ben "The Tall Texan" Kirkpatrick, known as the lady killer of the group * Bill Tod Carver, the quickdraw * Camila "Deaf Charlie" Hanks, partly deaf in one ear * Elza Lay (a.k.a. William McGinnis), one time geology student * Tom "Peep" O'Day, court jester; Joe Chancellor, skilled safecracker and poker player * Jim Lowe, bartender * Jesse Lnsley, the dapper dresser * William "Bill" Cruzan, best horse thief * Dave Atkins, already on the lam when je joined the group * Walter "Wat the Watcher" Punteney, jack of all trades * Willard E. Christiansen (a.k.a. Matt Warner), part of McCarty's gang * Bob Meeks, cowboy * Laura Bullion, rode for a while * Etta Place, a prostitute * Annie Rogers, a favorite of Kid Curry * Lillie Davis, a prostitute

Rivaling Jesse James and Billy the Kid as the most celebrated outlaw of the American West is Butch Cassidy, a true master at the art of robbing banks and trains. An icon of the "gentleman bandit," Cassidy's claim of never having killed a single person may indeed be true.

The families of Maximillian Parker and Ann Gillies made that excursion to the center of the Mormon faith, and Maximillian and Ann spent their formative years in the Utah wilderness, where they later met and married. On April 13, 1866, the couple welcomed their first of many children, Robert LeRoy Parker, who would later become known as "Butch Cassidy."

At the age of 13, Butch began working at a ranch some miles from the Parker homestead. The owner of the ranch was impressed that even in his early teens, the diligent and productive Butch could do the work of a full-grown man.

Minor infractions of the law were common among young men in the Wild West, and it appears that Butch's first crimes were no more spectacular than those of his friends. One legend even indicates that one of Butch's earliest "offenses" was not even illegal. Butch needed some new clothes and made a long journey to a mercantile, only to find it closed. Frustrated and not wanting to make the same trek again, he let himself in, took what he needed, and left a note for the merchant with his name stating that he would pay for the items in full on his next visit to the store. The merchant turned him in to the authorities, anyway. The charges were dropped and Butch went free.

In his late teens, Butch found employment closer to the Parker home at a neighboring dairy farm. At the dairy Butch met another hired hand, Mike Cassidy, who would teach young Butch about the art of cattle rustling and how to use guns. Butch was an excellent student and would later adopt his mentor's surname when he chose his infamous alias.  

In June of 1884, 18-year-old Butch left the family home and traveled to Colorado. He told his family that he wanted to seek work in the mines, although some researchers suspect that his actual intent was to deliver stolen horses to outlaws in the area of Telluride, a Colorado town that overflowed with wild living and corruption. Away from his family's watchful eye, Telluride became a haven for Butch. He was a regular at the saloons and went through his salary almost as quickly as he'd earned it.

After living for some time in and around Telluride, Butch got into trouble with the law once again and, as had happened with the "stolen" clothing incident, it appeared that he had not broken any laws. Butch owned a pair of horses, one of which was a young colt that he wanted to break in. One day he took the colt out of Telluride to begin working with it, intending to return it to the stable that evening when he was done. The rancher who had been boarding the animal apparently thought that Butch had taken it permanently without paying the money that was owed for the horse's boarding. The rancher alerted the sheriff, who picked up Butch and jailed him in nearby Montrose City. Butch successfully fought the charges, but he apparently again felt maltreated by the local authorities.

He wandered around Wyoming and Montana as a ranch hand before returning to Telluride in 1887, where he met the first of the three men who would become his primary partners in crime. Upon his return to Telluride, Butch met Matt Warner, another son of a Utah Mormon family. Warner was about the same age as Butch, and the two developed a friendship and shared a similar fondness for the saloons and easy money.

Warner owned a mare named Betty that was a racing champion, so Warner and Butch began racing her and sharing the profits. Through horse racing Butch also met the brothers Tom and Bill McCarty, who many researchers believe introduced Butch into the line of business that would become his signature: train and bank robbery.

Scholars disagree on the date and nature of Butch's first major robbery. Some researchers point to November 3, 1887, when a train was stopped near Grand Junction, Colorado, and held up by a gang of bandits. The thieves had piled stones across the tracks, forcing the engineer to stop at the blockade. Three outlaws jumped onto the train, but the man guarding the safe told the bandits that only the stationmasters along the route could open the safe — nobody on the train had the combination. Believing the man, the outlaws collected what money they could (about $140) and rode off into the darkness. Many now believe that three of the outlaws were Tom McCarty, Matt Warner, and Butch Cassidy, making his debut as a train robber.

If the trio wasn't involved in that Grand Junction heist, then Butch definitely made his introduction to robbery two years later. On the morning of June 24, 1889, Butch and Warner and Tom McCarty, accompanied by one other man, were seen carousing among the saloons of Telluride and watching people going in and out of the San Miguel Valley Bank.

Later in the day, one of the four entered the bank and gave a teller a check he wanted cashed. The teller leaned over to examine the check and was suddenly grabbed by the man and slammed down onto his desk. The outlaw threatened the startled teller with "instant death" if he did not do everything the robber said. The thief then called in the other three, and the group quickly gathered up approximately $20,500 before leaping onto their horses and escaping to Robbers' Roost, a secluded area favored by desperadoes for its difficulty to reach and its numerous "look-out" vistas.

As he had previously, and would continue to do for the rest of his life, Butch intertwined his criminal activities with long stretches of legitimate work on farms and ranches. Beginning in 1890, Butch purchased some land near Dubois and Blue Creek, Wyoming, and set himself up as a rancher. Butch never prospered as a rancher, however, either because the work was too strenuous or because his ranching was merely a cover for his underground activities with outlaws at a nearby hideout called Hole-in-the-Wall.

For whatever reason, he soon returned to a life of crime — but not before working for a brief stint in Rock Springs, Wyoming, as a butcher, giving him his famous nickname — although others believe he may have gained the moniker from acting as a cook/butcher for an outlaw gang.

By 1894 he had clearly returned to his nefarious ways, as he and a crony were arrested for stealing horses and also possibly for running a protection racket on some local ranchers in Lander, Wyoming. The officers approached a cabin in Lander and, after subduing the first man outside, they stormed the cabin and surprised Butch, who grabbed his gun and fired at the lawmen, but missed and was quickly taken into custody. Although he had used his guns when cornered, and undoubtedly was an expert marksman, it has never been proven that Butch ever killed anyone — which makes him unique among many of the outlaws of the Wild West.

Butch entered prison on July 15, 1894, at the age of 28. After serving 18 months of his term, Butch requested an early release from the Wyoming governor. The governor agreed that Butch had served enough time and agreed to release him if he would "go straight." Butch said that he couldn't promise that, because rustling and robbery were too deeply engrained in him. He did offer the governor a compromise: if he were released, he would never engage in illegal activities within the state of Wyoming. The governor, knowing the damage Butch could cause within his state, agreed and the early release was granted.

Hole in the Wall hideout

Butch went free on January 19, 1896, and began gathering a gang of outlaws that would be dubbed "The Wild Bunch." Butch was the leader of the gang, but as his former partner Matt Warner was in prison for murder, Elza Lay replaced Warner as his second-in-command.

According to Richard Patterson, Butch was true to his word and the first robbery he formulated after leaving prison was outside Wyoming. In August of 1896, Butch, Elza and an accomplice traveled to Montpelier, Idaho, and waited until just before a bank's closing time before they entered and approached a cashier.

Montpelier

The bank was nearly deserted, so two of the men entered the bank with bandanas over the lower half of their faces. One kept watch at the door, while the other demanded all of the paper money the bank had. An employee said there was no paper money in the bank, which upset the bandit, who then hit the cashier with his gun and called him a liar. The robber keeping watch at the door shouted at his partner not to hit the man again, and so the thief inside concentrated instead on scooping up more than $7,000 in cash, gold, and silver

Sundance Kid After Montpelier, Butch added to his gang a Pennsylvania native named Harry Longabaugh who, at the age of 15, had traveled with his cousins out west to escape the monotony of his childhood life. Like Butch, Longabaugh worked as a ranch hand during his teenage years and, like Butch, he became attracted to the easy money to be gained by dealing with stolen livestock. As a young man he was caught stealing a horse and was sentenced to two years imprisonment at the jail in Sundance, Wyoming. He would be known afterwards as the Sundance Kid, and the nickname was well in place by the time he joined up with Butch and the Wild Bunch.

The Wild Bunch continued to grow under Butch's leadership and became one of the most successful gangs in the Wild West. In spite of masterminding many robberies and heading up a gang of thieves, history has painted an amiable portrait of Butch Cassidy, illustrated with many incidents of kindness and benevolence. Whether a "gentleman bandit" or not, Butch was a bandit, nonetheless — and the close of the 19th century saw him pull off a series of successful robberies that would increase the growing determination of lawmen to bring him to justice.

Cassidy and Lay began hiding out at what was called "Robbers Roost", in Utah. Girlfriends Maude Davis and Ann Bassett joined them there, Lay having ended his relationship with Ann's sister, Josie, who by that time was involved in a relationship with Lay's outlaw friend Will "News" Carver. In April, 1897, the two women were sent home, while Cassidy and Lay began planning the robbery of a payroll shipment in Castle Gate, Utah.

Castle Gate, Utah

During mid-April of 1897, a stranger began a daily habit of coming into the Utah city of Castle Gate, going into a saloon and inquiring about any opportunities for ranch work, and then going down to see the train come in from Salt Lake City. On April 21st, the stranger's routine changed in an eventful way. The train again came in from Salt Lake City, this time carrying the money for the payroll of the local Pleasant Valley Coal Company

Men carrying the money were making their way through town towards the Pleasant Valley office when the "stranger," Butch Cassidy, and his accomplice Elza robbed them of the nearly $9,000 they were carrying and then fled to Robbers' Roost, first cutting telegraph wires to prevent the news of the robbery from spreading to lawmen along their escape route.

On July 11, 1899, near Folsom, New Mexico, a train was robbed and, because one of the principal thieves was Elza, Butch most likely masterminded the heist — although he may not have directly participated in it. Lawmen chased the gang and caught up with them a few days later. In the shootout that followed, Elza killed a sheriff and was captured for which he was sentenced to life imprisonment. Once again, like Matt Warner before Elza, Butch had lost his right-hand man to a jail term.

Elza's fate may have contributed to Butch's decision to seek clemency and put to rest his outlaw life. He consulted Utah Governor Heber Wells Union Pacific Railroad, the target of so many of Butch's robberies, to see if an agreement could be reached whereby the Union Pacific would not prosecute Butch for any of the train robberies.

A rendezvous was arranged between Butch and Union Pacific officials, and Butch showed up as agreed. The Union Pacific officials, unfortunately, were delayed by a storm and arrived one day late to find Butch already gone and a hastily written note from the master outlaw saying, "tell the U.P. to go to hell."

The Union Pacific Railroad and Governor Wells panicked and, still wanting to bring an end to Butch's string of robberies, asked Matt Warner, who had recently been released from jail and had apparently "gone straight," to go and talk to Butch and explain the situation and the cause for the Union Pacific official's delay. Warner agreed and went out to find Butch, but on his journey he received a telegram telling him not to continue, as Butch had just robbed a train near Tipton, Wyoming, on August 29, 1900.

A masked bandit boarded this Union Pacific train, waving a pistol around. The thief told the engineer to stop when he saw a campfire by the side of the tracks. Once stopped, the outlaws dynamited their way into certain cars and then into the safes. One robber assured the train's crew that none of the gang wanted to kill anyone, and had even made a pact to murder one of their own if he killed someone without reason. Butch's main accomplice in the Tipton theft was the man who became the third of his chief partners, Harry Longabaugh, the Sundance Kid.

Posse organized to give chase to Wild Bunch

As the law got closer and closer to catching the gang Butch decided to end the life of crime with a couple of heists that would set him up for life. With this in mind, Butch and Sundance and one other man traveled to Winnemucca, Nevada, on September 19, 1900, and relieved the First National Bank of $32,640. Around noon, three unmasked and armed men entered the bank and ordered a cashier to open the safe. The cashier attempted to stall by saying that the time lock on the safe wouldn't allow it to be opened, but changed his mind after one of the thieves threatened to cut his throat if he didn't hurry.

Winnemucca, Nevada Bank is the one-story brick building on the corner, on the left, past the trees and wagon.

This successful heist was followed up in July of 1901 with a $65,000 train robbery near Wagner, Montana. Five bandits stopped the train and told the engineer to separate the car containing the safes from the rest of the train and ordered everybody to remain onboard

Two of the train employees, however, left the train to put out cautionary signals, believing that other trains not knowing that their train had stopped might crash into them. The bandits weren't expecting anyone to come off of the train, and fired at the men — wounding one and killing another. The outlaws quickly dynamited the safe open, gathered the money, and then made for their horses.

Following the Wagner heist, Butch, Sundance, and Sundance's common-law wife Ethel "Etta" Place went east, possibly visited some of Etta and Sundance's family, and spent some time (and a bit of money) in New York City. The trio departed New York on a ship bound for Buenos Aires on February 20, 1902.

Wanted

In South America, the threesome assumed aliases and bought a ranch, living in peace for several years before they gave up ranching and went back into crime. In February of 1905, a group of men rode into Rio Gallegos, Argentina, and told residents that they were interested in buying land for raising livestock. After spending some time in the town setting up this façade, the men entered the bank on February 13th and robbed it of $100,000. A posse chased after them but only found the abandoned horses and an empty box the bank had used to store its silver.

In a similar heist in December of that year, four men robbed a bank at Villa Mercedes of about 13,000 pesos. This time the outlaws encountered more difficulties than they had previously. One of the bank employees managed to get to a gun and fired at the bandits, but missed them entirely. A man across the street from the bank ran over when he heard the shots, was held captive by the thieves, managed to escape and return to his office, and later fired at the escaping outlaws — but also missed hitting any of them.

After the Villa Mercedes robbery, Butch's trail goes quiet, and it is unclear how the trio occupied their time or exactly where they went. Etta apparently left at some point after the Villa Mercedes robbery — some claim she became ill and returned to America for treatment — but it is clear that she was not present for the puzzling "final chapter" of Butch Cassidy's life.

The "last days" of Butch Cassidy are still hotly debated, and it is partially due to this dispute that Butch developed into the object of lore and mythology that he has become today. What happened on November 4, 1908, in a remote region of Bolivia has been described and conjectured in countless retellings of the story, so it is now nearly impossible to separate fact from legend.

The bare facts state that a man and a mule made the difficult journey along a remote trail in Bolivia, carrying the payroll of a mining company. Somewhere along his expedition, two English-speaking bandits held up the courier. The outlaws were polite but intent on relieving the carrier of his money. After taking the payroll money, the pair rode off, leaving the man to report the robbery to local lawmen.

The two bandits, instead of going into hiding, went to a small village called San Vincente and spent their days and nights in a boisterous manner, drawing much attention to themselves — and generally behaving in ways that Butch and Sundance, being professional bandits, had never previously behaved so soon after a heist. Three nights after the robbery, the two men were surrounded in the small house where they were staying.

The village's mayor, miscellaneous village officials, and two soldiers went to the house where the two bandits were holed up. One of the soldiers approached the house and was shot by someone from within. The soldier retreated to care for his injury, and a few more volleys of gunfire were exchanged, although no sounds came from within the house after midnight. As the sun came up the following morning, the men outside cautiously approached the house again and, upon entering, found both men inside dead. The money from the mining company payroll heist was also inside and was later returned to the company. The bodies of the two outlaws were soon buried in a local graveyard.

Later, some time after the hasty burials, the pair was conjectured to have been Butch and Sundance, and a common belief grew that Butch shot Sundance before turning the gun on himself. Almost immediately after this "identification," doubt about the identities of the dead men spread, and rumors and sightings of Butch and/or Sundance became commonplace and widely reported.

Most historians believe that Butch and Harry died that day and are buried in San Vicente, but others have serious doubts. In subsequent years a number of sightings of Butch Cassidy were reported and a few people believe that he was still alive in the early 1930s. The Pinkerton Detective Agency, who probably knew them as well or better than anyone else, never closed their file on either Butch Cassidy or Harry Longabaugh.

The rest of the Gang On April 1,1901 Will Carver was wounded by lawmen and died later in May of complications. Ben Kilpatrick was captured in Tennessee in December, 1901, along with Laura Bullion, and received a 20 year prison sentence, with her receiving a five year sentence. Kid Curry killed two lawmen in Knoxville, Tennessee, escaping capture, then traveled to Montana where he killed a rancher that had killed his brother Johnny years before. He then returned to Tennessee, was captured, only to escape once again. Kid Curry was killed in Colorado in 1904, during a shootout with lawmen.

Etta Place disappeared completely, with her last known sighting being in 1909 in San Francisco. It is believed that she reinvented herself, becoming a brothel and hotel owner named Eunice Gray, in Fort Worth, Texas, dying in 1962. Elzy Lay was released from prison in 1906, and after a brief visit at the Bassett ranch in Utah, he relocated to California where he became a respected businessman, dying there in 1934. Ben Kilpatrick was released from prison in 1911, and was killed during a train robbery in Texas in 1912. Laura Bullion was released from prison in 1905, living the remainder of her life as a seamstress, dying in Memphis, Tennessee in 1961, the last of the Wild Bunch.