06/24/1889

The San Miguel Valley Bank Robbery in Telluride, Colorado is often used to mark the beginning of the outlaw era, but of course that is an over simplification.  This was not Robert LeRoy Parker's first theft, however, it was his first bank robbery and began his career under the alias of Butch Cassidy. It sealed his commitment to the outlaw way of life and put him on the outlaw trail.  He had committed a gun-point robbery and did it in a town where he was well known.  The loot has been reported as high as $10,500.

Being new to this new vocation, Cassidy was not the in charge.  It was more of an equal partnership between Cassidy, Matt Warner and Tom McCarty. Cassidy was well known in Telluride and did not attract attention by hanging out in locations where he could observe the bank and become familiar with their routines.  

Tom McCarty had a ranch near Cortez, Colorado and Matt owned one about 35 miles from Telluride in the Mancos Mountains.  They were making a good living from those ranches although some of it involved rustling, but they were discouraged with how long it was taking.  They wanted some quick cash.

The robbery took place about noon, give or take a couple hours, on June 24th.  The newspaper account reported they took the money and left the bank casually while the teller lay on the floor shivering in fear.  Other stories report they left in a hurry when someone in the street began shouting the bank was being robbed.  

In any case, they had quite a ride.  The first stop was at Warner's Ranch, then on to Moab with the posse hot on their trail and lead flying when the distance was not too great.  They rode toward Thompson Springs, then across the Indian country to Browns Hole.  They were chased out of that country and went to Robbers Roost but got bored hanging out there.  After that, they rode back to Browns Hole, then split up.  Cassidy may have went to Lander, Wyoming and the other two went to Star Valley in Idaho.  For a really good account of that action, check you local library for a book called, Last of the Bandit Riders, with stories told by Matt Warner.

 09/06/1893

Farmers and Merchants Bank Robbery in Delta, Colorado, September 6, 1893 was attempted by Tom McCarty (see Telluride) and two of his relatives. Cassidy was not involved.  As for the robbery, it started out badly for the bank teller and ended badly for the outlaws.  The bank teller was killed in the bank and the shot that killed him brought the town out into the street.  As the McCartys tried to run, a local man killed two of them.  Tom was the only one to escape and all he had to show for losing his brother and his brother's son, was $100.  

This was the last known robbery for Tom McCarty.  He and his family had done a lot of damage across the West, but losing his compadres seemed to shatter his nerves.  He often threatened to kill the man who had shot the other two robbers out of the saddle, but never made good on that threat.  After writing to his family in a biography format, he simply vanished with out a trace.

 08/13/1896

Butch Cassidy pulled off the Montpelier, Idaho robbery to hire a lawyer to defend his friend, Matt Warner, on a murder charge.  Or at least, that is the most popular story.  The robbery occurred on August 13, 1896 at closing time for the bank.  The robbery netted more than $7,000.  Apparently that was not quite enough to buy Matt's freedom, however, the sentence of five years was reduced to three for good behavior.  Matt then became a lawman and stayed away from the outlaw trail.  The book titled Last of the Bandit Riders is based on stories told by Matt Warner to Murray E King (a writer) and revisited by his daughter, Joyce.

 04/21/1897

If there was anyone who did not know who Butch Cassidy was, he introduced himself in 1897 with the robbery at Castlegate, Utah.  This was declared the most daring and well planned holdup ever committed by any outlaw.  It is credited as being the heist that earned Cassidy his leadership position.  On Wednesday, April 21, 1897 at just past noon, more than $8,000 of payroll money was taken by the Wild Bunch.  He and his pals split up and took the outlaw trail in opposite directions.

As we tell this story, be aware that many opposing views exist about who was involved and exactly what happened after the robbery.  If you have read the book "Last of the Bandit Riders", you will find a version that does not include Cassidy at all.  According to Matt Warner's daughter, her father did not believe Cassidy was even there.  On the other hand, Warner was locked away in prison at the time.  

The most popular view is that Cassidy, Elsa Lay, and Joe Walker pulled it off. Walker's only part in it was to cut the telegraph wires.  Cassidy and Lay had everything planned out.  They would commit the robbery and getaway on two very fast race quality horses.  Althought they were fast, the horses could not get very far before tiring.   Somewhere near Cleveland, they had two long distance horses stashed.  Although these were not the fastest at short distance, they could run for hours.  The third stash of fresh horses was at Mexican Bend on the San Rafael River.  Once again, these were long distance horses that would take them to Robbers Roost.  The Posse would be using the same horses from start to finish and did not have a chance of keeping up.

There was one thing they did not plan on and that was for the train engineer to bypass the cut telegraph wires by running the locomotive down the tracks to Price.  In doing so, he was able to send messages and get a posse started in Huntington and Castledale.

From Castlegate, the outlaws made really good time to Price even though they were racing against a locomotive.  By the time they got to Cleveland, the telegraph was buzzing but no one there bothered to look for them.  They headed south past Cedar Mountain.

In the meantime, the Castledale Posse and the Huntington Posse were racing to cut them off.  The posses knew they had to reach Buckhorn Wash before the outlaws in order to catch them.  The Castledale Posse was the first to reach Buckhorn Wash.  They set up a roadblock and then saw riders coming their way.  Thinking it was the outlaws, they opened fire.  Lead was flying in both directions before someone in the Castledale Posse realized they were shooting at the Huntington Posse.  The outlaws had beat them to Buckhorn Wash and were already half way to Mexican Mountain.

Another relay of horses was picked up at Mexican Mounain and the outlaws split up.  Walker headed north for Browns Hole covering his trail and carrying most of the money.  Cassidy and Lay left an easy trail to follow all the way to Robbers Roost.  When the Posse reached the Roost, they dared not enter and simply went back home.

 06/28/1897

During 1897, Kid Curry and Sundance Kid were running together and stirring up trouble everywhere they went.  When they heard about Cassidy's success in Castlegate, they decided to show what they could do by hitting the Butte County Bank in Belle Fourche, South Dakota.  This was familiar territory for Sundance Kid.  As a younger man, before he was Sundance Kid, he worked on the VVV ranch as a ranch hand.  As Harry Longabaugh, he was convicted of stealing a horse from his boss and locked away in the Sundance, Wyoming county jail.  Harry Longabaugh went in and Sundance Kid came out.  From that experience, he was forever dedicated to the outlaw trail.  

The lands once claimed by the VVV Ranch are currently owned by numerous ranchers, however, the location of the former VVV Ranch headquarters falls into one.  The VVV Ranch shows up on DeLorme's TopoUSA mapping software, however, there is nothing there today.  

Kid Curry, Sundance Kid and their pals did not have Cassidy's talent in planning a robbery.  They gave it a good try but no cigar.  First of all, they sent Tom O'Day in the night before the robbery to check things out.  Tom ended up in the saloon and never made it back to the rest of the gang.

When the outlaws rode into town the next day, they entered the bank only to find out the safe was on a timer and could not be opened for another half hour.  They would have waited except someone outside noticed unusual activity in the bank and started yelling something about bank robbers which got the attention of the rest of the town.  The outlaws had no choice but to make a run for it.

All that noise woke Tom up from where ever he was sleeping it off but he was still a little too drunk to get on his horse.  The horse made a break for it but Tom was not on board.  He hid in the outhouse behind the saloon.  Someone saw him go in and he was arrested.

The next few weeks was not good for Kid Curry and Sundance.  They were chased all the way to Hole in the Wall in Wyoming.  On the way out of that hideout, they decided to rob a bank in Red Lodge, Montana, but that one didn't go any better.  They were recognized and had another posse on their tails.  This posse was a little better at their job and caught the gang. Sundance and Kid Curry were arrested and sent back to Belle Fourche, however, the jail in Belle Fourche had been burned down by a prisoner who was trying to keep warm so the two were taken to Deadwood, South Dakota. They broke out of jail a short time later.  As far as we know, that was the last time Sundance was locked up.  Kid Curry was not so hard to catch.

 06/2/1899

Cassidy had moved onto the WS Ranch in New Mexico.  The owner of the ranch had been losing cattle to rustlers so fast he was going out of business. Butch and his pals put a stop to that very quickly.  None of the rustlers were arrested.  They just sort of disappeared.  Cassidy liked the layout and so far lawmen had not found him at that ranch.  Unfortunately, the rest of the gang wanted more action.  Now, keep in mind, this is only one version of what happened.

Cassidy put together a plan for robbing the train at Wilcox, Wyoming.  He decided not to take part personally because of his promise that got him pardoned from the Laramie jail years earlier.  His gang stopped the train near Wilcox at just past 2am in the morning on June 2, 1899.  They blew the baggage car apart just like in the movie, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.  Although historians seem to agree that Cassidy planned it, many believe the robbery was actually pulled off by Kid Curry, Flat Nose George Curry, and Cassidy's best friend, Elsa Lay.  Kid Curry claimed that Sundance was involved which fits in with the fact that Sundance and Kid Curry had ridden together for years.  Kid Curry also claims that Elsa Lay was not there because he had gotten bored with life on the WS ranch and left Cassidy to ride with the Ketchum gang.  That makes sense too considering the trouble he got into at Folsom.  The robbery at Wilcox was a tremendous success. Everything went like clockwork and the loot taken ammounted to about $30,000.

 07/11/1899

Elsa Lay got connected with the Ketchum gang looking for more action. Cassidy did not like the Ketchums and they were not welcome at the WS Ranch.  Whatever the reason, Lay made the mistake that ended his outlaw career when he left Cassidy to join the Ketchums in robbing the train in Folsom, New Mexico.   First of all, the safe on the train was empty things got worse after that.  After the robbery, the gang split up.  Sam Ketchum and Lay went to a nearby hideout.  Some reports claim Kid Curry was in on the robbery.  Kid Curry claims he met Ketchum and Lay at the hideout after the robbery and was there when the posse arrived.  Sam Ketchum was shot once, Lay was shot twice, and a lawman was killed.  No one was arrested that night and Curry got away taking Lay with him.  Ketchum was captured but soon died of his wounds.  Lay recovered from his wounds but was captured at another location and sent to prison.  Curry escaped.

 08/29/1900

The Tipton, Wyoming train robbery occurred at just past 8pm on August 29, 1900.  This was almost a rerun of the Wilcox robbery.  Although there is evidence that Cassidy and Sundance were involved, most historians believe they were already in Nevada planning the Winnemucca holdup.  Kid Curry also claimed that the two were in Nevada.  That debate will never be settled.

Kid Curry was at Tipton and was probably the one who blew the safe with a little too much dynamite.  Ben Kilpatrick and Bill Carver were also likely involved since they ended up in Forth Worth with Kid Curry to pose for the famous Wild Bunch photo with Cassidy.  The movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid got two facts correct.  First of all, Woodcock was the same guy guarding the safe in the baggage car at Wilcox and at Tipton just like in the movie. Secondly, the baggage car was destroyed.  The contents of that safe were debated.  The reports are as little as $50 and as much as $55,000.

The reasoning behind the theory that Cassidy and Sundance were not involved is the 21 day period between the Tipton robbery and the Winnemucca robbery.  A horseback ride from Tipton to Winnemucca is possible as proved many times before, however it would be very tiring.

The counter-theory is that nothing was taken during the Tipton robbery and Cassidy was determined to get a stake for his trip to South America.  That argument seems a little shakey to me.

According to Kid Curry, the outlaws involved went south to Powder Springs in Browns Hole.  Some time later, they met one of Cassidy's brothers who told them Cassidy went to Fort Worth.

 09/19/1900

Winnemucca is a long way off the outlaw trail.  It is also a long way off from Cassidy's usual stomping grounds.  Regardless, the First National Bank was the target.  Cassidy was concerned that the outlaw profession was in serious trouble due to the rapid communications lawmen enjoyed. They had telegraph lines, trains that crossed the country in days, and those pesky Pinkertons with a personal vindeta against him.  Cassidy wanted to go to South America and needed money.  He and Sundance got $32,640 from Winnemucca.

They cut cross country to Robbers Roost, then connected to the outlaw trail and went south.  They eventually ended up in Fort Worth, Texas.  It seems they spent a lot of their money celebrating.  One evening, after celebrating too much, Cassidy, Sundance, Kid Curry, Bill Carver, and Ben Kilpatrick posed for the famous photo of the the Wild Bunch.  They mailed a copy to the Winnemucca Bank with a thank you note for the contribution.  That action provided the law with their first photo of the men they were chasing. From that moment on, they could run, but they could not hide.

 07/3/1901

Exeter Creek was the last holdup committed by the Wild Bunch in the United States before Cassidy moved to South America. Of course there are those who claim to have proof that Cassidy was already in South America.  Others are certain that Cassidy not only was involved, but set the entire thing up. That theory is that Cassidy and Sundance spent too much of the Winnemucca loot partying in Fort Worth and needed one more heist to finance the trip to South America.  

The Exeter Creek train holdup near Wagner, Montana occurred  July 3, 1901 at 2 pm.  The loot has been reported as high as $65,000.  Kid Curry was the one who blew the safe.  He even gave a gun to someone on the train as a sovenier.  As for the rest of the story, we like to tell it like this:

On July 3, 1901, the Great Northern Express from St. Paul pulled into Malta, Montana.  One of its passengers sat quietly in the back with his hat pulled over his eyes.  He could not take a chance that someone would recognize him.  His face had been appearing on wanted posters since he made the mistake of having a photo taken in Ft. Worth, Texas a few months earlier.

As the train prepared to leave, another passenger with his hat pulled low stepped aboard.  He also was concerned about being recognized since he was in that same photo.  The first passenger, Butch Cassidy, looked up and acknowledged his partner, Sundance Kid, with a nod.

In the meantime, Kid Curry, boarded the train from the water tower above and hid behind the engineer in the tinder.  When the train began to move, he stepped forward with his gun pulled and instructed the engineer to keep the train moving until he was ordered to stop.  That order came about half way between Malta and Wagner at the bridge over Exeter Creek.

While Butch and Sundance kept the passengers covered, two other members of the Wild Bunch came out of the brush with getaway horses.  Kid Curry used dynamite to open the safe.  Within a few minutes, the Wild Bunch collected $60,000 and rode off in a cloud of dust.  They were headed for the Missouri Breaks on the Missouri River where Kid Curry had a hideout cabin in Hideaway Coulee.  They stayed there a few weeks before going back to Forth Worth.

The location of this robbery is the starting point for our trips in 2005 along the outlaw trail - border to border.

 07/07/1903

Kid Curry was not successful in much of anything without Cassidy's help.  The Parachute robbery was no exception.  In fact, it ended his career as the cold blooded killer of the Wild Bunch.  He and his two pals were chased by the law into the mountains where Kid Curry was killed in a gun fight.  Of course there are those who say the man killed was not him but the family in Colorado at Sand Creek never heard from him again.  That is the same family that passed the Kid Curry story down to Bruce Lamb who wrote the book about his family and their involvement with Kid Curry..  

Kid Curry's demise pretty much ended the outlaw era.  The outlaw trail no longer served a purpose and the hideouts became law abiding ranches.