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Butch Cassidy’s
real name was Robert LeRoy Parker. His first brush with the law was when
he walked to town to buy a pair of pants and found the store closed. He
broke into the store, took the pants, and left a note for the storekeeper
promising to pay for them later. The storekeeper was angry, and pressed
charges. The problem was settled out of court, but Butch learned to dislike
lawmen.
When he was 18,
he became friends with a cattle thief named Mike Cassidy who taught him
how to ride, shoot, and fight. Later, when Robert needed an alias, he
used the last name of his good friend, Cassidy.
Bob could always
find work as a cowboy or a muleskinner, but he soon discovered that he
could make money faster illegally. He started calling himself George Cassidy,
so that he would not cause his family embarrassment, and soon, he got
mixed up in a gang, called the McCarty gang. He told them about the mine
payrolls and they decided to see if they could steal some. After they
robbed a bank in Telluride, Colorado, Bob decided he’d rather work
on his own. He went to Wyoming and found a job in a meat market. Most
people think that his work as a butcher inspired his nickname, “Butch.”
Eventually, Butch
got mixed up in the sale of some stolen horses and was sent to prison.
When he got out of prison, he tried to work as a cowhand, but no one would
hire him. So he went back to outlaw life. This time, he planned to get
big money from trains, banks and payrolls. To do this, he would need a
tough gang and a good hiding place. He carried a map in his head of good
banks to rob, and he chose “Hole in the Rock” in Wyoming as
his hideout. He named his gang of outlaw friends “The Train Robbers
Syndicate.” Western newsmen gave them a different name: “The
Wild Bunch!”
The gang’s
first robbery was a bank in Montpelier. Idaho. They continued to rob trains
and banks, and spent the stolen money on fancy clothes, alcohol, and gambling.
Saloon keepers put up with them because they paid $1.00 for every bullet
hole they made in the bar.
During one famous
train robbery, the frightened express clerk refused to open the door,
so the thieves blew it off with dynamite. Since the blast knocked the
express clerk unconscious, he couldn’t open the safe, so the gang
dynamited it too. The blast blew wads of paper money into the sky.
Remains
of the train after the Wilcox robbery
The
destroyed safe from the Wilcox train robbery
Another famous
robbery was when the Wild Bunch stole $32,640 from a bank in Winnemucca,
Nevada. They took their money to Texas and bought themselves fancy new
clothes. They had a photograph taken and sent a copy to the bank with
a note that said, “Thanks for the donation.”
The
world-famous photo of the Wild Bunch
Eventually, the
Wild Bunch broke up. Butch decided to go to South America and start a
new life. Pretty soon, he was in trouble again. Some accounts say he died
in Bolivia, and others say Butch faked his death and lived the rest of
his life in Spokane, Washington.
Click
here to learn more about where Butch Cassidy was born.
Information
about Butch Cassidy's life and death
See
photos of Butch's home in Circleville,Utah
Learn
more about the members in the wild bunch.
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