Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid are among the most legendary bank and train robbers of the Wild West. Their hauls with The Wild Bunch were impressive even by today’s standards. They were able to escape the law for so long by retreating to South America, where it is believed they were killed by police in Bolivia in 1908.
Colored pictures of the Wild Bunch have been circulating around the internet recently, sparking renewed interest in these famed robbers. Below, it’s hard to tell the infamous group apart from refined gentleman. Front row from left to right is The Sundance Kid, Tall Texan, and Butch Cassidy. Standing left to right is News Carver and Kid Curry. More on the group is below.
Butch Cassidy was born Robert Leroy Parker on April 13, 1866, to a poor Mormon family in Beaver, Utah. He was a well-liked thief. Legend has it that he never killed anyone during his massive heists. His first robbery was in 1889 when he lifted $20,000 from the San Miguel Bank in Telluride, Colorado. That’s a massive amount of money, particularly for the time. It took a few years for the law to catch up to him, but Cassidy was imprisoned for two years for that crime.
A colored mugshot of Butch Cassidy is below.
In 1900, he paired up with Harry Longabaugh, nicknamed the “Sundance Kid,” to lead the Wild Bunch gang in a crime spree that captivated the nation. A portrait of The Sundance Kid and his companion Etta Place is below.
The Wild Bunch didn’t follow criminal stereotypes. In addition to being friendly, they didn’t even look like criminals. Cassidy also had the reputation of keeping his word. A story has long been told that he asked to be released from jail one night and promised to return the next day. When he was sprung, he didn’t flee. Cassidy returned to jail on his own the following day.
Tall Texan (Ben Kilpatrick), News (Will Carver), and Kid Curry (Harvey Logan) were also members of The Wild Bunch. The Tall Texan’s mugshot is below. The Tall Texan was killed in 1912 by a hostage during one of his robberies.
Laura Bullion was Tall Texan’s girl and a member of The Wild Bunch. She was convicted of robbery in 1901 and sentenced to five years in prison for her participation in the Great Northern train robbery. She lived until 1961. Her mugshot is below.
The portrait of Kid Curry and Annie Rogers below presents them as a respectable couple rather than some of the most successful robbers of their day. Before becoming Kid Curry’s girlfriend, Annie was a prostitute. She would help him hide after he committed robberies. He was the worst of the bunch. It is believed that he killed nine law enforcement officers.
The Wild Bunch’s Jesse Linsley’s picture from 1902 is below. The convicted horse thief had worked for the railroad and supplied the Wild Bunch with information about engines and procedures. He couldn’t bring himself to rob a train and ended up leaving the gang rather than participating in hold-ups.
There is a lot of conspiracy theories that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid didn’t actually die in South America. Many believe they returned to the United States under different names. Some believe Cassidy assumed the name William T. Phillips, who wrote The Invincible Bandit: The Story of Butch Cassidy, which included details that only the legendary thief would have known.
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Source: Daily Mail
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