Butch Cassidy

Robert LeRoy Parker, known universally as Butch Cassidy, was an American cowboy who became a notorious train and bank robber, leading the "Wild Bunch" outlaw gang in the Old West. Born on April 13, 1866, in Beaver, Utah Territory, he was the first of thirteen children born to English immigrant parents who had converted to Mormonism. He grew up on the family ranch near Circleville, Utah. As a teenager, he left home and, while working on a dairy ranch, met cattle thief Mike Cassidy.

Criminal career

After a brief stint as a butcher’s apprentice in Rock Springs, Wyoming Territory, he acquired the nickname "Butch" (from "butcher") and later adopted the surname Cassidy in honor of his mentor. His first criminal act was minor: around 1880, he broke into a closed clothier shop, stole a pair of jeans and a pie, and left an IOU, but was acquitted at trial. After working ranches, he moved to Telluride, Colorado, where he partnered with Matt Warner to race a horse.

1889–1895

On June 24, 1889, Cassidy, Warner, and two McCarty brothers robbed the San Miguel Valley Bank in Telluride, escaping with about $21,000 to a hideout called Robbers Roost in Utah. In 1890, he bought a ranch near Dubois, Wyoming, using the "Reverse-E, Box, E" brand, though the ranch likely served as a front for outlaw activities. In 1894, he was arrested in Lander, Wyoming, for horse theft and possibly running a protection racket, serving eighteen months in Wyoming State Prison before being pardoned in January 1896.

Formation of the Wild Bunch

After release, he formed the Wild Bunch, recruiting associates like Elzy Lay, Harvey Logan, and eventually Harry Longabaugh, the Sundance Kid. On August 13, 1896, the gang robbed a bank in Montpelier, Idaho, for about $7,000. In April 1897, Cassidy and Lay ambushed a payroll shipment at Castle Gate, Utah, stealing a sack of silver coins. The relentless pursuit by the Pinkerton agency forced Cassidy, Longabaugh, and Longabaugh’s girlfriend Etta Place to flee the U.S. They traveled to Argentina, then Bolivia, where Cassidy and Longabaugh are believed to have been killed in a shootout with the Bolivian Army in November 1908, though the exact circumstances remain unclear.