The Wild Bunch gang claimed to make every attempt to abstain from killing people, and Cassidy boasted of having never killed a single man or woman in his entire career. These claims were false, however. Kid Curry, "Flat-Nose" Curry, Will "News" Carver, and other members of the gang killed numerous people during their flight from law enforcement. Kid Curry alone killed nine lawmen while with the gang, and another two civilians during shootouts, becoming the gang's most feared member.[citation needed] Elzy Lay killed another two lawmen following a robbery, for which he was wounded, arrested, and sentenced to life imprisonment. George Curry killed at least two lawmen, before being killed by Grand County, Utah, lawmen.[2][additional citation(s) needed]
A 1892 tintype portrait of five members of the "Wild Bunch" gang dressed in bowler hats and city clothes shows, clockwise, from the top left, Kid Curry, Bill McCarty, Bill (Tod) Carver, Ben Kilpatrick, and Tom O'Day
The gang was also closely associated with female outlaws Ann Bassett and Josie Bassett, whose ranch near Browns Park supplied the gang often with fresh horses and beef. Both Bassett girls became romantically involved with several members of the gang, and both occasionally accompanied the gang to one of their hideouts, called "Robbers Roost". Associations with ranchers like these in the area allowed the gang considerable mobility, giving them an easy resupply of fresh horses and supplies, and a place to hole up for a night or two.
At 1:00 am on June 2, 1899, Cassidy, Sundance Kid, Harvey Logan, and Lay robbed a Union Pacific train near Wilcox, Wyoming. They wore masks made from white napkins, possibly pilfered from a Harvey House restaurant. In the holdup, they stole between $30,000 and $60,000. The gang split up afterward, a common ploy to throw off pursuers, and several fled to New Mexico. On July 11, 1899, gang members robbed a train near Folsom, New Mexico, without Cassidy's presence. The pursuit by a posse led by Sheriff Ed Farr culminated in two gun battles, during which Sheriff Farr and two deputies were killed. Gang member Sam Ketchum was wounded and died in custody. Elzy Lay, one of Cassidy's closest friends and cofounder of the Wild Bunch gang, was wounded and also captured.
Cassidy and the other members regrouped in Wyoming. On August 29, 1900, Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, Kid Curry, and another unidentified gang member believed to have been Will Carver, held up another Union Pacific train at Tipton, Wyoming. Less than a month later, on September 19, 1900, they raided the First National Bank of Winnemucca, Nevada, stealing $32,640. These and other lucrative robberies led to much notoriety and fame.
End of the Wild Bunch
A posse was assembled to fight the Wild Bunch in 1900.Photograph shows the bodies of Ben Kilpatrick and Ole Hobek being held up by others after being killed near Sanderson Texas, March 13, 1912
In early 1901, Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, and Sundance's girlfriend Etta Place relocated to Argentine Patagonia, where they spent time at La Leona, 110 km from El Calafate in the province of Santa Cruz, to escape the pursuit of Pinkerton detectives and other lawmen. That same year, Will Carver was wounded by lawmen on April 1 and died in May. Ben Kilpatrick and Laura Bullion were captured in Tennessee in December 1901; he received a 20-year prison sentence and she was sentenced to five years. Kid Curry killed two lawmen in Knoxville, Tennessee; he escaped capture and traveled to Montana, where he killed the rancher who had killed his brother Johnny years before. He was captured on his return to Tennessee, but escaped again. Kid Curry was claimed to have killed himself in Colorado in 1904 during a shootout with lawmen, for he had said that no lawman would ever take him alive. In November 1908, Cassidy and Sundance are believed to have been killed in a shootout with the Bolivian Army; the exact circumstances of their fate continue to be disputed.[3]
Etta Place disappeared, her last known sighting was in San Francisco, 1909. She was suspected to have reinvented herself as a brothel and hotel owner named Eunice Gray, in Fort Worth, Texas; recent photographic evidence refutes this theory. Elzy Lay was released from prison in 1906, and after a brief visit to the Bassett ranch in Utah, he relocated to California, where he became a respected businessman; he died 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, and lived the remainder of her life as a seamstress, dying in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1961, the last of the Wild Bunch.
In popular culture
The Three Outlaws (1956), starring Neville Brand as Butch Cassidy and Alan Hale Jr as the Sundance Kid, is a fictional film of the duo's exploits with Wild Bunch member William "News" Carver as the third outlaw in the title.[4]
Drifters (2009–?), is a manga featuring Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid as supporting characters to the protagonists. They are transported to a fantasy world after their deaths and help aid in the fight against the genocidal "Black King".
The Van der Linde gang from Rockstar Games' Red Dead Redemption 2 is inspired by the Wild Bunch; in 1899, the gang robs a train by blowing up one of the cars which carries valuables, leading to the Pinkertons pursuing them. The gang's leader then begins conspiring to escape to a tropical island. [5] Rockstar recommended the film 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' to their fans.[6]
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a 1969 American Western buddy film directed by George Roy Hill and written by William Goldman. Based loosely on fact, the film tells the story of Wild West outlaws Robert LeRoy Parker, known as Butch Cassidy, and his partner Harry Longabaugh, the "Sundance Kid", who are on the run from a crack US posse after a string of train robberies. The pair and Sundance's lover, Etta Place, flee to Bolivia to escape the posse.
Robert LeRoy Parker, better known as Butch Cassidy, was an American train and bank robber and the leader of a gang of criminal outlaws known as the "Wild Bunch" in the Old West.
George Sutherland Currie, also known as George "Flat-Nose" Curry, was a Canadian-American robber of the American Old West. Curry was a mentor to Harvey Logan, who would adopt the surname Curry, and the two robbed banks together before both became members of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch. Curry was killed by a sheriff while rustling in Grand County, Utah.
Harry Alonzo Longabaugh, better known as the Sundance Kid, was an outlaw and member of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch in the American Old West. He likely met Butch Cassidy during a hunting trip in 1883 or earlier. The "Wild Bunch" gang performed the longest string of successful train and bank robberies in American history. Longabaugh fled the United States along with his consort Etta Place and Butch Cassidy to escape the dogged pursuit of the Pinkerton Detective Agency. The trio fled first to Argentina and then to Bolivia, where most historians believe Parker (Cassidy) and Longabaugh were killed in a shootout in November 1908.
William Doolin was an American bandit outlaw and founder of the Wild Bunch, sometimes known as the Doolin-Dalton Gang. Like the earlier Dalton Gang alone, it specialized in robbing banks, trains, and stagecoaches in Arkansas, Kansas, Indiana, and Oklahoma during the 1890s.
The Hole-in-the-Wall Gang was a gang in the American Wild West, which took its name from the Hole-in-the-Wall Pass in Johnson County, Wyoming, where several outlaw gangs had their hideouts.
Etta Place was a companion of the American outlaws Robert LeRoy Parker, alias Butch Cassidy, and Harry Alonzo Longabaugh, alias Sundance Kid. The three were members of the outlaw gang known as Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch. She was principally the companion of Longabaugh. Little is known about her; both her origin and her fate remain unknown.
Thomas Edward Ketchum was an American cowboy who later became an outlaw. He was executed in 1901 for attempted train robbery. The execution by hanging was botched; he was decapitated because the executioner used a rope that was too long.
The Robbers Roost was an outlaw hideout in southeastern Utah used mostly by Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch gang in the closing years of the Old West.
Harvey Alexander Logan, also known as Kid Curry, was an American outlaw and gunman who rode with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid's infamous Wild Bunch gang during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Despite being less well-known than his fellow gang members, he has since been referred to as "the wildest of the Wild Bunch", having reputedly killed at least nine law enforcement officers in five shootings and another two men in other instances. He was involved in numerous shootouts with police and civilians and participated in several bank and train robberies with various gangs during his outlaw days.
Joe Lefors was a lawman in the closing years of the Old West. He is best known for obtaining the confession that led to the conviction of gunman Tom Horn in 1903 for the alleged murder of 14-year-old sheepherder Willie Nickell.
William Ellsworth "Elzy" Lay was an outlaw of the Old West in the United States. He was a member of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch, gang, operating out of the Hole-in-the-Wall Pass in Johnson County, Wyoming. Lay was Cassidy's best friend and assisted Cassidy in leading the Wild Bunch gang.
Laura Bullion was an outlaw of the Old West. Most sources indicate Bullion was born in Knickerbocker, near Mertzon, in Irion County, Texas; the exact day of her birth is unclear. Data in the 1880 and 1900 federal census suggest a Laura Bullion might have been born on a farm in the township of Palarm near Conway in Faulkner County, Arkansas, and might have grown up in Tom Green County, Texas. Other sources claim Laura Bullion was born in Kentucky in 1873.
Ann Bassett, also known as Queen Ann Bassett, was a prominent female rancher of the Old West, and with her sister Josie Bassett, was an associate of outlaws, particularly Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch.
Ben Kilpatrick was an American outlaw during the closing years of the American Old West. He was a member of the Wild Bunch gang led by Butch Cassidy and Elzy Lay. He was arrested for robbery and served about 10 years of his 15-year sentence. Upon his release from prison, he returned to crime and was killed by a hostage during a train robbery.
William "News" Carver was an American outlaw and a member of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch during the closing years of the American Old West. His nickname "News" was given to him because he enjoyed seeing his name in newspaper stories of his gang's exploits. He was ambushed and killed by Sheriff E. S. Briant and his deputies in 1901.
Della Moore (1880–1926?), also known as Annie Rogers or Maude Williams, was a woman working as a prostitute during the closing years of the Old West, best known for being the girlfriend of outlaw Harvey Logan, who rode with Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch gang.
Fannie Porter was a well-known madam in 19th-century Texas, in the United States. She is best known for her popular San Antonio brothel, and her association with several famous outlaws of the day.
Josie Bassett was a rancher. She and her sister "Queen" Ann Bassett are known for their love affairs and associations with well-known outlaws, particularly Butch Cassidy's "Wild Bunch".
References
↑ Eckhardt, Charley F. (1999). Tales of Badmen, Bad Women, and Bad Places: Four Centuries of Texas Outlawry. Texas Tech University Press. ISBN9780896724204.
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