Butch Cassidy (12 page)

Now, more than ever, Cassidy gave thought to finding something else to do. It is also likely that, since there appeared to be no chance for amnesty or pardon, he considered leaving the United States and settling in some foreign country where nobody knew him and where he could obtain a fresh start. All he wanted to do now was get far away and begin life anew.

Ten

Winnemucca Bank Holdup

Only days after the Tipton train robbery, Butch Cassidy, Harry Longabaugh, and another outlaw named Will “Colonel” Carver arrived at a campsite on the Humboldt River some fourteen miles from Winnemucca, Nevada. Their appearance caused no concern for they were not known here, and furthermore, dozens of other cowhands were arriving in the area from surrounding locations in hope of finding work on the annual roundup on the nearby CS Ranch.

Carver was from Texas. Prior to being associated with the Wild Bunch, he had ridden with “Black Jack” Ketchum and is believed to have participated in several robberies. Carver tended to be quiet and unassuming, preferring solitude to company, and was content to take orders and follow.

While camping near the river with his companions, Cassidy made friends with ten-year-old Vic Button, son of the CS Ranch foreman. From young Button, Cassidy learned about a potential escape route through Lost Soldier’s Pass and into Clover Valley. Button also unknowingly provided the outlaw with important information about the nearby town of Winnemucca.

Vic Button was fascinated by the white horse ridden by Cassidy, and Butch often allowed the youngster to feed and water it. From time to time, Button would bring CS horses out to the campsite to race Cassidy’s white, but none of them could beat the animal. Cassidy grew quite fond of young Button and told him that someday he would give him the white horse.

Instead of applying for jobs at the CS Ranch, Cassidy, Longabaugh, and Carver, dressed as ordinary working cowhands, rode into Winnemucca nearly every day for ten days to observe the comings and goings at the bank. They even learned the names of the bank’s employees and the hours of operation. The three men, using information obtained from Button, also scouted the lay of the land and several routes into and out of the town. The outlaws were friendly to everyone they encountered but tried to remain inconspicuous. While most published accounts claim only three men were involved in the Winnemucca bank holdup, at least one eyewitness stated there were four. The fourth bandit, if he existed at all, is completely unknown to researchers.

On Wednesday, September 19, 1900, Cassidy, Longabaugh, and Will Carver took a roundabout route into town, in some cases cutting across pastures and severing barbed-wire fences. On the outskirts of Winnemucca, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid rode in, leaving Carver on the trail a short distance behind. Carver was to enter the bank a few minutes after his accomplices. Cassidy and Longabaugh tied their mounts in the alley behind F. C. Robbins Merchandise store, not far from the First National Bank of Winnemucca.

At approximately noon, Cassidy and Longabaugh casually walked to the bank and entered through the front door. A few minutes later as they were pretending to fill out some forms, Carver entered and tried to remain inconspicuous near a rear wall. Unfortunately, on the way to the bank Carver was sprayed by a skunk—within seconds after entering the establishment, patrons and employees, as well as Cassidy and Longabaugh, regarded him with understandable disgust.

Presently, Carver took a seat. In his arms he carried a rolled blanket that concealed a rifle. In the event of trouble, Carver was to bring forth the rifle and cover his companions.

Suddenly, Cassidy yelled for everyone to raise their hands. Longabaugh, holding two Colt .45s, forced cashier D. V. McBride, bookkeeper Malvin Hill, a stenographer named Calhoun, and a customer named W. S. Johnson against a wall. Cassidy walked to an office in the rear of the building, kicked in the door, pointed a gun at banker George S. Nixon, and ordered him to open the vault. As he did, Cassidy, according to a later interview with Nixon, held the barrel of his pistol to the banker’s head and “a murderous-looking knife” against his throat. Cassidy and Carver began stuffing bags of coins into canvas ore sacks they brought with them. While this was going on, Longabaugh emptied a cashier’s drawer and stuffed another sack full of gold coins.

The robbery went off without a hitch. When the outlaws gathered up all the money they could find, they forced the four bank employees and the customer out the back door and into the yard behind the building. While two of the bandits held guns on them, the third ran to the back of the Robbins store, retrieved the horses, and returned. After securing the heavy sacks to their saddles, the three men mounted up and spurred their horses out of the alley and down Third Street. They fled with a total of $32,640. As the robbers rode out of the alley, Nixon and the customer dashed into the bank and retrieved some firearms.

When the bank robbers turned onto Second Street, one of the money sacks came loose and gold coins spilled out onto the street. As Cassidy dismounted and began picking up the coins, Nixon and Johnson, now armed, ran out of the front door of the bank and began firing at him. They were quickly joined by several citizens who also shot at the fleeing bandits. Longabaugh and Carver returned fire, wounding one of the townsfolk.

The bandits rode east out of town, taking the Golconda Road that paralleled the railroad tracks. Interestingly, several of the townspeople set out in pursuit of the outlaws on foot and on bicycles. When Deputy Sheriff George Rose determined the escape route from his vantage point high atop the town windmill, he climbed down and ran to the nearby Southern Pacific Railroad station. Rose noted that the outlaws fled along a road that paralleled the railroad tracks, so when he reached the station, he ordered the engineer to fire up the locomotive and give chase to the bank robbers.

Before long, the locomotive was pulling close enough to the outlaws that Rose, leaning out of the cab, began taking aim and firing his pistol at them. Though the tracks paralleled the road, over one hundred yards separated them, a rather long distance for accurate pistol shooting.

The bandits fired back, and luckily one of them managed to shoot a hole in an engine pipe, causing steam to escape around the locomotive and obscuring the view of the bandits.

As the long-distance gun battle was taking place between the outlaws and Rose, a hastily assembled posse rode out of Winnemucca in pursuit.

Cassidy, Longabaugh, and Carver had stationed relay horses earlier at intervals along the escape route and as a result made good time against the pursuing posse. About eight miles from Winnemucca, the robbers stopped at the Sloan Ranch to change mounts. Ironically, one of the bandits switched his saddle to a horse belonging to the banker, George S. Nixon, who boarded his animal there.

While Cassidy, Longabaugh, and Carver were changing horses, Cassidy allegedly told an onlooking cowhand to give his white horse to the Button boy. Years later, Button recalled that he was presented the white horse that afternoon as he was on his way home from school. Button kept the horse for the remainder of the animal’s life, and he once wrote that he didn’t believe Butch Cassidy could have been all bad if he could remember keeping his promise to a kid.

By early evening of the day of the robbery, the posse, aided by a skilled Indian tracker, closed in on the robbers as they were riding toward Soldier’s Pass. Beyond the pass, the three outlaws stopped at the Silve Ranch where they had left four horses several days earlier.

With fresh mounts, the outlaws began to outdistance the pursuers, riding northeastward toward the Owyhee River and Idaho. During the flight, one of the posse members, riding far ahead of his companions, closed to within several yards of the bandits, but when the outlaws turned and aimed their rifles at him he stopped and retreated. Finally, the lawmen gave up and returned to Winnemucca. Not long afterward, the outlaws crossed into Idaho.

A short time later, the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, backed by the Winnemucca bank, offered a $6,000 reward for the arrest of Butch Cassidy, Harry Longabaugh, and a third man, at the time not identified.

Later, when reward posters were issued, Will Carver was described as having a smooth face, having dark eyes, and smelling “like a polecat.”

Though Cassidy, along with his companions, escaped once again with loot, he felt the pressure of the pursuing lawmen even more. He was resolved now more than ever to find somewhere else to live.

Eleven

Eastbound

Following the Winnemucca bank holdup, Butch Cassidy, Harry Longabaugh, and Will Carver agreed to split up for a while and meet sometime later in Fort Worth, Texas. Meanwhile, Cassidy and the Sundance Kid took a roundabout route to western Wyoming, where they visited friends and relaxed for a time. Carver, after burying a portion of his share of the bank loot, traveled to San Angelo in West Texas to visit his sweetheart.

The West was now alive with lawmen, bounty hunters, and private detectives, all looking for Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch. Since Wells Fargo and Company had been severely impacted by Wild Bunch depredations, they sent a team of investigators into the field, most notably Fred Dodge. Dodge was a dogged and tenacious detective who was determined to personally run down these outlaws for his employer. The Pinkertons, at the urging of the banks and the railroad companies, were also still very active in the hunt for the bandits.

Realizing the magnitude of the efforts of various agencies and authorities to capture or kill members of the Wild Bunch, Cassidy and Longabaugh began discussing the possibility of leaving the country soon and for good. South America was suggested as a possible destination. During this time, the countries of Argentina and Bolivia were similar to the American West in that they were opening up to settlement and ranching. Word about the opportunities awaiting enterprising Americans had filtered back to Wyoming from several who had made the journey below the equator. Additionally, as in the American West, outlaws from the United States were also traveling to the southern continent and finding the opportunities for robbery were promising.

Together, Cassidy and Longabaugh obtained and read information on various locations in South America. Presently the idea of moving there, far from pursuing lawmen, detectives, courts, and prisons, and establishing a ranch of some kind appealed to them. They began making plans.

After resting up for several weeks in Wyoming, Cassidy and Longabaugh rode south into Colorado where they purchased train tickets to Fort Worth, Texas. They arrived at this booming cattle town during the month of November 1900 and were soon joined by two other Wild Bunchers—Ben Kilpatrick and Harvey “Kid Currie” Logan. A bit later Will Carver arrived.

For the most part, the men spent their time around Fort Worth’s Hell’s Half Acre, the notorious red-light district near the Trinity River. During the previous few years, Fort Worth had grown to become an important cattle town and was fairly bursting with all kinds of activity ranging from banking to business dealings to bawdiness. Long a popular stop along the Chisholm Trail during the cattle drive days, Fort Worth was alive and active with cowboys, buffalo hunters, gamblers, salesmen and businessmen of all stripes, and prostitutes. The Half Acre itself included a few city blocks consisting primarily of taverns, gambling dens, pool halls, and houses of prostitution, all remaining open twenty-four hours per day.

At various times, according to research and legend, Hell’s Half Acre was visited and frequented by outlaws Sam Bass, Billy the Kid, Jesse James, and Luke Short, as well as lawmen Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and Bat Masterson. Unknown to many, future president Theodore Roosevelt was a frequent visitor to the Acre.

Law enforcement officials in Fort Worth openly tolerated the activities in Hell’s Half Acre and visited the region only for emergencies. Law enforcement in the Acre was generally loose to nonexistent. It was said that the lawmen were afraid to enter the district; others maintain many political officials and policemen were paid handsomely by Acre interests to leave them alone.

The five Wild Bunch outlaws quartered at the Randall Apartments. Another writer, James D. Horan, claimed they stayed at a boarding house called Maddox Flats. It is possible the five men stayed at both places on separate occasions.

Cassidy, Longabaugh, Logan, Kilpatrick, and Carver spent most of their waking hours partaking of and participating in the pleasures Hell’s Half Acre had to offer—gambling, drinking, and cavorting with the whores. Ironically, there was a bartender working in Hell’s Half Acre going by the name of Mike Cassidy. Bartender Cassidy was described as a sullen and rather silent man who was close mouthed about his past, which was rumored to be one filled with cattle rustling, horse theft, and perhaps even murder. Though never proven, many are convinced the bartender was the same Mike Cassidy who befriended a young Robert LeRoy Parker years earlier on the Marshall Ranch in Utah. It has also been suggested that Butch Cassidy came to Fort Worth because he knew Mike Cassidy was there and that the two had kept in touch with each other over the years.

One of the favorite hangouts for the five Wild Bunchers was Mary Porter’s establishment. Porter was one of several Fort Worth madams whose house of prostitution catered to men of means, and following the Winnemucca bank holdup, Cassidy and his gang were certainly well heeled.

On November 21, the five friends purchased new clothes—suits, shirts, vests, boots, and derby hats. After making their purchases, they walked together along Main Street, encountering John Schwartz’s photography studio on the way. Deciding to have a photograph made, the five entered the studio and posed for a picture in their new clothes. Cassidy sent a copy of this picture, along with several others, to Vic Button, the youngster he befriended prior to the Winnemucca holdup and to whom he gave his white horse. Though it has never been verified, numerous writers have claimed that Cassidy also sent a copy of the picture to banker George Nixon at the First National Bank of Winnemucca. Given what historians know of Cassidy’s sense of humor and penchant for mischievousness, such an occurrence is not unlikely. For years, one such photograph hung in the Winnemucca bank, believed to be an enlargement of the one sent to Button.

In addition to the five outlaws, photographer John Schwartz also liked the picture. He liked it so much, in fact, that he made another copy and displayed it in the front window of his studio.

As it happened, Wells Fargo detective Fred Dodge was in Fort Worth acting on a tip that Will Carver might be in the area. Carver had been a member of the Black Jack Ketchum Gang that held up a train near Folsom, New Mexico, and killed a pursuing sheriff. Carver was identified by others present at the scene. Wells Fargo went into action, immediately distributing wanted posters throughout New Mexico, Colorado, and Texas. They also assigned Dodge to track down the killer.

A few days following the arrival of the Wild Bunch in Fort Worth, Dodge was passing by Schwartz’s studio when he spotted the photograph. Peering closer, the detective immediately recognized Carver. Though most credit Dodge for the find, at least one researcher believes it was a Pinkerton detective who found the photograph.

After obtaining copies of the photograph from Schwartz, Dodge mailed one to the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, where operatives identified the other four men in the picture. Using the images in the photograph, the Pinkertons printed wanted posters that were subsequently distributed throughout the entire nation.

Most researchers agree that Dodge was assigned to Fort Worth by Wells Fargo as the result of information they received from an anonymous source. Though never proven, many believe the tip came from Carver’s new girlfriend, a prostitute named Callie May Hunt, also known as Lillie Davis. Soon after Dodge identified Carver in the photographs, more Wells Fargo associates, as well as Pinkerton detectives, began arriving at Fort Worth, all hoping capture of the infamous Wild Bunch was imminent.

But they were too late.

By early December, after two months in Fort Worth, the Wild Bunch had scattered. During a subsequent prison interview, Harvey Logan stated that the outlaws had spotted a Pinkerton detective walking the streets of Hell’s Half Acre near the apartment. Within thirty minutes, the Wild Bunch was gone.

Will Carver abandoned his girlfriend in West Texas, allegedly married Hunt, a.k.a. Davis, and returned to Wyoming. On April 2, 1901, Carver died from gunshot wounds suffered during the planning of a bank robbery in Sonora, Texas. After being mortally wounded by Sheriff Elijah S. Bryant, Carver’s last words were reputed to be “Die game, boys.”

Following a train robbery, Ben Kilpatrick and Laura Bullion tried to spend some of the purloined bank notes at a St. Louis jewelry store. The two were arrested. Kilpatrick was sentenced to a fifteen-year prison term at the maximum security federal penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia. Bullion was given a five-year term.

About one year following Kilpatrick’s release in 1911, he and a companion attempted to rob a Southern Pacific train at Dryden, Texas. Kilpatrick and an accomplice who was never positively identified slipped onto the train and climbed across the coal tender and into the engine where they pointed revolvers at the engineer, E. Grosh, and his fireman. They ordered the train halted. With Grosh in tow, the two bandits climbed out of the engine and walked to the express car where they told the engineer to instruct the messenger David Trousdale to open the door. As the engineer was escorted back to the front of the train, Kilpatrick climbed into the express car and began searching through parcels. As he squatted to inspect a particular satchel, Trousdale grabbed a heavy mallet and smashed it into Kilpatrick’s head, crushing his skull and killing him instantly. The messenger then secured a rifle, took cover among the baggage, and awaited the return of the second outlaw. When Kilpatrick’s accomplice finally arrived, he peered into the car only to be shot dead by Trousdale.

Despite the recognition given Butch Cassidy as a notorious outlaw, the somewhat less known Harvey “Kid Curry” Logan was probably the West’s most famous train robber. The ultimate fate of Harvey Logan remains controversial. Many claim he was killed in a shootout with lawmen near Parachute, Colorado, following a train robbery. There is some evidence he took his own life rather than be captured. Though the dead man was formally identified at the scene as Logan, there is abundant evidence strongly suggesting the body belonged to someone else. Other lawmen who knew Logan examined the body and expressed doubt that it was the notorious Kid Curry. Amid the conflicting opinions, the Pinkertons sent one of their agents, Lowell Spence, to oversee the exhumation of the body and provide a definitive identification once and for all. It remains unclear what Spence’s credentials were for establishing the identity of the corpse, but in his report he stated it was definitely Logan. A Union Pacific official who accompanied Spence, however, insisted it was not Logan. In the end, the Pinkerton National Detective Agency accepted the determination that the body did indeed belong to Harvey Logan. Years later, however, William A. Pinkerton himself expressed doubt it was Logan who was killed and was reasonably certain that the outlaw escaped and fled to South America, where he continued to pursue his outlaw career.

After leaving Fort Worth, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid traveled south to San Antonio where they frequented another noted bordello, this one owned and operated by Fannie Porter, a well-known and highly successful madam. Fannie Porter’s San Antonio bordello was a high-class establishment that entertained some of the city’s wealthiest and most influential men. Fannie, apparently not related to Fort Worth’s Mary Porter, has been described by author James D. Horan in
The Wild Bunch
as a “shrewd woman who made a small fortune hiding out train robbers, outlaws, horse thieves, and killers for a price.” Porter’s girls enjoyed visits from Cassidy and other Wild Bunchers. Porter’s five “ladies” looked forward to being entertained by Cassidy and his fun-loving friends. Cassidy is often described as performing tricks on a bicycle for Porter’s ladies, but some researchers believe Harvey Logan also demonstrated his own exceptional riding skills on the two-wheeler.

Reportedly, Fannie Porter introduced Harvey “Kid Curry” Logan to Annie Rogers, whom some claim he later married. It is believed by some that Porter originally introduced the Sundance Kid to Etta Place, though this remains somewhat controversial. Porter also introduced other members of the Wild Bunch to notable “ladies of the evening” such as Laura Bullion, Lillie Davis, and Maud Walker.

According to most writers, Annie Rogers, originally from Texas, met Harvey Logan while she was working as a prostitute and fell deeply in love with him. She eventually followed Logan when he returned to the West and apparently believed she could convince him to settle down. Rogers claimed she remained faithful to him while he was spending time in prison in Tennessee.

Laura Bullion was from Knickerbocker in West Texas, the home of “Black Jack” Ketchum. Her father, Ed Bullion, even had a bit of a reputation as a train robber. In fact, the elder Bullion was killed during a train robbery attempt in New Mexico in 1897. For a time, Bullion was Will Carver’s wife, or at least lover, and occasionally went by the alias Della Rose. Some authors have called her the “Rose of the Wild Bunch.” After Carver’s death, Bullion became close to Ben Kilpatrick. Bullion once tried to help Ben Kilpatrick spend some stolen money, but the two were apprehended and sent to prison.