Butch Cassidy

by W. C. Jameson

  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.

  Some have advanced the notion that Lillie Davis from Palestine, Texas, married Will Carver in Fort Worth, though no record of the union has ever been located. Most simply regard Davis as Carver’s common-law wife. According to the Pinkertons, Davis was later instrumental in providing important information on the operations of the Wild Bunch to the Pinkertons, including information on Cassidy’s description and his aliases.

  Maud Walker, whose real name was Beulah Phinburg, was reportedly married to Harvey Logan in spite of Logan’s relationship with Annie Rogers. Walker’s relationship with Logan lasted only a few weeks, and no proof of a marriage has ever been found.

  Before leaving San Antonio, it is believed Cassidy and Longabaugh converted all of their stolen bank notes to cash. Sometime in late December 1900, they separated. Longabaugh and Etta Place traveled to New Orleans where it is believed they were married, although no marriage license has ever been located. No one is entirely certain of what Butch Cassidy did during this time, but prior to Longabaugh’s departure to New Orleans, the two friends agreed to meet in New York City during the first week of February.

  After spending time in New Orleans, Longabaugh and Place then traveled to Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, where they visited his brother Harvey and his sisters Emma and Samanna. He told them he and his partner Cassidy were planning to travel to South America and purchase a ranch. It is uncertain whether or not Longabaugh was aware of it, but Pinkerton agents had been staking out the homes of his relatives. Longabaugh’s visit, however, went undetected.

  From Phoenixville, the couple traveled to Buffalo, checking into Dr. Pierce’s Invalids Hotel and Surgica
l Institute. Some have speculated Longabaugh was seeking medical treatment for a bullet wound in his left leg, while others have suggested he may have been in search of relief from a serious sinus infection, catarrh, or perhaps even tuberculosis. Still others advance the notion that either Longabaugh or Etta, or both, sought treatment for venereal disease. Unfortunately, no records from the hospital exist.

  Following a few days at Dr. Pierce’s institute, the couple traveled to Niagara Falls. By the first week of February, they had arrived in New York City and checked into a boarding house using the names Mr. and Mrs. Harry A. Place. Place, it will be recalled, was the maiden name of Longabaugh’s mother. Here, they found Butch Cassidy waiting for them. It has been reported that Cassidy was not happy to learn that Etta Place was going to accompany them to South America but eventually grew accustomed to the idea. In New York, Cassidy was going by the name James Ryan and was introduced as Mrs. Place’s brother. The two men posed as Western cattle buyers.

  While staying in New York for the next three weeks, the trio availed themselves of the culture the city had to offer, often dining in fine restaurants, going to the theater, and purchasing fine jewelry and clothes. Longabaugh and Etta Place visited DeYoung’s Photography Studio and sat for a portrait. Most Longabaugh scholars are convinced this was intended to be a wedding portrait of the couple. Somehow, a copy of this photograph fell into the hands of Pinkerton agents, and the images of the Sundance Kid and Etta Place were eventually attached to wanted posters.

  Meanwhile, Pinkerton detectives continued their search for members of the Wild Bunch and eventually discovered Cassidy and Longabaugh were in New York. Determined to capture the outlaw, the Pinkertons doubled their efforts, and during their investigation even learned the exact address of Longabaugh’s temporary residence.

  On learning that the Pinkertons were closing in once again, Cassidy and Longabaugh decided it was time to move on. Using their aliases, the Sundance Kid and Etta Place booked passage on the SS Herminius on 20 February 1901. The pair was bound for Buenos Aires, Argentina.