ROBERT AND HARRY - A DARING PAIR
2002-11-12

by Pam North

The West is full of heroes and villains - characters whose personalities
have been misted over in the passage of time into mixtures of
overlapping fact and fiction.  Of the desperadoes and villains who have
inscribed their identities on the pages of Western history, two of the
most famous are Robert Leroy Parker and Harry Alonzo Longabaugh.  If
these names don't immediately ring a bell, perhaps Butch Cassidy and the
Sundance Kid might register more familiarly.

The Paul Newman/Robert Redford movie classic, one of the highest-
grossing cowboy films of all times, captured the fancy of the American
movie-going public, acquainting it with this daring pair.  The real
outlaws, though not as handsome as the actors who later portrayed them
on the screen, were master bank and train robbers who seldom used their
guns, depending instead on their wits and their ability to carefully
plan their jobs.  These were the cornerstones to their success, and
contrary to the majority of others in the occupation of robbery, Cassidy
and Sundance actually lived long enough to enjoy the fruits of their
labor, accumulating enormous wealth in the course of their escapades.

Butch Cassidy (Parker) was born April 15, 1866 in Beaver, Utah, the son
of Mormon parents, and the Sundance Kid (Longabaugh) was born in 1867 in
Mont Clare, Pennsylvania.  Opinions differ on the motivation behind
their exploits:  it may have been a reaction to an emerging monopoly
capitalism (small ranchers and businessmen were being overwhelmed by the
rich "robber barons" of the era), or perhaps it simply may have been
the result of bad company.  Their gang, known both as the Hole in the
Wall Gang and the Wild Bunch, perfected a technique that made them
spectacularly successful in staging major heists; it was a three-man
robbery in which one man held the horse, one held the gun, and another
grabbed the cash.  Their method was stylish and attention-getting in
train robberies; they used dynamite to blow up the baggage cars, but
never harmed the passengers or crews.  Plans for heists were well
thought out and perfectly executed, and their exploits became legendary.

The famous Pinkerton Detective Agency was in steady pursuit of the Wild
Bunch by 1900, causing the number of the gang to diminish.  A very
successful bank job executed by Cassidy, Sundance and a third man,
netting over $32,000 in cash, took place in a remote area of Nevada, and
afterward the three split company to reunite later in Texas, indulging
in a major spending spree with the money they had stolen.  In 1901, a
final train robbery was pulled off; Cassidy and Sundance made off with
thousands in bank notes after a typical dynamite demolition of a baggage
car.  The pair made a brief visit to New York City, then, along with
Sundance's lover, went to Argentina.  After purchasing a ranch there,
they lived quietly until 1906, when an apparent need for more money
motivated them to rob a bank in a nearby town.

The trio returned to the United States, then Cassidy and Sundance
reunited in Bolivia around 1909.  Their real notoriety began at that
point with a violent shoot-out with the Bolivian cavalry, probably
associated with a robbery, and accounts are contradictory regarding the
outcome of that incident:  both men died; only Cassidy survived; both
men escaped with the mistaken identity of two other outlaws shot at the
site substituting for their own.  The last scenario is commonly believed
to have some credibility, with the possibility of Cassidy changing his
name and dying in a Washington state nursing home in 1937, and Sundance
rejoining his longtime move and settling in Wyoming until his death in
1956.

What isn't in doubt is that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were
shrewd outlaws whose cleverness and bravado made them legends of the Old
West.





Photo for article is at:
http://www.pine-haven-wy.net/outlaws/Longabaugh_(The_Sundance_Kid).html

[ed. note: see http://www.pine-haven-wy.net/outlaws/photo_wild_bunch.html ]

Caption:  The Wild Bunch, with the Sundance Kid (far left) and Butch
Cassidy (far right) on the front row.  This photo fell into the hands of
the Pinkerton Detective Agency, providing them with the identification  
needed to track the Wild Bunch.

- - -