Butch Cassidy

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Lore & Background

Robert LeRoy Parker was born on April 13, 1866, in Beaver, Utah Territory, the first of thirteen children of English immigrants Maximillian Parker and Ann Campbell Gillies. He grew up on his parents' ranch near Circleville. As a teenager, he fled home and, while working on a dairy ranch, met cattle thief Mike Cassidy. He later worked on several ranches and had a brief apprenticeship with a butcher in Rock Springs, Wyoming Territory, where he got his nickname 'Butch' (from 'butcher'), to which he soon added the last name Cassidy in honor of his old friend and mentor. His first criminal offense was minor: around 1880 he broke into a clothier shop, stole a pair of jeans and some pie, and left an IOU; he was acquitted by a jury. Cassidy's first bank robbery took place on June 24, 1889, when he, Matt Warner, and two of the McCarty brothers robbed the San Miguel Valley Bank in Telluride, stealing around $21,000. In 1890, he purchased a ranch on the outskirts of Dubois, Wyoming, possibly a façade for clandestine activities. In early 1894, he became romantically involved with rancher and outlaw Ann Bassett. That same year, he was arrested at Lander, Wyoming, for stealing horses and possibly for running a protection racket, and served eighteen months of a two-year sentence in the Wyoming State Prison in Laramie, being released and pardoned in January 1896 by Governor William Alford Richards.

Reader's Guide

Butch Cassidy's significance lies in his role as the leader of the Wild Bunch, a loose association of outlaws that robbed banks and trains across the American West. His criminal career, spanning more than a decade, was marked by a series of high-profile robberies, including the June 2, 1899 Union Pacific Overland Flyer train robbery near Wilcox, Wyoming, which earned the gang great notoriety and resulted in a massive manhunt. On August 29, 1900, Cassidy, Longabaugh, and others robbed Union Pacific train No. 3 near Tipton, Wyoming, breaking Cassidy's earlier promise to the governor of Wyoming and ending any chance for amnesty. Pursued by the Pinkerton detective agency, he fled to South America with Harry Longabaugh and Etta Place. Their deaths in Bolivia in November 1908 remain uncertain, contributing to the legend. Cassidy's life has been extensively dramatized in film, television, and literature, and he remains one of the best-known icons of the 'Wild West' mythos in modern times.

Did You Know?

• Cassidy's first criminal offense was around 1880, when he broke into a clothier shop, stole a pair of jeans and some pie, and left an IOU; he was acquitted by a jury.
• His first bank robbery was on June 24, 1889, when he, Matt Warner, and two of the McCarty brothers stole around $21,000 from the San Miguel Valley Bank in Telluride.
• Cassidy served eighteen months of a two-year sentence in Wyoming State Prison for stealing horses and was pardoned in January 1896 by Governor William Alford Richards.
• The Wild Bunch's June 2, 1899 robbery of a Union Pacific Overland Flyer near Wilcox, Wyoming, triggered a massive manhunt and resulted in the killing of Sheriff Joe Hazen.
• Cassidy, Longabaugh, and Etta Place traveled first to Argentina and then to Bolivia, where Cassidy and Longabaugh are believed to have been killed in a shootout with the Bolivian Army in November 1908.