An Actual Photo Of Butch Cassidy
This colorized mug shot of Butch Cassidy is one of the few photographs of the outlaw, and his only mugshot, as he was not captured again after he was released from his time in Laramie, Wyoming. Taken in 1894 after he was arrested for rustling cattle and horses, the colorized version of this photo makes Cassidy look almost modern.
The big tell with this jail house photo is that it looks more like a portrait than a contemporary mugshot. That's because the art of the prisoner photo had only been standardized a few years before this shot was taken. When you see this shot in black in white it's clear that you're looking at a thing from a bygone era, but in full color it's as if new life has been breathed into Butch Cassidy.
The Wyoming Territorial Prison, where Cassidy was jailed, opened in 1872, 12 years prior to Cassidy’s arrest. The modern mugshot, which we are familiar with, originated in Paris in the 1830s. A clerk in the Prefecture of Police office created the so-called Bertillon system of two side by side pictures: a front facing shot and a profile shot. The system was showcased at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893, and urban police departments began using it as many considered it useful for “scientific law enforcement.”
He Was Not Always Butch Cassidy
Butch Cassidy was born Robert LeRoy Parker on April 13, 1866, in Beaver, Utah. Parker was raised in a Mormon family, the oldest of 13 children. In 1879, he met Mike Cassidy. Cassidy taught him what he needed to know: riding, roping, shooting, and most importantly, rustling. LeRoy Parker eventually adopted Mike Cassidy’s last name as his own. Parker was first arrested when he was 13. According to the story, he went to town to buy overalls. After finding the store closed, he let himself in, took a pair, and left a note promising to pay. He was unable to honor this promise, as the store owner had him arrested.
In 1884, Parker rode into Telluride, Colorado, and learned about life in the Wild West. He took a grueling job working in the mines. Then, on June 24, 1889, he may have robbed his first bank, the San Miguel Valley Bank, in Telluride, Colorado, absconding with $20,000. However, the papers did not mention his name, only those of the other robbers and Parker was not arrested for the crime. After this robbery, Parker renamed himself after Cassidy because he did not want to shame his mother. He moved on to Rock Spring, Wyoming, where he became a butcher, hence the first name he is now known by.
Planning His Way Into History
The baggage car damaged in the Wilcox robbery. Source: (WyoHistory.org)
In 1894, he was arrested after he purchased a stolen horse for $5 from Billy Nutcher, a rustler. He believed that he had been set up for the crime. He was tried and convicted under the name George Cassidy; during his time in prison, became known as Butch. Cassidy, a model prisoner in the territorial prison in Laramie, Wyoming, was released after spending 18 months in jail. The judge in the case, Jesse Knight, had written remorseful letter, stating that he failed to inform the jury that buying stolen goods was only a crime in Wyoming only if the purchaser was unaware that the goods had been stolen. Because it was uncertain whether Cassidy knew he had purchased stolen goods, the governor asked Knight to circulate a petition to get people to vouch for Cassidy’s character. Cassidy did not behave himself after he was released however, starting a gang called the Wild Bunch. This group of former horse thieves and rustlers started to use their skills to rob trains and banks. They hid in various places, adopting the names of their locales, calling themselves names that included the Bitter Creek Gang, and the Hole in the Wall Gang. They did so with style, hiding getaway horses and other supplies along the route, as well as doing reconnaissance prior to committing the crime. Butch Cassidy became known for his careful planning.
A Helpful Criminal
The Sundance Kid and Etta Place. Source: (DeYoung Photography Studio/Wikipedia)
Although he was a criminal, he was not known for gun violence, and his neighbors considered him helpful, and he seemed to be proud of the fact that he had not shed any blood during his robberies. He had a reputation as a bit of a Robin Hood figure, redistributing money to the poor, and helping some ranchers with their mortgages. He is believed to have been involved in two significant train robberies, the Wilcox and Tipton robberies. In both cases, the trains were blown up using too much dynamite. The execution of the Wilcox robbery may have been too careless to be a Cassidy job, and, while the Tipton job had some of the marks of Cassidy, there are doubts that he executed it.
The Hunt for the Outlaw Begins and Ends
The Wild Bunch. Butch Cassidy is in the lower left. Source: (Wikimedia)
Railroad executives, fed up with the crime spree, hired the Pinkerton Detective Agency to apprehend the outlaws. The Pinkertons used serial numbers from the stolen bank notes to trace the robbers. As the Pinkertons closed in, the core of the Wild Bunch rendezvoused in Fort Worth, Texas. They tried to disappear there, wearing clothes similar to the clothes of the moguls they had been robbing. In those outfits, looking decidedly not like outlaws, they posed for a picture. The photographer put the photo in his window as an advertisement, and it came to the attention of the Pinkertons. While the other members of the Wild Bunch were captured or died, Butch Cassidy fled with the Sundance Kid and Etta Place, ending up in Argentina in 1902. where they ran a ranching operation. The Pinkertons managed to trace the trio to Argentina, and so, fearing the Pinkertons were closing in, they left again, heading to Bolivia to work in the Concordia Tin Mines; Cassidy worked as a payroll guard. His death remains a mystery, although some historians believed that he and the Sundance Kid were killed in Bolivia after they allegedly robbed a payroll; the bodies were then buried in unmarked graves. However, in the 20th century, the bodies were exhumed and were found to not be the two outlaws. They may have returned to the United States and lived under their aliases, but the mystery remains unsolved.
