← Back to the front page

The Notorious Men of the Wild West

Khalid Elhassan December 4, 2019 32 min

19. Don’t Rob While Seeking an Amnesty For Robbery

The Wild Bunch, including the Sundance Kid, seated front row, left, and Butch Cassidy, seated front row, right. Wikimedia

Butch Cassidy tried to negotiate an amnesty plea with Wyoming’s governor, in which the Union Pacific Railroad would have dropped criminal charges. He blew up the negotiations by robbing another Union Pacific train in 1900, in breach of a promise made to the governor. Pressure mounted as posses tracked down and killed or arrested Wild Bunch members and associates, one after another.

In May 1900, Wild Bunch members rode into Moab, Utah, and killed the Sheriff and a deputy in retaliation for the killing of two gang members. In September 1900, Cassidy robbed a Nevada bank of $33,000, and in July, 1901, Wild Bunch members robbed a train in Montana, netting $60,000. Under mounting pressure, the gang broke up, and Cassidy fled to New York City in 1901 with Harry Alonzo Longabaugh, better known as the Sundance Kid. From NYC, they sailed to Argentina, where they bought a 15,000-acre ranch.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.