Oh, a man there lives on the Western plains,
with a ton of fight and an ounce of brains,
who herds the cows as he robs the trains
and goes by the name of cowboy.
He laughs at death and scoffs at life;
he feels unwell unless in some strife;
he fights with a pistol, a rifle, or knife,
this reckless, rollicking cowboy.
-The Cowboy
Howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas! We are in a series about two of America's most famous outlaws, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
I wanted to talk a little bit about the gang which Butch put together and ran and was definitely the leader of. He actually wanted to call it The Train Robbers Syndicate but that didn't go over tool well and wasn't very "catchy."
It didn't really matter what he wanted to call it because outside forces came up with the name..reporters, the Pinkertons, Sheriffs, bankers, no one knows exactly who coined the name first but it caught on fast and stuck.
Butch's fame attracts fellow outlaws
After the string of perfectly executed robberies which Butch designed, his fame among outlaws was great. He had everyone's attention and respect and many made their way to Robbers Roost or where ever he was in hiding to throw in with him.
Almost all of them were cowboys unfortunately. Gives cowboys a bad name but most of them started out as hardworking ranch hands.
Over the years the gang became a revolving door of bad guys, and women, but most were men, especially at first...depending on what type of specialty was needed for the next job.
Butch did conduct interviews and each person had to demonstrate his trustworthiness, loyalty, courage and his ability to use a gun.. if necessary. Harry Longabaugh or Sundance, had been in Brown's Park and had met Butch at the big Thanksgiving dinner at the Bassett ranch. At some point after Butch and Elzy pulled off the payroll robbery at Castle Gate Sundance joined the gang.
Strikingly similar
He basically became the second in command and a trusted associate. Of course their similarities were remarkable. They were both raised by Godly parents, especially their mothers, they both left home at an early age, they both worked as cowboys, they both were very gifted with horses, and they both avoided violence and did not like the thought of killing other people and worked to not have to be in the position to do so.
Oh, and they were both intelligent, thoughtful, avid readers, and Butch would use Sundance to bounce ideas off of him so they became closer as time went on. The organization was a casual and loosely knit one, which surprises researchers who usually find the main Boss as being a vicious dictator.
From what I can tell the Wild Bunch was a largely democratic organization with Butch and Sundance the solid, stable leaders. The rest came and went.
A reasonable CEO
Butch was not like that. He welcomed the input of others and took their opinions and ideas into consideration in his planning. But it appears that Sundance kind of became Butch's back up or enforcer because in the years leading up to his joining the Wild Bunch he must have been honing his skill with a six shooter because he had the respect of all the men and was known as being extremely lethal with his guns.
On this point Hollywood was close to getting it right because that's the part that Robert Redford as Sundance played to Paul Newman's Butch. Here's Mr. Cool and Mr. Cool in case you need your memory jogged, the movie was made 50 years ago afterall:
A couple of the gang had told a story about Sundance that I thought was funny. I guess he had a thing for Ralston Cereal and one day one of the other gang members was teasing him about it. Now, you gotta keep in mind that Sundance, although affable and kind, could also be moody and sullen and in a dangerously bad mood.
So it was on this day apparently because he took offense to being teased and put a bowl of that cereal down in front of the member who was teasing him and stood back from the table with his hands on his six shooters and invited the man to eat the cereal. The other gang member turned white, then ate the cereal and proclaimed that it was the best cereal he'd ever done tasted! lol.
In the next post I'll talk about some of the more regular members of the Wild Bunch, who included a few of the most cold blooded killers in the West.
Thanks for reading folks, God bless you all!
-jonboy Texas
the gentleman redneck
PS- ya know....you might just be a redneck if:
You use duct tape to repair your plastic "silverware!"
