he was incarcerated with a number of others who were serving time for horse and cattle rustling. Furthermore, it has been suspected that fellow inmate John Worley, a former railroad employee, schooled Cassidy in the rudiments of train robbery.
Ironically, another of Cassidy’s fellow prisoners was Billy Nutcher, the young man who “sold” Cassidy the very horse he was charged with stealing. Nutcher was also serving time for horse theft.
Cassidy proved to be no trouble whatsoever to prison authorities, and after eighteen months he was called before Wyoming governor W. A. Richards to discuss an early release. The following story may be apocryphal, but according to writer Betenson, the governor confessed to being under some pressure from some of the state’s leading cattlemen—they were not looking forward to the day Cassidy was released from prison. They feared that a man with his leadership abilities as well as his penchant for and success in rustling cattle boded ill for the future. The governor, apparently at the urging of several ranchers, agreed to release Cassidy early if the outlaw would consent to not ever bother Wyoming’s cattlemen again.
Cassidy readily agreed to the proposition. When Richards asked him why he was so willing to make such a bargain, Cassidy allegedly told him straightforwardly that cattle and horse theft was “just too slow a way to get rich.” He told the governor that when you need money, you should go where it is. When the governor inquired of the soon-to-be released prisoner where that would be, Cassidy reportedly replied, “In banks.” Before the interview was over, however, the clearly concerned Richards exacted a promise from Cassidy that, in addition to Wyoming’s cattlemen, he would leave the banks alone, too.
Butch Cassidy was officially pardoned on January 19, 1896. As he rode away from Laramie, he pointed his mount in the direction of Brown’s Park. The long journey gave him time to think, and the more he thought about his previous year and a half in prison and the circumstances that led to it, the angrier he became.
Cassidy was convinced that his prison sentence was the result of a conspiracy to get him off the range. While he had certainly taken horses and cattle, the ultimate conviction and sentence had been based on what he considered a made-up charge over a five-dollar horse. Once again, he was certain, it was a case of the powerful and wealthy manipulating the laws to place those with lesser means at a disadvantage.
Butch Cassidy’s time for revenge would come.
Six
Robberies
Over the years there has been discussion among researchers as to when Butch Cassidy actually became committed to pursuing the life of an outlaw and the reasons behind the decision. While many of his earlier illegal escapades may have resulted from some level of roguish or prankish behavior, many believe his eighteen-month-long prison sentence oriented him toward the bad, the experience turning him into a hardened outlaw.
Others—those who lean more toward ascribing a certain idealism and a Robin Hood image to Cassidy—maintain there were altruistic reasons for his outlaw adventures, that he perceived the existence of an imbalance of justice in the world between corporate powers and the small rancher who toiled to make a living. Still others suggest his outlawry was simply a kind of revenge against established authority, by whom he, Cassidy, himself had been affected. His retaliation against existing powers, some have speculated, was simply Cassidy’s method of making a statement to the effect that the common man was not going to lay down and allow the rich and powerful to run over him.
Regardless of his motives, real or suspected, Butch Cassidy turned to bank robberies with a certain zeal heretofore not applied to his misdeeds, and he accomplished these, as well as other crimes, with a style and competence heretofore unknown in the history of American outlawry.
Shortly after returning
Ironically, another of Cassidy’s fellow prisoners was Billy Nutcher, the young man who “sold” Cassidy the very horse he was charged with stealing. Nutcher was also serving time for horse theft.
Cassidy proved to be no trouble whatsoever to prison authorities, and after eighteen months he was called before Wyoming governor W. A. Richards to discuss an early release. The following story may be apocryphal, but according to writer Betenson, the governor confessed to being under some pressure from some of the state’s leading cattlemen—they were not looking forward to the day Cassidy was released from prison. They feared that a man with his leadership abilities as well as his penchant for and success in rustling cattle boded ill for the future. The governor, apparently at the urging of several ranchers, agreed to release Cassidy early if the outlaw would consent to not ever bother Wyoming’s cattlemen again.
Cassidy readily agreed to the proposition. When Richards asked him why he was so willing to make such a bargain, Cassidy allegedly told him straightforwardly that cattle and horse theft was “just too slow a way to get rich.” He told the governor that when you need money, you should go where it is. When the governor inquired of the soon-to-be released prisoner where that would be, Cassidy reportedly replied, “In banks.” Before the interview was over, however, the clearly concerned Richards exacted a promise from Cassidy that, in addition to Wyoming’s cattlemen, he would leave the banks alone, too.
Butch Cassidy was officially pardoned on January 19, 1896. As he rode away from Laramie, he pointed his mount in the direction of Brown’s Park. The long journey gave him time to think, and the more he thought about his previous year and a half in prison and the circumstances that led to it, the angrier he became.
Cassidy was convinced that his prison sentence was the result of a conspiracy to get him off the range. While he had certainly taken horses and cattle, the ultimate conviction and sentence had been based on what he considered a made-up charge over a five-dollar horse. Once again, he was certain, it was a case of the powerful and wealthy manipulating the laws to place those with lesser means at a disadvantage.
Butch Cassidy’s time for revenge would come.
Six
Robberies
Over the years there has been discussion among researchers as to when Butch Cassidy actually became committed to pursuing the life of an outlaw and the reasons behind the decision. While many of his earlier illegal escapades may have resulted from some level of roguish or prankish behavior, many believe his eighteen-month-long prison sentence oriented him toward the bad, the experience turning him into a hardened outlaw.
Others—those who lean more toward ascribing a certain idealism and a Robin Hood image to Cassidy—maintain there were altruistic reasons for his outlaw adventures, that he perceived the existence of an imbalance of justice in the world between corporate powers and the small rancher who toiled to make a living. Still others suggest his outlawry was simply a kind of revenge against established authority, by whom he, Cassidy, himself had been affected. His retaliation against existing powers, some have speculated, was simply Cassidy’s method of making a statement to the effect that the common man was not going to lay down and allow the rich and powerful to run over him.
Regardless of his motives, real or suspected, Butch Cassidy turned to bank robberies with a certain zeal heretofore not applied to his misdeeds, and he accomplished these, as well as other crimes, with a style and competence heretofore unknown in the history of American outlawry.
Shortly after returning
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