Printed and Manuscript Americana

Rare Wanted Poster for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

"July 3rd, 1901, about 2:30 P.M., Great Northern Railway Express train No. 3 was 'held up' near Wagner, Montana, by highwaymen, who opened the through express safe by the use of dynamite..."

St. Paul, Minnesota: Pinkerton's National Detective Agency, August 5, 1901. Single sheet, 14 x 17 in. (356 x 432 mm). Printed wanted circular for Harvey Logan ("Kid Curry"), Robert LeRoy Parker ("Butch Cassidy"), Harry Longabaugh ("the Sundance Kid"), and Orlando Camillo Hanks ("Deaf Charley"); with printed photographic images of Logan, Parker, and Hanks. Creasing from old folds; closed tear in bottom right edge; scattered wear and short closed tears along edges; scattered soiling.

A very rare wanted poster for outlaws Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and their Wild Bunch accomplices Kid Curry and Deaf Charley, issued in response to the last train robbery they ever conducted as a gang--a brazen daylight heist of the Great Northern Express train on July 3rd, 1901, outside Wagner, Montana.

Circulated by the Pinkerton Detective Agency on behalf of the Great Northern Express Company, this circular offers up to $6,500 for information leading to the capture and prosecution of these men. It recounts their crime, that on "July 3rd, 1901, about 2:30 P.M., Great Northern Railway Express train No. 3 was 'held up' near Wagner, Montana, by highwaymen, who opened the through express safe by the use of dynamite. One man boarded the blind baggage car...and shortly before reaching the place of robbery, crawled over the enginetender and 'covered' the engineer and fireman with a revolver and compelled them to stop...Two men, one on each side of the train, with rifles prevented passengers and others from interfering...After robbing the express car, the bandits mounted horses and rode away."

The bandits made off with over $40,000 in bank notes and money orders (nearly $1.25 million in today's money), before reportedly fleeing to the Little Rocky Mountains, and then likely onward along the Outlaw Trail to one of their many secluded hide-outs such as Hole-in-the-Wall, Robbers Roost, and Brown's Hole. The circular provides highly detailed profiles of each man, including photographic reproductions of Cassidy, Curry, and Charley, as well as listing their supposed real names (Cassidy, whose real name is Robert Leroy Parker, is misidentified here as George Parker, while the Sundance Kid, Harry Longabaugh, is misspelled "Longbaugh"), their numerous aliases, physical descriptions, last known residences, occupations, and criminal histories.

While this circular lists Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid as having participated in the July 3rd crime, there is debate as to whether one or both of them actually took part in the heist. Some accounts indicate that at the time of the crime they were in Argentina, having fled there earlier that year, while other accounts record them arriving there the following year, in 1902. Furthermore, the exact number of perpetrators or members who participated is unclear, and while this poster lists Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, Kid Curry, and Deaf Charley as the culprits, others such as Bill "News" Carter and Ben Kilpatrick could also have participated (eyewitness accounts state that at least three men took part). Nonetheless, for this crime and their numerous other robberies committed over the preceding decade, the Pinkerton Detective Agency doggedly pursued these men, issuing circulars and wanted posters like the above (with increasing monetary rewards) for use by law enforcement, bank officials, and the public alike.

The presumed mastermind of the heist was Harvey Logan, aka Kid Curry—one of the more colorful and deadly criminals in the Old West—who was familiar with the area where the train was robbed. His many criminal activities listed above include, "Bank robber, train robber, horse and cattle thief, rustler, 'hold up' and murderer" (he is estimated to have murdered 11 men, the majority being law enforcement). Despite the many uncertainties surrounding the facts of the event, this was the last train robbery the Wild Bunch ever executed together as a gang, as they disbanded afterwards, with each member going their own way, and meeting their own fate over the following decade. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were purportedly killed in a shootout with Bolivian authorities in 1908; Kid Curry was supposedly killed following a train robbery outside Parachute, Colorado in 1904; Deaf Charley was killed by detectives in San Antonio in 1902; Bill Carter was killed by authorities in Sonora, Texas shortly after this heist; Ben Kilpatrick was arrested in December 1901 and killed over a decade later in 1912 during a train robbery in Texas.

According to RBH and ABSA, we can find only one other example of this circular at auction.

A rare relic of the Old West, marking the last great heist of one of America's most notorious gangs.