The Wild Bunch

Butch Cassidy's bandit gang operated in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Colorado, Utah, and Nevada for five years, 1896 - 1901. Their agenda included robbing banks, trains, and stagecoaches throughout the area. The Wild Bunch was part of the larger Hole-in-the-Wall Gang, which took its name from the Hole-in-the-Wall Pass in Johnson County, Wyoming, which several outlaw gangs used as their hideouts. They performed the longest string of successful train and bank robberies in American history.

Pictured on the Fort Worth Five are:

He probably met his companion Butch Cassidy after that was released from prison around 1896. After pursuing a career in crime for several years in the Western United States, the pressures of being pursued, notably by the Pinkerton Detective Agency, forced the Kid along with his wife Etta Place and Butch Cassidy to leave the country. They fled to Argentina and then to Bolivia, where the two men are believed to have been killed in a shootout in November 1908.

Harry Alonzo Longabaugh

Sundance Kid

(1867 – Nov 7, 1908)

Will Carver

William Carver

News

(Sep 12, 1868 – Apr 2, 1901)

Tall Texan

Ben Kilpatrick

Tall Texan

(Jan 5, 1874 – Mar 12, 1912)

Kid Curry

Harvey Alexander Logan

Kid Curry

(1867 – Jun 17, 1904)

Butch Cassidy

Robert Leroy Parker

Butch Cassidy

(Apr 13, 1866 – Nov 7, 1908)

About the photographer

The iconic photo shows the Wild Bunch protagonists, but little has been written about the photographer or about the detective who discovered the photo. This article by Richard Selcer & Donna Donnell sheds light on them.

The McCubbin Collection

The True West Magazine presents the 65 most important historical photos from the McCubbin Collection.