Howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas! This post is part of a series about two of America's most famous outlaws, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. In yesterday's post Butch got sent to the Slammer so we see what Sundance was up to at this time.
If you remember Sundance, or Harry's story, the last time we saw him was after he took part in a pitiful train robbery and he was high-tailing it out of the area. He ended up in Wyoming, The Little Snake River Valley and work as a ranch hand.
Little Snake River Valley, Wyoming:
He did drop his last name of Longabaugh though, and just went by Harry Alonzo. He was known in the community as a hard working, honest, cowhand who was gifted in working with horses. He was likeable and popular. Sounds like Butch doesn't he?
The only trouble he had was when he got into some kind of argument with his boss and was arrested by the local Sheriff, "Big" Perkins. I'm serious, that's what the records say..the Sheriff's name was Big. lol. Anyway the sheriff handcuffed Harry and if you remember Harry first came to fame by picking the locks of his handcuffs and shackles.
Not handcuffs again!
He just had a real problem with being handcuffed. He didn't escape these handcuffs but he freaked out a little bit and hit the Sheriff Big in the face with them. I think Big had to sit on him awhile to calm him down. But Big released him with no charges for the assault which I thought was pretty big of him. lol...sorry I couldn't resist.
I wonder how he got that name anyway. You reckon when he was born his parents said "whoa that's a BIG one!" and the name stuck?
However, Big DID request information on Harry and that request was picked up by the Pinkerton Detective Agency and they started a file on him. They also sent agents to the area to see if they could find any crimes going on.
A little history on the Pinkertons
A word about these guys because they play a role in Butch and Sundance's lives later on.
The Pinkerton agency had "detective" in their name which made them sound official like they were a law enforcement agency. But really, they were just a bunch of cut throats who were hired out to the highest bidder and usually broke more laws in apprehending someone than the person they were chasing! Including unlawful arrest, torture and murder.
They became famous for solving some train robberies in the 1850's so President Lincoln had them put together a spy network for the union and that morphed into the Secret Service. Their specialties were surveillance and infiltration. Later, local police and the FBI learned their methods and put them into use. They still exist today but just go by the name Pinkerton. They're a private security firm.
Back in the 1800's they were regarded with suspicion and fear because their philosophy was basically "whatever it takes to get the job done." The end justifies the means. So when they started showing up in Harry's region people were a little paranoid and wondering what they were doing and who they were investigating. Here's a vintage photo of three Pinkerton agents:
There were also wanted posters distributed in town about the train robbery that Harry took part in. He didn't run for it, he just kept working and maintained a low profile. Except for that run-in with Big.
I don't what Harry's problem was. It's easy to imagine that as he got older he knew he'd never make much of himself on the wages of a cowboy. Maybe he was tired of the monotonous days, choking dust in the summer, spending months in the winter cooped up in a line shack with little to no companionship. The hard work, the aches and pains. The loneliness.
Or maybe he could just never get the thought of robbing out of his mind. Where he was working at that time was only twelve miles from where he first got into trouble stealing that horse, saddle and six shooter.
And he was only a few hours from Brown's Park where Butch had spent so much time and there were men that he came to know from that area. Men who were ready and willing to rob banks.
Obviously Harry's gonna try his hand at outlawry again. The question is, will he be more successful than his first two tries, which were pathetic?
Thanks for reading folks, God bless you all!
-jonboy Texas
the gentleman redneck
PS- ya know....you might just be a redneck if...
your town's firetruck looks like this:
