Robert LeRoy Parker (p.3)

Cassidy ventured up the Star Valley area where his old friends Matt Warner and Tom McCarty tracked him down. Cassidy convinced the outlaws to join him on a cattle raid in conjunction with the Johnson County War. The outlaws agreed and together they picked up fifty head of cattle before being spotted by a posse and forced to abandon the cattle and split up.

In August 1891 Cassidy purchased some horses from Joseph “Billy” Nutcher. Cassidy was spending his time in the Rock Springs, Wyoming area around this time and may have received his nickname “Butch” there while working as a butcher.

Cassidy’s new horses turned out to be the property of the Grey Bull Cattle Company. Believing Cassidy and Al Hainer were responsible for the theft, the law was soon looking for Butch. The pair were eventually captured in Auburn, Wyoming by Deputy Sheriff Bob Caverley and John Chapman. Cassidy and Hainer were then transported to Lander to await trial.

Cassidy sent word to his attorney, Douglas A. Preston, that he was in trouble, while Hainer secured the services of local attorney C.F. Rathbone. Unable to make bail the two men waited in jail for the next two months. Their trial was postponed several times before officially commencing on June 20, 1893. Cassidy and Hainer were acquitted on all charges. Acquittal was not good enough for the prosecutors and the pair soon found themselves on trial again over the stolen horses. Again the two men watched as their trial was postponed and moved back several times before eventually getting underway June 1894.

This time Will Simpson, Cassidy’s friend and neighbor from the back in the day, was set to act as prosecutor. Simpson successfully argued his case against the two men leading to Cassidy’s conviction for theft of a $5.00 horse. Al Hainer was acquitted of all charges. Cassidy found himself sentenced to two years imprisonment to be served at the Wyoming State Penitentiary. Douglas Preston attempted to file and appeal but was turned down by the judge.

Under the name George Cassidy, Butch entered prison on July 15, 1894 as prisoner #187 to begin his two-year sentence. Ironically, Billy Nutcher, the man who sold Cassidy the stolen horses, was doing time in the same prison.

Wyoming governor, William A. Richards pardoned Cassidy and Butch was able to walk out of prison a free man on January 29, 1896. He headed straight for Matt Warner’s Diamond Mountain ranch. By this time Warner’s gang, The Invincible Three, had disbanded. After his brother and nephew’s death during the robbery of the Farmers & Merchants Bank in Delta, Colorado, Tom McCarty had given up the outlaw life. Warner similarly was trying to live the straight life after his legal problems in Roslyn, Washington, choosing instead to settle down with his wife and young daughter.

Warner’s wife developed cancer in her leg and sought treatment in nearby Vernal, Utah. His house empty, Warner extended the offer for Cassidy to stay as long as he liked. An offer Butch readily accepted. Elzy Lay was a frequent visitor to Warner’s ranch around this time and Cassidy took the opportunity to rekindle his friendship with Lay.

By May 1896, Warner fond himself awaiting trial for murder due to his involvement in the Coleman Affair. Rotting in a jail cell in Ogden, Utah, Warner managed to smuggle out a note to Cassidy requesting his help to pay for legal expenses. Cassidy responded by robbing the Bank of Montpelier in Montpelier, Idaho.