Robert LeRoy Parker (p.5)

After Lay’s arrest, the Pinkertons began snooping around the WS Ranch and Cassidy wisely decided it was time to leave the area. Around this time Cassidy made several attempts to go straight, first contacting Salt Lake City attorney Orlando W. Powers and later appealing to family friend Parley P. Christiansen. Christiansen contacted Utah governor Heber Manning Wells on Butch’s behalf. Both attempts were unsuccessful.

Powers came up with a new plan, seeking Cassidy’s amnesty directly from the railroads in return for Butch’s promise not to rob them anymore. A meeting was set up between Cassidy and UPRR officials who were led to the designating meeting place by Cassidy’s attorney, Douglas A. Preston. Due to a train delay, the meeting never happened and Cassidy came to suspect Preston of turning against him.

As a last ditch effort, Wells sent Matt Warner to search for his old friend and deliver the amnesty offer. Warner was called off his mission when members of the Wild Bunch robbed a Union Pacific train near Tipton, Wyoming on August 29, 1901.

Whether or not Cassidy was present at the Tipton robbery is up to debate. Many place him at the First National Bank of Winnemucca robbery in Nevada less than a month after Tipton. However eyewitnesses to the Winnemucca robbery could not positively identify Cassidy as one of the participants.

Between the two robberies the Wild Bunch earned themselves an estimate $87,000. Regardless of which heist Cassidy took part in, he joined his fellow Wild Bunch members in Fort Worth, Texas afterwards to celebrate.

The cause for celebration, aside from the profits gained by the two robberies, may have been the upcoming nuptials between Will Carver and Lillie May Hunt. While in Fort Worth, Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, Harvey Logan, Ben Kilpatrick and Carver dressed to the nines and posed for the now infamous “Fort Worth Five” photograph on November 21, 1900. The photograph would prove to be the gang’s undoing as the image soon found itself in the hands of authorities. Thousands of wanted posters were distributed across the nation as a result.

It is believed it was in Fort Worth that Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid made the decision to leave the United States for South America. The heat on the Wild Bunch was unbelievable at this point and the train companies were rapidly developing new means to defend themselves against bandits. After the reunion in Fort Worth the Wild Bunch went their separate ways.