Butch’s Beginnings

Cassidy’s first bank robbery.

Monday, June 24, 1889. Butch Cassidy and Matt Warner enter the San Miguel Valley Bank in Telluride, Colorado at around noon. When they leave a few minutes later, they’re carrying more than $20,000 in loot. It’s believed to be Cassidy’s first bank job in what will become a storied outlaw career. The gang–including Tom McCarty and perhaps one other man–make a getaway using relays of horses to ensure they’re riding fresh mounts while posses’ animals tire. That will become a hallmark of Cassidy’s later outfit, the The Hole-in-the-Wall Gang or the Wild Bunch.