Guilty As Sin Tom O’Day was caught dead to rights in a bank robbery, but…

On June 24, 1897, Tom O’Day was supposed to hold the horses as members of the Hole-in-the-Wall gang tried to rob a bank in Belle Fourche, South Dakota.  Things inside the bank didn’t go well; O’Day was roaring drunk.  While the rest of the outlaws escaped clean, O’Day’s horse ran away.  He tried to hide in an outhouse but was discovered.

A few weeks later, he managed to break jail but was caught soon after.  Strangely, in spite of all the evidence against him, a jury found him not guilty in the bank stickup.