The Winenmucca bank robbery--as it happened.
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by Vince Garcia
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Sep 19, 1900 heralded the famous robbery of $32,000 in gold coins from the
Bank of Winnemucca by Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid and Will Carver, its
purpose being the final grubstake for Butch and Sundance to leave the US
for Argentina. It began a few weeks earlier in August as they passed through
Idaho, stealing Powder Face, the prize white Arabian stallion of famed female
horse breeder Kitty Wilkins. to use in the getaway. In September, Sundance
would drift down into Winnemucca, getting a job at a local stable to get
the lay of the town and to set up the support team of a couple of local
sheepherders. Butch and Carver eventually followed and the three set up a
camp a few miles outside of town at a ranch, keeping a team of horses
stabled there.
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Making friends with local boys who hung out by the stables, Butch asked about
trails leading to passes on the way to Idaho, and one boy in particular,
Vic Button, showed a liking for Butch's white horse, and Butch promised to
give it to him some day.
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As September 18 neared, conveniently every riding horse at local stables
managed to get rented out. Then Monday the 18th came, and the gang went in
to do the job. Unfortunately, that morning a cattle drive came through town,
and Butch wisely cancelled the operation, not wanting to risk a bank robbery
with 15 or 20 cowboys on good horses who might be willing to join a posse
at the promise of a reward if the robbers were caught. Instead, they put
it off one more day, counting on the cowboys to either be gone or sleeping
off Monday's drunk by Tuesday afternoon.
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Tuesday morning, Will Carver thought he spotted a cat in the field and went
over to pet it--only to find it was a skunk!
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With Carver riding downwind, the three came into town and Carver was sent
into a saloon just down from the bank to see how crowded it was, found it
with only a few patrons, had a quick drink (probably was given it on the
promise he'd leave) and exited the back door where the others waited with
horses hitched up behind the bank. The three then went around to the front
of the bank, went inside, drew guns on three employees behind the counter,
and ordered their hands up.
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Sounding like an actor in a bad Western, Sundance announced to a frozen
stenographer, "Stick 'em up, Slim, or I'll make ya look like a naval target!
Just feel how fine and soft the atmosphere is above your head!"
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They then ordered a cashier to open the vault, and were told only the bank
president, in the back room, knew the combination.
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Quickly, Butch made his way into the back room, his gun out. George Nixon,
the bank president, speaking with a customer, asked, "What does this mean?"
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"It grieves me to inform you that the bank is losin' out today," replied
Butch.
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Nixon was then ordered to open the vault, tried a bluff about the time lock,
whereupon Butch pulled a knife and threatened to start cutting if he didn't
get the vault open immediately.
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About now, a boy on his way home for lunch happened to walk by, looked through
the window, saw what was happening, then ran off in terror, saying nothing
to anyone.
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Nixon headed to the vault and opened it as the customer went out to join
the others, and to Butch's delight, sacks of gold were revealed as the vault
door swung open. Nixon then complied with an order shove the bags into an
ore sack. Again showing wisdom, Butch--unlike Harvey Logan, who some think
was at the robbery instead of Butch--ignored thousands of dollars of banknotes
stacked in plain sight and took only untraceable gold.
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It was now time to leave, and the bank personnel were herded out the back
door, Butch griping about a sore hip, and the cashier opining, "Boys, you
have a nice little stake there, but I don't think you will be able to hold
onto it."
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Everyone was lined up against lined up against the wall, guarded by Carver
as the other two went for the horses. But just then, a stereotypical
gunfighter-type happened onto the scene. Dressed in black with a black hat
and wearing a nickel-plated revolver, he was coming down the alley, only
to freeze as he saw what was going on. A hand started to go for his gun.
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"Hey, that guy looks like a gunfighter! Stop him!" shouted Sundance.
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Carver put two shots from his Winchester at the man's feet, and the gun dropped
as the gunfighter decided discretion was the better part of valor.
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Now the town began to come to life. Just down the street at the courthouse,
deputy George Rose heard the shots, retrieved a rifle and went outside to
see what was up.
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Fourteen-year-old Lee Case, one of the boys who'd befriended the robbers
at the stables, was at lunch break at school, also heard the shots--and
immediately ran toward the sound to see who was shooting what.
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Carver now bolted for his horse, and the three readied to ride as the bank
personnel ran back inside. The customer, "Horse" Johnson, grabbed for a pump
shotgun on a rack by the door, pumped it, ran back out, almost knocking over
a woman pedestrian as he jumped over a fence, drew a bead on Butch (who had
the money sack) as he was riding off, and pulled the trigger.
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It went CLICK.
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Throwing down the empty gun, Johnson ran back into the bank, grabbed a double
barrel shotgun, slammed two shells into it, and raced for the front door.
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The gang was now riding hard down the alley, crossing the street north and
continuing on, then taking a hard right onto the street a block down, heading
for Bridge street, the way out of town.
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Johnson, joined by Nixon with a pistol, now rushed out the front door onto
Bridge street, and began running north to maneuver himself into position
for a shot, wrongly assuming the robbers were going to immediately turn right
out of the alley, a few doors down from them, and come out onto Bridge street.
He tripped over his feet, however, the shotgun going off and blowing out
the windows of the saloon just down from the bank.
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The response from the patrons is unrecorded.
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The robbers, now a block north of the bank, had cut east and were ready to
turn left onto Bridge street when suddenly they saw sheriff McDeid standing
by a saloon doorway ahead of them. A couple of well-placed shots caused him
to dive inside for cover, and they charged past.
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Taking a hard left onto Bridge street at breakneck speed--catastrophe struck:
The ore sack, bulging with almost a hundred pounds of coins, split and broke,
spilling thousands of dollars of double eagles onto the street. Instantly,
Butch reined up, jumping off to gather as much of the coins as he could in
a few moments into another sack, while the other two fired down the street
to hold off the town.
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Nixon vainly tried shooting back, screaming that the bank had been robbed.
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Butch, leaving a few thousand in gold lying in the dust, scrambled back into
the saddle with the bag, and the gang spurred the horses, riding across the
river and down a dirt road toward the mountains and their first relay team.
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Now some townsfolk tried to chase them--a man jumped on a bike, while some
six men started off in a wagon--all of whom stopped as soon as they saw the
gold left in the street, and started gathering it up for themselves.
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About now, deputy Rose and Lee Case arrived on the scene. Rose climbed a
windmill, hoping to get a shot off, with Case following him. His shots missed
the robbers, leaving the town in the dust.
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Rose then hurried down and sprinted toward the railroad yard, just ahead
of him. Finding a small engine fired up, he commandeered it and set off after
the robbers, refusing to allow Case to get on with him.
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Other townsfolk, at the behest of the bank president, tried to form a posse
on the spot and find horses to chase them. But the vanished riding horses
left them with only slow draft horses to saddle up with.
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Rose, with the tracks following the same line as the road, albeit at a distance,
began shooting at the robbers as they shot back. Neither side hit the other.
Finally, Carver hit a steam line and the engine fell away. (Another claim
is that they ran out of track and weren't allowed on the main line to keep
going after them.)
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Reaching their first relay team at the ranch, Butch told the foreman to give
his white horse to Vic Button. The man did, and Vic proudly kept the horse
for the rest of its life.
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On a fresh team, the gang now headed for their next relay point at another
ranch. In a parting shot of irony, when the posse arrived, bank president
Nixon found to his chagrin that one of the gang had been riding his own black
stallion, apparently stolen the day of the robbery to use as a getaway horse!
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Despite the posse's dogged determination and a host of other posses throughout
the West hunting for them, the gang made it into Idaho, $32,000 richer, and
from that point eventually arrived in Fort Worth, posing for their famous
photo.
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Butch and Sundance, with Etta Place, then made their way to New York after
some general partying, and left for South America three months later.
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Vic Button later claimed that Butch sent him a photo of himself posing with
an Indian. This could only have been taken at Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show,
but for years, no evidence ever existed to show any way for Butch to have
had an opportunity to have seen the show. However, last year I finally found
a Texas newspaper that showed Buffalo Bill's show played Fort Worth for one
day on October 10, indeed giving Butch plenty of time from September 19 to
see the show and pose for a photo. Now this conflicted with normal accepted
history for Butch, which claimed he was in Wyoming until late October, but
one story held that he actually split from Sundance after the robbery and
came down into Utah, which could easily have him in Fort Worth before Sundance.
The accepted claim Butch and Sundance were seen in Wyoming might actually
have been Sundance, having hooked up with Harvey Logan, not Butch, coming
down to Fort Worth with his traditional partner, Butch having left earlier,
and come down to Hanksville as Charlie Gibbons claimed to Pinkerton Charlie
Siringo, then going early to Fort Worth and seeing the show.
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In any event, so ended Butch Cassidy's career in the US with his greatest
robbery.
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In the photo at the top of the page, the bank is the dark brick building
on the left. Bridge street is the street outside of it. The saloon "Horse"
Johnson shot the windows out of is two doors down with a light canopy in
front of it.