April 12, 2019 Gold Rush, Western, & Native American, Las Vegas
Butch Cassidy, arguably one of the most famous of all Western outlaws, was immortalized in the motion picture "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," with Paul Newman playing Robert Leroy Parker, known as Butch Cassidy, and Robert Redford played Harry Alonzo Longabaugh, known the Sundance Kid. But long before Butch Cassidy had taken his alias and formed the gang known worldwide as the Wild Bunch or the Hole In The Wall Gang, his life of crime had been well underway. This original tin type in its original gutta percha (Hinge Broken), is a photograph of four dapper young men posed regally in a studio sans any visible weapons. The character seated to the right is none other than Robert Leroy Parker as a young outlaw pictured with three acquaintances. Cassidy, as we will now refer to him, rode with a gang including his friends, Fred and George McCarty and Matt Warner, who held up their first bank in 1889 in Telluride, Colorado. Cassidy landed in prison for two years in 1894 and then, of course, went onto infamy with the Wild Bunch which formed upon his release from prison. As heroically portrayed in the motion picture, it is believed that Cassidy and Sundance met their end at the hands of the military in Bolivia during a botched bank robbery. This is undoubtedly the only known image of Robert Leroy Parker, known as Butch Cassidy, as an adult prior to his imprisonment in 1894 and formation of the Hole in the Wall Gang. It is interesting to note that Butch Cassidy had an affinity for bowler hats and is wearing one in this photo and is oft seen photographed wearing bowler hats during his Hole in the Wall Gang period. Some might refer to this as his "rookie photo." Open, 6-1/2"W x 3-3/4"T.
Condition: (Very Good).
Item Dimensions: Closed: 3-1/8"W x 3-3/4"T.