Butch and Sundance: Harry Goes to the Big House
Howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas! We're in a series about two of America's most famous outlaws, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
The story recap
I've been looking at where they came from and how they were raised to determine what caused them to choose a life of crime. We've already established that Butch had zero excuses, he just flat out chose stealing over working for a living.
Now we're breaking down Sundance's upbringing and how he started out, but at this point he still goes by his given name Harry. In the last post we saw him make a bone-headed decision to steal a horse and not only that but did it in such a way that everyone knew he did it.
So his skill as a thief, so far, sucks pretty bad. We did find out that he was gifted in one area though, and that was picking handcuff and shackle locks. His escape from a moving train got him rave reviews by the newspapers who glamorized his deeds and he was well on his way to fame.
Todays segment
In yesterday's post Harry was sitting in the Miles City, Wyoming jail. Having been accused of a rash of thefts in the area after his escape from Sheriff Ryan, he wrote a letter to the paper which they published.
The letter was well written and sounded very genuine and heart felt. It was so well received that people of the region believed his version of the story.
The arresting Sheriff, Sheriff Davis, realized that any local jury would be tainted by Harry's powerful plea and the case he made for himself in that letter so he wired Sheriff Ryan in Sundance and told him if he wanted Harry he could come pick him up.
Harry goes back to Sundance
That's exactly what Sheriff Ryan did. This time they took a stage coach and he had no problems getting Harry back to town. Once in his cell though, Harry continued to try and escape.
At one point he and another prisoner were able to remove a bolt from one of the hinges but they were discovered before they could get the door off. Sheriff Ryan doubled the guard duty to watch Harry like a hawk after that incident.
Harry's trial came up and he was going to plead not guilty but his court appointed attorney advised him that going to a jury trial where horse thieves were reviled might get him a heavy sentence so he pleaded guilty to the horse theft charge.
Harry's trial
The other two charges.. the theft of a six shooter and saddle would be dropped in the plea-bargain that was made. Being that this was Harry's first time in jail the judge was likely to be lenient with him.
That's exactly what happened. The judge found him guilty of horse theft and sentenced him to 18 months of hard labor in the state penitentiary.
However, since the penitentiary was overcrowded they were making local jails into essentially state penitentiaries with the Sheriffs acting as wardens. So Harry was able to stay right there in the Sundance jail.
Harry becomes the Sundance Kid
The newspapers had been writing about Harry and hyping his exploits every chance they got and they'd started calling him the Kid or Kid Longabaugh. But now that he was stuck in Sundance and had continued escape attempts they started calling him the Sundance Kid.
That's a great nickname, kudos to the reporter who came up with that! Little did he know that he created one of the most memorable outlaw names ever, that would be widely recognized 125 years later!
Another really dumb move
Just when you thought Sundance would settle down and just do his time, he does something dumb again. This time he and his cell mate somehow got out of their cell and jumped a Deputy that was bringing their supper.
The Deputy was able to subdue Sundance and get him back in his cell but the other inmate escaped. Of course he was caught just a few hours later. There were other minor escape attempts over the next few months which ruined his chances of an early release, but made him more famous!
For instance, another man sentenced to 18 months was released 4 months early because of good behavior and Sundance was not even close to getting his because of all the escape attempts.
Actually, it was a miracle that he didn't get more time added on because of all failed breakouts. I credit that to them wanting to get rid of him and also to the overcrowding, don't ya think?
What's wrong with this kid?
So you have to ask yourself why? Why try to escape during a short sentence and add another serious charge and an even longer sentence once you're caught again?
I know he was only 20 years old when he was sentenced but by all accounts he was a bright, friendly, good natured young man. I reckon he was just obsessed with freedom even though that freedom could be obtained much sooner by behaving himself!
Sundance is released
When he got out of prison, or jail, Sundance got "the hell out of Dodge." I'm sure he swore he'd never return to the town that gave him his famous nickname. He headed straight for Deadwood, South Dakota, which was only about 20 miles as the crow flies straight East of Sundance.
Here's a shot of the main street of Deadwood. This is a modern photo but that's okay because it looked similar in 1889, minus the street lamps:
source
For a 21 year old they had everything a young man could want to catch up on after spending 18 months in a jail cell! He DID have another run in with the Law shortly after that though, when he was staying with friends about 35 miles North of Sundance.
He was with two other men, both outlaws, and one of them was wanted for murder. What in the world are you doing hanging out with outlaws Harry? Come on, use your head!
It just so happens that shortly after Sundance arrived at the cabin a Sheriff and posse raided it, looking for the man wanted for murder, whose name was Minor.
Sundance's first shooting
When the Sheriff ordered Minor to surrender his gun, Minor instead WENT for his gun and was shot dead by the Sheriff. Blew him away right beside Sundance.
I'm sure this was the first time that Sundance had seen anyone shot to death and it was a tremendous shock to him.
He didn't handle it well. In fact, he was so upset that he threatened the Sheriff's life. The Sheriff and posse left without further trouble but when he got back to town he swore out a warrant against Sundance for his arrest. The charge was threatening a peace officer.
Sundance was not taking any chances so he didn't stick around to get hauled back to jail. He rode North and got a job as a ranch hand on a spread North of Billings, Montana.
Is the Kid coming to his senses?
He worked hard and was a model citizen by all accounts of those who knew him.
A model citizen. Maybe The Sundance Kid will go back to being Harry Alonzo Longabaugh and become an upstanding, law abiding citizen. . . you know...get married, settle down and have a bunch of kids.
He soon moves to Canada though. We'll see if that affects his sanity or not.
Thanks for reading folks, God bless you all!
-jonboy Texas
the gentleman redneck
PS- ya know....you might just be a redneck if:
Your parents ever said to you, "Eat your beans or else you ain't gettin any beer!"
You got a 11.89% upvote from @ocdb courtesy of @janton!
@ocdb is a non-profit bidbot for whitelisted Steemians, current max bid is 12 SBD and the respective amount in Steem.
Check our website https://thegoodwhales.io/ for the whitelist, queue and delegation info. Join our Discord channel for more information.
If you like what @ocd does, consider voting for ocd-witness through SteemConnect or on the Steemit Witnesses page. :)
thanks so much ocdb!
Congratulations @janton! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click here to view your Board
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPDo not miss the last post from @steemitboard:
So he would’ve been in Deadwood at the time of the gold rush, the same time the HBO series is based on, correct?
Great job @janton. How do you choose the characters you introduce us to?
Howdy sir dandays! hope you're having a good evening. I don't suppose you watched the classic movie yet, Butch and Sundance? Nah, just laying around with all that spare time on your hands, probably spending it addicted to video games.
Well sir, Deadwood the tv series, which I didn't see, was in 1876. The reason I know that is because my series on Wild Bill Hickok ended when he was murdered in Deadwood in 1876 and I had alot of people asking me if the show was based on his life and so on..I don't really know anything about the show except it's time frame.
So Harry was there 16 years later. You didn't watch that Deadwood show though because you don't like Westerns. Because you're part alien I think. lol.
Speaking of aliens, so you fit right in there with all those Catholics. Being one who loves liturgical rituals and protocols along with rules and regulations. lol.
I haven't had an ounce to drink I swear. How do I choose my characters? Darn good question. I choose people who have lived an exciting life and who are very different. I've found that people love to learn about famous characters like Doc Holliday or Wild Bill because they don't know anything about them really and for some reason it's fascinating to learn the details of a famous person's life.
It's especially interesting to be able to give them letters that the famous people have written, knowing that it came from their hand and never seeing anything like that before. I also try to find people that lived extraordinary, hard to believe lives like in the Mountain Man series and the series I did on Squirrel Tooth Alice. There were so many astounding things about her life that freaked people out but no one had ever heard of her so that was a blast, plus there were lots of great photos that I found.
I'm hurtin for photos at this point in my Butch and Sundance series. Generally outlaws didn't have many taken for obvious reasons. No photos of the jail house, no photos of Deadwood in the 1890s, no photos of young Harry, nothin. Anyway I'm off track, sorry. That's how I decide.
I've actually gotten alot of requests to tell the stories about white kids being captured by Indians who later told their stories or wrote books. I've been hesitant to do that because it makes the Indians look bad and of course I have Indian friends here! The Mountain Men series was different, he wasn't a kid and I was able to show the Indians with respect, I customized that one somewhat.
I think I asked you how you choose topics and there's no planning right? lol. of course not! It's just what strikes your fancy. And it works beautifully!
Maybe it has to do with intuition janton?
Television and video games, huh? I thought we knew each other better than that. Negative, I didn’t catch the deadwood series either, I only heard about it on jobsites and stuff. I watched some of the super bowl last year in February, the Patriots were in it I’m pretty sure. That’s about the last time I remember seeing a television. I’ve never been into video games, never even had a video game console as a kid, not my thing BUT I’m the biggest nerd in this conversation and I’m proud of it.... even have chess pieces tattooed on me. Tv, video games, negative my friend but, you ready?
Amongst my ONE suitcase and ONE backpack, I obviously have some clothes, toothbrush, things like that but I also have all of my pens, pencils, straight edges, sketchbooks, etc. and they don’t take up near as much space as my Chess board, cribbage, dominoes, Chinese checkers, connect four, backgammon, cards and othello—true story!
I apologize if my lack of interest in westerns is offensive, it shouldn’t be, because all I’m trying to say is I like them when you tell them. This is the first and only time I’ve been interested, that’s all YOU, janton.
That’s sofa king funny about the aliens and how I fit in with rituals, rules and protocol. “They’re everywhere!” (And they always have been!!!!!)
I like the idea of white men captured by Indians, not everyone is going to be a fan of your work every time. What do you think about Geronimo? Perhaps you could do a series on him, first? Maybe that will ease the hearts of your Indian readers and then you can go into white people being captured?? Just an idea.
Thanks for continuing to go toe to toe with me janton in these conversations, janton, I look forward to them each and every time. Say hello to the Mrs.
howdy sir dandays! well of course I was just teasing about the video games because I knew you would never be into those ...and the extreme joke about the rituals but you knew I was teasing about that, too obvious.
No, the lack of interest in Westerns is not offensive in the least, it's just something else to tease you about. lol.
I've done two big posts and a long series about the greatness of the Indigenous people here so I'm not overly concerned...I just can't say more than that here. Have to go to discord if you want to know more. lol.
ah you're a big chess player. and your wife plays with you?
What kind of electrical wiring work did you do, commercial, residential or both? I wonder what the codes are like there?
She’s played a couple games of chess with me, that’s it. She’s my occasional cribbage player and consistent dominoes player, she and I have countless games we’ve played and our scoreboard is documented in all of the locations we’ve been in. I’m talking hundreds of games, no matter where we go, a game of dominoes is typically on the menu (we’ve already played 4 or 5 on this side of Costa Rica).
...back in tax paying day’s... kidding! For over 22 years I’d say was 60-70% heavy industrial engineering ie: Power plants, steam plants, Co-hydrogen, wind turbines and most recently solar plants and troff-style solar plants. No residential in my whole career other than my buddies who needed help with housing or side jobs, the rest was commercial.
These are the last 2 projects I ran in my own local before I hit the road again to bank my annuity. I ran all 3 units at Ivanpaugh Solar Generating Facility on the Nevada/Cali border and all of the new 12,500 Volt clinker power at Moly Corp rare earth mine, one of only two rare earth mines in the world. I rarely worked in my own local though, I always bounced around the country chasing the 60-70 hour/week jobs banking my working hours so I could retire by the time I was 45. Hmm.. 🤔 I came in a little early, Janton, three years early to be exact.
I shouldn’t say lack of interest because I, like most everyone else, am a big fan of the popular outlaws and I really enjoy learning about them. Like the fellas you’re introducing to us now.. Doc Holiday, The Earps, etc. In fact, the Earps are buried right up the street from where I did my 5 year apprenticeship training in San Bernardino, California. Same cemetery as Randy Rhodes actually.
edit Here’s a picture of me at the top of Tower 2 at Ivanpaugh, looking down, 450 feet.
howdy sir dandays! oh my gosh this is such an interesting comment, thank you! Now I see so much clearer how you achieved your retirement and the sacrifice that took. I didn't know we had one of the only two rare earth metal mines in CA, do you know what they mine there?
I love that shot from the top of the wind turbine! lol. amazing! I take it you have no fear of heights! Dang that's great.
So you DON'T have a lack of interest in the Wild West characters? This is a hard one to pin down. You just don't like watching Westerns on tv or movies? Dang you would have loved the Wild Bill series then. I had women literally begging me not to stop writing about him! lol..he was so unusual. So charasmatic and such a rough but elegant gentleman.
Thanks so much for getting back to me sir dandays! I'll be thinking about you guys today in your quest for a phone and vehicle.
No, I guess not! What I shouldn’t admit right here is ‘books,’ just books and yes, I’ve always enjoyed Hollywood’s version of outlaws. Those things have since changed. And I especially like the way you #inform us—keep up the great work, please!
That isn’t a view from a wind turbine, that’s a 450’ solar tower with 555,000 14’ x 18’ mirrors aimed at it to boil the water in the lines, causing the steam to rise which is then funneled to turn the turbines down below, causing energy to be created. Excess steam is then cooled which turns it back into liquid form, this the process starts again and all of the energy is created by sunlight. The link in this paragraph is a view of Unit 3. Over 400 Wiremen alone, not counting all of the other crafts were on that project, only I and my 11 guys was up and down all three towers. Exciting, right? Thank God I just talk about it these days and the physical and mental labors are behind me.
Rare Earth is just that, rare earth, it’s a mineral. Don’t worry, I asked the same question when they sent me through the plants prientation. I was unaware but everything in our world that consists of touch screen, just a couple of things right? Phones and TV’s, really? Well, now it’s the ATM’s, well actually, Hotel doors now, oh! The DMV screens.. what I’m trying to say is everything is touch screen these days and “rare earth” is the mineral that senses body temperature to allow the ‘screen’ you’re touching to sense you. Do you understand? I hope I explained that well.
That being said, “Moly Corp” is on the US stock exchange, just sayin! 😉 In my career I was able to see a couple of technologies in operation before most of the public, Molly Corp was one, if you don’t mind (since you’re my only digital communication these days—which I love!) I’m going to give you a little reading information and maybe you’ll give Moly Corp some consideration if you’re apt to investing or just interested in things of that nature.
It must have been around 1997 when I was building a distribution warehouse for Sachs Electric in St. Louis. What happened was, we were pulling all of the Data through the building and all of the circuits were protected by the same gray colored plastic coating—it was real confusing having to identify each circuit and could you imagine pulling “100 lines” or something and they all look the same? It requires a lot of work and focus to not cross anything.
Well, a company called Lucent Technolgies came in and color-coded everything. Overnight everything went from gray to you name it! Purple, pink, green, etc. every color under the rainbow. I immediately called my investment banker and threw down on Lucent.... I have one more. 👆
Shortly after that I came back to California and was in Fontana, Ca ‘around’ 1998-99 building a giant warehouse for a company called Skecher Shoes (nobody back then), they were only in America at that point but this was the warehouse that was supposed to take them global. I immediately did some research while everyone else was trying to figure out how to wire up this warehouse, I learned their stock was riding under $3/share. Well, needless to say, they’re worldwide now, shares have since split twice and well.. God is great!
So, back to what I was saying... “Moly Corp.” just sayin. God bless you Janton, I’ll chat to you soon!
Howdy sir dandays! wow this is a fantastic comment! I've heard the name Lucent Technologies quite a bit but I don't even remember where from. I remember when Sketchers were these cheap little shoes and now they have good shoes in many styles. Those are some great investments, then with Moly Corp, that is such a cool story!
I told Mrs. J about that one and she's ready to open a trading account just to get a few shares.
And I love the photo of that big tower! My gosh, all those mirrors pointing at that tower, dang! You're saying that 400 electricians were working on that project? And does it work well? Does it produce power efficiently? I've never heard of such a thing as that design.
Do you have any physical issues like bad knees or anything from all the hard work in those 22 years? Shouldn't have many right? I mean, you got out at about the time people start having issues because of their age or the work on their jobs.
Sir dandays your first two sentences are kinda confusing to me. You're admitting what about books? You like them?
And then you said "Those things have since changed."...you mean Hollywood's version of outlaws has changed? Because it used to be more black and white?
I think you have phones now, I wonder if you got the back account set up?
Hi janton, maybe Harry/Sundance was going through a brain -rewiring time, this happens with some teenagers! He seemed to be very easily influenced.
Haha, eat your dinner and then you can have ........ must have been said by every parent there ever was.
Howdy tonight angiemitchell! I think you're right, Harry was going through a difficult stage trying to find himself. He needed some wise guidance but it doesn't look like he had any!
So true about what parents tell their kids at dinner time, that's what makes the joke funny too!
Yes, funny man of redneck jokes - haha.
Canada? Are you serious? Anyway, so far I am laughing my but off!!! The way you describing and commenting on Harry's moves, it's hilarious. I ma really curious what's next and how those two going to meet.
By the way, laughing at the jokes as well!
hahaha! hey Canada will mess anyone up, you just haven't been there long enough! lol. I did that especially for my Canadian friends but you're the only one who's caught it yet, or maybe they agree! thanks for the kind words and I'm glad you like the jokes too, I won't if there are parents out there who give their kids beer? I'm sure there are! thank you Miss Lena.
Now, now you two... Going to Canada is the only sensible thing he's done so far. By the way, when you leave Montana and enter Alberta, the only thing that really changes is the scenery gets better! :)
Yeah, you tell him Keith, lol
Hey at least my Canadian friends are sharp enough to catch that little dig, I didn't know if anyone would notice it. lol. That proves at least some people read the whole post. I need to see these things for myself and get up there... in the summertime!
Have you even been in Canada? And you are welcome Janton. Anyway, will see ow it goes with Harry, lol.
No I haven't been to Canada unfortunately. But I heard they don't allow rednecks up there so maybe it's just as well! It's my dream to go there in the summer, you guys can have those winters!
You will love it here!!!
I guess when you are young and restless, unless you have mentor, you are bound to end up with bad company.
Howd tonight sir Vincent! Yes sir, he needed some good advice and I don't think he had anyone around him who could give him any. Too bad you weren't there at that time.
Nor you. lol
I doubt if he would have listened to either of us!
Hi, @janton!
You just got a 12.18% upvote from SteemPlus!
To get higher upvotes, earn more SteemPlus Points (SPP). On your Steemit wallet, check your SPP balance and click on "How to earn SPP?" to find out all the ways to earn.
If you're not using SteemPlus yet, please check our last posts in here to see the many ways in which SteemPlus can improve your Steem experience on Steemit and Busy.
Hanging out with known outlaws is never a good thing, Harry! I love that picture of Deadwood! No cars, no people, it's really pretty.
howdy tonight Melinda! you've been there right? I know that's a dumb question! lol. It almost reminds me of Telluride.
I've been thru there, but one time the Sturgis motorcycle thing was going on and I was happy to get back on the interstate and keep traveling, and when Jim and I were in the Black Hills in 2016 we stayed in Spearfish, and only drove through Deadwood, so I've never really spent any time there. I must have been there once in the 70s because I have vague memories of seeing Wild Bill Hickok's grave. I've never been to Telluride. You have me beat on that one!
howdy tonight Melinda! wow it's not night anymore, it's ten till 1:00! I have no idea where the time went. dang. Now I forgot what I was gonna say too! lol.
Up too late and still woke up at my normal 5:30 time. So far I have not got anything accomplished today. I may need a nap!
Howdy today Melinda! well, this was sent 5 hours ago too, have you found something to post yet? I agree about the nap, those are wonderfully restorative and healthy!
It was a difficult today! I've spent most of the day struggling with technology. The Canon camera that I use regularly is Wi-Fi compatible and easy to get my photos from the camera into a place where they are easy to use for my steem posts. I have been feeling bad about not using my Panasonic Lumix camera which is a really great camera with various lenses and filters, so I got it off this morning and took a bunch of photos. I had to get out the laptop load the photos into and I have yet to figure out how to get them into a place where I can easily use them in a post. Man I hate this kind of stuff! Thankfully it's all easy for my kids to do and the next time someone is here I'll get them to show me what I need to do next!
oh man, that's right, I hate fooling around forever trying to figure out the technical stuff. Your daughter isn't in the neighborhood is she? lol. Does that mean you have to come up with another post?
It was difficult today! I've spent most of the day struggling with technology. The Canon camera that I use regularly is Wi-Fi compatible and easy to get my photos from the camera into a place where they are easy to use for my steem posts. I have been feeling bad about not using my Panasonic Lumix camera which is a really great camera with various lenses and filters, so I got it out this morning and took a bunch of photos. I had to get out the laptop to load the photos into and I have yet to figure out how to get them into a place where I can easily use them in a post. Man I hate this kind of stuff! Thankfully it's all easy for my kids to do and the next time someone is here I'll get them to show me what I need to do next!
We are SO proud to have you as a member of our
FANTABULOUS Power House Creatives family!
uvoted and resteemed!
❤ MWAH!!! ❤
#powerhousecreatives
thank you so much powerhousecreatives!
This post was spotted by @theluvbug and has received a 100% upvote and/or a resteem.
If you would like to possibly receive future support from @theluvbug
then please make use of the #theluvbug tag.
Spreading the STEEMIT LOVE with upvotes and resteems of AWESOME Steemit content. Use #theluvbug to get my attention :)
In Proud Collaboration with The Power House Creatives
and their founder @jaynie
howdy theluvbug! thank you so much for the upvote, God bless you!