Butch and Sundance: Harry Starts To Get Famous Around Sundance
Howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas! We are in a series about the life and times of two of America's most famous outlaws: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. And what looking at their upbringing and circumstances that turned them into criminals.
We first examined Butch's youth and now we're looking into young Harry's life, he has not yet become known as the Sundance Kid at this point in the story. In the last post Harry had been forced by desperation to steal a horse and gun from another cowboy.
I say "forced" but I should say that he "felt" forced to do something rash to get money for food to survive. Although he never sold that horse so that argument weakens a little bit. The situation was terrible for most cowboys because they had been laid off from their work after the great blizzard of 1886-87 with precious few jobs available.
Side note
After that post yesterday I was pondering how the ranchers and people in that blizzard even survived, and thousands didn't, but I came across an old photo of Theodore Roosevelt.
He was President of the United States from 1901-1909 and he was an avid hunter, outdoorsman and rancher. In fact, he had a ranch in Montana or Wyoming when that great blizzard hit and he complained about not being able to even get out there to check things, because of the deep snow.
But I found this photo of him with a couple of companions which showed the type of furs that they wore. Must have been one of the ways they were able to survive the bitter temperatures that came with the blizzards that winter. Check this out:
Ain't that somethin? Of course, Teddy was so tough he didn't need a full length fur coat! lol. Incidently, he went on to set aside something like 250 million acres of land for our National Parks system.
The other thing I was thinking about was at that time was that ranches and cabins out in the country didn't have indoor plumbing, they still used outhouses. So with snow 5 or 10 feet deep....how did they handle that?
Outhouses were unheated too. Can you imagine making your way to the outhouse when the temperatures were -68 F or -55C ??? Also, many outhouses were a good distance away from the main house because of the smell.
I assume that many had to resort to using buckets inside the house! Don't you think? If anyone has any better ideas let me know. lol. And we're not talking about a storm lasting a few days but rather a few months!
Back to today's story
Ok, sorry about the side tracking again, sometimes I get distracted by questions that come up. Yesterday Harry had stolen a horse outside of Sundance, Wyoming. The ranch manager on who's ranch the horse and gun were stolen had a particular dislike for drifter cowboys who stole from others.
So this guy was ticked off and disgusted. He contaced the local Sheriff, Jim Ryan, and demanded that he track this kid down. Apparently Harry was not smart about his theft and they had a detailed description of him..5 ft 10, grey eyes, lean, about 20 years old, white male.
Arrest warrant issued
This ranch manager was one of the ranches that survived the great blizzard and obviously had wealth and political influence in the area so the Sheriff made this case a priority, immediately sending the description to local towns in the region.
Oh, and they also gave a detailed description of the horse too: color, a J brand on it's right shoulder, etc.
Well, it wasn't long before word came back to the Sheriff that Harry had been spotted in a town about 300 miles away, Miles City. Harry was arrested and put in the city jail, he didn't resist or protest.
Sheriff Ryan heads out to pick him up which he does, but instead of taking him back on horseback or stage he elects to take him by train. So they're riding along in the coach with other passengers when the Sheriff has to go back to the back of the car to the restroom.
Harry's escape
While he's gone Harry quickly picks the locks on his handcuffs AND shackles and jumps off the moving train! lol. Just like in the movies no? Apparently the rest of the passengers just watched him do all this.
Of course when the Sheriff comes back he's highly distraught and orders the train to stop.
Now, I don't know how fast the train was going or how long it took to stop it but say it took 5 or 10 minutes for the Sheriff to come back from the toilet and the train was going 60 miles per hour then it tooks a couple miles to bring it to a stop, you can see that Harry had a big headstart.
There was no sign of him and the engineer needed to get back on schedule so the Sheriff gave up and got back to Sundance by his own fuming, embarrassed self. He put a reward of $250 on Harry's capture.
That's almost $7,000 in todays money. A small fortune back then but the Sheriff was ticked off. Now he had that ranch manager to answer to.
The press gets involved
For some reason the newspapers went nuts with this story. I mean, it WAS very unusual for someone to be able to pick the handcuff locks AND the locks on the shackles in just seconds or a minute or two.
But they sensationalized the story to the point that it sounded more like one of the dime novels that Harry grew up reading! So like it or not his fame was already growing thanks to the newspapers.
We stay on Harry's story in the next post. What he does after his escape is a real head-scratcher!
Thanks for reading folks!
-jonboy Texas
the gentleman redneck
PS- ya know...you might just be a redneck if:
Anyone in your family died right after saying "Hey y'all, watch this!"
Harry was not very smart when it came to stealing horses, as it is obviously not very easy to cover up a brand tattooed onto the horse and he choose the wrong ranch manager to steal from. But not everyone can unpick handcuffs and escape a moving train. (Very resourceful!)
It is easy to understand how the escape rankled the sheriff and as embarrassed as he was to have Harry escape he'd be even more so if he failed to capture him. Apart form everything else.......his pride was at stake. I cannot miss out on the next episode.
Howdy again trudeehunter! Very good points! He made a couple of big mistakes, the question is, will he pay for his stupid actions and then go on with his life like a normal person would? I guess those guys are so famous that it's not a good question! lol.
Yes......Being an observer of others and having experienced a thing or two over the years, I've learned that there are always consequences. Good and bad! And some of us have to learn the hard way. (lol)
Very true but it seems like criminals never learn. A few do after they spend many years in prision but most that I've studied just never stop the lifestyle. It's hard to understand.
Now there's a useful skill to have, lock picking. I've not found myself in handcuffs yet but the number of times I've had run-ins with the Garda it's bound to happen sooner or later.
ah Deirdy I heard you love the aul handcuffs! Followed by some coddle!
Feckin' janton...ye can't trust that fella to keep anything to himself!
haha! what in the world deirdyweirdy? YET? and run ins with the Garda, what is that, the police force? What do you do that they don't like? I suppose the handcuffs and shackles were alot different back then but the ones they have these days would be tough to pick. Mrs. J is a guard so she's put me in handcuffs to demonstrate things and I don't know how they could be picked, not like the movies but the old cuffs might have been. but anyway, are you some kind of troublemaker? lol.
😂😂. Janton you kinky bastard! Mrs J puts you in handcuffs to demonstrate stuff??? What stuff?? I don't wanna know actually!
haha! I'll tell ya anyway sir blanchy! she was demonstrating how they take down these big 6 ft 6, 350 lb guys who try to resist even when they're handcuffed. It's a concept called consequences. Something most Millennials know nothing about, specially European ones! lol.
The Kardashian’s were on my European Tv tonight @janton. It was great viewing . Really showing us European snowflakes how to do it! 😂😂😂. What height is your wall gonna be in Texas anyway to stop all the gardeners from getting to work? Do the Mexicans not have any ladders or spades??? Europe looks perfect compared to what’s happening in your back yard . 😂😂.
No way sir blanchy! you watched the Kardashians? what are they up to? I watched a few minutes of their show one time and couldn't handle it. lol. What's going on in our backyard? One of our Vets has been filming large groups, 50 o 60 each night crossing an area in Texas that has nothing there, no fence or anything, the groups coming over are Middle Eastern. We love the Mexicans who have traditionally gone back and forth to work, no one has a problem with them.
Mrs J puts you in handcuffs to demonstrate things? Perhaps not something to be forever recorded on the blockchain;)
As to our esteemed police force, I can't be doing with their silly regulations and I feel obliged to tell them so when they pull me in for having one bike wheel over the white line or for cycling 2 inches wrong way down a deserted one-way street.
oh I see deirdyweirdy! Sounds like a bunch of jerks. Sounds like people who are pitiful so they join the police force so they can feel all powerful like and tell others what to do.
lol! Mrs. J demonstrates thems on me..yeah like last night she was showing me a new way that they learned about how to take someone down so she had to demonstrate that on me. I'm still sore but it was a darn good demonstration! lol.
No video? :) We wanted to enjoy too!
:)>haha! well the only one who could have recorded it was Jack and he hasn't been trained on that yet! It wasn't a thing of beauty that's for sure. I found out that I don't know how to land gracefully!
Got to get Jack a critter cam, ROFLOL!
YOU, had better take some Judo lessons, and learn the break fall, before you can't type any more!
:)>This is a great story! I love how he picked the locks and jumped off the train... it's a wonder he wasn't hurt or killed if the train was going fast! Liked your redneck joke too, that's a good one! :)
haha! yeah that redneck joke was a good one! Well I think the train was going full speed or close to it, he thought it was when he wrote about it later so yeah, how he didn't get injured from that is a miracle! Thanks for commenting sir Keith, what do you guys have in store for the weekend?
Another example of people being tougher in those days. If I jumped off a train moving at 60 MPH, I'd break my neck or worse! This weekend we're going to a concert with friends. It's an Aretha Franklin tribute thing, should be fun!
oh that sounds like fun indeed! so you have friends in real life huh? I thought it was just online. lol.
Yeah, I got like two, but they're more Cathy's friends than mine.
This one has me eager for the next one, Janton, good job! I’m really looking forward to what Harry does next.
Those big fur coats, Wyoming and something else, what was it? I can’t remember now but the coldest place I’ve ever been in the Unites States is Wyoming. None of those whatever you called them though, I can’t remember again! Ahh.. “blizzard,” that’s it! Maybe I’m way out in left field on this one @janton but perhaps the globes’ surface is a little warmer these days?? 🤔
Anytime someone mentions T. Roosevelt, one quote in particular of his comes to mind. I had to go search for it, I don’t have it memorized but all I had to search was “Teddy Roosevelt, special interest.”
https://www.azquotes.com/quote/464042
Great article, janton. I don’t think your sidetracked rant was a bother at all, in fact, I enjoyed it.
Howdy sir dandays! hey what time zone are you in there? Anyway yes sir I think the climate has warmed a little, I don't think we've come close to a cold spell like that was.
I really like that quote by Roosevelt, I didn't know it was that big of a problem back then but it sounds like it was a big problem from the very beginning and it still is! It's a universal problem too. Thank you for the kind words, I'm sure people are getting used to my side tracks. lol. Man, I love shopping for vehicles! are you gonna get a big 4 wheel drive? I wonder what makes and models they have there, mostly U. S. made?
keep us updated, I bet you have so many people on here who are anxiously waiting for updates on your adventure!
About people excited about updates, it’s truly a blessing—this whole Steemit community. Someone like me who’s all out of DNA is real appreciative in the interest shown by all of you, you’re definitely at the top, sir!
You’re welcome for the quote. I’ve always been a big fan of that one. “Roosevelt, special interest” is all I takes.
Quite the contrary as far as vehicles, one or two American made cards here and there in a sea full of Toyota’s and Nissans. I’ve never owned either, I was born and raised a Union man so I’ve always owned American ‘named’ vehicles. I’m looking forward to the experience.
The time here is one hour behind EST or 2 hours ahead of the West Coast.
Eh, you’ve told me before that westerns weren’t really your thing until Steemit, is that still the case? I’m pretty sure you told me that once 🤔. Especially once you get into famous outlaws like butch and Sundance. As fun as it is for us to read, I assume it’s real exciting for you to research. Are you doing all of your research online only or do you have a library of books you lean on also?
edit
Remember when my location said UTC? What do you think of it now? Did you notice?
howdy back sir dandays! oh yes UTC..."uther than cool" yes I remember that like it was last year! very good Watson.
Hey, I'm sorry to say that you have mistaken me for some other rogue...hopefully not a redneck but some rube. I have talked about being a totally, 100%, inbred, natural Western guy my whole life. I grew up with it, came from the country, Dodge City, cowboys and Indians, part of MY DNA and culture.
I don't know about this series which hasn't been my best, but I think it comes through on my other series and posts about the West. As far as research though, I like physical books so I buy alot of them, I love old research and history books but I also find stuff online. Normally when I do a subject the material is from many different sources and I use as much as I can from state archives and state historical societies.
The Mountain Man series that I did last week was an exception because I was just throwing something out there until I got the book I was waiting on! lol.
OH man, Toyota and Nissan are awesome. Toyota Tundra is fantastic and so reliable. Probably costs alot less there too.
ps- oh and talking about Westerns and the West culture, I grew up with guns, shooting guns from an early age. They're a natural for me and a natural talent.
Yes, now I remember you telling me about growing up around guns. Impressive, you’re getting your information from hardbacks, that’s awesome!
About vehicles, negative as far as affordable. Unfortunately, Vehicles here are insanely high priced because of import fees. The price of living, housing, food, clothing, everything here is so affordable, you’re practically making money just by purchasing something. Example: I just went to an ATM here the other day to withdraw Colones (CR currency) and it cost me $82 to receive $100. Ever heard of such a thing?! I made $18 just by getting some Colones.
Vehicles, however, not so much! I’ve been researching them here for a few days now. For example a brand new Toyota TRD with 4 wheel drive is $75,000, that’s not a typo. F’ing insane right?! Well, I have a budget of $25k and the best thing I’ve been able to find in that price range is ‘about’ 10 years old, roughly 2009-2012 and none of them have under 100,000 miles.
....But you didn’t say anything about my new location I listed, did you catch it?
holy moly! 75grand??? dang. Can't you buy one here and have it shipped there for a few thousand? Wow. Well that's a shocker since everything else is so reasonable. I guess all the cheap prices would still make up for one expensive purchase though, but you'd have to rework your budget! lol.
I have no clue about the location thing, I saw it but don't understand it, some things have to be explained so even a redneck can understand it.
Did you see that resteemed post from ganjafarmer? I felt very self concious about resteeming that but someone told me I needed to. I got connected to him when I did some Indian posts like he said, he's full blooded Bannock Shoshone. He said people on the reservation are still talking about the posts I did about Indian cowboys! I was highly honored and they were honored that I did that post.
Are you looking for houses yet? probably no rush on that. Do you have to get a Realtor?
Interestingly enough, the place where we’re staying has 2 air b&b’s and the other couple in the other unit just scored an apartment yesterday—2 bed, 2 bath in the hills with the same view I sent you for $900/month, fully furnished, wash-dry, etc. they used a real estate agent so when we’re ready, we’ll probably enlist an agent for assistance. But honestly, I don’t se us looking to find a serious home for another month or two. They both live in Chicago but got their residency before they came here. They, like us, are weary of going back to the states. None of us want a wall to trap us inside. The conversations that take place over here about the US and Trump are fascinating!
I did see that Article by ganjafarmer! Awesome!! I’m glad you resteemed it, I wouldn’t have wanted to miss that one. Congratulations! It’s gotta be liberating to hear from a real life Indian cowboy that you did the story justice. I, personally, don’t care for westerns, never have. But the way you spell them out keeps me coming back. 👍🏿
You ready for this, redneck? My .....location? O.. k... I’ll .... type.. this.. real... slloooowwww. It.. says.... Pro.5.21
Howdy sir dandays! so good to hear from you...any more progress on finding a decent used 4 wheel drive? You might have to go with a cheap car for a few months? You can't buy one in the States and have it shipped there?
I agree about the house, I would take my time on that one. The B&B is a wonderful temporary spot if it's in the general area that you want to stay in.
When you said ex-pats are weary of going back to the States did you mean Wary? or both? lol.
Oh yeah, what do the locals think about us Americans? do they think we're a bunch of crazy maniacs?
I'd be interested to find out who owns the news organizations down there, probably the same ones that own the majority of ours.
As far as the Westerns...well to me they're just human interest stories with some, hopefully, interesting history thrown in. I mean I've been able, in past posts, to build a strong emotional resonance and bond between the subjects and the audience.
This one has been a little more difficult to do that although I think people related to Butch and his mother and that relationship very well. Harry is more distant from his family and kind of a loner so it's harder to connect with him. Thank you for your support and I understand, as I've said before, if you have to tune out because Mrs. J has zero interest in Westerns. lol. I don't take that personal.
I did get a full downvote on the post I did two days ago but with no comment to explain it and I've never heard of the person before and they have no posts themselves that I saw, just resteems. Very strange. Maybe they didn't like me ruining their image of Butch and Sundance! lol.
lol, love the location riddle! I should have seen that but I needed the redneck translation. excellent though!
What is the spiritual scene like there? Many Catholics? Did you see any churches? In Texas there's a church on every corner!
Thanks so much for getting back with me, keep in touch!
I'm so glad he picked Sundance for his first crime. The Deadwood Kid would just not have had the same ring to it! When I was a kid the cabin that my grandparents had up north in the woods had an outhouse. My grandmother discreetly had a covered chamber pot tucked under each of the beds. No one was expected to go out in the dark to use the outhouse. In the morning we would each be expected to carry our own chamber pot out to the outhouse and empty it if we had used it during the night. You tried very hard to never have to use it!
haha! The Deadwood Kid! lol..you are so right! That's a great point. oh how interesting about the outhouse thing. I doubt if anyone else had to use one. That cabin was quite primitive for the year wasn't it? But I can see if it was just a place that wasn't lived in much except hunting trips or something. very interesting stuff!
They bought it in the 50's. Most summer cabins in the Northwoods were much the same. Even in 80's when we bought a cabin up north it had very primitive indoor plumbing that could only be used in the summertime and had to be winterized as soon as it started getting cold but all of the neighbors cabins had outhouses. Must be a Wisconsin thing!
oh boy, an outhouse in Wisconsin! lol. talk about freezing your tail off! lol. I'm so thankful for our modern conveniences!
They were summer cabins! The pipes had to be drained in the winter, and the only heat source was usually a wood burning stove or fireplace. Heck, the roads back in to the cabins were usually gravel and never got plowed during the winter because no one needed to drive down them!
wow that sounds very interesting, I was going to say cool...that would be a great place to get snowed in if you were hiding out. I bet it's beautiful back there in those woods.
God. Just think if it were the Belle Fourche Kid? Or the Beulah Kid? Just sayin'
Haha! I can imagine Butch shouting 'Hey Beulah, bring the horses'! It would have been an entirely different movie!
Haha! that's hilarious sir bigtom! lol. Well the newspaper reporters were more skilled than that, they were the ones who gave him the nick name, not yet but later in his career.
We went up once during the winter and stayed for a few days. There was no running water, and it was really cold, hut the snow was not deep. This just gave me an idea about what to do a post about for my something about me challenge. Stay tuned!
Interesting, a lot of people claim forced, when it was a simple choice.
But I do understand broke, LOL! But I never considered theft as a rectification method....
:)>yes sir smithlabs, when you get down to it, it was totally a choice and the boy was raised better than that by his God fearing mother! Did I tell you I was taking a few days to rebuild my voting power? it's up to 78% now so I only have 26 more hours to wait, it's been painful!
I gave up on tracking RC feces on Steemit! It works, or it doesn't; I feel they have made it too complicated to stay fun!
No Fun, No Steem, no steem, no Mon..
>:(sir smithlabs! Well sir, they expect you to learn the system and work it. But it's not an easy system to work, at least for me. But most people on here seem to be ok with it.
Oh I am doing most of my time here too, but it is not as free as it was; before that Hard Fork. THAT was a mistake, and steeem has not recovered thus far.
I am also "OKAY" with steemit, but not enthusiastic. The change was done badly, without consulting the end users. I was thinking about adding servers on steemit to help with the hardware overhead. I am still fighting to add good content tp steem, but I spend most of my time trolling for new contacts. These just aren't out there in any quantity, and are hard to find. The ones I do find are severely RC limited, so they can't really communicate much.
I try to encourage them, because steemit has to grow or die, but most tire of RC; tire, and stop trying. That scares me a little, but I intend to try to retain these critical accounts. It sure doesn't get the responses it used to, but it is probably the most important function these days.
Keep on posting my friend, and stay out of RC Jail. LOL!
:)>yes sir it's a dysfunctional system now to be sure. The only way I can keep commenting is to lease sp! but most people have no funds to invest so they limp along or wither and die like your brain cells from all that Okie air. it's a sad state of affairs.
Yes that air blowing up from Texas is hard on the brain cells. But I am stuck, because Texas blows and Kansas sucks.... :)
I tried to buy, but they wanted a copy of my drivers license, and I do NOT put that online!I am looking for another way to buy right now, but it is difficult. I want to buy steem, and weku both.
But I think weku will return better than steem, because they are using the old steem model, that accounted for all the significant growth in steem. It is also a startup, and that leverages the gains when they go public.
:)>sir smithlabs! what the?? Why does Kansas suck? Because they suck air up from Texas and Oklahoma is caught in the middle? well you can buy crypto without a drivers license but then you probably have to transfer it to a wallet and then trasfer it to Blocktrades but the wallet might require the DL huh? I don't remember if the one I used requires that or not. you can check out jaxx.io and see if they require one. I don't think they do but I'm not positive.
I have no idea about weku but I hope it survives. what decade are they going public?
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Wow! This is funny, including all the redneck jokes I forgot to mention, lol. Looks like he was destined to be famous outlaw after all! Ohhhh Harry, you are really living your dream, lol.
Howdy back Miss Lena! yes I thought it was funny that he always read those dime novels and now he was reading about himself! lol..but it just makes you want to shake these young kids doesn't it? 20 years old and heading for a life of crime, what a waste!
Well. I grew up with an outhouse on the property even with indoor plumbing. We'd get a blizzard or two a winter that would facilitate my father putting up a rope from the corner of the bunkhouse to the gate into the corral. You could follow the fence from there.
Winter of '68-69 was a particularly tough one in E Wash. I was a senior in High School so had some duties on the farm. Long story short I ended up with frostbitten toes that still bother me once in a while. We didn't have the modern fabrics, we wore sheepskin coats and two pair of jeans and big heavy wool socks. You put overshoes over your boots for another layer of protection. And you got cold.
I always thought it was "Hold my beer and watch this".
Howdy today sir bigtom13! oh wow...so the rope was for you to follow and go where, to the barn or to check on the livestock?
That sounds like a nightmare, to have to dress for those kinds of temperatures and you still got cold! It would take 30 minutes just to get dressed. lol.
Yes, I like that version of the joke too, I've used that one before, that one is probably more accurate! lol.
You could walk along the rope to the corral fence, then you could find the barn. You could get blown off course pretty easy in a snow storm when it's snowing sideways. My old man would always say "Nothing between us and the North Pole but a barbed wire fence, and it's half down."
We could feed out of the barn, and the real reason was the horses. My dad was really fond of his horses.
oh very cool sir bigtom13...well the wind would have to be blowing pretty dang hard to blow you away, but this was when you were a kid right? lol. I love that saying he had, that's a classic!