3020

Wanted Posters: Butch Cassidy & Sundance Kid Originals (3) [182482]

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Paper Start Price:10,000.00 USD Estimated At:20,000.00 - 40,000.00 USD
Wanted Posters: Butch Cassidy & Sundance Kid Originals (3)  [182482]
SOLD
10,000.00USD+ (2,500.00) buyer's premium + applicable fees & taxes.
This item SOLD at 2024 Jun 08 @ 18:48UTC-7 : PDT/MST
UNCLAIMED MERCHANDISE: In the event that a successful bidder has paid in full for their merchandise but fails to settle outstanding shipping invoices or make arrangements for merchandise pickup within 60 days, HWAC reserves the right to declare the merchandise forfeited. This forfeiture will result in the merchandise becoming the property of HWAC and the successful bidder shall have no claim to or rights over the forfeited merchandise.
An exceptionally rare collection of three directly related documents that includes the first and third (of three) Pinkerton Posters/flyers of 1901 and 1904 plus a letter signed by Thomas Ray regarding Tom McCarty, a sometime partner with Cassidy and Sundance and also cousin of Billy the Kid (Wm McCarty). The second poster, Circular No. 2 is dated Feb. 3, 1902, and is not a part of this collection and was never located by our collector. A. Pinkerton 4pp "flyer" and $6,000 Reward notice May 15, 1901. This poster/flyer is for a very famous event where the First National Bank of Winnemucca was robbed Sept. 19, 1900 of $32,640 by two men with revolvers and a third man with a Winchester. "At least $21,000 was in $20 gold coins; $1200 in $5 and $10 gold coins; the balance in currency" (Serial numbers were not included.) They were unmasked. The flyer from Pinkerton's is far more detailed than the typical California Reward Poster, listing specific descriptions, etc. In the case of one of the men here, it reads: "Very determined expression on his face. Smelled like a pole cat. Think his hair was colored for the occasion." For another robber: Occupation: probably cowboy."..."After a thorough investigation and from information received, GEORGE PARKER (right name) alias GEORGE CASSIDY, alias "BUTCH" CASSIDY, alias INGERFIELD; and HARRY LONGBAUGH, alias "KID" LONGBAUGH, alias HARRY ALONZO, are suspected of being two of the men engaged in this robbery." The "flyer" is only printed on two of the pages so that it can be opened and posted as a single sheet poster in horizontal format. This poster does not use the name "Sundance Kid" as that moniker was not yet in use.B. Nov. 14, 1904 Circular No. 3, $2,000 reward for the Sept. 19, 1901 robbery of the First National Bank of Winnemucca. The wording on the front page is similar, but presented in a far different manner, with bold descriptions of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, with an offer of reward for $1,000 each and 25% of all monies collected of the $32,640 stolen from the Bank. (This is a very substantial reward, and would have attracted the very best detectives.) The second page has three photographs printed, two of George Parker, "Butch Cassidy" and one of Harry Longbaugh "Sundance Kid." C. Nov 3, 1896 from Thomas Ray in paradox, Colorado to Mr. H.B. Adsit who had sent Ray photos of a man they suspected as being Tom McCarty (Billy the Kid's cousin), a sometime member of the Butch Cassidy- Sundance Kid gang of outlaws. Ray tells Adsit that he couldn't recognize McCarty because he had not seen him in 19 years. It is possible Adsit was a detective working for Pinkerton, or was a Pinkerton "bounty hunter," as they are known today., D, First National Bank of Telluride letterhead, 1893. Casssidy- Sundance were suspected of a Telluride bank robbery.The Sundance Kid escaped from jail Oct 31, 1897 and was never captured again until November, 1901 in St Louis. He may also have escaped that capture, and his online biography is greatly lacking.In Butch Cassidy; A Biography by Richard Patterson, Patterson claims that the pair were probably only responsible for nine holdups and robberies: four banks; four express trains, and a coal company office payroll. "They were soon blamed for every robbery in the northwest." Patterson further opined that the Winnemucca robbery may have been their last, stating the pair were off to South America before the 1901 year was over. Their robberies averaged about $35,000 per episode, according to Patterson. Over the years, much was written on this notorious pair, of whom the Hollywood movie with Newman and Redford was a smash success. Interestingly, there is not much in the actual newspaper accounts of the day, but Patterson's comment regarding the pair getting blamed for a ton of robberies seems correct. Bill Minor (The Grey Fox, and yet another movie, this one with Richard Farnsworth as Minor) probably committed some of the train robberies attributed to the Cassidy-Sundance pair. Some historians dispute the Winnemucca Bank robbery was by the famous duo. Charles Siringo, the detective who chased after the pair for years, did not mention them in his book Riata and Spurs, in which he chronicled his life and major outlaws he and his team went after, generally while undercover. This grouping is a once in a lifetime chance at acquisition of the original "wanted" posters/flyers for the most famous western outlaw pairs in history, Burch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, who were never caught.