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Butch Cassidy is Wyoming's Robin Hood, the outlaw everyone loves. Many of Wyoming's outlaws such as Tom Horn or Harvey Logan -- a member of Cassidy's Wild Bunch -- were calm, mysterious and deadly. Others were just mean and deadly, such as Slick Nard, who was suspected of murdering two young women and is known to have tracked down and killed his friend and partner Jack Bliss. Others were amusing bunglers such as Edward Trafton, who spent a day in Yellowstone Park in July 1914 robbing fifteen stage-coaches as they passed Shoshone Point. He had a great time, hurting no one and even encouraging some pretty young ladies to hide their baubles in their stockings. He ought, however, to have been paying attention to the three tourists who took photos of him and the fourth who sketched him. Those bits of evidence soon landed him in Leavenworth.

In contrast, Butch Cassidy was apparently a paragon of Wyoming virtues. He was a hard worker, a good cow hand, and a loyal friend who prided himself on always keeping his promises. He was fun-loving and fond of practical jokes. A competent outlaw, Cassidy was famous for his shooting skills, his horsemanship, and his ability to plan robberies, carry them out, and then vanish. Like Robin Hood, he robbed only from the impersonal "rich" -- cattle barons, trains, and banks. Stories abound of his generosity to widows, friends, and children. He completed his outlaw career without killing anyone, although he once attempted to shoot the chair legs out from under a sleeping friend and accidentally hit the man's leg instead. One friend asserted that he'd never known a man who didn't like Butch, but then reflected that he didn't know any bankers. A Lander man who knew him in his outlaw days said years later, "If he rode in here tomorrow, I'd hide him up again." Although the Butch Cassidy legend has almost certainly grown with time, the real man was apparently a man worth knowing.

Robert LeRoy Parker was born in Utah in 1866, the oldest of thirteen children. Both of Roy's parents had, as children, walked through Wyoming in Mormon handcart companies, and his mother was a survivor of Martin's handcart company. His father's attitude toward church activities was negative, however, and Roy followed in his footsteps. When Roy was thirteen he rode into town to buy a pair of pants. Finding the store closed, he broke in and took the pants. Although he left an IOU behind, the store owner signed a warrant for his arrest. This was Roy’s first contact with the legal system, and may have influenced his attitude toward the institutions of civilized society. When a Mormon bishop allowed a neighbor to take part of his father's ranch, the Parker family was thrown into poverty and Roy's trust in "the system" was further shaken.

As a teenager, Roy was befriended by Mike Cassidy, an older ranch hand who introduced Roy to a variety of cowboy skills, including small time rustling. In 1883 Roy was arrested for stealing a saddle but never convicted, and when he left home for good in 1884 he was fleeing charges of horse theft. Twenty-year-old Roy left his legal name behind with the family, taking the name George Cassidy in honor of his mentor.

Cassidy drifted for the next few years, working for various ranches including the enormous Swan Land and Cattle Company. He made friends all over the west who remained extremely loyal to him in the years that followed. One cowboy lent Cassidy $25 in 1886 to help him get to Butte, Montana. Apparently Cassidy used the money to go elsewhere. In the fall of 1887 the cowboy received a hundred dollar bill and a short note from Cassidy saying, "If you don't know how I got this, you will soon learn someday." Cassidy had almost certainly gotten the money from helping the McCarty gang rob the train in Grand Junction, Colorado. It was his first major crime. He remained with the McCartys for several years, participating in other robberies. The McCarty gang spent the winter of 1889 in remote Star Valley where the outlaws pretended to be wealthy Montana cattle ranchers. They opened the valley's first saloon and according to legend, papered its walls with bank notes.

Sometime during the last half of 1889, Cassidy left the McCarty gang and returned to cowboy life in Wyoming, renewing and extending his network of friends. He and Al Hainer settled on a homestead on Horse Creek near present day Dubois, and were frequent and popular visitors in Lander, where Cassidy had a sweetheart named Mary Boyd. Cassidy and Hainer spent Christmas 1889 on Jakey's Fork with their nearest neighbors the Simpsons, where Cassidy was a big hit with the children. Later that winter, he made a 120-mile nonstop round trip on horse back to Fort Washakie to get medicine for a Simpson child who was sick.

In the early 1890's, the conflicts between powerful cattle barons and small ranchers were rapidly escalating toward the Johnson County War

You say you want diamonds on a ring of gold
You say you want your story to remain untold.
All the promises we make
From the cradle to the grave
When all I want is you.

You say you'll give me a highway with no-one on it
Treasure, just to look upon it
All the riches in the night.

You say you'll give me eyes in the moon of blindness
A river in a time of dryness
A harbour in the tempest.
All the promises we make, from the cradle to the grave
When all I need is you.

You say you want your love to work out right
To last with me through the night.

You say you want diamonds on a ring of gold
Your story to remain untold
Your love not to grow cold.
All the promises we break, from the cradle to the grave
When all I want is you.

Lyrics by Bono, U2