Boyd around the same time he was squiring Dora Lamorreaux. Researchers suggest that Butch became enamored of Boyd, even more than he was of Lamorreaux, and may even have expressed a desire to marry her and settle down. According to Boyd’s granddaughter, Ione Manning, as reported by Larry Pointer, Mary may have actually lived with Cassidy for a time. In 1892, Boyd gave birth to a daughter, a child who was conceived in August 1891.
Some Cassidy researchers contend that the baby was Cassidy’s, but substantial evidence is lacking. Around the time of the birth, Cassidy was arrested for horse theft. As Mary was an unwed mother, the baby was eventually given to Boyd’s Indian relatives and named Mary B’Hat. When she was older, Mary B’Hat was told by her relatives that her father was a Lander businessman her mother “became infatuated with.” Mary Boyd subsequently married O. E. Rhodes, a Lander cowboy, while Butch Cassidy was serving a prison term in the Wyoming State Penitentiary.
The Wild Bunch found the pickings good in the southern Wyoming and northern Colorado region, and during the next several months a lot of horses and cattle were discovered missing from the large ranches in the area.
Though he stole livestock with impunity, Butch was not insensitive to the misfortune and misery of others. Once, when the Little Snake River flooded and jeopardized Calvert’s store at Baggs, Butch and several members of the Wild Bunch forded the swift current and offered their help.
Though he spent a good deal of time stealing livestock, Butch Cassidy is seldom identified as a rustler—more often he was credited with being a bank and train robber. The banks and trains were to come later; most of Cassidy’s formative outlaw years were spent stealing cattle and horses from the large corporate ranches. Several of the ranchers attempted to hire Cassidy. Even though he possessed a growing reputation as a rustler, it was well known that he would never steal from an employer. Most of the ranchers were convinced they would rather have Cassidy working for them than against them.
Some have considered that Cassidy’s rustling was done more out of amusement and boyish devilment as opposed to pure malicious intent. Perhaps Butch Cassidy felt he was exacting some sort of revenge on the moneyed and powerful. For every misdeed he was involved with, however, someone had something good to say about Cassidy when it came to helping out his fellow man.
It was inevitable that Butch Cassidy would eventually be caught. During August 1891, Cassidy, most likely accompanied by Al Hainer, was residing at a location called Mail Camp in Fremont County, Wyoming, when a young man named Billy Nutcher rode in with a string of three saddle horses—a brown, a grey, and a sorrel. When Cassidy inquired, Nutcher said the horses were for sale, and the two dickered over a price for a time. Eventually, Cassidy bought all three, and the two shook hands on the deal. Unfortunately for Cassidy, none of the appropriate paperwork for the three horses was provided.
As it turned out, Billy Nutcher, like Butch Cassidy, was a horse thief, and the three mounts he sold had recently been stolen by him from the nearby Grey Bull Cattle Company. After Cassidy had been reported in possession of the stolen stock, Deputy Sheriff Caverly went after him. According to writer John Rolfe Burroughs ( Where the Old West Stayed Young ), on April 8, 1892, some ten months after the transaction, Caverly finally overtook Cassidy, and the two allegedly engaged in a brief gunfight. There exist a variety of versions about what transpired. According to an article in the Fremont Clipper on April 15, 1892, Cassidy refused to be arrested. At that point, Caverly “grappled with him and after a desperate struggle in which the desperado was beaten senseless, and the cuffs and shackles were applied to his limbs, he was conveyed to the prison at Evanston.”
In the June 16, 1939, issue of the Wyoming
Some Cassidy researchers contend that the baby was Cassidy’s, but substantial evidence is lacking. Around the time of the birth, Cassidy was arrested for horse theft. As Mary was an unwed mother, the baby was eventually given to Boyd’s Indian relatives and named Mary B’Hat. When she was older, Mary B’Hat was told by her relatives that her father was a Lander businessman her mother “became infatuated with.” Mary Boyd subsequently married O. E. Rhodes, a Lander cowboy, while Butch Cassidy was serving a prison term in the Wyoming State Penitentiary.
The Wild Bunch found the pickings good in the southern Wyoming and northern Colorado region, and during the next several months a lot of horses and cattle were discovered missing from the large ranches in the area.
Though he stole livestock with impunity, Butch was not insensitive to the misfortune and misery of others. Once, when the Little Snake River flooded and jeopardized Calvert’s store at Baggs, Butch and several members of the Wild Bunch forded the swift current and offered their help.
Though he spent a good deal of time stealing livestock, Butch Cassidy is seldom identified as a rustler—more often he was credited with being a bank and train robber. The banks and trains were to come later; most of Cassidy’s formative outlaw years were spent stealing cattle and horses from the large corporate ranches. Several of the ranchers attempted to hire Cassidy. Even though he possessed a growing reputation as a rustler, it was well known that he would never steal from an employer. Most of the ranchers were convinced they would rather have Cassidy working for them than against them.
Some have considered that Cassidy’s rustling was done more out of amusement and boyish devilment as opposed to pure malicious intent. Perhaps Butch Cassidy felt he was exacting some sort of revenge on the moneyed and powerful. For every misdeed he was involved with, however, someone had something good to say about Cassidy when it came to helping out his fellow man.
It was inevitable that Butch Cassidy would eventually be caught. During August 1891, Cassidy, most likely accompanied by Al Hainer, was residing at a location called Mail Camp in Fremont County, Wyoming, when a young man named Billy Nutcher rode in with a string of three saddle horses—a brown, a grey, and a sorrel. When Cassidy inquired, Nutcher said the horses were for sale, and the two dickered over a price for a time. Eventually, Cassidy bought all three, and the two shook hands on the deal. Unfortunately for Cassidy, none of the appropriate paperwork for the three horses was provided.
As it turned out, Billy Nutcher, like Butch Cassidy, was a horse thief, and the three mounts he sold had recently been stolen by him from the nearby Grey Bull Cattle Company. After Cassidy had been reported in possession of the stolen stock, Deputy Sheriff Caverly went after him. According to writer John Rolfe Burroughs ( Where the Old West Stayed Young ), on April 8, 1892, some ten months after the transaction, Caverly finally overtook Cassidy, and the two allegedly engaged in a brief gunfight. There exist a variety of versions about what transpired. According to an article in the Fremont Clipper on April 15, 1892, Cassidy refused to be arrested. At that point, Caverly “grappled with him and after a desperate struggle in which the desperado was beaten senseless, and the cuffs and shackles were applied to his limbs, he was conveyed to the prison at Evanston.”
In the June 16, 1939, issue of the Wyoming
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