- [Narrator] News is the first draft of history.
It is immediate and takes place in real time.
Legends take longer to develop
and are sometimes based on myth.
This Fox News series looks at the truth behind the legend.
(light music)
(guns firing)
- Come on, Butch, they're firing at us!
(upbeat music)
(guns firing)
- Reloading!
(gun fires)
(somber music)
(guns firing)
(heart beating)
(guns firing continuously)
♪ My country 'tis of thee
♪ Sweet land of liberty
♪ Land where my fathers died
♪ Land of the pilgrim's pride
♪ From every mountainside
♪ Let freedom ring
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- [Narrator] On the North American plains,
opportunity calls men of courage
to chase the sun west into a new frontier.
They would shape a nation, lay hold of their destiny
and birth a new mythology.
But with the passing of time, every myth has its reckoning.
Butch Cassidy, charismatic leader
and crafty fun-loving outlaw.
Founder of the notorious Wild Bunch,
known for his daring violence-free banditry
and infamous escape with his long-time partner,
the Sundance Kid.
But behind every fugitive stands a man
and behind every legend lies the truth.
- When most people think of Butch Cassidy,
they think of his legend as presented in the famous movie,
a charming criminal with a devil may care attitude
and a clever wit.
But the real story of Butch Cassidy is that
of a criminal mastermind, a Western godfather of sorts
who brings organization to the world of unorganized crime.
And just like any group of gangsters,
violence is part of that equation,
even if the legend would have you believe otherwise.
- [Narrator] As America approaches the 20th century,
30 years of unprecedented expansion, ambition and bloodshed
(gun fires)
have connected fast transportation and communication systems
from the East with the once wild American West.
- The world is changing, it's modernizing.
The large corporations are coming in,
they're squeezing out the little guy
and even the little outlaw.
- [Narrator] These new advances in technology
make an isolated life obsolete.
And for Western outlaws, they make crime harder to commit.
But to a stubborn bandit like Butch Cassidy,
there is still opportunity if you know where to look.
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The last great outlaw of the American West
begins life as Robert LeRoy Parker,
the son of devout Mormon immigrants, who like thousands
of others came West in search of freedom
and the American dream.
- They were pretty poor.
His father had homesteaded a farm in Southern Utah,
but the kids were sent out
to work in ranches in the neighborhood.
- Like so many legends of the Wild West,
Butch comes into contact with a mentor figure
at a particularly important moment in his life.
And in this case, it's a gentleman
by the name of Mike Cassidy.
- [Narrator] Young Robert Parker soon finds out
that his mentor has a lucrative side business, still common
in the rugged back country of the American West.
- Get back here! (gun firing)
(upbeat music)
(gun fires) (upbeat music)
(cheering)
- Butch kind of learns the ways of breaking the law
in this very minor way.
And Mike is taking him under his wing so much so
that Butch adopts Mike Cassidy's name as his own.
- [Narrator] After struggling
to make an honest living as a rancher and butcher,
earning little more than the nickname Butch,
Parker settles into his new profession.
- By the summer of 1894,
Butch Cassidy is a savvy and elusive rustler,
More than an annoyance to the powerful cattlemen of Wyoming
who use their influence over law enforcement
to have Cassidy arrested and sentenced
to two years hard labor for stealing a $5 horse.
It is that experience many historians believe
triggers Cassidy's personal vendetta against authority,
his career as an outlaw and his determination
to never be locked up again.
- [Narrator] As big corporations continue
to buy up the West,
smaller privately owned ranches, targets for Butch
and other rustlers, are pushed out to make room
for industrialists from the East.
- I need to get into something real,
something that puts hard solid gold in my hands.
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- [Narrator] Cassidy heads to remote Browns Park, Utah,
far from the reach of the law.
And he looks for an opportunity to make a major score.
(light music)
- Well, look who it is!
Howdy, stranger!
- Elzy!
- [Narrator] Not one to work alone,
Butch searches for a partner in crime,
someone willing to take on bigger jobs.
- Most people think Butch Cassidy's best friend
and only true partner in crime is the Sundance Kid.
But the truth is long before Cassidy even meets Sundance,
his original collaborator is a man named Elzy Lay.
Lay is more aggressive than Sundance,
which works well for Cassidy who needs someone
to complement his personal aversion to violence.
- You know the problem with rustling stock
is you got a trigger happy rancher trying
to blow your head off, all for a lousy $300.
- Well, if you're looking for a change of pace,
there's a bank in Idaho stays nice and still,
worth more than a whole herd of longhorn.
- Yeah, and it's guarded a helluva lot better
than a bunch of cows, too.
- And guess who took a trip to Idaho last week?
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- What the hell, what the hell.
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- [Narrator] Even with business booming in the West,
there are still places where law enforcement
has been slow to keep pace.
- The size of the town was certainly a factor
in their pattern.
Exclusively, they are small towns.
And one could only assume that that's because it's easy
to get in and out of a town and they're lightly guarded.
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- [Narrator] Butch and Elzy planned to strike the bank fast.
They're in and out in seconds
and the small town is caught completely off guard.
- [Elzy] I will shoot you in the face!
(guns firing)
(upbeat music)
(Elzy laughs)
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- Get back here!
Stop, thief!
- After the holdup,
one of the law officers couldn't find a horse
and so he jumped on a bicycle.
- Stop, thief!
- And it was not successful.
(upbeat music)
- [Butch] A little surprise for you.
(Elzy laughs)
- [Narrator] Butch and Elzy make it back to Browns Park
with $7,000 in cash, gold and silver
worth nearly $200,000 today.
(upbeat music)
Word of the successful Montpelier heist quickly spreads
among local law enforcement.
And when the news reaches the other criminals
in Browns Park, Butch finds himself at the center
of an outlaw ring.
- Boys.
- A gang that will come to be known
around the country as the Wild Bunch.
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(gun fires)