In 1969, 20th Century Fox released the film “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” A box office hit and a national movie sensation, the film became the first Western in more than 10 years to sweep the country and the Oscars.
Hollywood superstars Paul Newman played the lead role, while Robert Redford played his partner, the Sundance Kid. While Redford became Hollywood’s new leading man, the story of their The Wild Bunch gang garnered a new interest in the “outlaw West.”
As is often the case with many outlaws of the Old West, happenstance and a few bad choices led one to the life of the infamous outlaw. Such was the case with Harry Alonzo Longabaugh.
An innocent young cowboy, Longabaugh found adventure and got more than he bargained for in the small community of Cortez in the southwest corner of Colorado. Following his earliest outlaw deeds in Colorado and a brief incarceration in the jail at Sundance, Wyoming, Longabaugh gave history one of the most romantic and colorful outlaws of all time: The Sundance Kid.
Birth Of An Outlaw
In 1882, a 14-year-old Longabaugh moved West with his older cousin, George Longenbaugh (spelled differently) and his family. The family first settled near Durango, Colorado, where Harry helped his cousin in raising and breeding horses, and he became quite knowledgeable in the quality of fine horses and breeding stock.
By 1884, the Longenbaugh family moved West some 48 miles to Cortez, where they settled permanently. Harry moved with them, continuing to help his cousin, but he also gained employment as a horseman with the LC Ranch.
Although the town of Cortez was in its infancy, many families were settling in the area, known for its high grass and abundance of rivers.
One such family was the McCarty’s. The Bill Madden family homesteaded not far from Cortez, and Willard E. Christiansen (alias Matt Warner,) also lived in the area.
All would soon turn to a life of crime.
At the neighboring Carlisle Ranch straddling the Colorado-Utah border, a young ranch hand was employed by the name of Dan Parker. He was the younger brother of Robert Leroy Parker (alias Butch Cassidy). It is very likely that Longabaugh met Cassidy in the Cortez area.
With his access to horses and his ability to train good horses, it is no doubt that Harry made an impression on the soon-to-be outlaws. An impressionable youth, it is also likely the men made quite an impression on young Longabaugh.
Horse racing, being the popular form of entertainment at the time, attracted a considerable variety of people. Among them were young Bob Parker (who went by the name of George), Matt Warner and Tom McCarty, a neighbor to the Longenbaugh ranch.
Matt Warner had the fastest racehorse in the four corners area. Warner’s mare Betty was kept at the McCarty homestead near Cortez.
Tom McCarty and Matt Warner raced Betty throughout the countryside. At a race in Telluride, Colorado, during the summer of 1888, the pair ran across alias George Cassidy, also involved in horse racing.
The trio became a pack, racing their horses throughout the four corners area. Although the trio won almost every race, they lost most of what they won by drinking and gambling.
By the end of the season, the three were broke and pondered the idea of a quick way to make money.
Let’s Rob A Bank
Back at their homes in the Cortez area, Tom McCarty was the first to suggest a bank robbery. Seasoned outlaw Matt Warner was quick to agree.
It was Butch Cassidy who suggested the Telluride Bank. Butch had lived in Telluride, knew the layout and evidently the routine of the businessmen. Butch felt the robbery would be an easy one, and with the ore from the mines, all three agreed it would be a rich one.
On Monday, June 24, 1889, Tom, Matt, Butch and a fourth unidentified man were seen in Telluride. After surveying the town, the group hit the bank during the noon lunch break. Town Marshal Jim Clark had just left town.
It was later revealed that Marshal Clark had been paid off by the robbers to leave town.
According to eyewitness accounts and newspaper reports, two men entered the bank while two men stayed with the horses. Reports range from $10,000 to $30,000 dollars taken in the first major bank robbery in Colorado.
As the robbers fled the scene of the crime, two eyewitnesses reported the four robbers by name. They were Tom McCarty, Matt Warner, Butch Cassidy and possibly Harry Longabaugh. Thus identified, the four quickly became wanted outlaws.
The Rocky Mountain News reported in its June 27, 1889, issue: “Following the robbery of the San Miguel Valley Bank of Telluride on Monday last, the four daring cowboys rode .. .after retrieving their horses from the scene.”
While historians differ on the true identity of the fourth robber, most agree that there was indeed a fourth man involved, supported by the eyewitness accounts and newspaper reports.
Supporting that evidence is the claim by the Longenbaugh family of Cortez.
Family history relates that George’s wife Mary sheltered and fed the outlaws following the Telluride bank robbery, and the men she fed included Harry Longabaugh, George’s cousin.
Harry Longabaugh had been released from the jail in Sundance the month previous to the Telluride robbery, and immediately returned to his home with his cousin George near Cortez. The McCarty ranch, as well as the Warner homestead, were very near the Longenbaugh ranch.
It is very likely that Harry Longabaugh would have been in on the robbery. A man who knew horses, knew the area and layout of the land (Telluride being 80 miles from Cortez), he would have been the perfect man to aid the outlaws.
Harry Longabaugh, who became The Sundance Kid after his incarceration in that town’s jail.
As he rode out of Colorado with his famous partner Butch Cassidy, Harry Longabaugh was no more, and The Sundance Kid became a legend for all time.
Contact Linda Wommak at lwomm3258@aol.com.
Linda Wommack can be reached at lwomm3258@aol.com.
