By Linda Wommack
In the early morning of Saturday, June 22, 1889, three men arrived separately in the small mining town of Telluride.
One was known in town, so he stayed busy working with his horses. The second mingled with the town folks, learning names and occupations. The third stranger kept a low profile, watching the operations of the personnel at the San Miguel National Bank.
As county clerk Charles Painter left the bank, at 10:00 sharp on Monday morning of June 24, 1889, the trio made their move.
Entering the bank, the men pulled their guns and demanded the cash that C. Hyde, the teller, was counting. One of the men held a gun on Hyde, while the other jumped the counter and filled a sack with the money. Turning to the bank vault, he cleared it of all the cash as well.
The thieves left the bank, mounted their horses, held by the third member of the party, and quicklydeparted from town.
As the riders reached the outskirts of town, a bystander, Harry B. Adsit, recognized two of the bandits. One was Matt Warner, a guy who raced horses, the other was his ex-employee, George Cassidy.
As the bank robbers raced out of town, Butch Cassidy entered the history books for his first hold-up that would lead to the formation of the Wild Bunch and the legendary Outlaw West.
The Brain-Child Of The Outfit
The planning and execution of this legendary hold-up was the brain child of Tom McCarty, the third member on that day, who held the horses. It was McCarty's ingenious plan, never before used, that allowed Cassidy, Warner, and McCarty to make a clean getaway, with a cool $10,500 in cash.
McCarty placed relay stations along the getaway route, supplied with fresh horses and water. In this manner, the bank robbers were able to cover over 35 miles toward the Mancos Mountains before the posse left town.
The trio rode away free to Robber's Roost, an outlaw hide-out in the desert of southern Utah. The Telluride bank robbery introduced a new tactic to be used by members of the Wild Bunch for the next decade, and McCarty's plan became renown across the American West and outlaws in particular.
McCarty, along with his brother, Bill, had been robbing and rustling cattle all over eastern Utah since 1884. Known as the “Invincible Trio,” when outlaw and brother-in-law, Matt Warner joined the gang, they moved into bank robbery in Utah and Washington.
When things got too hot, the trio moved back toward Colorado. Warner had a small ranch on Diamond Mountain, on the western edge of Brown's Hole, Colorado. The geography of the area is a rugged no-man's land.
Situated in northwestern Colorado, Brown's Hole covers the borders of Utah and Wyoming. Because of the rough terrain and the obvious law jurisdiction, Brown's Hole was seldom penetrated by lawmen from anywhere.
Like-wise, the McCarty brothers had started a ranch near Cortez, Colorado, largely with rustled cattle. Near the Utah border, the desolation of the area, as well as jurisdiction, were also to the McCartys' favor.
By 1884, Matt Warner had been working with race horses at Charlie Crouse's ranch, where he met Elza (Elzy) Lay, future member of the Wild Bunch gang.
It was during a horse race at Telluride, that Warner met 19-year-old George Cassidy, who hauled ore for the local mines. Cassidy also had a horse in the race and placed a bet with Warner that his horse would win. Warner's horse, Betty, won the race. When Cassidy brought his saddle to Warner, the object of the bet, Warner refused to take it. The two had become friends and soon formed a partnership.
They traveled all over southern Colorado and Utah, beating every horse they raced. In Cortez, they found time for a hearty reunion of brothers-in-law, Warner, and Tom McCarty. It was at this reunion that McCarty and Cassidy first met.
Planning The Robberies
With time on their hands in the isolated cabin, conversation turned to easy money. It was here that the next few robberies were planned.
The first heist occurred on March 30, 1889. A fine dressed man, Tom McCarty, entered the First National Bank of Denver and demanded to see the president, David Moffat.
McCarty showed Moffat a bottle of liquid, claiming it was nitroglycerine, and demanded $21,000 in cash, or he would blow the bank sky-high. Terrified, Moffat retrieved the cash from the cashier.
Calmly walking out of the bank, McCarty handed the money to his partner, Warner, and the two went their separate ways, soon lost in the busy crowd. The bank heist made all the newspapers, but the robbers were unknown at the time.
With this great accomplishment in a big city, McCarty and Warner enlisted Cassidy for the Telluride bank robbery. Matt Warner later said The San Miguel National Bank was the finest bank he had ever seen.
Again, newspapers all over the state reported the robbery. The Rocky Mountain News of June 26, 1889 reported:
“The robbery of the San Miguel Valley bank of Telluride by four daring cowboys of the Stockton outfit on the Mancos is one of the boldest affairs in Colorado.”
Obviously, the report was wrong as eye-witnesses, as well as law enforcement later revealed. Curiously enough, despite subsequent information confirming the identities of three of the robbers, two of which also participated in the Denver National Bank hold-up, no one was ever arrested for either robbery.
In The Clear, Until There Is A Jam
In the clear, McCarty, Warner, and Cassidy went on to bigger and bolder robberies. After a series of lucrative outlaw escapades, Warner found himself in a jam when he was arrested for murder during an outlaw shoot-out in Vernal, Utah in 1896.
On August 13, 1896, Butch Cassidy, Elza Lay and Bob Meeks robbed the Montpelier Bank in Idaho. Two weeks later, Cassidy delivered some $16,000 in cash to attorney Douglas Preston of Rock Springs, Wyoming, who defended Matt Warner against the charges.
While rumors of this robbery included Tom McCarty, he was in fact, laying low in California.
The other members of the Wild Bunch also would lay low at times, often finding work on ranches in Browns Park before seeking out another opportunity for some easy money.
Butch Cassidy became one of the best known of Wild Bunch outlaws, but behind his prominence were the McCarty Brothers.
Linda Wommack can be reached at lwomm3258@aol.com
