start from the end

These two American men sitting next to each other in the small Bolivian town of San Vicente seem out of place. Of course it is because they are dead. One shot the other and then killed himself. The questions arise: who are they? Why did they go to Bolivia? Why did the Bolivian Army dispatch soldiers to kill them? Well The last question is an easy question because a messenger carrying 15,000 pesos was attack by two Masked Americans. Two Americans then appeared in and after a gunfight killing a Bolivian soldier two shots were fired and the Americans were found dead. Yet the Bolivian military could not identify the two. Who are they? Well if one likes to speculate there were two Americans traveling with a woman to Buenos Aires. Most people knew them as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. They were criminals terrorizing trains, banks, and ranches.

Butch was the leader of a gang known as the Wild Bunch. It's funny how Butch Cassidy whose real name is Robert LeRoy Parker ended up as a criminal because his first criminal offence was a theft of a pair of jeans and a pie. He moved to Telluride, Colorado where he started work as a cowboy. He may also have done illegal horse trading as well. Butch bought a ranch in 1890 in Wyoming but it fell through the roof. Four years later he was charged with horse theft. After a 18 month service on a two year detention He was released on the condition that he would never steal horses in Wyoming again. Courting with another outlaw Ann Bassett Butch Formed a gang of three members and robbed a bank in Idaho cashing in 7,000 dollars. Here is where Butch Cassidy met Harry Longabaugh known as the Sundance Kid. Their next robbery was in the mining town of Castle Gate, Utah where they made off with gold. Then finally their most infamous heist was on the union pacific railroad. The pursuing manhunt proved to be ineffective in catching them.

That heist however was a turning point for the Wild Bunch. In two more heists they killed five men two of which were Sheriffs. This led to Butch's best friend Elzy Lay's arrest and life time imprisonment in jail. Not only that but the Wild Bunch had the famous Pinkerton Agency after them. In the continuing heist and shootouts the Wild Bunch lost two members and the Pinkerton Agency lost three men. In september of 1900 the gang robbed the First National Bank of Winnemucca, Nevada taking over 30,000 dollars and then posing for a famous picture (above Sundance on bottom left Cassidy on bottom right). After this the Gang pulled one more heist totaling 60,000 dollars and then split up. Two more members were killed leaving three and the last lived out the rest of his life in Montana. Butch and Sundance fled to Buenos Aires with Sundance's girl friend Etta Place. However, even escaping to Argentina would stop the Pinkerton Agency which followed them there. After robbing a bank in Argentina (12,000 pesos) they fled to Chile. In 1906 Etta returns to America with Sundance, who eventually returns. And that was their story. Hollywood believes that they went out with a bang, some say Cassidy returned to America under a new name. Who knows?