Did you watch “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” on PBS last night? It was pretty good. They spent quite a bit of time talking about the Pinkerton posses that chased after Butch and Sundance.
Remember this dialogue from the 1969 movie?
Joe LeFors was a real person, and he really did go after Butch and Sundance. Joe’s boss was a U.S. Marshall by the name of Frank Hadsell.
Frank started out as a rancher near Carbon, Wyoming in 1880. Yes, this is the same Carbon, Wyoming where my great-great-grandparents lived from 1875 until 1882. My great-great-great-uncle J.W. Johnson also ranched several places near Carbon, getting a land patent on one place in 1887.
In 1888, Hadsell was elected Sheriff of Carbon County. He went on to become a U.S. Marshall and later served two terms in the Wyoming State Senate. Guess who else served as a Wyoming Senator? J.W. Johnson! He served two terms (1905 and 1907) while Hadsell served a little while later (1911 and 1913). I have no doubt that Johnson and Hadsell knew each other – probably pretty well!
J.W. was also Vice-President of the Albany National Bank in Laramie. I wonder how often he and Hadsell discussed the exploits of Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch and the Wilcox Train Robbery, which took place near their old ranches.
I’m sure the train robbery was a favorite topic of discussion as well between J.W. and his railroad engineer nephew, P.W. Pearson.
So our family does not have a direct connection to Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch. But I never realized until just recently how much my ancestors were involved in the real Wild West! Pretty cool!
