Around 2 am on June 2, 1899, Notoriously five masked members of the Wild Bunch stopped the Union Pacific overland Flyer near Wilcox, Wyoming. Two of the train cars that carried tourist sleeper and a private car were separated. The train pulled forward about two miles ahead and over a bridge before stopping. The gang then blew up the bridge to prevent the other cars from catching up. The train attendant was ordered to open the safe door but he refused. With the refusal, the Wild Bunch pulled out the dynamite to open the safe. The problem was that they used too much dynamite and blew the baggage car apart with the safe on the train. The gang rode off into the darkness with $50,000 in gold, currency, and jewelry.
Although they were masked, immediate suspicion fell on the Wild Bunch Gang. Butch Cassidy is believed to not have participated in the Wilcox Train Robbery but probably had a hand in planning it. Hours after the robbery, a hundred Pinkerton agents were combing the area looking for members of the Wild Bunch. Detectives were tracking the serial numbers on the banknotes taken in the robbery. The gang split up with Harvey, Sundance, and Flat Nose Curry heading for the Hole in the Wall.
On June 6, 1899, Motivated Sheriff Josiah Hazen led a posse of 14 men who caught up with the Wild Bunch at Castle Creek, Wyoming. A gunfight ensued, leaving Hazen dead and the three outlaws to escape on foot. Kid Curry’s brother, Lonnie Logan was the first to go down for the robbery. He had exchanged some of the stolen money in Montana and was tracked to his aunt’s house in Colorado and was shot trying to flee. Later in St. Johns, Arizona in March 1900, Kid Curry was able to kill two posse members as they tried to capture him. Kid Curry and Will Carver head to New Mexico where they rode into an ambush leaving two more posse members dead. Two weeks after April 3, 1900, Elusive Flat Nose George Curry was shot and killed by Sheriff Jesse Tyler in Grand County, Utah. Kid Curry considered Flat Nose his best friend and mentor and he would later avenge the death by killing Sheriff Tyler and another deputy.
History Moment 15 of 20
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