On January 19, 1896, Butch
Cassidy was released from prison in Laramie. His release came after serving 18 months of a two-year sentence for horse thieving. Reportedly the horse he was
caught with was valued at five dollars. Looks
like the courts really were serious about stealing horses in the old days.
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| Butch Cassidy |
Wyoming Governor
William Richards freed and pardoned
Cassidy after talking with the outlaw in Laramie. The people of Fremont County
were afraid Cassidy, who may have been running an illegal protection racket
there, might come back. They convinced the governor that a pardon might keep
Cassidy on the up and up. Governor
Richards said that Cassidy, "told me that he’d had enough of Penitentiary
life, and intended to conduct himself in such a way as to not again lay himself
liable to arrest."
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| Governor Richards Thought it Sounded Like a Good Deal |
Later many locals joked that he may have
meant that he intended to become a better criminal and would not get caught again.
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| Not a Single $5.00 Horse Here |
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