The Sundance Kid: From Cowboy to Outlaw, a Tale of Two Countries
The Wild West's most infamous train robber had a hidden past. Before he became a notorious member of Butch Cassidy's gang, Harry Longabaugh, aka the Sundance Kid, led a life that few know about. And it all started in the picturesque province of Alberta, Canada.
Long before the Calgary Stampede, Harry Longabaugh made his mark in southern Alberta. While his exploits as a bank and train robber alongside Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch are legendary, his time as a cowboy and businessman in Canada is a lesser-known story.
Records indicate that the Sundance Kid spent around three years in Alberta during the early 1890s. He worked as a ranch hand, allegedly abused animals, and even opened a saloon at the Grand Central Hotel in Calgary. But here's where it gets intriguing: archeologists and historians are digging into these forgotten tales, uncovering a past that was once buried.
American writer Daniel Buck and his wife, Anne Meadows, stumbled upon this hidden chapter while researching the outlaw duo's time in South America. They discovered that Longabaugh was listed as a horse breaker in the 1891 Alberta census and was later mentioned in a 1901 Calgary Herald article as a wanted man for murder in Texas. But why was this Canadian connection overlooked?
"The history of Sundance in Canada was unknown to people in the United States," Buck revealed. This surprising revelation led Buck and Meadows to publish their findings in a 1993 journal, shedding light on the Kid's double life.
But what drew the Sundance Kid to Canada? The answer lies in the allure of the unknown and the freedom it offered. American crime reporter Peter Edwards explains that Canada was a haven for American outlaws, even the notorious Al Capone. "American authorities couldn't pursue them," he said. The Sundance Kid's travels took him to southern Saskatchewan, where he and his gang would hide out after their robberies.
And this is the part most people miss: the Sundance Kid's ability to lead a double life. He was a respectable worker in Canada, yet a criminal in the States. This enigma fascinates historians, leaving them to wonder how a cowboy could become an outlaw.
The mystery deepens when considering the rarity of cowboys turning to crime. Buck ponders, "It's hard to explain why, among the hundreds of cowboys, Sundance was one of the few to choose this path." Was it the thrill of the outlaw life, or the promise of riches from successful robberies?
The story doesn't end there. After a decade of robberies across the United States, the Sundance Kid, along with Butch Cassidy and Etta Place, fled to South America. Their fate remains a subject of debate, with some claiming they perished in Bolivia in 1908, while others contest this. Etta Place's disappearance adds to the intrigue.
This hidden chapter of the Wild West, as Vicky Kelly noted, provides an intriguing link to the American frontier. It's a tale that begs the question: How many other outlaws had secret lives beyond the borders of the United States?
Written by Amir Said, a talented reporter and editor at CBC Calgary, this article offers a glimpse into the lesser-known history of the Wild West. Follow Amir on social media to explore more captivating stories.
