GREEN RIVER –– A new article on WyoHistory.org tells the story of two men famous (or infamous) in Rock Springs and Sweetwater County history.
“The Outlaw and His Lawyer: Butch Cassidy and Douglas Preston,” by Dick Blust of the Sweetwater County Historical Museum, chronicles the interwoven careers of outlaw Robert Leroy Parker – better known as Butch Cassidy – and his friend, Rock Springs attorney Douglas A. Preston.
Though he was a member of Wyoming’s Constitutional Convention of 1889, a signer of Wyoming’s State Constitution, a member of the Wyoming House of Representatives, and served two terms as Wyoming’s attorney general, Preston is best remembered as the lawyer for one of the Old West’s most well-known bandits.
Preston and Cassidy first met in Fremont County in 1891, when Cassidy was charged with horse theft and defended by Preston. Cassidy was found guilty and sentenced to imprisonment at the Wyoming State Penitentiary, then located in Laramie.
In 1895, Cassidy managed to set up a personal meeting at the prison with Gov. William Richards and requested a pardon. There is evidence Cassidy promised he would commit no further crimes in Wyoming. Richards agreed, and Cassidy was released early in 1896. Seven months later, he and two accomplices named Elzy Lay and Bub Meeks, robbed the Montpelier Bank in Montpelier, Idaho, of approximately $7,000. After 12 years and numerous bank holdups and train robberies later, Cassidy, along with Harry Longabaugh, better known as the Sundance Kid, was reportedly killed in a shootout with authorities in Bolivia.
Preston’s relationship with Cassidy has long been a controversial subject among historians. Though he had a long and distinguished career – ended only by his death in an automobile crash west of Granger in 1929 – he reportedly laundered money for Cassidy and said himself the two often had secret meetings at desert locations between Sweetwater County and Brown’s Park, along the Utah/Colorado border. It was also said the two sometimes met at Boar’s Tusk, north of Rock Springs.
The article can be found online at Wyohistory.org.
There are other articles related to Butch Cassidy at WyoHistory.org, including “Bub Meeks and a Wild Bunch Winchester.”
Meeks’ life after the Montpelier robbery was a litany of misfortune, as the article chronicles. His rifle is currently on exhibit at the Sweetwater County Historical Museum.
The museum is located at 3 E. Flaming Gorge Way in Green River. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. There is no charge for admission.
