Butch and Sundance: The Return

By Terry Larkin

Butch and Sundance return to Baker City where Randy Larkin wants to rob a new bank just to prove it can be done.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Feb 5, 2019
• ISBN: 9781644247341

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Butch and Sundance: The Return

The Return

Terry Larkin

Copyright © 2018 Terry Larkin

All rights reserved

First Edition

Page Publishing, Inc

New York, NY

First originally published by Page Publishing, Inc 2018

ISBN 978-1-64424-732-7 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64424-734-1 (Digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Dedication

In loving memory of my father, Robert Dude Larkin Sr., August 12, 1939–February 8, 1973. A lover, fighter, wild bull rider, and a fair Christmas tree cutter at that … also Willy Blue rodeo clown and bull fighter. Cover photo is Dad at Haines Stampede, Haines, Oregon … he placed Wallowa County NRA Rodeo, Enterprise Oregon, 1970, first place, Burnt River Blow-Out, Unity Oregon, 1971, first place.

He was headstock trainer for the movie Paint Your Wagon … his two seconds of fame are at end of the movie when town is falling down. You see a cowboy on a full-blown big bucking chestnut for a buck and three-quarters. The pickup men were supposed to come in right after large ponderosa pine tree, but didn’t, so he continued the ride till he was close enough to bail off into Eagle Creek as opposed to the hard rocky ground.

Chapter 1

The sun was just setting behind the mountains to the west Circleville as Butch and Sundance, still leading one draft horse carrying two hundred pounds of gold but disguised as mining supplies, rode up the Sevier riverbed out of the north, trying to stay hid and below all the willows that lined the riverbank and trying to keep themselves out of sight as they rode through Circleville. However, Sundance could hear the voices of many children echoing off the surrounding mountains.

I sure wish we could get a beer somewhere around here, Sundance said in a low voice. But I imagine we’re just SOL on that, aren’t we?

SOL, what the hell is SOL? Butch asked looking over at Sundance.

Shit out of luck! Sundance answered, wiping his dry lips.

No, we’re not, Butch answered. That’s why we’re coming in this way. Not only are we out of sight, but we’re going to my buddy George Wiltshire’s house.

I thought everyone that lived here were Mormons, and they don’t drink according to you? Sundance asked.

Not everyone is, Butch answered, turning his horse up the riverbank and toward the back door of a barn.

I hope you’re not pulling my leg, Sundance answered, following close behind. It’s been a hot long ride the last few weeks, and right now, there’s only one thing that will quench my thirst.

You have your canteen, don’t ya? Butch said.

Like I just said, I’m all watered out. I need a cool beer; hell, even a warm one would do, Sundance said just as two kids came running into the barn.

Hi, Uncle Butch, they both shouted out, running up to give him a big hug. Why you growing a beard? the little girl asked.

Lost my razor out on the trail, Butch answered. Sundance, I’d like you to meet Reed and Grace here. Both children walked over and politely shook his hand.

It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sundance answered, smiling at them and at Butch at the same time. They sure were polite children for only being what, five and six years old, he thought to himself.

Would you like us to go grab some grain for your horses, Uncle Butch, Reed asked, watching the men unsaddling their horses.

That would be nice of you, Reed, thanks, Butch answered, taking one of the burlap bags filled with both straw and gold. Laying it under the table in the corner of the room out of sight, he then told Sundance to cover it with all their other gear.

They were just finishing up when a large man, a good six two, maybe three, every bit of two hundred pounds, came walking into the barn carrying three bottles of beer. Sundance knew right off this man could handle himself should the need ever arise. Evening, Butch, the big man said handing him a beer and then one over to Sundance.

Sundance, I’d like you to meet my good friend, George Wiltshire, Butch said, waving his hand back and forth between the two.

It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Wiltshire, Sundance said while shaking the man’s hand and thanking him for the beer at the same time.

I can tell you didn’t stop off at your mom and dad’s place on the way in, George said, looking them both over because they were covered with dust from head to toe.

How’s that? Butch asked, brushing his horse off.

’Cause your ma would have made you go jump in the creek before she’d let you in the house, George said, smiling. Fact, Carline might not either.

Looking out the doorway, Butch could see it was dark outside. How about we take this conversation inside? Butch said, walking toward the door.

Sounds good to me, George said, following behind with Sundance right behind him.

They say you and your gang stole, well, over two tons of gold up in Sumpter, Oregon, George said with doubt in his voice and mind.

I don’t know just how much we did get away with, Butch answered. But it sure the hell was a lot. Let’s see . . . me and Sundance each had a draft horse loaded down with fifteen bags each, or about six hundred pounds each; then the Doss’ and Curry all had two mules with seven bags, about 280 pounds each; then the two security guards that helped load each hid a couple of bags.

Toad said he’d had Goof bury another dozen or so just in case something was to go wrong, like it did. Not to mention we left over a dozen bags behind that we couldn’t carry . . ., Sundance said, cutting in, "but you know they’ll say we took them too. So all toll add everything together . . . and so yeah, real close to two tons.

It’s too bad the others got caught though, Butch said.

So they’re doing prison time, and you two are still out partyin’, George said, chuckling and walking through the back door of his house.

No, they’re not! Butch stated, chuckling. We met a group of brothers, Randy, Gary, and Larry Larkin. Still chuckling, he continued, Randy already had the entire job planned out in advance.

That must have been nice, George said. But I thought you said the other men in your group were the Doss brothers.

They were, Sundance answered. "The Larkin brothers weren’t in on the actual robbery, but the one they call Randy, he already knew how, when, and where they loaded the gold at. Fact, he said he’d been waiting for the right fools to come along for over a year."

I see what he meant by the right fools, Carline said, giving Butch a hug. So how have you been? You haven’t spent all that gold already, have you?

No, ma’am, Butch answered with a big smile on his face. Fact, we buried most of it in the mountains just west of Sacramento in a cave somewhere this side of Donner Pass. But we did bring a couple bags with us.

Why not bring all of it? George asked while Carline asked how Sundance liked his steak.

Medium rare, ma’am, Sundance answered. And to answer your question, George, that’s a lot of gold to be running around the country with, and that mining company figured we might go down to Southern Cal to spend it, so they started putting up these big billboards with our pictures along with a pile of gold next to us showing how big a pile of gold the reward would be. It took till mid-July for the billboards to start showing up in Los Angeles.

We had to stay off the main trails coming back home, Butch said. Because they put those billboards up on the main roads as well. So we had to take every back trail we could find.

The worst of it was we had very little water out across the desert between here and Reno, Nevada, Sundance said. It was a good thing Butch stopped and bought three twenty-five-gallon water bags just before we headed out.

My dad didn’t raise no fool, Butch answered, smiling. I knew we’d need enough water for us and our horses for couple days in between water holes.

Not to change the subject, but if this Randy Larkin knew how, when, and where they loaded the gold, just how much did you pay him for the plan?

"Nothing at first! both Butch and Sundance answered. Well, we did pay him a high price to rent a couple of his Clydesdales to haul our share of the gold away with. But then he backdoored his way into the reward on the gold that got seized."

What? He helped the law catch them? George asked.

"No, no . . . nothing like that. They were going to go question Marshal Felton about the way he had killed one of their cousins.

How’d he kill them? George asked.

They had stolen a wagonload of nitro, something like fifty cases. We heard he claimed he intended on just wounding the driver. But that shale rock slid out from under his feet just as he pulled the trigger, causing the bullet to hit the nitro instead, Butch said.

Was there anything left of them? George asked with a sorrowful, yet doubtful look on his face.

"Nope . . . That’s why they wanted to go question the marshal about it. Find out if he had any other way of bringing them all in alive, and if so, why didn’t he?" Sundance said.

Anyway, back to how he got the reward. The Larkin brother’s went the same way, only a day later. They happened to catch up with them while they were loading up the gold. Starting to chuckle, he continued, Randy said ole Marshal Felton spent the night with the Doss’ and Curry the night before in a one-room cabin deep into the wilderness. So he knew the Larkin brothers weren’t in on the actual robbery. Randy said then the bullshit really started flying. How they had tracked those outlaws out around town and back in that direction. Said they knew them outlaws would hold up in that cabin out of the rainstorm. So Randy and them held up in Granite for the night and got up early enough to catch them loading up. Said they weren’t there one minute, and Marshal Felton had backtracked and got there to see them ride in. Felton had no proof about their story not being true, and someone was entitled to the reward.

That marshal fell for their BS story? George asked, smiling.

Randy said the marshal doubted their story, but he couldn’t prove them wrong. So in the end, he made out like a thief. Yet the law is padding him on the back and are chancing us, Sundance said.

So he told you how, where, and when just to prove it could be done? George asked with a questionable look on his face.

Exactly! Butch answered sternly but chuckling. Said it just wasn’t fair that all those rich California dredge owners were making all that money and not sharing it with any of the locals. He knew they loaded it on Sunday nights, and Larry, the crazy one of the bunch, has this big mean ass Roan mustang, every bit of eighteen hands plus tall and 1400 pounds of pure hell. He bet ten men couldn’t ride him for a full eight seconds the day of the robbery to get the town drunk and asleep ahead of the robbery.

How many men did he go through before one of them covered him? Carline asked, setting the plates of food down in front of both men.

None! I mean no one covered him, Butch answered. Fact, we made more money on that horse alone than we’ve ever made robbing any bank or train . . . then you figure in all the gold on top of that. Hell, we got away with more money than we could have ever dreamed of stealing.

If one horse could buck off that many men, there must not be too many good bronc busters up in that country, George said, taking three more bottles of beer out of the water tank.

Like I said, that mustang was all of eighteen one hands tall and 1400 pounds of pure hell! Butch answered sternly.

Oh, bullshit, George answered, setting back down at the table. No mustang gets that big.

No bullshit, George! Sundance spoke up. "Inch for inch, he’s taller than most draft horses. No rider was on that beast for more than two jumps except the last rider, a black man by the name of C. R. Hall, and no bullshit again, he was the reigning World Champion Bronc Rider and had the buckle to prove it."

Starting to chuckle, Butch broke in. Randy bet me one thousand dollars that by the fifth or sixth buck that Roan would throw C. R. some kind of corkscrew, and he’d wish he had wings . . . and damned if he didn’t. That horse came to a complete stop, standing straight up and down with his nose to the ground, spinning his ass end around doing about a 240-degree twist and turn like a bull would do, which send C. R. flying up over the top of the coral fence and landing about ten, twelve rows up in the crowd of spectators.

I bet Larry still has a fun morning every morning trying to let him know who the boss is, Butch said as both he and Sundance started chuckling at the thought.

So why the beards? Carline asked.

That’s one of the reasons why all the law dogs thought we were just good look-alikes, but not the real outlaws, Butch answered. Second, we weren’t cashing in any gold anywhere; we were just spending the cash money we already had on us.

There were a few that started following us around for more than a day or two, Sundance said, smiling. That’s why we left there and came out here.

That and our cash supply after a couple weeks were starting to run a little low, and it wasn’t safe to cash in any gold anywhere, and I do mean anywhere! Butch said.

It wouldn’t be too smart around here either, George said. There’s been more than one bounty hunter coming through here in the last month. Only good thing you have going for you around here is I’d bet the local sheriff would keep the gold for himself and let you boys go free, then tell anyone you outran him and got away.

Both men started chuckling as Butch started telling them about the punishment Randy had had them do to the crooked sheriff in Sumpter.

I could still smell that sock when we slide the firebox back over the hole that covered the tunnel, Sundance said.

Sounds like this Randy character might be part outlaw himself, Carline said.

A damned good one too, Butch stated. He came up with a back door for every situation that came up.

What’s a back door? George asked questionably.

Making the law think you went one way . . . when you went totally in the other direction, Butch said, starting to chuckle. "He kept us two steps ahead of the law all the way down to the final jailbreak.

The original fake back door, Sundance cut in, was blowing up a canyon so we could go another way. Stating to chuckle, he continued, He used more nitroglycerin than was needed. You could see the clouds light up fiery red in color for a good twenty plus miles away, wouldn’t you say, Butch?

At least, hell, the echoing went on for a good thirty seconds or more, Butch answered, chuckling and trying not to spit his food out at the same time.

Then the second back door, he send us to their brother Terry in Unity as a hideout where we could rest up and change horses to Terry’s Percherons for his Clydesdales. After that, we pretty much stayed on the main road to the Columbia River and a boat downriver to Portland.

What about the other men that were in on the robbery with you, didn’t you say they got caught? George asked.

Yes, they did, but then again, here came Randy with another back door and damned if he didn’t figure out a way to get them all out of jail too, Butch answered, shaking his head and smiling. We lost their share of the gold. But, George, that young man can figure out more ways how to get you out of trouble and the law going in the total different direction faster than Sundance can draw his pistol.

Sounds like the kind of man you’d want around more, George said. So how’d he pull off the jailbreak without the law chasing after you?

Larry, one of the twins, he can drink more than anyone I ever met, Butch answered. Randy had Larry working on drinking with the marshal and telling who knows what kind of bullshit stories all the way in. Terry had us hold up a real classy brothel for the night just in case something did go wrong like it did. Starting to chuckle again, he continued, "It was close to midnight when we got to John Day; by then, they had all been drinking and playing poker