Legendary Outlaw Butch Cassidy's "Amnesty" Colt .45 To Be Auctioned This Month

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- On Sunday, September 30, 2012, California Auctioneers in Ventura, California, will auction off the Colt .45 SAA (Serial Number 158402) that belonged to Robert LeRoy Parker, better known as Butch Cassidy, the legendary bank thief, train robber, and leader of the Wild Bunch Gang—the notorious Wyoming-based bandits that stalked the American West throughout the 1890s. His legacy as an icon of the American Old West was immortalized in the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Known as the "Amnesty Colt," this is the most documented of Cassidy's guns. Hunted by the law and tired of running, in October 1899 he surrendered the revolver, along with his Winchester rifle, to Sheriff Parley P. Christison, of Juab County, Utah. The move was as an act of good faith while he pleaded with the governor for amnesty. The governor was willing, if there were no warrants for murder—which Cassidy insisted there weren't—but news from neighboring states differed and the law began to close in on him again. Cassidy fled to New York and caught a steamer to Argentina with his partner-in-crime, Harry Longabaugh (the Sundance Kid), but without his guns, which were still locked up with the sheriff. It's rumored that both men died in a gun fight in Bolivia in 1908, but accounts vary.

Aside from its documented research, what makes this gun extraordinarily special is the series of inscribed numbers hidden within the revolver's right grip. They're thought to be the code to Cassidy's safe, which has yet to be discovered but is believed to be in a Denver, Colorado, bank. The .45 caliber Colt Single Action Army model was purchased by Cassidy from a hardware store in Vernal, Utah, in 1896. The black leather holster, made by Texas saddle-maker August Brill, still accompanies the gun, as does the signed tag placed on it by Sheriff Christison at the time of surrender.

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Images are available now, as are viewing appointments. Interviews can be arranged with Bill Betenson, Butch Cassidy's great-grandnephew and author of the recently published Butch Cassidy, My Uncle, specialist Donovan Cooper, and representatives of the auction house.

The public may visit www.colt45auction.com for more information and a short documentary film on this historically important gun.

The auction, Story of the Wild West, begins at 12:00pm on Sunday, September 30, 2012. A preview will be held from 12:00pm to 5:00pm on and Friday, September 28^th.  The Amnesty Colt is Lot #550, estimated at $150,000–250,000. California Auctioneers is located at 8597 North Ventura Avenue (Highway 33), Ventura, CA 93001.

The Amnesty Colt is currently in the collection of a private collector in the United States. Its sale is coordinated by RMK Services of Santa Monica, California.

Media Contact: ACG – [email protected]; 323-424-3856

SOURCE RMK Services