Archives for December 2019

The Prince Edward Island connection to Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch

The Wild Bunch Connection

When you think of the Island; you think of a pleasant place with beautiful beaches, lobster, horse racing, the potatoe industry, golfing and perhaps the sweet Anne of Green Gables. Butch Cassidy and The Wild Bunch, would not even come to mind. I guess it probably should cause George Currie was a prominent member of The Wild Bunch! He was born and raised right in West Point.

Currie Family Homestead

West Point is a small settlement located on the south western part of the province. Today it is better known for the Cedar Dunes Provincial Park; now established there. In the 1870’s; it was probably home to fishermen and farmers settling the land.
George Curry was the 2nd of six children; born in 1871, to John and Nancy Anne Curry. Around this time though; many young Maritimers were packing up and heading south to the Boston States to find work. John and Nancy Ann were no different. They ended up settling in Chadron, Nebraska. This was cowboy and farming country!

Butch Cassidy & The Wild Bunch

George spent his formative years here. Somehow he ended up working at a Utah ranch makin’ a livin’ cow punchin’(branding cows). This was where he got into his first scrape with the law. George got off easy on that charge and then drifted off to Wyoming. Somewhere along the way; George got kicked in the face by a horse. This was to severely alter his nose. You guessed it, he was rechristened as “Flat Nose”. By this time; Flat Nose was probably in his early twenties and rabble rousing was in his blood. He became bosom buddies with another rouser known as Harvey Logan.(aka Kid Curry) Well; together the rustlin’ and robbin’ grew. One day they were staying at a ranch near the Hole-in-the-Wall, Wyoming. This was a popular gathering spot for criminals that were hiding out from the law. Its here that they hooked up with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Life now turned into rustlin’ and robbin’ trains, shoot outs and killings. The money was good and they extended their spree all over Wyoming, Montana and the Dakotas. They came famous and feared! The Law was soon onto them! The heat got so bad; that in the late 1890’s, the boys had to split up. George drifted back to Utah and picked up a job as a Cow Puncher again. 

Flat Nose Currie

To make ends meet and because russlin’ came easy to him; George picked up on his old habits. On April 17th, 1900; (in Grand County, Utah) it all caught up to him. He was evading the law once again and running from a posse. Well; George “Flat Nose” Curry; from West Point PEI, took a bullet that day and drew his last breath.

The Wild Bunch

You probably wonder what happened to the rest of them. Well Kid Curry was gunned down by a posse in Colorado in 1904. His grave is just a short distance from Doc Holliday’s; in Glenview Springs Colorado. If you saw the movie, you know that Butch and Sundance were killed by the federales in Bolivia in 1908.

All in all, it was a hell of a way to make a living for these boys. I wonder if George ever gave any thought to the quiet life he could have had! Fishin’ lobster off the south coast of Prince Edward Island? And maybe…just maybe…the Islanders were relieved!