The Wild West wasn’t as wild as portrayed in the movies, but there were plenty of desperados to go around. Although the more famous outlaws like Billy the Kid and Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch did not spend much time in Dakota Territory, there was no shortage of lesser-known criminals. Train robberies and stagecoach stick ups were not unknown in the territory. The Washburn Leader described one such situation by saying: “The Missouri and Knife River districts are overrun by a clique of horse thieves and murderers who have infested these localities for years.”