True West Magazine
I’ve always heard that Butch was the first to have used relays of horses in 1889 to escape pursuing posses. I had a question today from a reader who wanted to know if the James-Youngers and the Dalton Brothers used relays. My first thought was the terrain was much different out West opposed to the woodlands of Missouri and Oklahoma. I know the James and Youngers were sportsmen and owned racehorses as did the Daltons and they didn’t have to travel many miles to elude the posses in those settled areas.
Butch spent a lot of time planning a robbery and part of that planning was having fresh horses.