Wanted Posters

Wild West Wanted Posters

In the wild, wild, west days wanted posters were produced mostly by vigilante groups, railway security, private agencies such as Pinkerton, or by express companies that had been robbed.

For example, a poster for Jesse James offered $500 from the St. Louis Midland Railroad for capturing this train robber. Jesse James, born in the mid 1800's, was an American outlaw in the state of Missouri and the most famous member of the James-Younger Gang. Jesse and his brother, Frank, were Confederate guerrillas during the Civil War.  They were accused of committing very cruel acts against Union soldiers. After the war,  they committed many bank robberies which often resulted in the murder of bank employees or bystanders. In addition to robbing trains and banks, they also waylaid stagecoaches. As Jesse's notorious reputation grew so did the rewards. Missouri Governor Thomas T. Crittenden posted a reward for his capture along with his brother Frank.

Although Jesse James has often been mythically portrayed, even prior to his death, as a kind of Robin Hood, robbing from the rich and giving to the poor, this is not correct. His robberies enriched only him and his gang. At the age of 34, Jesse James died from a gun shot to the back of his head by a member of his own gang. For more information click here Jesse James

The First National Bank in Winnemucca, Nevada, took the robbing of their bank quite seriously. Their poster for the robber, Robert Leroy Parker aka Butch Cassidy, offered a $4000 reward for his capture, "Dead or Alive".

Robert Parker was born in 1866 in Utah. He was a notorious train and bank robber, horse rustler and leader of the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang. In 1894, he was arrested in Wyoming for stealing horses and sentenced to two years in prison. When he was released from from prison he formed a gang known as the Wild Bunch. In 1896, he recruited Harry Longabaugh, alias "The Sundance Kid", from Pennsylvania, into the Wild Bunch. In 1901, after a string of train and bank robberies and with the Pinkerton agents and other law enforcement officials hot on their trail, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid went to New York City. There they boarded a British steamer to Argentina where they purchased a 15,000-acre ranch located on the east bank of the Rio Blanco in west-central Argentina.

In 1905, two English-speaking bandits, assumed to have been Parker and Longabaugh, held up the Banco de Tarapacá y Argentino in Río Gallegos. The pair vanished.  That same year they sold the ranch because the law was beginning to catch up with them. They fled north where they boarded a steamer to Chile. However by the end of that year they were again back in Argentina and robbed another bank. Pursued by armed lawmen, they escaped back to Chile.

In 1906, they gained employment at a tin mine in Bolivia. The latter part of 1908, near San Vicente in southern Bolivia, a courier for a silver mine was conveying his company's payroll by mule when he was attacked and robbed by two masked American bandits whom where believed to be Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The two bandits proceeded to San Vicente where they lodged.

Three nights later their lodging house was surrounded by a small group of police and soldiers. When the soldiers approached the house, they opened fire on the soldiers. A gunfight then ensued. The next morning  they found two dead bodies, both with numerous bullet wounds to the arms and legs, one with a bullet hole in the forehead and the other with a hole in the temple. Both bodies were removed to the local San Vicente cemetery where they were buried. Although attempts have been made to find their unmarked grave, no remains with DNA matching the living relatives of Parker and Longabaugh have yet been discovered.

There have been claims that Butch Cassidy returned alive to the United States and lived in anonymity for years. There is also circumstantial evidence that the Sundance Kid returned to the United States and died in 1937.

A fictional movie starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford was made on the duo's exploits. For more information click here Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid

Replicas of these old wild west wanted posters are popular for decorating restaurants, saloons and for Wild West theme parties or for your personal entertainment. If you are interest in these old  posters check out Old West Replicas or Wild Bill's Websites or Google wild west wanted poster.

OR, if you just want to have some FREE fun, you can make your own Wanted Poster like the one below at Wanted Posters.  It is easy and you can download your finished poster to your computer and have some fun.

MODERN day Wanted Posters

Modern day wanted posters are usually produced by the police or other public government body for display in public places. They will generally include a photo of the criminal or a facial composite image produced by a police artist along with a description of the criminal and the crime with which the fugitive is charged. If the fugitive is notorious a reward is offered for the capture of or information leading to the capture of the fugitive.

Take for example, Osama Bin Laden, who is on the FBI's ten most wanted list. The United States Department of State, is offering a reward of up to $25 million for information leading directly to the apprehension or conviction of  this notorious terrorist-murderer. And in addition to this reward, an additional $2 million is being offered by the Airline Pilots Association and the Air Transport Association. For more information go to FBI's Most Wanted.

Crime Posters

There is a nice selection of movie crime poster at Art.Com such as these.