3 Keeping a Promise

The movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid portrayed outlaw Butch Cassidy as a charming and sympathetic fellow. Apparently, the movie’s portrayal of Cassidy was remarkably true to life. The robberies that Cassidy’s gang, the Wild Bunch, committed often had a Robin Hood quality; that is, they did not rob the poor but only the rich.

Butch himself never killed anyone. His only known gunfight took place in Bolivia. He was killed in it. He preferred to surprise and awe rather than to kill or hurt. Nevertheless, he was, in fact, fast and accurate with a gun. He could fast-draw and hit a playing card nailed to a distant tree or shatter a bottle tossed into the air.

Stories about Butch reveal his unusual charm and personal honesty, which remained intact even as he went about committing robberies. For instance, the only time Butch was ever captured and convicted, he talked his jailers into allowing him to go out on the town before being locked up. He came back the next day as promised.

After a year in jail, Cassidy’s charm once again helped him. He was set free by the governor of Wyoming after promising to leave Wyoming’s cattle and banks alone. Butch again kept his promise. It is true that he never held up any banks or ran off with any cattle in Wyoming, but he started holding up and robbing the railroads in Wyoming, for railroads weren’t mentioned in the agreement with the governor.

3 信守承诺

电影《虎豹小霸王》把亡命之徒布奇·卡西迪塑造成一个迷人且值得同情的人。显然，电影对卡西迪的刻画非常贴近真实生活。卡西迪的帮派“野蛮帮”实施的抢劫往往带有罗宾汉的特质：他们不抢穷人，只抢富人。

布奇自己从未杀过人。他唯一已知的枪战发生在玻利维亚，他在那场枪战中丧生。他更喜欢用出其不意和威慑的方式，而不是杀戮或伤害。不过，事实上他拔枪又快又准，能快速拔枪击中钉在远处树上的扑克牌，或是打碎抛向空中的瓶子。

关于布奇的故事展现了他非凡的魅力和个人诚信，即便在实施抢劫时，这些特质也丝毫未变。例如，布奇唯一一次被抓获并定罪时，他说服狱卒允许他在被关押前到镇上逛逛，第二天他如约回来了。

在监狱里待了一年后，卡西迪的魅力再次帮了他。他向怀俄明州州长承诺不碰该州的牛群和银行后，被州长释放了。布奇再次信守了承诺。的确，他从未在怀俄明州抢劫过银行或偷走牛群，但他开始在怀俄明州抢劫铁路，因为与州长的协议中没有提到铁路。