The idea of placing an explosive charge of red dye in bundles of stolen money to foil bank robbers may have come from an incident that took place in 1899.
In 1899, Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch were going full tilt. The Wild Bunch may have even divided into two groups, one specializing in banks, and the other in trains. Whether it was by the whole gang or just the train specialists, on June 2, 1899 the Overland Flyer was stopped in the area of Wilcox, Wyoming.
They placed a red lantern on the track just in front of a wooden bridge. Thinking the bridge out, the train ground to a halt. Now, if it were the “train specialists,” they needed more “training” so to speak… because from this point forward things didn’t go well.
They wanted the engineer to pull the train to the other side of the bridge, so they could blow up the bridge. He refused; was pistol-whipped… and still he refused. Finally one of the wild bunch had to do it. After blowing the bridge, they approached the express car. A messenger named Woodcock guarded the car. He refused to open the door.
A well-placed stick of dynamite blew off one side of the car, and rendered Woodcock barely conscious. With Woodcock unable to open the safe, another stick of dynamite was put to the safe. The safe blew apart sending $30,000 flying through the air, and the robbers scrambling after the money.
Now, about the marked money… As the Wild Bunch picked up the money, they noticed it had a red stain on it. At first they though it was blood. But, it turned out to be from a crate of raspberries that was next to the safe. I can only imagine the telegrams sent to banks in the area. “Be on the lookout for money with burnt edges and the taste of raspberries.”
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