Butch Cassidy
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Butch Cassidy (13 April 1866 - c. 1908?) was a notorious train and bank robber.
[edit] Speculated early days
Robert LeRoy Parker was born in Beaver, Utah, to Maximillian Parker and Ann Campbell Gillies, English Mormon and Scottish immigrants to the Utah Territory. His parents were residents of Victoria Road, Preston, Lancashire but fled England due to religious persecution for their Mormon faith. He grew up on his parents' ranch near Circleville, Utah, some 215 miles south of Salt Lake City, Utah.
Parker left home during his early teens and, while working at a dairy farm, he fell in with Mike Cassidy, a horse thief and cattle rustler. He subsequently worked several ranches in addition to a brief stint as a butcher in Rock Springs, Wyoming, when he acquired the nickname "Butch", to which he soon appended the surname Cassidy in honor of his old friend and mentor. (A "Butch" is also the name given to a borrowed gun.)
[edit] Life as a criminal
[edit] 1880–1887 — first incidents, becoming a robber
Parker's first brush with the law was a petty affair. At the age of about 14 (c 1880) he made a long journey to a clothier's shop in another town only to find the place shut. So, letting himself in, he removed a pair of jeans and left an IOU to the effect that he would pay for it upon his next visit. However the clothier took down the details which Parker had included in the IOU and reported him. After a stubborn resistance to the resultant charges in court, he was acquitted despite his having broken into the premises.
He continued to do ranch work until 1884 when he briefly moved to Telluride, Colorado, ostensibly to find work but possibly to deliver stolen horses to buyers there. He then returned to ranch work, in Wyoming and in Montana before returning again to Telluride in 1887, where he then met Matthew Warner, the owner of a race horse, and together the two raced the horse at various events, dividing the profits between them. Through this line of enterprise he soon afterwards met, again in Telluride, the brothers William and Thomas McCarty, who may have been instrumental in introducing Parker to the ideas and strategies of train and bank robbery.
Parker, Warner and Thomas McCarty may or may not have been responsible for the robbery, on 3 November 1887, of a train near Grand Junction, Colorado, where the train's safe-master had assured them that nobody aboard had the safe's combination, and so, gathering together what other spoils they could, they had made off with a modest $150.
[edit] 1889–1894 — early robberies, going to prison
However this trio, together with an unknown fourth man, was certainly responsible for the robbery on 24 June 1889, of the San Miguel Valley Bank in Telluride in which they stole approximately $21,000 with which they then fled to the Robbers Roost, a remote hideout in southeastern Utah.
In 1890 Parker then purchased a ranch near Dubois, Wyoming. This location is close to the notorious Hole-in-the-Wall, a natural geological formation which afforded outlaws much welcomed protection and cover, and so the suspicion has always existed that Parker's ranching, at which he was never economically successful, was in fact a façade which operated to conceal more clandestine activities, perhaps in conjunction with Hole-in-the-Wall outlaws.
In early 1894, Parker became involved romantically with female Old West outlaw and rancher Ann Bassett. Bassett's father, rancher Herb Bassett, did business with Parker, supplying him with fresh horses and beef. That same year, Parker was arrested at Lander, Wyoming, for stealing horses and possibly for running a protection racket among the local ranchers there. Imprisoned in the State Prison in Laramie, Wyoming, he served 18 months of a two-year sentence and was released in January 1896, having promised the Governor of Wyoming, William Alford Richards, that he would not again offend in that state in return for a partial remission of his sentence. Upon his release he became involved briefly with Ann Bassett's older sister, Josie, then returned to his involvement with Ann.
[edit] 1896–1897 — leaving prison, forming the Wild Bunch
Upon his release he then associated himself with a circle of criminals, most notably his closest friend Elzy Lay, Harvey "Kid Curry" Logan, Ben Kilpatrick, Harry Tracy, Will "News" Carver, Laura Bullion, and George Curry, who together with others he formed into a gang known as the Wild Bunch, and with this his criminal activity increased considerably. Despite the Wild Bunch often being portrayed as mostly non-violent, in reality the gang was responsible for numerous killings during their robbery reign.
On 13 August 1896 Parker, Lay, Kid Curry and an unknown fourth man robbed the bank at Montpelier, Idaho, escaping with approximately $7,000. Shortly thereafter he recruited Harry Alonzo Longabaugh, alias the Sundance Kid, a Pennsylvania native, into the Wild Bunch. (Surprising, perhaps, that Kid Curry would not become as well known as the Sundance Kid; Curry killed at least seven men as a member of the Wild Bunch, yet Sundance was considered "the fastest gun in the West", despite the fact that he was only known to have been in no more than two shootings, with no confirmed kills.)
In early 1897, Parker was joined at "Robbers Roost" by his off and on girlfriend Ann Bassett, Elzy Lay, and Lay's girlfriend Maude Davis. The four hid out there until early April, when Lay and Parker sent the women home so that they could plan their next robbery. On 21 April, 1897 in the mining town of Castle Gate, Utah, Parker and Lay ambushed a small group of men carrying the payroll of the Pleasant Valley Coal Company from the railroad station to their office, liberating a sack containing $7,000 in gold, with which they again fled to the Robber’s Roost.
On June 2nd, 1899, the gang robbed a Union Pacific overland flyer near Wilcox, Wyoming, a robbery that became famous, and which resulted in a massive man hunt. Many notable lawmen of the day would take part in the hunt for the robbers, but without immediate positive results.
During one shootout with lawmen following that robbery, both Kid Curry and George Curry shot and killed Sheriff Joe Hazen. Noted killer for hire and contract employee of the Pinkerton Agency, Tom Horn, obtained information from explosives expert Bill Speck that revealed that they had shot Hazen, which Horn passed on to Pinkerton detective Charlie Siringo. The gang escaped into the Hole-In-The-Wall, an area that the gang used as its hideout. By now Charlie Siringo was assigned the task of bringing the outlaw gang in. He became friends with Elfie Landusky, who was by then going by the last name Curry alleging that Lonny Curry, Kid Curry's brother, had gotten her pregnant. Through her, Siringo intended on locating the gang.
On 11 July 1899 Lay and others were involved in a train robbery near Folsom, New Mexico, which Parker may have planned and may or may not have been directly involved in, which led to a shootout with local law enforcers in which Lay, arguably Parker’s best friend and closest confidante, killed sheriff Edward Farr & posseman Henry Love, leading to his imprisonment for life in the New Mexico State Penitentiary.
As was a common trait with the Wild Bunch gang, they would most often split up following a robbery, heading in different directions. The members of the gang would generally reunite at a set location, which was at times back at the Hole in the Wall hideout, at other times at "Robbers Roost", or they would meet at Madame Fannie Porters brothel, in San Antonio, Texas.
[edit] Failed attempt at amnesty
Perhaps in consequence of this loss Parker appears to have approached Heber Wells, then Governor of Utah, which had joined the Union in 1896, to negotiate an amnesty, but Wells appears to have recoiled from this, advising Parker to instead approach the Union Pacific Railroad and settle matters with them in such manner as to persuade them to drop their criminal complaints against him.
However, possibly due to bad weather this meeting never went ahead and Parker, disillusioned with both the Union Pacific and with the politicians with whom he had sought to deal, expressed his contempt at the whole situation. The Union Pacific Railroad, under chairman E. H. Harriman, did subsequently attempt to meet with Parker, through Parker's old ally Matthew Warner, by then released from a prison sentence, but Parker’s robbing, together with Harry Longabaugh and others, on 29 August 1900, of one of their trains near Tipton, Wyoming, which was also committed in flagrant violation of his earlier promise to the Governor of Wyoming not to offend again in that state, brought the proceedings to a premature conclusion. Several other factors, by that time, had also complicated any amnesty attempts.
On February 28th, 1900, lawmen had attempted to arrest Kid Curry's brother Lonny Curry at his aunt's home. Lonny was killed in the shootout that followed, and his cousin Bob Lee was arrested for rustling, and sent to prison in Wyoming. On March 28th, 1900, Kid Curry and Bill Carver were pursued by a posse out of St. Johns, Arizona after being identified as passing notes possibly from the Wilcox, Wyoming robbery. The posse caught up to them, and engaged them in a shootout, during which Deputy Andrew Gibbons and Deputy Frank Leseuer were killed, with Carver and Curry escaping. On April 17th, George Curry was killed in a shootout with Grand County, Utah Sheriff John Tyler and Deputy Sam Jenkins. On May 26th, 1900, Kid Curry rode into Moab and killed both Tyler and Jenkins in a brazen shootout, in retaliation for them having killed outlaw George Curry, and for other lawmen having killed his brother Lonny.
Parker, Longabaugh and Bill Carver traveled to Winnemucca, Nevada, where on 19 September 1900 they robbed the First National Bank of $32,640. In December 1900 he then posed in Fort Worth, Texas for the now-famous Fort Worth Five Photograph [1], which depicts himself, Longabaugh, Harvey Logan (alias Kid Curry), Ben Kilpatrick and William Carver and a copy of which the Pinkerton Detective Agency soon began to use for its latest wanted posters.
Siringo, still working the case for the Pinkerton's, was by 1901 in Circleville, Utah, where Butch Cassidy/aka Parker had been raised. Kid Curry rejoined the gang, and together with Parker and Longabaugh they hit another Union Pacific train near Wagner, Montana. This time, they took over $60,000 in cash. Again the gang split up, with gang member Will Carver being killed by one pursuing posse led by Sheriff Elijah Briant. On December 12th, 1901, gang member Ben Kilpatrick was captured in Knoxville, Tennessee, along with Laura Bullion. On December 13th, 1901, during a shootout with lawmen to avoid capture, Kid Curry killed Knoxville Policemen Willian Dinwiddle and Robert Saylor, and escaped. Curry, despite being pursued by Pinkerton agents and other law enforcement officials, returned to Montana, where he shot and killed rancher James Winters, responsible for the killing of his brother Johnny years before. [2]
[edit] 1900–1901 — media exposure, travel to South America
Parker and Longabaugh then fled east into New York City, and on 20 February 1901, together with Ethel "Etta" Place, Longabaugh’s female companion, they had departed to Buenos Aires, Argentina aboard the British steamer Herminius, Parker posing as one James Ryan, Place’s fictional brother.
There he settled with Longabaugh and Place on a small ranch which they purchased near Cholila, Chubut province in west-central Argentina near the Andes, which comprised of a four-room log cabin and 15,000 acres (61 km²) of land on the east bank of the Rio Blanco. Then, on 3 July 1901, members of the Wild Bunch, this time minus Parker and Longabaugh but including Kid Curry, robbed a train of $65,000 near Wagner, Montana.
Kid Curry then traveled back to Knoxville, an unusual move given the fact he only recently killed two policemen there. In a pool hall on November 30th, 1902, Curry was captured after a lengthy physical fight with lawmen. He was convicted of robbery as facts in the murder of the two policemen were not definite, and received a 20 year hard labor sentence, and a $5,000 fine. However, on June 27th, 1903, Curry escaped. Rumors that a deputy had received an $8,000 bribe to allow his escape were spread, but nothing could be proven.
On June 17, 1904, Logan/Curry was tracked down by a posse outside of Parachute, Colorado. A massive shootout ensued and it was claimed by some that Kid Curry had taken his own life during the hopeless battle, or was shot and killed by the posse, no one knows for certain. However, reports that Logan escaped persisted well into the later 20th century and his mysterious "death" has long been subject to controversy and debate, much like the rumors of Cassidy/Parker and the Sundance Kid/Longabaugh, who by the time of Curry's alleged death were comfortably settled in South America.
[edit] 1905 and his last years — his biggest robbery, evading the law
On 14 February 1905, two English-speaking bandits, who may or may not have been Parker and Longabaugh, held up the Banco de Tarapacá y Argentino in Río Gallegos, 700 miles south of Cholila, near the Strait of Magellan. Escaping with a sum that would be worth at least US $100,000 today, the pair vanished north across the bleak Patagonian steppes.
On 1 May 1905 the trio sold the Cholila ranch as once again the law was beginning to catch up with them. The Pinkerton Agency had known their precise address for some time but the rainy season had prevented their assigned agent, one Frank Dimaio, from traveling there and making an arrest. Governor Julio Lezana had then issued an arrest warrant but before it could be executed Sheriff Edward Humphreys, a Welsh Argentine who was friendly with Parker and enamored of Etta Place, tipped them off.
The trio fled north to San Carlos de Bariloche where they embarked on the steamer Condor across Lake Nahuel Huapi and into Chile. However by the end of that year they were again back in Argentina; on 19 December Parker, Longabaugh, Place and an unknown male took part in the robbery of the Banco de la Nacion in Villa Mercedes, 400 miles west of Buenos Aires, which liberated 12,000 pesos. Pursued by armed lawmen, they crossed the Pampas and the Andes and again into the safety of Chile.
On 30 June 1906 Etta Place, having lamented the loss of their ranch, decided that she had had enough of life on the run and was escorted back to San Francisco by Longabaugh. Parker, now under the alias James "Santiago" Maxwell, obtained work at the Concordia Tin Mine in the Santa Vela Cruz range of the central Bolivian Andes, where he was joined by Longabaugh upon his return. Their main duties included guarding the company payroll. Still wanting to settle down as a respectable rancher, Parker, late in 1907, made an excursion with Longabaugh to Santa Cruz, a frontier town in Bolivia's eastern savannah, and from here Parker wrote to friends at Concordia, saying that he had found "just the place I’ve been looking for 20 years".
At 41, he seemed to be burdened with regret. In the same document he laments, "Oh God, if I could call back 20 years ... I would be happy". He marveled at the affordability of good land with plenty of water and grazing, and made a prediction: "If I don't fall down I will be living here before long".
[edit] Death
The facts surrounding Parker’s death are uncertain. On 3 November 1908 near San Vicente, in southern Bolivia, a courier for the Aramayo Franke y Cia Silver Mine was conveying his company’s payroll by mule when he was attacked and robbed by two American bandits. The bandits then proceeded to San Vicente where they lodged. Three nights later, on 6 November, their lodging house was surrounded by a small group comprising the local mayor and some of his officials, and two soldiers. A gunfight then ensued, during which, in a lull in the firing, a single shot inside the house was heard, followed by a man screaming, which in turn was followed by another single shot. The locals kept the place surrounded until the next morning when, cautiously entering, they found two dead bodies, both with numerous 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, apparently suicides, were removed to the local San Vicente cemetery where they were buried close to the grave of a German miner named Gustav Zimmer. Although their unmarked grave has been sought in the 1990s, notably by the American forensic anthropologist Clyde Snow and his researchers in 1991, no remains with DNA matching them to the living relatives of Parker and Longabaugh have yet been discovered.
However there have always been claims, not least of all by Parker’s own sister Lula Parker Betenson, that he returned alive to the USA (and therefore could not have been one of the San Vicente outlaws) and there lived in anonymity for years.
In her biography of her brother, Butch Cassidy, My Brother, she cites several instances of people familiar with Parker who encountered him long after 1908, and she relates a detailed impromptu "family reunion" which included Parker, their brother Mark, their father, and Lula herself, in 1925.
John McPhee in Annals of the Former World repeats a story told to geologist David Love (1913-2002) by Love's family doctor, Francis Smith, M.D., when Love was a doctoral student (thus dating the incident to approximately 1935). Smith had just seen Parker. Parker told Smith that his face had been altered by a surgeon in Paris, but showed Smith a repaired bullet wound that Smith recognized as work he had previously done on Parker. (McPhee, pg 358)
However the western historian Charles Kelly closed the chapter Is Butch Cassidy Dead? in his 1938 book, Outlaw Trail, by observing that if Parker "is still alive, as these rumors claim, it seems exceedingly strange that he has not returned to Circleville, Utah, to visit his old father, Maximillian Parker, who died on 28 July 1938, at the age of 94 years". Kelly is thought to have interviewed Parker's father, but no transcript of such an interview has ever come to light.
All correspondence from both Parker and Longabaugh abruptly ceased after the San Vicente incident.
[edit] Aliases
- George Parker (Butch's real name, according to the Pinkertons' wanted posters [3])
- Butch Cassidy
- George Cassidy [4]
- Lowe Maxwell [5]
- James "Santiago" Maxwell [6]
- James Ryan [7]
[edit] Alleged friends
- William T. Phillips claimed to have known Butch Cassidy since childhood.[8] Some have speculated that Phillips was Butch Cassidy but no evidence supports the claims.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- John McPhee (1998). Annals of the Former World. ISBN 0-374-10520-0
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