The Outlaws

Butch Cassidy

When you think of western outlaws, names such as Billy the Kid, Frank and Jesse James, the Daltons, and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid come to mind. Among those and most other outlaws, Butch Cassidy was unique breed. Even the Pinkertons recognized that the Wild Bunch operated under the leadership of Butch Cassidy on an antiviolence creed - not common among other western gangs. It can be said Cassidy used his brain rather than his brawn to rob banks and trains. There is no record that any deaths occurred while Cassidy was involved.

Robert Leroy Parker was born into a Mormon family in Beaver, Utah on April 13, 1866 . Because of the times, not much is known about his early life. Roy, as he was known to friends and family, was the eldest of thirteen children.

During his childhood, Roy helped work his father's meager farm. After a dispute over property lines decided against the Parker's by a Mormon court, it appears Roy began a lifetime of mistrust for bureaucracy. About the same time Parker befriended a cowboy and rustler Mike Cassidy - a man that would ultimately have a great impact on the future Butch Cassidy. Aside from later borrowing his name, Leroy Parker learned how to be a high caliber cowboy and even better horseman from Cassidy. It is not clear if Mike Cassidy was the first to plant the outlaw seed in Roy.

What drove Roy out of Utah is not clear. Some say it was the lure of riches in booming Telluride. Colorado. Others say it was the lure of what lay over the next hill. Others say that he ran after a fight thinking he killed his opponent or that he was identified in a cattle rustling ring. Either way, Roy ended up in Telluride in 1884 at the age of 18.

Telluride was a high-altitude upstart mining community just outgrowing its tent city phase when Roy arrived. Lying in a beautiful box canyon barely five miles long and one-half mile wide, Telluride was an exciting yet dangerous town filled with all the wrong fun that a naïve 18 year old could handle. No doubt Roy sampled the brothels and gambling halls that lined several of Telluride's streets. For perhaps four years Roy earned money from a variety of sources. Occasionally he may have left Telluride for months at a time for small jobs, perhaps to race horses or rustle horses and cattle. At times he ranched; other times he worked as a mule skinner, hauling ore down to Telluride from the treacherous 11,000 foot high Tomboy mine. But Parker was also somewhat of a celebrity in Telluride. In a day when there was no radio or TV, townsfolk amused themselves with community horse races. Roy Parker, with his skill with ponies, was often a winner. It also appears that Roy's younger brothers Arthur and Dan also moved to Telluride. Arthur was reportedly died in Telluride a day after breaking his legs in a racing accident.

Why Parker left Telluride is not clear. In what appears to be a late payment dispute, Roy was arrested in and transferred to Montrose, Colorado for stealing his own horse. Later the charges were dropped. Some say Roy became angry with Telluride for his false charge and the death of Arthur. Either way, Roy may have returned to Telluride in 1889 with different intentions.

In the meantime, new situations would change Roy's life. This is the time when the lines between heros and villains lines become blurred. Parker ended up in Johnson County, Wyoming purchasing a small ranch. At that time the situation in Johnson County was tense. There were violent disagreements about open lands, branding and water rights among groups of small and large ranchers (see our story on the Johnson County Cattle Wars). Perhaps this was the major turning point in Parker's life. Whether an excuse or a cause, Cassidy picked up arms against the system. Even to this day, there are Wyoming families that believe Butch Cassidy was a warrior rather than a villain.

Perhaps Cassidy began his life of crime as a cattle rustler; perhaps not. During the range wars there was a fine line between rounding up your own cattle and rustling. It is certain that Cassidy was hired on during what some would call roundups and others called rustling. It can be reasoned that Cassidy was pushed into a corner. Many other than Cassidy were also branded rustlers when they were only managing their own or employer's herds. Were Cassidy's initial intentions honorable? Certainly he crossed the line often.

In June 1889, Cassidy along with Matt Warner and Tom McCarty, returned to Telluride and reportedly left with more than $20,000. Their first major crime was almost out of character if you believe Cassidy saw himself as fighting cattle barons. Telluride was far from the Wyoming rangelands and had little if nothing to do with cattle money. Some feel that Butch Cassidy might not have robbed Telluride but rather that it was his brother Dan. Matt Warner wrote a manuscript in which he left his partner's names empty. Following his death, his family filled in names and published his work perhaps putting some researchers on a blind trail. We know that some of the names included in Warner's manuscript are incorrect.

How exactly the name 'Butch Cassidy' came into being is unknown. He worked on a chuck wagon and picked up the name Butch. He worked in a meat market in southern Wyoming and was nicknamed Butch. Or perhaps it was a simple alias thought up out of thin air. In any event, the name Butch was a name spread by reporters and dime novels. In writing, among friends, and in prison records, Parker used the names: Roy Parker, LeRoy Parker, George Parker, and George Cassidy.

In an act not uncharacteristic of Johnson County Cattle war tactics, the now George Cassidy was arrested in Wyoming for what appears to have been trumped up charges of horse theft. Convicted and sentenced to two years in prison, Cassidy may have become more resolute in his distrust for the system. Many of the top state officials, including the governor, were large cattle barons. He certainly rubbed elbows with experienced criminals and learned much in prison. It is interesting to revisit the name at this point. Cassidy's prison records list his name as 'George Cassidy' with the alias 'Butch W. Parker'.

Once released, Cassidy began his infamous career. Cassidy robbed banks and trains between New Mexico and Montana and as far to the west as Nevada. His hideouts included Brown's Hole, Robber's Roost, and The Hole in the Wall region of Johnson County.

Known for their careful casing of the layout of the target and their detailed getaway plans, Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch made their greatest blunder in the fall of 1900. Celebrating their plunder of a Winnemucca Nevada bank, Wild Bunch members posed for a now famous photo. To that point, no current Cassidy and Wild Bunch photo existed to distribute with wanted posters. Shortly thereafter, a Wells Fargo agent recognized members in the photo and wanted posters were distributed.

Cornered by prospects of a shrinking west - more rail lines, better telegraph systems, organized law enforcement; and now distribution of their photos, Cassidy and his buddies made a choice to give up their life of crime. Based on his situation including a lack of deaths in his crimes, Cassidy petitioned governors for a full pardon in exchange for a guaranty that he would go straight. Within a short period of time, four of the five governors offered pardons. Research conflicts as to whether Wyoming was a hold out or whether Butch left the meeting site early before being told he would receive full pardons by his attorney who was late due to weather. Butch returned to robbery and lost all chances of pardons.

Feeling the push, Butch Cassidy, Sundance Kid, and the mysterious Etta Place boarded a ship destined for Argentina. It appears they all had intentions of going straight. After several years in Argentina, the Pinkertons picked up their trail and forced the outlaws to again run.

The next part of the story is where the real mystery of Butch Cassidy begins. Some believe Cassidy and Sundance died in a shootout in Bolivia in 1909. Others believe he returned to the United States and lived out a full life.

In the late 1990-s, lawyer and researcher Ann Meadows and her husband Dan Buck retuned to the site of the shootout, exhumed the bodies in the grave identified as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid hoping to match DNA with the Parker or Longabaugh (Sundance) families. DNA failed to match yet Meadows and Buck remain confident both men died in a shootout in Bolivia.

Another school of thought is that Cassidy returned to the States and lived out his life as William Phillips in Spokane, Washington. Phillips bore an uncanny resemblance to Butch Cassidy. To many of his close friends he confided he was Butch Cassidy. He visited Johnson County Wyoming and was reportedly recognized by many as their friend Butch Cassidy. Phillips owned what reportedly was Cassidy's ring and revolver with Butch's ranch brand. Interestingly, Phillips wrote and unpublished manuscript in a third person style he called "Bandit Invincible" in which he reveals details previously unknown about the life of Butch Cassidy. In 1937 Phillips died, was cremated and left no next-of-kin.

So who was Butch Cassidy? He was a much more complicated character than a simple bank or train robber. He was among the last of the western outlaws. Technology was making horseback robbery passé. Certainly his friends described him as intelligent, loyal, humorous, kind and even honest. For much of his life he considered Johnson County his home and a place of safety.