This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Steeped in Western lore, many of us know Butch Cassidy was a cattle rustler, horse thief, bank and train robber, former convict, and charismatic leader of the Wild Bunch Gang who "broke ground on the Outlaw Trail," eschewed violence, and apparently never killed a living soul.
When it comes to his own death, though, chasing after Cassidy is a never-ending story. Not to besmirch the legendary character that embodied the truly Wild West, many accounts of his life-and-death experience are riddled with holes.
Some historians believe the notorious outlaw (along with the Sundance Kid) died of wounds sustained in a shootout following a heist in southern Bolivia in 1908. Others assert Cassidy was breathing long after his demise. Rumors flourish of his undergoing plastic surgery in Paris, assuming new identities in the States, getting married, and dying in 1937.
Presumably buried in California, Oregon, Spokane, Nevada, or Salt Lake City cemeteries, or on a hilltop in Utah's Piute County, how can one extract fact from fiction?
The first of 13 children, Robert Leroy Parker was born in Beaver, Utah, in 1866, raised by Mormon pioneer parents on the family ranch in nearby Circleville and left home at 12. Working on a dairy farm, he "fell under the spell" of Mike Cassidy, a cowhand and small-time cattle rustler, who taught him to shoot.
Whether Parker was motivated by the thrill of adventure or was merely being pursued as a cattle rustler, the 18-year-old moved to the mining boomtown of Telluride, Colo. There he worked as a muleskinner driving ore down from the high mountain Tomboy mine, ranched and raced horses. Arguing about late wages, Parker left town on his horse and was promptly arrested for stealing the horse. The charges were dropped. He never forgot.
In time, Parker adopted Mike's surname, may have taken on his gang, and possibly acquired the nickname "Butch" from working on a chuck wagon or in a butcher shop in Rock Springs, Wyo. Purchasing a small ranch in nearby Johnson County, he became embroiled in range conflicts with cattle barons over grazing land and water rights, and was heralded as a "warrior rather than a villain."
He also began his descent into crime. In 1889, Cassidy returned to Telluride and with three partners stole over $20,000 from the town's San Miguel Valley Bank and fled to Robbers Roost, a hideout in southeastern Utah.
Cassidy (among other outlaws) often worked on the Bassett family ranch in Brown's Park in northeastern Utah. Close to the Outlaw Trail on the way to Cassidy's Hole-In-The-Wall hideout in Wyoming, Mr. Basset supplied him with horses, and he became well acquainted with Bassett's daughters, Josie and Ann. Stories abound alleging romance, but are impossible to verify.
"My father thought [Butch] was nice to talk to," Josie later wrote.
A cattle rustler inclined to frequent Robbers Roost, Ann had little to add.
"During a horse race on one of Valentine Hoy's ranches, [Cassidy] rode the Brown's Park horse to glorious victory," she demurred. "Always well mannered, I never saw him drunk nor wearing a gun — in sight."
In 1893, Cassidy was arrested for horse thievery, served 18 months in a Wyoming prison and promised to "never offend" there again. Integrating a band of criminals into the Wild Bunch, he then launched a chain of well-planned, successful heists throughout the West.
Within a decade, the robbers had bounties on their heads and Pinkerton detectives on their trail. In 1901, Sundance and his companion Etta Place (who baffles historical veracity) sailed for South America. Cassidy followed while continuing a life of crime and ranching.
In 1908, two American bandits robbed a Bolivian mine payroll. Shot dead by police in San Vicente, they were buried without identification.
On a hot July day in 1941, a police officer reported pulling Butch Cassidy over for speeding in Mount Carmel, Utah. After being released, Cassidy spent the night with friends, then vanished, as was his wont, without a trace. Or so the story goes.
Eileen Hallet Stone, author of "Hidden History of Utah," a compilation of her Living History columns in the Salt Lake Tribune, may be reached at ehswriter@aol.com.