My wife and I recently visited the boyhood home of Butch Cassidy near Circleville, Utah. The unassuming log cabin was the family home of this famous outlaw during his early teen years. Born Robert Leroy Parker on April 13, 1866, he was the oldest of 13 children. Times were hard for a family of that size and he hired himself out to other ranchers to help put food on the table. When he was about 18, he left the family to be on his own. When he rode away to make his way in life, neither he nor his family could have known that he was riding off into the pages of history.
He was befriended by Mike Cassidy, a small-time horse and cattle rustler. Mike Cassidy’s influence led Parker to stealing livestock. His bond with the outlaw Cassidy was strong and he even adopted Cassidy as his last name. One must wonder if he also changed his name to protect the Parker family name. Later he worked as a butcher in Rock Springs, Wyoming, earning him the nickname Butch. From that time on he was known as Butch Cassidy.
His first major crime occurred in 1889 when he and two companions robbed a bank in Telluride, CO netting them 21,000 dollars. Butch went on to form an outlaw gang calling themselves the Wild Bunch. Notable members of his gang were Kid Curry and Harry Longabaugh, known as the Sundance Kid.
The Wild Bunch pulled off some of the most daring and successful robberies in the American West. For about 10 years the gang robbed trains and banks, in Idaho, Nevada, Montana, New Mexico, and Wyoming and a mining company payroll in Utah. Banks and the powerful railroads hired the Pinkerton Detective Agency to track down Butch and his gang and bring them to justice. Several members of the gang were found and either killed or incarcerated. The pressure became so great that Butch and the Sundance Kid escaped to Argentina, where they bought a ranch under assumed names. This is where the story becomes hazy. Some accounts claim that they resumed their old habits and began robbing banks there. I would wonder why they would have risked it all by bringing attention to themselves.
Two English-speaking bandits robbed a bank in Argentina and a mine payroll across the border in Bolivia. There were wanted posters for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid posted throughout the region, so it was believed that they were the two bandits. The two men were traced to San Vincente, Bolivia where they rented a home. The Bolivian authorities were tipped off by the home’s owner and the two were confronted. A lengthy gunfight ensued, resulting in both men suffering multiple wounds. Apparently with their last bullets, one shot the other in the head and then turned the gun on himself, ending their lives. Due in part to the final gunshot wounds to the head their identities could not be positively confirmed. They were buried in the cemetery there and history says that is where these two famous outlaws met their demise.
This is where the story gets really interesting. After their reported deaths in Bolivia, several people who had known Butch claimed to have seen and talked with him in the U.S. One such account came from Butch’s younger sister, Lula Parker Betenson. She related in a book and an interview, that in 1925 her father, living in Circleville, UT, asked her if she would bring some food to his house because he had a guest. She claimed that when she walked into the house, she saw a man that she didn’t recognize but strangely felt a connection to. Her father said that this was her brother, Robert Leroy. She had been too young to remember him before he left the family as a teenager. She said they talked about their mother and other things only her brother could have known. A few days later he departed for Wyoming and she said she never saw him again. She claimed that he died somewhere in the Northwest in 1937.
So, which story do you believe? Did Butch and the Sundance Kid die in Bolivia or were the two robbers killed there actually someone else? Did misidentification of the bodies allow Butch and Sundance the opportunity to return to the U.S. with assumed names, free from the danger of discovery and prosecution? I tend to believe that they were not killed in Bolivia but returned home. I believe the eyewitness accounts of them appearing in the U.S. after they were supposedly killed. One more thing leads me to this belief. In 1991, the two bodies were exhumed and DNA testing was done. The results were that the bodies were not those of the famous outlaws.
It was enlightening to stand inside the small cabin where Butch Cassidy had spent some of his childhood years. One can imagine the struggles he and his family must have endured that led him to leave home to find a better life. Unfortunately, he turned to crime and the necessity of always being on the run. Was it really a better life? Did he finally experience peace in his later years?
Because the original Parker family cabin was dilapidated, it was disassembled and rebuilt using as much of the original materials as possible. This is the cabin that you see today. If you find yourself traveling along Highway 89, just south of Circleville, UT, watch for the signs directing you to the site and experience a little piece of the history of the American West and one of its most colorful characters.