Butch Cassidy Robert Leroy Parker,

Butch Cassidy

Robert Leroy Parker, formerly known as Butch Cassidy was born in Utah in 1866. He lived his life in a ranch, first in his parent's ranch and after leaving home in his teens as well. Cassidy worked as a butcher and got his name Butch and Cassidy was what he named himself to honor his old friend Mike Cassidy. His first robbery was a pair of jeans, for which he had to pay charges of court and used to transfer stolen horses to their buyers. He and his partner Longabaugh along with their gang were known as the Wild Bunch. Together they robbed banks and trains in 1980s. After the robbery, Wild Bunch used to split up and reunite again in their secret hide outs which were in San Antonio. Famous among the hide outs are hole-in-the-wall and robbers roost. In 1901, Cassidy and Longabaugh fled towards New York and purchased a four room cabin in Chile. In 1905, they came back again in business, robbing banks and trains. Most of the historians believe that Cassidy and Longabaugh in a shootout which happened to be in San Vicente, where it is believed that they both killed each other after robbing the payroll group. They fled towards their hideout, when officials got to know about it. Gunfight ensued throughout the whole night. It was reported that the officials heard their screams and in the morning when they went inside they saw two dead bodies who committed suicide. One of his last robbery was a the biggest one. However, he regret for whatever he did throughout his life. It is believed that the two Longabaugh and Cassidy fled towards United States where Cassidy changed his face by surgeries and lived over their unnoticed as his sister, Lula Betenson Parker claimed that he was still alive in her book and another evidence is that Longabaugh returned towards United States and died in 1937.

Butch Cassidy

Born on April 13, 1866, Butch Cassidy was a famous train and a bank robber. He was born as Robert Leroy Parker in Utah. Cassidy was first of thirteen children and used to live with his parents in a ranch near Circleville, Utah. As he left his home early in his teens, he started working in a dairy farm were he met Mike Cassidy who was a cattle rustler and a horse thief. From there he worked at different ranches as a butcher where he got a nickname of "Butch" as being a butcher and after sometime he changed his surname to Cassidy in the respect of his old friend and a teacher.

One of the first incident when he was becoming a robber happened to be in 1880, Cassidy made a long journey for a clothier shop in another town just because he wanted it to be closed. However, he entered the shop and got a pair of jeans where he left a note of paying it for those jeans on his next visit. Clothier took the details which were written in that note and reported him. After he got through with the charges of court, Cassidy was declared innocent. In 1884, Cassidy moved towards Colorado where he found work to deliver the stolen horses to the buyers. He met Metthew Warner in 1887, owner of a race horse; together they used to race on different occasions and used to divide the profit. On November 3, 1887, he got responsible for his first train robbery along with Matthew Warner and Thomas McCarty from were they stole $150. (Charles Kelly, 1996).

In June 24, 1884, Butch Cassidy and his partners stole about $21,000 from a bank in Telluride and fled towards their hideout somewhere in Utah. He purchased a ranch in 1890, near Dubois, Wyoming. However, in 1894, Cassidy was arrested because of stealing horses and also for running a protection racket among the other rancher there. He served for about 18 months in the prison. After he got released in January 1896, Cassidy formed a gang of criminals and named it Wild Bunch. Together they were responsible for various robbery activities and murders. In 1897, Cassidy and his friend Elzy Lay along with their girlfriends went towards their hide out namely "Robbers Roost," to plan out their next robbery. On April 21, 1897, both Cassidy and Lay ambushed and stole a sack from a small group of men, containing $7,000 in the form of gold and went back towards their secret hide out. They set a plan for a train robbery which happened to be in July 11, 1899 but were unsuccessful as Cassidy partner Lay was killed in a shootout led by the local enforces including a sheriff and posse man were killed. Wild Bunch used to split up but than later they used to reunite on their secret hide out such as Hole-in-the-Wall, Robbers Roost, Porter's brothel and Madame Fannie which were located in San Antonio, Texas. Again in 1900, Cassidy and another partner Longabaugh robbed a bank namely First National Bank of $32,640. In the same year they also robbed a train and took over $60,000 in cash. After this train robbery, the gang split up except Cassidy and Longabaugh, they remained together. In 1901, Cassidy and his friend Longabaugh fled towards New York where he changed his name as James Ryan and settled in a four room cabin on a ranch which was on about 15,000 acre. One of his biggest robbery which he and his partner Longabaugh did in his last years was of about $100,000 in February 14, 1905. Both fled away towards north after the robbery. After this robbery, they fled into Chile and returned back towards Argentina at the end of the year. Late in 1907, Cassidy went away from Longabaugh for sometime in a town near by where he wrote to his friends who resided in Concordia, "just the place I've been looking for 20 years." At the age of 41, he regret for whatever he did in his life and wrote in document, "Oh God, if I could call back 20 years... I would be happy."

Butch Cassidy's death still remains mysterious. On November 1908, two American bandits robbed a group near San Vicente in southern Bolivia and vanished some where in San Vicente. After three days their hide out was surrounded by a group of officials and had a gunfight with them. A single shot was heard from inside the house and then another shot followed by a man screaming. In morning they entered the house and saw two men dead, apparently it was a suicide as both men were wounded and shot each other from a gun. However, it has been claimed that Cassidy returned alive towards United States as said by his sister Lula Parker Betenson and lived unnoticed for many years. Cassidy got his surgery done by a physician in Paris, who changed his face and continued his treatment for many years after he was supposedly killed in Bolivia. It has also been said that Cassidy went to meet his father, although his father denied the visit about his itinerant son after 1908. Another evidence is that Longabaugh also returned towards United States and died in 1937 but the communication between them were ended after the incident in San Vicente. (Wikipedia).