Butch Cassidy (5 page)

Though Roy and Dan were close to the family and home, the former concluded that he must not return to Circleville for fear of bringing more shame and potential problems to those he loved the most. He decided to just ride away, and, with McCarty and Warner, traveled back toward the north and to Brown’s Park (also known as Brown’s Hole) located near the point where Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming come together. Roy knew there was work to be found on ranches and farms in the area, but more importantly, he knew that the Brown’s Park region was a place where official law enforcement was virtually unknown, where a man who was wanted could hide out with little chance of being found.

Between the time the three left Milford and arrived at Brown’s Park, Parker decided to change his name. He had already dropped the Robert in favor of Roy. Now, he adopted the surname of Cassidy, after Mike Cassidy, the man who had influenced him years earlier.

One afternoon, early in the summer of 1889, Robert LeRoy Parker, now known as Roy Cassidy, rode into Brown’s Park and into the history books.

Four

Enter Butch Cassidy

Brown’s Park, known to many who lived in the area as Brown’s Hole, was a somewhat secluded valley approximately thirty-five miles long, six miles wide, and more or less surrounded by mountains. Brown’s Park stretched from eastern Utah into western Colorado just south of the Wyoming state line. At the northern end of Brown’s Park were the Cold Springs Mountains, and at the southern end were the Uinta Mountains. Within the confines of Brown’s Park, the land was fertile and the graze for livestock was good. The nearby Green River provided water for irrigation, a practice established by the few farming and ranching families that lived here.

Most versions of the history of this region maintain Brown’s Park was named after Baptiste Brown, a French Canadian fur trapper who came to the area during the 1820s. Brown’s Park was also frequented by the famous Kit Carson during the times he earned his living as a trapper.

The rich meadows and forests of Brown’s Park were once home to deer, antelope, bison, bighorn sheep, and other wildlife, but since the arrival of white settlers during the 1870s, cattle were the most dominant animals.

There is abundant evidence to suggest that, long before white immigrants came to Brown’s Park, the site was home to ancient Indians. The first Anglo arrivals to this area reported finding long abandoned and undisturbed Indian campsites. Even today numerous petroglyphs and pictographs dating from prehistoric America can be found on canyon walls.

The residents of Brown’s Park were aware of the occasional presence of outlaws who used the area as a hiding place. Since they were never harmed and were, in fact, often aided by the outlaws, their reactions to them ranged from reserved tolerance to overt friendship. Many of the nearby ranchers often hired the outlaws to work for them.

John Burroughs writes that the outlaws appeared from time to time at homesteads requesting a meal or fresh horses. Generally, they were accommodated, and the homesteaders were, more often than not, paid handsomely for their help. As a result, many of the homesteaders refused to cooperate with lawmen who arrived in Brown’s Park in search of criminals.

Deep within Brown’s Park near Diamond Mountain at the southeastern end was an abandoned cabin. Here many of the outlaws congregated on arriving in the region.

Soon after coming to Brown’s Park, Robert LeRoy Parker, a.k.a. Roy Parker, a.k.a. Roy Cassidy, changed his name once again, this time to George Cassidy. One of the first people he met when he rode into Brown’s Park in 1890 was a rancher and freighter named Charley Crouse. Crouse was a friend to many of the outlaws who frequented the park and was often rewarded for warning them of approaching lawmen. Crouse let Cassidy, Matt Warner, and Tom McCarty use the abandoned cabin located near Diamond Mountain and introduced them to area residents.

After asking around, Cassidy learned there was an opening for a cowhand at the Bassett Ranch. Herb and Elizabeth (sometimes referred to as Mary) Bassett were originally from Arkansas. Herb had worked as a court clerk in Arkansas but lost his job when a new political party was elected into office. Taking his wife and five children, he headed west in search of work. Initially, Herb Bassett was infused with the notion that his future lay in California. Some researchers claim that Bassett moved west because he suffered from asthma. He was indeed an asthma victim—he suffered badly and often. Bassett may also have had malaria, and the damp Arkansas climate no doubt aggravated his condition. While Bassett anticipated that relocating in the American West would likely be good for his health, it has been concluded that his primary reasons for the move were economic rather than health related.

The Bassett family stopped in Brown’s Park to visit Herb’s brother, Sam. Sam had been to California and did not have many positive things to relate to Herb about his experiences there. Instead, Sam convinced his brother to remain in Brown’s Park and take up ranching and farming.

Cassidy took an instant liking to the Bassett family, in part because they reminded him of his own. Herb Bassett was well educated and kept an extensive library. Cassidy loved to read and was often invited by Herb to help himself to books. According to author Gail Drago, Cassidy liked to read “Scottish history, Dickens, and medieval literature.”

George Cassidy easily fit into the scheme of things on the Bassett Ranch and proved to be a top hand. When he wasn’t performing chores, he spent time with the Bassett couple and their children. On social occasions when neighbors were invited over for dinner, dancing, and games, Cassidy was always asked to participate. He endeared himself to the neighboring ranchers, often offering to help them out with their work or playing with their children.

Cassidy soon became close friends with two of Bassett’s daughters—Ann and Josie. One of them, Josephine, or Josie, as she was called, remained Cassidy’s close friend throughout his life. It is believed by some that the two were lovers. She was fifteen years old at the time.

Many of the Brown’s Park females were attracted to Cassidy. He was always polite and gentlemanly, loved to dance, and only drank in moderation. In turn, Cassidy was attracted to many of the women he met, often invited them to dances, and was known to court several.

It was probably at the Bassett Ranch that Cassidy met Elzy Lay. Full name William Ellsworth Lay, Elzy had come to the West looking for work. Some accounts claim Lay was from Texas, others insist his home was Illinois or Iowa, and a few maintain he was from Boston. Author Richard Patterson believes Lay was born November 25, 1868, in or near McArthur, Ohio, a time and place ascribed to by most Cassidy scholars.

Lay has been described as tall, slim, handsome (with light brown hair and round hazel eyes), and exceptionally well mannered. Those who knew him regarded him as kindly, polite, and gentlemanly. Lay often went by the alias William McGinnis, which was actually the name of one of his boyhood friends. Some researchers believe that Lay’s real name was, in fact, McGinnis but have yet to provide evidence of this. During his time as an active outlaw, Lay was involved with cattle rustling, horse theft, robbery, operating a gambling den, and counterfeiting.

Cassidy and Lay proved to have much in common, and the two were about the same age. Both loved horses and working with riding stock, and like Cassidy, Lay proved himself to be a skilled horseman. He soon found employment breaking horses for Herb Bassett.

It was inevitable that Cassidy and Lay would become good friends. While they worked at the Bassett Ranch they were almost inseparable. They broke and trained horses together, and occasionally roped and branded mavericks.

As a result of William Goldman’s extremely popular film
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
, as well as a variety of interpretations by well-intentioned but careless researchers and writers, a man named Harry Longabaugh, alias the Sundance Kid, is often represented as the boon companion to Cassidy. While it is clear that Cassidy and Longabaugh spent several years together in various adventures in South America, the charismatic outlaw actually spent most of his time with Elzy Lay and considered him his best friend.

In search of a better paying job, George Cassidy eventually quit the Bassett Ranch and traveled to Rock Springs, Wyoming, about seventy miles to the north. On arriving at this bustling town, he learned that the only jobs available were in the coal mines. Having had enough of mine-associated work, he determined to find something else.

While he was hanging around town hoping to land work, Cassidy met a man named William Gottsche. Gottsche owned a butcher shop and, as it happened, was looking for a helper. Robert LeRoy Parker introduced himself to the butcher as Ed Cassidy, inquired about the job, and was hired immediately.

Cassidy enjoyed working in Gottsche’s butcher shop, and before long he was known by virtually everyone in town. He was described as charming and friendly, always smiling, and he was known to give the customers a bit more meat than they paid for.

In a very short time, according to a number of Cassidy historians, customers of Gottsche’s meat market were referring to him as Butcher Cassidy. This was soon shortened to “Butch,” and thereafter the charming young man with the winning ways was known as Butch Cassidy. Though many ascribe to this version of how Cassidy got his nickname, the story is likely apocryphal.

Another version of how Cassidy received his nickname comes from author Larry Pointer. He writes that a man named Joe Gras was told that Cassidy was given the name “Butch” while working in a meat market owned by Otto Schnauber.

In his book, Matt Warner claims he was responsible for giving Cassidy his nickname. According to Warner, he lent Cassidy his needle gun, which was named “Butch.” On his initial attempt at firing the gun, Cassidy was knocked on his back. Thereafter, wrote Warner, Cassidy was known as “Butch.”

There is yet another explanation for the origin of the nickname. Cowboys who worked roundups and were responsible for providing meat for the camp cook pot were nicknamed “butches.” With Cassidy, some sources claim, this name apparently stuck.

Some researchers have contended that, while Cassidy was working for Gottsche, he was also stealing cattle in the area and selling them on the sly to the butcher. Nothing definite, however, has ever been found to substantiate this notion.

The name Cassidy, at least the spelling of it, is also a bit controversial. There is evidence that Butch actually spelled the surname “Casidy” prior to 1893, and perhaps even inscribed it as such on a wooden grip of one of his pistols.

Butch Cassidy endeared himself to Rock Springs residents in other ways. A story is told that one evening, while enjoying a leisurely drink in one of the town’s taverns, another customer, a lawyer named Douglas A. Preston, became involved in an argument with an irate patron. When it became clear that the patron intended to kill Preston, Cassidy stepped in, diffused the situation, and, according to researchers, very likely saved the lawyer’s life. Cassidy and Preston eventually became good friends. In the not too distant future, lawyer Preston would represent Cassidy, as well as a few of his friends, on several different occasions in court.

In another somewhat dramatic incident that allegedly took place in Rock Springs, Butch Cassidy is credited with saving the life of the town marshal, Harry S. Parker. As Cassidy was cutting meat in the butcher shop one afternoon, a group of Finnish coal miners had grown drunk and troublesome in a nearby gambling hall. After the Finns had threatened customers and broken furniture, the owner of the hall summoned the marshal. Minutes later, Cassidy watched from the butcher shop window as Marshal Parker entered the saloon and confronted the rowdy Finns.

From the shouting and cursing that emanated from the gambling hall, Cassidy realized that the Finns were determined to kill Parker. Grabbing a large meat cleaver, he left the butcher shop and entered the establishment. Inside, the Finns closed in on Parker with knives, broken beer bottles, and clubs. Cassidy, brandishing the cleaver, shouted a warning and the Finns paused to regard the newcomer. At that instant, a Union Pacific guard walked in carrying a rifle and pointed it at the unruly men. Following a few seconds of silent confrontation, the Finns backed away and Parker was spirited out of the hall.

Butch Cassidy’s run of good luck in Rock Springs was about to come to an end through no fault of his own. He was soon to encounter another experience that would leave him bitter and disappointed with the law.

One evening after dinner Butch went to a local saloon for a few drinks and some conversation. He soon found himself visiting with an acquaintance, a man who was unable to hold his liquor. Following a few drinks, Butch’s companion was hopelessly inebriated, spilling his drinks, and dropping his money onto the bar and the floor. Butch decided he had had enough of the man’s company, paid for his drinks, and left the saloon.

After Butch left, the owner of the saloon, who was also serving as bartender, had his eye on the spilled money. When the drunken customer looked in another direction, the owner surreptitiously picked up the coins and placed them in his own pocket. Among the coins, it has been related, were several twenty-dollar gold pieces.

The following day, the drunkard returned to the saloon and accused the bartender of stealing his money. The bartender allegedly told the man he had seen Butch Cassidy take the coins, and even provided several witnesses to testify so. Cassidy was subsequently arrested for and charged with the theft.

Though nothing came of the charge, Cassidy was thereafter discouraged with the way the legal system worked. Lula Parker Betenson stated that her brother strongly believed the laws were intended to “protect people and their rights,” but he soon came to realize that the same laws more often than not served to protect and aid those who already had money and power.

With growing bitterness, Butch Cassidy recalled how years earlier a portion of his own family’s homestead was given to someone else who had no legal or moral right to the land. He also remembered instances where small homesteaders had to give way to the wishes of the moneyed and powerful. Soon, he began to notice how banks and railroad companies, using the legal system they manipulated, took land from those who were too poor to afford to put up any kind of fight. Butch’s rancor against the wealthy and powerful deepened. During those times when Cassidy grew depressed and discouraged about such things, he returned to Brown’s Park, where he was always welcomed.