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Hosted by Leonard Nimoy, the episode explores the mystery surrounding the outlaw's death. It focuses on the theory that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid did not die in a 1908 shootout in Bolivia, as is widely believed, but instead escaped and returned to the United States.
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00:01South America, 1909.
00:05According to this famous film, a gun battle claims the life of Butch Cassidy.
00:11If the film version is right, who was the mysterious stranger who appeared on a Wyoming road 15 years later?
00:21A mysterious stranger who bore a strong resemblance to Butch Cassidy.
00:30Much has been recorded of the life of Butch Cassidy.
00:58How he rode the outlaw trail with a notorious wild bunch.
01:02But mystery still surrounds his death.
01:10Now, those who have kept their silence for years are ready to reveal the true ending to this remarkable story.
01:18This series presents information based in part on theory and conjecture.
01:28The producer's purpose is to suggest some possible explanation, but not necessarily the only ones, to the mysteries we will examine.
01:36The vast panorama of the American West has always bred large legends.
01:48Tall tales abound of outlaws and lawmen who rode into history across the open landscape.
01:54Among them, Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, Cherokee Bill, John Wesley Harden, Wyatt Earp, and Black Jack Ketchum.
02:04Time and distance have clouded the truth, but one thing is certain.
02:08Few on either side of the law would venture here unless they knew the country well or had good reason to hide.
02:18It is August 13th, 1897.
02:20Bank robbery is not an unusual occurrence here.
02:24But these are no ordinary bank robbers.
02:26Known for their speed and daring, they're called the Wild Bunch.
02:43Leading them is Butch Cassidy.
02:45He has herded cattle here and knows every canyon and mesa.
02:49For Butch, it was a short step from rounding up strays to rustling and then to robbing.
02:55A stretch in jail for a minor offense has settled the direction his life will take.
03:00A life he will one day admit was wasted and hurtful to those he loved the most.
03:09Butch becomes master of the fast getaway.
03:12Relays of horses have been staked out before the job.
03:15On fresh mounts, the Wild Bunch can out-distance any posse.
03:19In this way, they have robbed bank after bank over a wide area of the west.
03:24Montpelier, Idaho.
03:26Winnemucca, Nevada.
03:28Telluride in Denver, Colorado.
03:3016,000, 17,000, 21,000, $30,000.
03:41The separate halls added up to more than $200,000.
03:45By morning, the outlaws have left their pursuers miles behind.
03:52Expert horsemen, they climb the ridges into one of their several hideouts, the notorious hole in the wall, or the rugged area known as robber's roost.
04:12Here, safe from pursuit, a few men could hold off an army.
04:18They will rest up for the next job, confident that no lawman will follow them here.
04:23These rugged areas of Wyoming and Utah became fortress sanctuaries.
04:32Not only did bandits join Cassidy's gang, they were men who turned to rustling because they felt their independence was threatened by big cattle outfits crowding them off the public range.
04:42Into hidden canyons went stolen cattle, security against the excesses of the big ranchers.
04:49Butch Cassidy became a legend not only because of the mystery surrounding his death, but because his special character inspired a comparison to Robin Hood.
04:59During his career as an outlaw, a fortune in gold passed through his hands, but he seldom held on to much of it for very long.
05:07He seemed to delight in the chase more than the rewards.
05:11He gave money to ranchers and townspeople who were in need, and they in turn helped him with their silence.
05:18Today, ranchers in the area feel that Butch was one of them. An expert cowhand between robberies, he was respected for his hard work and skill.
05:39They don't condone what Butch did, but with their own independence threatened today by big mining interests, they understand some of the forces that drove him.
05:48And I found out later that it was Butch. I worked with his brother right here. His brother Joe, him and I inherited cattle together.
05:57He wasn't killed in South America, I know that.
06:01Our search for where and when Butch did die took us to the remote Wyoming town of Bags.
06:10Galloping down Main Street, guns blazing, they headed for the Bulldog Saloon, where they would cut the road dust out of their dry throats with strong whiskey.
06:20Restored, they would roust out Tom Vernon, who played fiddle and owned the local hotel.
06:26Then, rounding up the available ladies, they would dance all night.
06:31Sheriff Ross Moore, today's successor to Frontier Lawmen, sums up his town's attitude.
06:37People around here thought old Butch was all right. He was a real nice fella, as far as they were concerned.
06:43He never done anything to anybody, and he always treated them right and never cheated them.
06:48Even though there were outlaws, these people on Snake River would do about anything for them.
06:55They'd stop at your place. If you had a saddle horse, and their horse was tired, they'd take your horse and leave their tired horse and go on, but they'd always come back.
07:07And they never did anything wrong, because they knew that if they rode in to this country, they could get a place to stay all night or a fresh horse.
07:18He was a good-hearted old fella. He wouldn't kill you, he'd just steal your money.
07:22They was good to these people on Snake River. But money in here, you know.
07:27Damn it, they was all good guys.
07:29For the most part, outlawing was hard and dangerous work. As an outlaw's reputation grew, so did the odds of getting caught.
07:39Alan Pinkerton's powerful detective agency assigned famed manhunter Charlie Syringo to take on the Wild Bunch.
07:51Though only five feet tall, Syringo could rope, tie and ride with the best of them.
07:56Having spent a lifetime on the western range, he was well equipped to track his quarry.
08:01The Wild Bunch reacted to this pressure by moving into another lucrative field, train robbing.
08:10With Butch's masterminding, they continued to prosper.
08:13The Denver and Rio Grande Railway, $8,000.
08:17The Colorado and Southern, $45,000.
08:20The Union Pacific, $55,000.
08:26The Union Pacific responded by forming a special train-borne posse, transporting horses in a baggage car.
08:34About this time, Butch started working more closely with Harvey Longabout, known as the Sundance Kid.
08:41They shared a wry sense of humor.
08:44One day, after a particularly good haul, Butch and Sundance posed for a family portrait with the rest of the gang.
08:51It was a joke that would backfire and force them to flee the country.
08:55Sporting store-bought clothes and new derbies were cool killer Harvey Logan,
09:00polecat Bill Carver, and Butch's pal Sundance.
09:06Butch could barely suppress a grin at what he thought was a private joke.
09:10However, the proud photographer displayed the picture in his window,
09:14where it was spotted the next day by an amazed but delighted Pinkerton detective, who spread the alarm.
09:20Hearing this, and sensing their luck had run out, the bandits bought tickets on the very trains they once robbed.
09:29An elegantly attired trio, Butch, Sundance, and his girl, the beautiful Etta Place, headed for South America by way of New York.
09:41The big city in 1902 must have been a dazzling sight to these now rich but still countrified Westerners.
09:50They mingled with the elite on Fifth Avenue, and Sundance and Etta had their portraits taken at a fashionable salon.
10:09With Queen Lee Grace, Etta proudly displayed a new and expensive gold watch.
10:18A few weeks later, the trio sailed for South America.
10:24In Argentina, they worked as cattlemen until they were tracked down by a Pinkerton detective.
10:29Once more on the run, they returned to a life of crime throughout Chile, Bolivia, and Uruguay.
10:35In 1909, the story got out that Butch and Sundance were dead, killed in a gunfight in Mercedes, Uruguay.
10:44The Pinkerton agency eagerly accepted the story and closed the files on an old and frustrating case.
10:51But our research in Mercedes revealed no evidence that such a gunfight ever took place.
10:58Butch and Sundance's death, a hoax, perhaps still another way to out-distance pursuers.
11:05One day in 1924, 15 years after the alleged gunfight, a lone figure was seen driving up a Wyoming road.
11:14As he came closer, he seemed somehow familiar.
11:17Could it have been Butch Cassidy returning home after all those years?
11:27Many believe Butch Cassidy returned long after he was supposed to have died in a South American gunfight.
11:33Old Butch wasn't killed in South America. He came back here in 1924, and my grandmother seen him and talked to him.
11:41So I know he was here. He stayed a day and a half and then left, but he was here and talked to everybody.
11:46He came back from there and went down into Utah. He stopped in bags one night.
11:51He went up to some of these old places and visited before he left. So I know he's here in 24.
12:03One can only imagine what might have gone through his mind if he had revisited the places of his raucous youth.
12:08Most of his companions were gone. Harvey Logan, dead in a gunfight with a posse. Ben Kilpatrick, killed attempting to rob a train.
12:32Bill Carver, outdrawn by a sheriff in Texas. And the ladies who danced had vanished or settled down. Only memories remained.
12:48The memories live on in bags. Recollections of those still alive who remember Butch's nostalgic homecoming.
12:55In an old house on the outskirts of town lives a man who was a contemporary of Butch Cassidy's.
13:09Now, Alfred Brazell is surrounded by his animals and his memories.
13:13The dates he gives might be questioned, but he is positive about what he saw.
13:27He was not killed because in 1916, as sure as I ever stand right here,
13:35that I seen him right here in this store. I seen him with my own eyes.
13:40Now, Butch had three pack horses and one saddle horse.
13:46They were tied right at the side of the store.
13:51And he said, Ed, I want you to go and get me four quarts of whiskey.
14:00Ed says, why don't you do it? No, he said, I want you to go get it.
14:04Ed only had to just step out of the door and go about 50 feet to the saloon.
14:14I'd seen him before. It wasn't the first time I'd seen Butch.
14:17Author historian John Rolfe Burroughs has interviewed others who were even closer to Butch.
14:27I came through here in 1959 researching a story on the Wild Bunch.
14:31Among other people I talked to was Tom Vernon.
14:35Tom, at that time, was 80 years of age, but his mind was just as clear as a bell.
14:38And among other comments I had to make at that time was that I had read an article by Arthur Chapman to the effect that Butch Cassidy had been killed in Bolivia, in South America.
14:50Tom looked me in the eye and he said, killed in Bolivia?
14:53He said, Butch came through here in the early 20s and stayed with me two days.
14:59We talked over the old times, said there's no mistake. I knew every one of the Wild Bunch well.
15:02Now an expert historian has found evidence placing Butch Cassidy in this building in the early 1920s.
15:13John Burroughs has still more support for his conclusion.
15:17I met a man in Rock Springs by the name of John Taylor, who had known Butch Cassidy when Butch Cassidy worked in a butcher shop in Rock Springs.
15:25And that's where Butch, incidentally, got his nickname.
15:27Mr. Taylor owned the Ford Agency in Rock Springs, and he said one day he was out in the shop, and here came a Model T, and it was Butch Cassidy. This was in the early 1920s.
15:40He said Butch didn't recognize him, and didn't say anything, but he said there was no mistake, that he knew him well.
15:55Another person who saw Butch after he returned from Bolivia, who knew him very well, was Josephine Bassett Morris. She was his girlfriend.
16:11In an old log cabin where she lived alone, Josephine Bassett talked with Burroughs in 1965. Still showing signs of the beautiful girl she had been, Josephine told him that one night in the early 1920s in Rock Springs, Wyoming, Butch and his old friend Elsa Lay knocked on her door.
16:32And Josie told me, he said they were both a little out of condition, but we sat around and had a few drinks and reminisced about the old times.
16:56Josephine said that was the last time she saw Butch alive.
17:05We had one more important stop to make, 300 miles away. In southwest Utah is the wild and beautiful country where Butch spent his childhood, where he learned to ride, where he roamed free, when his name was still Robert Leroy Parker, and he lived on the ranch his father homesteaded near Circleville.
17:26Lula Parker Betten Ал τηςñевич наш was a 여?".
17:31Lula Parker Bettenison, which his 93 year old sister remembers.
17:34Lula Parker Bettenison, Butch's 93 years old sister remembers.
17:35When Butch came home, he went straight to the ranch, of the Parker ranch, because he thought we lived there.
17:42and how he wandered around.
17:48He loved the place.
17:49He had grown up there
17:51and he was half there.
18:09Disappointed to find no one there.
18:12He came to town.
18:25Hoping to see his aging father once more,
18:28Butch picked up his brother Mark
18:30and drove to the Parker house in town.
18:33His father and Lula came to the door.
18:37When Butch drove into the yard,
18:40he and Married got out of the car
18:43and walked over to the house.
18:47First, of course, he was a stranger.
18:50He just thought somebody would come home with the boys.
18:52But as they looked at each other and got closer,
18:56they knew each other.
18:58And for the pleasing it was to have him home again.
19:01When I first saw Butch, I looked at him and I thought,
19:09Oh, he belongs here.
19:11He's ours.
19:12He must be, you know.
19:13And yet I didn't know.
19:16And my father said to me, he said,
19:20I'll bet you don't know who this is.
19:23He said, this is your brother, Robert Leroy.
19:25And, of course, then it was just really,
19:29but my, I felt like my feet, my, I couldn't stand.
19:33I was shocked, you know, in a way.
19:36So you, it, I didn't have it very long
19:39because he's so warm and so wonderful.
19:42And it was so tickled to see me
19:44that it all turned out just right.
19:46When he came home,
19:48he could talk of nothing but mother.
19:50No matter what we would be talking about,
19:54he would go back to her.
19:56He felt so terrible
19:57because he felt that he'd hurt her so badly.
20:00And he really did.
20:02And he felt it.
20:03He couldn't live it down.
20:05He said it was his heartache.
20:07And my father said to him, he said,
20:09You know, my boy, he said,
20:11you could have been most anything.
20:13He said, I know.
20:14And all I've done is make a wreck of my life.
20:17He wasn't a bit happy.
20:18I think he paid the debt over and over
20:20for what he'd done.
20:23Butch died in 1937 in the Northwest.
20:28And where he is buried, that is our secret.
20:32We do not tell it.
20:34My father gave us to understand
20:36when the word came of his death
20:38that there would be never be told
20:42because they had chased him.
20:44He said they have chased him all his life.
20:46And now he's going to rest in peace.
20:50No matter what, I would never tell it.
20:53There are many theories about Butch's later years.
21:05In Billings, Montana,
21:06author Larry Poynter, after years of study,
21:08believes that this man,
21:10William T. Phillips,
21:11who moved to Spokane, Washington,
21:13a year after Butch's supposed death,
21:15is Butch Cassidy.
21:17And the resemblance is remarkable.
21:20Phillips died in the Northwest in 1937,
21:23and his ashes were scattered over the Spokane River.
21:26An added irony is that for years,
21:28Phillips tried to sell the Butch Cassidy story to Hollywood.
21:32There were no takers.
21:34And what of Sundance and Etta?
21:36They seem to have disappeared completely from history.
21:39Only the legend remains.
21:42But legends die hard.
21:44We usually believe what we want to believe.
21:46Somehow we prefer to see Butch young and vigorous,
21:50falling in South America with guns blazing,
21:53rather than living out a mundane life.
21:55But wherever or whenever Robert Leroy Parker died,
22:00in our minds, he lives on as Butch Cassidy.
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