Synopses & Reviews
Who was Butch Cassidy? He was born Robert LeRoy Parker in 1866 in Utah. And, as everyone knows, after years of operating with a sometime gang of outlaws known as the Wild Bunch, he and the Sundance Kid escaped to South America, only to die in a 1908 shootout with a Bolivian cavalry troop.
But did he die? Some say that he didnand#8217;t die in Bolivia, but returned to live out a quiet life in Spokane, Washington where he died peacefully in 1937. In interviews with the author, scores of his friends and relatives and their descendants in Wyoming, Utah, and Washington concurred, claiming that Butch Cassidy had returned from Bolivia and lived out the remainder of his life in Spokane under the alias William T. Phillips.
In 1934 William T. Phillips wrote an unpublished manuscript, an (auto) biography of Butch Cassidy, and#147;The Bandit Invincible, the Story of Butch Cassidy.and#8221; Larry Pointer, marshalling an overwhelming amount of evidence, is convinced that William T. Phillips and Butch Cassidy were the same man. The details of his life, though not ending spectacularly in a Bolivian shootout, are more fascinating than the until-now accepted version of the outlawand#8217;s life.
There was a shootout with the Bolivian cavalry, but, according to Butch (Phillips), he was able to escape under the cover of darkness, sadly leaving behind his longtime friend, the Sundance Kid, dead.
Then came Paris, a minor bit of facelifting, Michigan, marriage, Arizona, Mexico with perhaps a tour as a sharpshooter for Pancho Villa, Alaska, and at last the life of a businessman in Spokane. In between there were some quiet return trips to visit old friends and haunts in Wyoming and Utah.
The author, with the invaluable help of Cassidyand#8217;s autobiography, has pieced together the full and final story of a remarkable outlawand#151;from his Utah Mormon origins, through his escapades of banditry and his escape to South America, to his self-rehabilitation as William T. Phillips, a productive and respected member of society.
Review
"Western Americana fans will love this one. Pointer, authority on Butch Cassidy and the famous Wild Bunch, believes he has convincing evidence that Cassidy, born Robert LeRoy Parker, was not killed in a 1908 shootout with Bolivian cavalry, as reported, but returned to Spokane, Washington...The bandit, a colorful, inventive, sentimental yet ruthless maverick, may have lived as Phillips until 1937. " Publishers Weekly
Review
"Facts do not speak for themselves. Good historians speak for them. This is what Larry Pointer has done in a compelling account of the identity, career, and fate of Butch Cassidy....In Search of Butch Cassidy records some superb sleuthing. Narrative and exposition are skillfully blended." Arizona and the West
Review
"Pointer has written an engrossing book after a detective-like and all-embracing effort to determine the truth." Journal of American History
Review
"Pointer has done some fascinating historical detective work and has collected some convincing evidence. One of his sources is a copy of a manuscript Cassidy wrote about his outlaw days. Pointer frequently and extensively quotes from this as he reconstructs Cassidy's life and criminal exploits. He lets Butch himself describe the Bolivian shootout in which the Sundance Kid was killed." Library Journal
About the Author
Larry Pointer is Chief of Biological Resources, New Mexico State Office, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Santa Fe. He has long been interested in Western history and rodeo history, and is the author of many articles, particularly on Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch. He currently is at work on a volume on rodeo history.