Legends of the Old West - BUTCH & SUNDANCE Ep. 4 | “Bolivia”

Episode Date: November 18, 2020

Butch and Sundance travel to South America to outrun the Pinkertons and they take Sundance’s girlfriend, Etta Place, with them. They live peacefully for a short time, but the Pinkertons find them and force them to go on the run again. Butch and Sundance resume robbing banks until they’re finally cornered in a tiny village in the mountains of Bolivia. The final showdown leaves history with more questions than answers. Join Black Barrel+ for bingeable seasons with no commercials: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/join For more details, visit our website www.blackbarrelmedia.com and check out our social media pages. We’re @OldWestPodcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Visit amex.ca slash yamex. Benefits vary by card. Other conditions apply. Max Parker stared at the stranger who sat across from him at the kitchen table. Steam from their coffee cups drifted up through the late afternoon sunlight. Max was trying to decide if he liked the man and if he could trust him. Ann Parker was taken in by the lean cowboy, as was her daughter. The stranger told the family of Butch Cassidy that he was looking for their son. He said Butch owed him money. Ann asked if he cared to stay for supper, and the stranger smiled

and nodded. During the evening, he returned to the subject supper, and the stranger smiled and nodded. During the evening, he returned to the subject of Butch Cassidy's location. He claimed to have ridden with Butch six months earlier. The stranger said he'd lost all his money gambling, and Butch had helped him out. Max and Anne glanced at each other, and then they hung their heads. Anne was in tears. Max said they hadn't heard from their son, Bob, in nearly 10 years. He and Anne knew from seeing their son's picture in the newspaper that he was now the famous Butch Cassidy. The stranger nodded and smoked his pipe.

Anne asked again for the stranger's name. He answered, Charlie S Ann Parker found out later that their house guest was one of the most infamous Pinkerton agents in the West. As a podcast network, our first priority has always been audio and the stories we're able to share with you. But we also sell merch. And organizing that was made both possible and easy with Shopify. Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell and grow at every stage of your business. From the launch your online shop stage all the way to the did we just hit a million orders stage. Whether you're selling scented soap or offering outdoor outfits, Shopify helps you sell everywhere. They have an all-in-one e-commerce platform and in-person POS system. So wherever and whatever you're selling, Shopify's got you covered.

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Shopify.com slash Realm. Sephora, Old Navy, Expedia, and other stores you love. You can even stack sales on top of cash back. Just start your shopping with Rakuten to save money at over 750 stores. Join for free at rakuten.ca or get the Rakuten app. That's R-A-K-U-T-E-N. From Black Barrel Media, this is Legends of the Old West. I'm your host, Chris Wimmer, and this is a four-part series about two of the most famous outlaws in American history, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. This is Episode 4, Bolivia. The End sitting to the right, whom they called Butch, appeared happy. The one they called Sundance remained solemn throughout the shoot. Swartz gazed at the finished portrait. Four of the men

stared off to the left. Butch looked straight into the camera. He was their leader. Each man purchased a copy of the photograph, and Swartz made a sixth for himself. The photographer was pleased with the results. He placed the picture in the display window of his shop and thought nothing more of it. The five members of the Wild Bunch were in Fort Worth, Texas for a wedding. News Carver was set to marry a young woman

he met at Fanny Porter's brothel in San Antonio. That was where Sundance's girlfriend at a place had come from. The celebration lasted for days. They figured they were safe in the red-light district known as Hell's Half Acre. The end of the year 1900 was a time of great innovation and change. Electric lights lit up the town all night long. An automobile or two showed up to scare the horses. Telephones provided instant communication across the great expanse of the American continent. Butch Cassidy was 34 years old and ready for a change himself. He knew it was only a matter of time before he and his gang would be caught and thrown in prison. Or worse, they'd be shot dead somewhere in the Utah desert.

Robbing banks and trains had become a real hazard. The express cars were being made of impenetrable steel. Armed guards traveled on the trains, often outnumbering any gang that attempted a robbery. And with the increase in telephones, news of a heist could travel farther and faster than a gang could ever hope to. So Butch knew it was time to get away for good. One by one, he approached the four gang members and asked if they might entertain the idea of leaving the country.

Sundance was the only one who said he would consider it. But where, he asked. Butch smiled and said, how about Argentina? It's not clear if Sundance even knew where Argentina was, but he trusted Butch. He also must have sensed their demise if they stayed in America any longer. There in Fort Worth, it took no longer than two days for the photograph of the outlaws to catch the attention of law enforcement. Someone had seen the picture in the display window and recognized News Carver. Authorities ordered 50 prints of the photo. Within days, all five members of the Wild Bunch were identified.

Each was singled out and placed on a wanted poster. The posters went out across the West and beyond. The portrait became known as the Fortworth Five. Copies were distributed around the world. One went to the First National Bank in Winnemucca, Nevada. The bank had been robbed of $33,000 in September before the Wild Bunch showed up in Texas. Butch, Sundance, and News Carver were the chief suspects. The bank manager framed the portrait and hung it on the wall. In record time, Butch and Sundance were world famous. So it was time to put Butch's plan into action. They would travel to New York City and board a

steamer bound for Buenos Aires, Argentina. But there was one thing Sundance failed to mention. He had invited his girlfriend, Etta Place, to go along. On their way to New York City, Sundance and Etta stopped in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, the town where he grew up. His parents had passed away, but two sisters and his brother still lived there. Twenty years had gone by since they'd sat in the same room together. Sundance's siblings knew all about his exploits, of course. Later, they found out that Pinkertons had bribed the local postmaster. Any letter coming from or going to Sundance was opened and read. Any letter coming from or going to Sundance was opened and read.

Sundance introduced Etta as his wife. His family had no reason to believe otherwise. He might have given her a tour of the area, maybe showing her the canals where he worked as a child pulling boats with mules 14 hours a day. He showed her the farm where he learned his horse trade. He may have taken her to the library where he first read about the exciting and dangerous Wild West. Much had changed since he'd headed west at 14 years old to work for his cousin in Colorado.

While Sundance and Etta were in Pennsylvania, Butch went back to Wyoming and sold the land he owned with Al Hainer. With that chore done, Butch boarded a train and traveled east to New York City and left the West behind forever. Sundance and Etta checked into a luxury suite at the Taylor Boarding House in New York as Mr. and Mrs. Harry Place. Butch soon joined them. The three portrayed themselves as wealthy cattle buyers from out west,

and no one thought any different. If Butch, Sundance, and Etta thought Fort Worth was thoroughly modern, they would have been overwhelmed by New York City. By February 1901, electric streetcars that ran underground were the fastest way to get around. The buildings appeared taller than some mountains they'd climbed. And on just one afternoon's stroll down Broadway, it seemed they met more folks than they had during their entire lives. The trio loved their time in New York City.

If they weren't at the opera or a Broadway play, they were eating at the finest restaurants in the world. A trip to Tiffany and Company was a favorite. Butch bought a $40 gold watch. Sundance bought a $150 gold lapel watch for Etta and bought himself a diamond stick pen. On February 3rd, Sundance and Etta stood for a portrait at the de Young's studio where she wore the expensive watch. They appeared the perfect couple, dressed to the nines in comfortable repose. Etta's elegance shone through, as did Sundance's confidence. He sent a printed copy to his sister in Phoenixville, but she never received it.

The postmaster passed it on to the Pinkertons. She never received it. The postmaster passed it on to the Pinkertons. On February 20th, after three weeks of living it up in New York City, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Place, along with Mr. James Ryan, AKA Butch Cassidy, boarded the SS Herminius. The next morning, the ropes were thrown from the pier and the former leaders of the most famous outlaw gang

in America watched as their homeland drifted away. On March 3, 1901, Butch, Sundance, and Etta stepped off the steamer in Buenos Aires. They checked into the finest hotel. Soon after, Sundance deposited nearly $12,000 in a local bank. They wanted to go farther south, toward the end of the earth. Patagonia was ideal. Somewhere within millions of acres, there must be the perfect piece of land. The United States Vice Consul recommended the Valley of Cholila near Chile at the foot of the Andes Mountains. They traveled by boat, train, and horse to catch a glimpse of paradise. To the west lay the tallest white-capped mountains they'd ever seen.

The grass valley appeared untouched, yet there were ranches with cattle and horses scattered everywhere. They immediately bought a ranch of thousands of acres. They stocked the ranch with horses, cattle, and sheep and settled into a new life. It was tranquil. They stayed busy with daily work with the animals and maintenance of the buildings. They conversed with their neighbors and developed business deals that earned them reputations as honest, hard-working landowners. After a year, Sundance and Etta took a steamer back to New York City. While they were gone, Butch stayed busy buying more land and cattle. But after a few months living by himself, he became lonely. He wrote a long letter to a friend back in the States describing every detail of his life in a foreign land.

Sundance also wrote letters to his sister in Pennsylvania. Every letter was unsealed by the Pinkertons. They gathered any available information, resealed the letters, and sent them on to Sundance's sisters. And now the Pinkertons knew the outlaws were in South America. In early 1903, Agent Frank DeMeo went to Buenos Aires to investigate Harry and Etta Place and James Ryan. He talked to the vice consul who gave him the exact location of the ranch. It was the rainy season, and DiMeo decided not to try the treacherous journey. But before he went back to the U.S., he distributed wanted posters written in Spanish to the local and federal police. The two American ranchers were identified as

dangerous criminals. Two years later, on February 14, 1905, a bank was robbed in the town of Rio Gallegos, 750 miles south of Cholila. The two American outlaws were accused. When word reached the police chief in Buenos Aires, he remembered the wanted posters. He sent word to the local sheriff in Cholila. The sheriff was friends with Butch and Sundance and warned them they would soon be arrested for bank robbery. They'd fled more than 6,000 miles from their homes in the American West, but their past still caught up with them and ruined their idyllic lives of peace and prosperity. They had no choice but to desert their animals and their land. Butch made arrangements to sell the property

and to find jobs for their hired hands. On May 9, 1905, Butch, Sundance, and Etta took only what they could carry, boarded a boat, and crossed into Chile. The town of Villa Mercedes lay 400 miles west of Buenos Aires, not far from the Chilean border. On December 19, 1905, the bank was flush with money from cattle sold by wealthy ranchers. Four well-armed riders tied their horses at the bank. Three of them entered through the front door. Minutes later, they ran back outside with $90,000 worth of pesos. They climbed onto their horses and rode away. The locals identified Butch, Sundance, and Etta as the thieves. The fourth bandit was never known and disappeared somewhere along the trail.

A posse took flight and caught up with them after just a few hours on the run. A heated gun battle took place. One of the three was wounded, how severely no one knew. Riding fresh horses, the seasoned bank robbers got away by crossing the border into Chile. Within days of the robbery, the Pinkerton detective agency provided information to the Buenos Aires newspapers that accused the three Americans of the robbery. Word went out across the country. Nowhere in Argentina was safe for Butch, Sundance, and Etta. Soon after their escape, Etta Place simply disappeared. Some said she and Sundance hopped a steamer to San Francisco,

and then he supposedly abandoned her and went back to Chile alone. Others said she grew tired of following Butch and Sundance on the outlaw trail in South America, and simply left on her own. Still others said that she was the one who was wounded in the gun battle, and she died in the loving arms of Sundance. The mysterious Eta play seemed to offer a sense of legitimacy to the trio. She provided a reason to stay settled in something like a normal life. But whatever the reason for her departure, it was the beginning of the end for Butch and Sundance.

In 1906, Bolivia was the tin capital of the world. Small towns and mountain villages were flush with payroll money from various mining companies, and that money lured Butch and Sundance. Butch went to work for the Concordia Mines, buying the livestock that hauled supplies through the Andes. Sundance broke mules for a railroad construction company. Not long after, they both began working as security guards to protect Concordia's payroll. They were trustworthy employees. Working for the mines afforded them the chance to come and go as they pleased. Sometimes they were gone for days, and always returned with coins jingling in their pockets. They befriended an American engineer. He thought highly of Butch, but not so much of Sundance.

Their late-night drinking gave rise to conversations of past exploits. When wanted posters showed up in the village that looked suspiciously like the engineer's two new friends, Butch offered the truth. There's always an informer around to bring the law on you, Butch said. After you've started, you have to keep going, that's all. The safest way is to keep moving all the time and spring a holdup in some new place. In that way, you keep the other fellows guessing. In that way, you keep the other fellows guessing. Shortly thereafter, Butch and Sundance quit their jobs at Concordia and moved on.

By the end of 1908, Butch and Sundance were two middle-aged American cowboys living in a foreign land drifting from job to job. They mostly worked manual labor having to do with pack animals for the mines. Every once in a while, they robbed a stagecoach or small payroll. They made just enough money to stay ahead of the law. If either of them still had dreams of going straight, they would only come true after one last great heist. While scouting a bank in Tupiza, Bolivia, Butch stumbled upon the offices of the Aramayo Mining Company. He learned that a payroll of half a million dollars would soon be driven out to the mines by Mule. He and Sundance had three days to set up an ambush. On the morning of November

4th, 1908, Butch and Sundance stepped out from behind some rocks with their pistols drawn. Even with bandanas covering their faces, everything about them showed they were Americans. They stole the payroll and a mule, but there was far less money than they expected. The two outlaws bid their victims a good morning in Spanish and were off. Within hours, every city, town, and village knew about the two gringos who robbed the payroll. Across the country, all of Bolivia's militia was placed on high alert. The first night, they stayed at a friend's dredging operation. After a few drinks, Sundance couldn't keep quiet and told the friend all about the robbery. In the morning,

someone warned them that a military patrol was on its way. They made their friend guide them to a little-known Pueblo where they spent the night. The next morning, they said goodbye to their friend. below where they spent the night. The next morning, they said goodbye to their friend. By noon, they had climbed more than 14,000 feet into the mountains. They were above the tree line. They were worn out and still on the run, but Butch and Sundance entered the village of San Vicente and asked the mayor where they might find a place to stay for the night. The mayor knew exactly who they were. In a small room inside the courtyard, Butch and Sundance sat drinking beer and eating sardines. The late afternoon sunlight slanted through the open door. It was a brief respite for a couple worn-out cowboys. Then, out of the corner of his eye, Butch caught a glimpse of a soldier's uniform as the man slipped into the courtyard.

Butch pulled his pistol, stepped to the door, and shot the man dead. The soldier was the first and only man Butch Cassidy ever killed. A hail of gunfire rained down on Butch and Sundance. They'd left their rifles with the mules in the courtyard and couldn't get to them, so they returned fire with their pistols. Within minutes, the walls of the room were shot through with holes. More townspeople with guns surrounded the outlaws. After almost an hour of gunfire, the shooting stopped. Several hours later, a local policeman fired one last shot, and then there was silence.

In the morning, the captain and a few of his men entered the room. The chairs and table were shot up. Beer and blood stained the floor where Butch lay. A bullet had pierced his arm, and another, the fatal shot, hit him in the temple. His.45 lay close to his hand. Sundance was leaning against the wall, hugging a large water jug. Bullets riddled both arms, and he died from a single gunshot wound to the forehead. The circumstances that surround the deaths of Butch and Sundance left the door open for

eternal speculation. The bodies of the dead outlaws were never photographed. Their places of burial were never recorded. And it didn't take long for rumors of their survival to surface. Old friends claimed to have been visited by the outlaws. One story had Sundance living out his life as a rancher in Utah. Over the years, several men claimed that they themselves were Butch Cassidy. Then in 1975, almost 70 years after the shootout in Bolivia, Butch's sister made a startling claim. Lula Parker Bentenson published a book called Butch Cassidy, My Brother. In it, she wrote that her brother Butch had somehow survived the shootout.

She said he suddenly showed up at the family ranch in the fall of 1925. She claimed it was a great reunion and a moment of reconciliation for the former outlaw. She claimed it was a great reunion and a moment of reconciliation for the former outlaw. Butch's father was still alive, and Butch made amends for the heartache he'd caused. Lula said the family made a pact. They swore not to tell a soul where Butch might have been all those years after South America or where he continued to live. Lula claimed Butch died in Washington State in 1937, but refused to say where he was buried.

There's no substantial evidence, no DNA matches, no proof of eyewitness accounts that support the theory that the outlaws did not die on that cold afternoon in a village in the mountains of Bolivia. At the same time, there's no definitive proof that they did The outlaws are long dead, no matter when they die But the mystery lives on And it continues to inspire historians and hobbyists To search for clues into the final moments Of Butch Cassidych and Sundance stepped off a steamer in Argentina, a silent film debuted in vaudeville houses across America. The Great Train Robbery was considered the first full-length motion picture,

and it became the most popular and exciting spectacle of the year. It's said that the story was inspired by the Wilcox train robbery from August of 1900, one of the last acts of Butch, Sundance, and the Wild Bunch. 63 years later, on September 23, 1969, the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid premiered in the U.S. The story followed two outlaws, best friends, who were in love with the same girl. The film's slightly ambiguous ending became legendary, just like the real outlaws and the actors who portrayed them. Earlier the same year, the film The Wild Bunch debuted with great praise from critics. It was hailed as one of the best westerns ever made, and it became infamous for its explicitly violent final scenes.

The film borrowed the name of Butch Cassidy's gang, but it didn't try to dramatize the exploits of the real Wild Bunch. In reality, their stories all ended the same way, which, ironically, bore some similarities to the film. Flat-nosed Curry had been killed before the breakup of the gang. In April 1900, he was shot and killed by Sheriff Jesse Taylor. Curry's partner, Harvey Logan, promptly chased down the sheriff and murdered him for killing his best friend. Harvey Logan, alias Kid Curry, continued robbing and killing. In 1904,

after he robbed a train near Parachute, Colorado, a rancher wounded Logan in a shootout. Rather than go to prison, Harvey Logan shot himself in the head. In April of 1901, News Carver and Ben Kilpatrick were caught in a bakery in Sonora, Texas. It had been less than a year since they'd posed for the famous photo in Fort Worth. A group of sheriffs found them and accused them of murdering a fellow sheriff. sheriffs found them and accused him of murdering a fellow sheriff. Carver was shot six times and died from his wounds. Kilpatrick was also wounded, but he survived. He went to prison and was released 10 years later in 1911. He was shot and killed after robbing a train near Sanderson, Texas. He was the last link to the old days and the wild bunch.

Thanks for listening to the story of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid here on Legends of the Old West. Full seasons will return in the new year, but in the meantime, stay tuned for a new kind of miniseries. You'll hear more about that soon. When we come back with a new season in January, it'll be a big one. We're doing a crossover event with our show Infamous America. Here on Legends, we'll tell the story of one of the most famous Texas Rangers who ever lived, Frank Hamer. And on Infamous, we'll tell the story of Bonnie and Clyde. To wrap up this season, here are a couple book recommendations.

To wrap up this season, here are a couple book recommendations. The Last Outlaws by Tom Hatch and The Outlaw written by Mark C. Jackson, the award-winning author of An Eye for an Eye and The Great Texas Dance from the series The Tales of Zebediah Cream. The closing music is A Theme for Butch and Sundance, written and produced by David R. Morgan and Mark C. Jackson. Audio editing and sound design by Dave Harrison. Original music by Rob Valliere. I'm your host and producer, Chris Wimmer.

If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening. Check out our website, blackbarrelmedia.com, for more details, and join us on social media. We're at Old West Podcast on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Thanks for listening. Thank you.