A novel based on the premise that Butch Cassidy survived the infamous Bolivian shootout in 1908 and fled from South America follows Butch as he is pulled into the most dangerous train robbery he has ever attempted.
Asking the question "What if Butch Cassidy wasn't killed in the infamous Bolivian shootout in 1908?", an exciting novel of the Old West follows Butch as he, after fleeing South America, is pulled into the most dangerous train robbery he's ever attempted along with a new Wild Bunch.
This well-researched biography of the life—and controversial death—of Robert LeRoy Parker, a.k.a. Butch Cassidy, is a journey across the late-nineteenth-century American West as we follow Cassidy’s exploits in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah, where he made his name as a surprisingly affable outlaw. More important, this book answers the question: Did Butch Cassidy, noted outlaw of the American West, survive his alleged death at the hands of Bolivian soldiers in 1908 and return to friends and family in the United States? The evidence suggesting he did is impressive and not easily dismissed, but how he lived and what identity he assumed are still debated.
Charles Leerhsen brings the notorious Butch Cassidy to vivid life in this surprising and entertaining biography that goes beyond the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to reveal a more fascinating and complicated man than legend provides. For more than a century the life and death of Butch Cassidy have been the subject of legend, spawning a small industry of mythmakers and a major Hollywood film. But who was Butch Cassidy, really? Charles Leerhsen, bestselling author of Ty Cobb, sorts out facts from folklore and paints a brilliant portrait of the celebrated outlaw of the American West. Born into a Mormon family in Utah, Robert Leroy Parker grew up dirt poor and soon discovered that stealing horses and cattle was a fact of life in a world where small ranchers were being squeezed by banks, railroads, and cattle barons. Sometimes you got caught, sometimes you got lucky. A charismatic and more than capable cowboy—even ranch owners who knew he was a rustler said they would hire him again—he adopted the alias “Butch Cassidy,” and moved on to a new moneymaking endeavor: bank robbery. By all accounts, Butch was a smart and considerate thief, refusing to take anything from customers and insisting that no one be injured during his heists. His “Wild Bunch” gang specialized in clever getaways, stationing horses at various points along their escape route so they could outrun any posse. Eventually Butch and his gang graduated to train robberies, which were more lucrative. But the railroad owners hired the Pinkerton Agency, whose detectives pursued Butch and his gang relentlessly, until he and his then partner Harry Longabaugh (The Sundance Kid) fled to South America, where they replicated the cycle of ranching, rustling, and robbery until they met their end in Bolivia. In Butch Cassidy, Charles Leerhsen shares his fascination with how criminals such as Butch deftly maneuvered between honest work and thievery, battling the corporate interests that were exploiting the settlers, and showing us in vibrant prose the Old West as it really was, in all its promise and heartbreak.
From the bestselling authors of Twelve Dead Men, twin gunslingers guard a wagon full of mail-order brides across Texas—and through a gauntlet. A prostitute. A virgin. A tomboy. A woman on the run. And a bank robber’s girlfriend. These five brides-to-be are ready to get hitched in San Angelo, Texas—and it’s the job of those Jensen boys, Ace and Chance, to get them to the church on time. But this is no easy walk down the aisle. It’s one hard journey that could get them all killed… One of the brides has a crazy ex-husband gunning for her. Another has a secret stash of $50,000, stolen by her outlaw boyfriend. He’s not letting go—of her or the money. Then there’s a creepy, woman-hungry clan of backwoodsmen who want the brides for themselves, not to mention a fierce, deadly band of Comanche kidnappers. But Ace and Chance swear they’ll protect these ladies—till death do they part…
Will Tanner is no ordinary lawman. He’s a force of nature. But when he’s outnumbered by rustlers, outgunned by outlaws—and stalked by a killer fresh out of jail—he’s in for the fight of his life… Johnstone Country. Forecast: Deadly. There’s a storm brewing in Oklahoma Territory, and this time, it’s deadly serious. Local cattle ranches are being targeted by Texas rustlers—and the only man who can keep it from turning into a bloodbath is U.S. Deputy Marshal Will Tanner. The newly married lawman hates to leave his beautiful bride Sophie, but duty calls—for better or worse. In Tanner’s experience, it’s usually worse. An unexpected confrontation with outlaws is just the bloody beginning. Then an escaped convict catches wind of the fact that Tanner killed his brother. Now Will’s really in the crosshairs. Tanner knows he’s riding straight into a perfect storm of vengeance and slaughter, with only one way to end it—a hailstorm of hot lead. Live Free. Read Hard.
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 didn’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, “The Bandit Invincible, the Story of Butch Cassidy.” 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 outlaw’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 Cassidy’s autobiography, has pieced together the full and final story of a remarkable outlaw—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.
Legend has it that bank robber Harry Longbaugh and his partner, Robert Parker, were killed in a shoot-out in Bolivia. That was the supposed end of the Sundance Kid and Butch Cassidy. SUNDANCE tells a different story. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Longbaugh is very much alive, though serving in a Wyoming prison under an alias. When he is released in 1913, Longbaugh enters a changed world. What hasn't changed is his ingenuity and his love for his wife, even if she stopped visiting him two years ago. He sets out on her trail and finds himself in a deadly game.