Butch Cassidy (14 page)

Twelve

South America

The South American experiences of Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, and Etta Place are fraught with conjecture, conflicting and contradictory reports, exaggerated tales, careless and incomplete research, and error-filled reporting. It must also be considered that, during this time, other American outlaws came to South America and became involved in robbing banks, coaches, and payroll shipments in the manner of the Wild Bunch. Several such depredations attributed to Cassidy and Harry Longabaugh were likely the work of others. Since Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid had high profiles as a result of numerous wanted posters distributed throughout Argentina and Bolivia, the natives simply assumed, to a large extent, that it was those two particular outlaws and no others who conducted bank and payroll robberies.

Lack of accurate reporting and confusion concerning the identities of the perpetrators of most of these crimes has long been a troublesome business, often replete with error, speculation, and surmise. The combination of careless, false, and inadequate chronicling would eventually prove to be an important consideration relative to what we think we know regarding the lives, and perhaps the deaths, of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

A great deal of the truly pertinent and substantive information relative to the South American experiences of Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, and their companion, Etta Place, comes from researcher Ann Meadows, author of
Digging Up Butch and
Sundance
(1996) who, with her husband, traveled throughout the region tracking down Cassidy fact and lore and sifting through numerous accounts and references. While Meadows’s book sometimes reads like a travelogue, it does contain an impressive amount of information and documentation regarding the activities of Cassidy, Longabaugh, and Place in South America. Though some of the conclusions advanced by Meadows in her book are questionable, the publication is ultimately a product of diligent and patient research.

What is known for certain is that Longabaugh and Etta, still using the names Harry and Ethel Place, arrived in Buenos Aires in late March 1901 and checked into the Hotel Europa. According to one of Meadows’s discoveries, Buenos Aires journalist Francisco Juárez wrote that Cassidy arrived with them instead of traveling to the western United States and participating in the Wagner train robbery, as many researchers have contended. If Juárez is correct and Cassidy made the trip to Buenos Aires, the outlaw apparently did not stay at the Hotel Europa, or anywhere else in Buenos Aires for that matter, for no references of such have been found. It is certainly possible that Longabaugh and Etta Place wanted a room to themselves, but had Cassidy arrived with them it is reasonable to assume he would have stayed at the same hotel as his traveling companions. The inability to formally account for Cassidy’s presence in Buenos Aires lends some credence to the hypothesis that he was still in the United States, thus enforcing the notion that he was involved in the Wagner incident.

Pinkerton files support the theory that Cassidy remained in the United States and did not arrive in South America until March 1902. To further complicate this issue, however, Meadows claims she found a document signed in Buenos Aires by Cassidy on July 3, 1901, the time of the Wagner holdup.

Within a few days after arriving in Buenos Aires, the Sundance Kid opened a bank account in which, according to Pinkerton files, he deposited $12,000. During the subsequent months, it is believed the pair (or the trio, if Cassidy was with them) traveled throughout Argentina and Bolivia in search of suitable ranch land and a place to settle. In western Patagonia, near the lee side of the Andes Mountains, they found what they had been looking for in the Cholila Valley, Chubut Province, in Argentina.

Sometime in 1902, possibly April, Butch Cassidy, using the alias James Ryan, petitioned the Registry of the Colonial Land Department in Buenos Aires for four square leagues (approximately twenty-five thousand acres) of government land in Chubut. The Cholila Valley land was located near the foothills of the Andes Mountains, the nearest town being several miles away. The location was allegedly several hundred miles from the nearest railroad at the time.

As proof of intent to improve the land, the petition stated that 1,300 sheep, five hundred head of cattle, and some three dozen horses had been placed on it.

The two men eventually built, or arranged for the construction of, a cabin on the land they selected. The structure was of a style similar to those found in the American frontier West, made with hand-split and hand-hewn cypress logs. Double-hung, four-pane windows shipped from the United States were installed. The log cabin was somewhat unique in this region since most domiciles were constructed of native stone.

Beneath the floor of the cabin, according to Meadows, a secret room had been constructed, a room large enough for two or three people to hide from the law or cache a significant amount of loot. The cabin was simply furnished and described as always tidy, likely a result of the efforts of Etta Place. According to Meadows, the cabin is still standing today and is occupied.

In Argentina, Cassidy went by the name Santiago Ryan. He was sometimes called Santiago Max or Señor Don Max. Longabaugh continued using the identity Harry Place, but Etta was now Anna Marie Place, and Sundance occasionally used the name Frank Boyd. According to residents of nearby ranches, the North American newcomers were good neighbors and well liked. “Ryan” and “Place” proved to be excellent cowboys, proficient with lassos and skilled in livestock-handling techniques. The two strangers also apparently awed the local gauchos with their horsemanship.

“Ryan” likewise impressed the locals with his friendliness, helpfulness, and generosity. He was as friendly to the area Indians and half-breeds as he was with established ranchers and townsfolk, and was constantly purchasing gifts and candy for children.

When not working with cattle, horses, and sheep, “Ryan” and “Place” dressed elegantly and, when in public, displayed refined manners. When she appeared in public, Etta Place was always well dressed and looking elegant.

One of their neighbors was another North American, a Texan named Juan Commodore Perry. When he lived in Texas, he was simply John Perry and served as sheriff of Crockett County between 1891 and 1894. Perry claimed he moved to South America during the late 1800s to take advantage of the great opportunities that existed there for cattle ranching.

Another neighbor was a man named Daniel Gibbon, an immigrant from Wales, and he and Cassidy became close friends. Cassidy once confessed to Gibbon that he was suffering from a venereal disease he had picked up during an outing to one of the nearby towns.

John Gardiner lived on a sheep ranch near La Plata and was a frequent guest of newcomers “Ryan” and “Place.” Gardiner, a Scot, had arrived in the area in 1890, taught school for a while, and eventually established the ranch on which he lived. In time, Gardiner learned the true identities of his neighbors, and he and Cassidy became close friends. The two men often shared books and magazines and engaged in lively discussions.

Gardiner fell hopelessly in love with Etta Place and, as a result, grew to despise Longabaugh, describing him as morose and sullen and little more than a mean, low cur.

By August of the following year, 1902, Cassidy and Longabaugh were busy raising livestock and appeared well on their way to making a success of their new ranching venture.

Around the time Cassidy filed the petition for the land in the Cholila Valley, Longabaugh and Etta Place returned to the United States. Cassidy may have accompanied the pair to Buenos Aires and remained with them until they booked passage on the SS
Soldier Prince
. According to most researchers, Etta was suffering from severe homesickness, while others claim she was in need of medical attention she was unable to receive in South America. It has also been written that she was suffering from “female problems,” and a claim has been made that she may have had to have an abortion. A persistent rumor surfaced that neighbor Gardiner had gotten her pregnant.

Shortly after disembarking in New York City, Longabaugh and Place checked into a hospital and, following a brief stay, toured Coney Island. They also revisited Longabaugh’s relatives in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. Additionally, there exists evidence that the two may have traveled to San Francisco and visited Longabaugh’s brother Elwood who was living there at the time.

On August 10, 1902, Cassidy wrote a letter to Mathilda Davis, Elzy Lay’s mother-in-law, describing life in the Cholila Valley. Cassidy told her he came to South America because he was “restless” and that he “wanted to see more of the world.” Regarding his ranching activities, he also wrote that he had “300 cattle, 1500 sheep . . . 28 good saddle horses, 2 men to do my work, also good 4 room house, wearhouse [
sic
], stable . . . and some chickens.”

In the letter, Cassidy told Mrs. Davis he was living alone and had little to do with his neighbors, virtually all of whom spoke Spanish. Cassidy did not.

Longabaugh and Etta were in the United States when Cassidy wrote the letter. During the first week of August 1902, they returned to Buenos Aires aboard the freighter
Honorius
. After arriving, they checked into the Hotel Europa once again. During this visit, Longabaugh closed out his bank account on August 14, 1902, the amount therein being $1,105.50. It is believed the two then returned to Chubut Province during the third week of that month. To reach the Cholila Valley, it was necessary to take a steamer up the Chubut River to the point where the shallow channel inhibited further travel and then transfer to horses to complete the long journey back to the ranch.

Before and after Cassidy and Longabaugh arrived in South America, other American outlaws, perceiving greater opportunities in the southern continent than in the United States, made the trip. Once settled in countries such as Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile, they continued to perpetrate robberies of banks, trains, and payrolls. In a number of cases, their robberies were styled after those of the Wild Bunch—extensive and careful investigation of the robbery target and the stationing of relays of fresh horses and supplies along the escape route. As a result, the better known Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were often given credit for the crimes. Two such outlaws were Robert Evans and William Wilson. Apparently the two were known to Cassidy and Longabaugh and might have even been friends. Evidence suggests the four lived together at the Cholila Valley ranch for a time. Evans and Wilson, it has been written, closely resembled Cassidy and Longabaugh.

Several months after Cassidy, Longabaugh, and Etta Place settled onto the Cholila ranch, the Pinkertons learned of their whereabouts. A local law enforcement agency received a circular from the Pinkerton National Detective Agency that contained photographs of Cassidy, Longabaugh, Etta Place, and Harvey “Kid Curry” Logan. The circular boasted a $10,000 reward for the capture of the outlaws, dead or alive. It was rumored that a Pinkerton detective actually arrived at the ranch but was shot and killed and buried someplace on the premises. Another version of this story has the Pinkerton representative alerting the provincial police, and together the two men rode to the ranch with the intent of arresting the outlaws. When they arrived, so the story goes, Cassidy and Longabaugh shot their horses out from under them and they fled on foot.

According to Gardiner, the local sheriff was well aware that the newcomers living out on the Cholila Valley ranch were Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, and Etta Place but chose to do nothing. It has been speculated, either by Meadows or Gardiner, that the sheriff was also in love with Etta Place, but it is more probable that he simply feared a confrontation with the famous outlaws.

Longabaugh and Etta would return to the United States at least one more time in 1904. It is believed the two traveled to the World’s Fair in St. Louis and spent time with friends in Fort Worth.

Sometime during late 1903 or early 1904, Pinkerton detective Frank Dimaio was in Brazil on other agency business when he learned that two Americans resembling Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were ranching in Argentina and using the aliases James Ryan and Harry A. Place. On his next visit to Buenos Aires, the intrepid and curious Dimaio found the names “Mr. and Mrs. H. A. Place” among the list of crew members for the
Honorius
. Subsequent investigation and pursuit of clues led Dimaio to U.S. vice consul George Newbury, who lived not far from the Cholila Valley ranch of the bandits. Newbury told the detective that his neighbors were highly regarded in the community and that they gave no evidence of being notorious outlaws. Besides, he informed Dimaio, arresting Cassidy and Longabaugh during this time of the year would be difficult if not impossible—it was the rainy season, and the accompanying flooding would prevent law enforcement authorities from reaching Cholila Valley.

Some researchers have suggested that Newbury was protecting Cassidy, Longabaugh, and Place by attempting to discourage Dimaio. On the other hand, at the urging of the Pinkerton agent, the vice consul did agree to invite the outlaws to Buenos Aires with the ruse that they were needed to sign some deeds. Once there, he said, they could be easily arrested. As far as is known, however, Newbury never issued the invitation.