Butch Cassidy
Robert LeRoy Parker (April 13, 1866 – November 7, 1908), better known as Butch Cassidy, was an American train and bank robber and the leader of a gang of criminal outlaws known as the "Wild Bunch" in the Old West.
Butch Cassidy | |
|---|---|
Cassidy c. 1900 | |
| Born | Robert LeRoy Parker April 13, 1866 Beaver, Utah Territory, U.S. |
| Died | November 7, 1908 (aged 42) Bolivia |
| Cause of death | Gunshot wounds |
| Other names | Butch Cassidy, Mike Cassidy, George Cassidy, Jim Lowe, Santiago Maxwell |
| Occupation(s) | Farm hand, cowboy, butcher, thief, robber, gang leader, outlaw |
| Years active | 1889–1908 |
| Allegiance | Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch |
| Conviction(s) | Imprisoned in the territorial prison in Laramie, Wyoming for horse theft |
| Criminal charge | Horse theft, cattle rustling, bank and train robbery |
| Penalty | Served 18 months of a two-year sentence; released January 1896 |
Parker engaged in criminal activity for more than a decade at the end of the 19th century and the early 20th century, but the pressures of being pursued by law enforcement, notably the Pinkerton detective agency, forced him to flee the United States. He fled with his accomplice Harry Longabaugh, known as the "Sundance Kid", and Longabaugh's girlfriend Etta Place. The trio traveled first to Argentina and then to Bolivia, where Parker and Longabaugh are believed to have been killed in a shootout with the Bolivian Army in November 1908; the exact circumstances of their fate continue to be disputed.
Parker's life and death have been extensively dramatized in film, television and literature, and he remains one of the best-known icons of the "Wild West" mythos in modern times.