Did Butch Cassidy really die in Bolivia?

Answer 1

The facts surrounding Parker’s death are uncertain. On 3 November 1908 near San Vicente, in southern Bolivia, a courier for the Aramayo Franke y Cia Silver Mine was conveying his company’s payroll by mule when he was attacked and robbed by two American bandits. The bandits then proceeded to San Vicente where they lodged. Three nights later, on 6 November, their lodging house was surrounded by a small group comprising the local mayor and some of his officials, and two soldiers. A gunfight then ensued, during which, in a lull in the firing, a single shot inside the house was heard, followed by a man screaming, which in turn was followed by another single shot. The locals kept the place surrounded until the next morning when, cautiously entering, they found two dead bodies, both with numerous wounds to the arms and legs, one with a bullet hole in the forehead and the other with a hole in the temple. Both bodies, apparently suicides, were removed to the local San Vicente cemetery where they were buried close to the grave of a German miner named Gustav Zimmer. Although their unmarked grave has been sought in the 1990s, notably by the American forensic anthropologist Clyde Snow and his researchers in 1991, no remains with DNA matching them to the living relatives of Parker and Longabaugh have yet been discovered.

However there have always been claims, not least of all by Parker’s own sister Lula Parker Betenson, that he returned alive to the USA (and therefore could not have been one of the San Vicente outlaws) and there lived in anonymity for years.

In her biography of her brother, Butch Cassidy, My Brother, she cites several instances of people familiar with Parker who encountered him long after 1908, and she relates a detailed impromptu "family reunion" which included Parker, their brother Mark, their father, and Lula herself, in 1925.

John McPhee in Annals of the Former World repeats a story told to geologist David Love (1913-2002) by Love's family doctor, Francis Smith, M.D., when Love was a doctoral student (thus dating the incident to approximately 1935). Smith had just seen Parker. Parker told Smith that his face had been altered by a surgeon in Paris, but showed Smith a repaired bullet wound that Smith recognized as work he had previously done on Parker. (McPhee, pg 358)

However the western historian Charles Kelly closed the chapter Is Butch Cassidy Dead? in his 1938 book, Outlaw Trail, by observing that if Parker "is still alive, as these rumors claim, it seems exceedingly strange that he has not returned to Circleville, Utah, to visit his old father, Maximillian Parker, who died on 28 July 1938, at the age of 94 years". Kelly is thought to have interviewed Parker's father, but no transcript of such an interview has ever come to light.

All correspondence from both Parker and Longabaugh abruptly ceased after the San Vicente incident.

Answer 2

"William T. Phillips (1863 – 1937) was a Spokane, Washington author of The Bandit Invincible, a biography of the outlaw Butch Cassidy. A copy of the book is held at The American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming. Phillips claimed to have known Cassidy since childhood. Some have speculated that Phillips was Butch Cassidy but no evidence supports the claims."

Answer 3

Interesting. As a matter of fact I'm watching the mystery of butch and sundance on the history channel as I write this. I don't doubt that these two lovable outlaws were killed in Bolivia. I must admit that I'm with the group that would love to think they got away and lived on, but I just don't believe that. Same was done with Jesse James along with Billie the Kid remember? There's something in the psyche that roots forr these characters. It's implied that their end was ultimately murder-suicide to avoid a Mexican prison. I could believe.

Answer 4

The facts surrounding Parker’s death are uncertain. On 3 November 1908 near San Vicente, in southern Bolivia, a courier for the Aramayo Franke y Cia Silver Mine was conveying his company’s payroll by mule when he was attacked and robbed by two American bandits. The bandits then proceeded to San Vicente where they lodged. Three nights later, on 6 November, their lodging house was surrounded by a small group comprising the local mayor and some of his officials, and two soldiers. A gunfight then ensued, during which, in a lull in the firing, a single shot inside the house was heard, followed by a man screaming, which in turn was followed by another single shot. The locals kept the place surrounded until the next morning when, cautiously entering, they found two dead bodies, both with numerous wounds to the arms and legs, one with a bullet hole in the forehead and the other with a hole in the temple. Both bodies, apparently suicides, were removed to the local San Vicente cemetery where they were buried close to the grave of a German miner named Gustav Zimmer. Although their unmarked grave has been sought in the 1990s, notably by the American forensic anthropologist Clyde Snow and his researchers in 1991, no remains with DNA matching them to the living relatives of Parker and Longabaugh have yet been discovered.

You could get more information from the link below...

Answer 5

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid spent their last days in Bolivia, more specifically in Tupiza

Answer 6

Nope, they opened an Espresso stand on Capital Hill in Seattle, WA. in 1988. There business has done very well and as they expanded they changed the name of the shop to Starbucks. This is why the most popular coffee in their chain is Columbian and BOLIVIAN Blend.

Answer 7

Yes

Answer 8

yea