The Outlaw Life of Butch Cassidy, and How He Might Have Cheated Death

The recent uncovering of a manuscript allegedly written by the outlaw known as Butch Cassidy was recently found. Did he really write it, or did someone from his past write it?

* Butch Cassidy was the oldest of 13 children born to a Beaver, Utah, family in 1866.

* His birth name was Robert LeRoy Parker. He was called Roy by those who knew him.

* Butch found himself in trouble with the law when he went into a store that was closed to get a pair of jeans, leaving his own IOU to the owner.

* He hooked up with a cattle ranch owner who lived by a different set of standards than Cassidy was raised with.

* He took his new name when he decided to pursue his newfound cattle rustling ways due to his admiration for his former shady boss.

* In 1889, Cassidy moved from cattle rustling to bank robbery in Telluride, Colorado, with three other cowboys. The three amigos netted $20,000 from the robbery in Tulluride.

* The three armed bandits from the Tulleride bank heist had became the Wild Bunch due to their Robin Hood-like ways of going against the rich. The Wild Bunch consisted of Cassidy, Elza Lay, and the Sundance Kid (Harry Longabaugh by birth).

* Cassidy and his gang were known to roam between three locations: Wyoming, where the Hole-in-the-Wall area was located; in central Utah, where Robbers Roost was located; and Browns Park, located along the Utah-Wyoming border along the Green River.

* The Wild Bunch was one of the most sought after outlaw groups by lawmen in the area.

* Having set up such an intricate trail of places to hide and people they could trust, Cassidy and his cohorts could hide from the law for the largest part of their criminal days.

* Cassidy and the gang felt giving back to the poor from what they stole justified their means. They had been known to steal freight, take what they need, and give away the rest to the poor.

* Cassidy, Lay, Sundance, and the Bender Gang threw a lavish Thanksgiving dinner for those who lived in a valley near one of their local hideouts. This high-end dinner was held at the Davenport Ranch, where Cassidy was schooled in the proper way of pouring coffee to the guests.

* Cassidy and his gang were known to have robbed banks and trains in Nevada, Utah, South Dakota, New Mexico, Colorado, and New Mexico.

* Their largest take was $70,000 during a holdup of the Rio Grande train near Folsom, New Mexico. This was after their one major holdup in Utah, Cassidy's home state.

* By the time of their last few holdups in the United States, the Pinkerton National Detective Service had been on the case, compiling a history on Cassidy.

* In 1900, the gang went back to Utah to ask Gov. Heber Wells for amnesty in exchange for their good behavior when they realized they were close to being caught by the different law agencies around the area. They decided to forget that idea and moved onto Nevada, where they later robbed a bank.

* Two short years later, Cassidy, Sundance and his girlfriend ended up in Argentina. The trio had a ranch in Argentina where they were living in seclusion from the law until a former Wyoming detective, who was there on business through his newly found stock buying career, showed up.

* After being seen by a former nemesis, Cassidy went back to robbing trains and companies of their payrolls.

* Cassidy was supposedly killed in South America during a shootout with the law in 1908.