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New evidence Spokane man may have been Butch Cassidy*By JIM DULLENTY Spokane Daily ChronicleSPOKANE. Wash. lt;AP) — A Spokane. Wash., man who diedin 1937 may have been the outlaw Butch Cassidy, whose Wild Bunch gang robbed banks and trains throughout much of the West at the turn of the centuryAccording to a series of copyrighted articles in the Spokane Daily Chronicle, new evidence has been uncovered that William T, Phillips, who was a successful Spokane businessman during the 1920s, had been the outlaw leader.Cassidy and his gang, during the late 1890s and until 1901, robbed banks and trains in many western states, including Utah, Wyoming, Nevada, Montana, Idaho, and Colorado. Their hideouts and long rides extended fr, u central Montana to central Wyoming, south to southern Utah and through NewMexico to tit Mexican borderNames of their hideouts, such as Robbers Roost and Hole* inthe-Wall, captured the fancy of eastern newspapers of the day and the exploits of the Wild Bunch became a part of western lore. Cassidy often was called the “Robin Hood of theWfitThis gang, varying in size from time to time, took part in the kind of adventures that provided fodder for Hollywood’s western film mill. The current Butch Cassidy “craze followed the release of the film, “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” in 1968. It reportedly grossed $34 million.The story, as it is generally told, is that after a string of bank and tram holdups, Cassidy and another member of the Wild Bunch knowm as the Sundance Kid decided it would be safer to go straight in South America.Most accounts have the famous outlaw duo dying in a gun battle with soldiers at San Vicente, Bolivia, in 1909. But, in recent years others have said they either survived that battle or no such battle occurred and they returned to the United States where they lived long lives and died natural deaths.In the late 1930s, newspapers in Wyoming and elsewhere, reported that Butch Cassidy had visited many old-timers in the Iiander and Riverton areas of Wyoming in the early part of that decade. These reports were based on interviews with several old-timers in those areas who claimed they had known the outlaw Cassidy in his heyday and believed the man who visited them was Cassidy.The interviews were conducted by researchers from the Works Progress Administration’s Writers Project. The old-timers said Cassidv was using the abas of Bill Phillips andthat he was trom Spokane.This also was the story of a man who claimed to be Robert Longabaugh, son of Harry Longabaugh, who was the Sundance Kid. Robert l/mgabaugh, who died in a Missoula hotel fire in December 1972, said he had attendedButch Cassidy’s funeral in Spokane in 1937 and that Cassidy was known as William Phillips.Phillips came to Spokane in 1910 and soon had established a small manufacturing firm. It later became a machine shop.During the period from 1911-1930, the business prospered but during the Great Depression it dropped and two employes took over the machine shop in 1930 because Phillips was unable to pay wages.The Phillips family—Phillips, his wife, Gertrude, and an adopted son, William R, — grew progressively more desperate and the son recalls of those (lays, “Boy, were we everMost published accounts since 1930have depicted the trio as introducing western outlawry to various South American countries.poor. Phillips did a little gold prospecting, made at least onetrip to Montana to find hidden outlaw loot, and made severaltrips to Wyoming.After a long battle w ith cancer, Phillips died at the county poor farm near Spokane on July 20, 1937,Little is known of Phillips’ early life. On applicate forms tothe Spokane Elks and Masonic lodges, he said he w as born in Sandusky, Mich.in 1865, but Sandusky was not founded until 1870. He listed his parents as Laddie J. and Cela Mudge Phillips, but census checks in Michigan for those years havefailed to torn up those names.Philips was married in Adrian, Mich, in 1908, to Gertrude Livesay, who then was residing in Morenci, Mich., and he was in Des Moines. They moved to Globe, Ariz., for a year and then came to Spokane in 1910.What Phillips did prior to 1908 is unclear. No substantial evidence has been found to locate him any place other than Wyoming, Utah and the areas he would have been were he the outlaw Cassidy.Most Western writers agree on the outline of Cassidy’s career, if not the details. His career can be followed from local law enforcement files in the states where he operated and from the Pinkerton National Detective Agency files.Most agree Cassidy, his outlaw partner, the Sundance Kid, and Kid’s companion (possibly wife) Etta Place, went to Argentina in early 1902 where they resided on a ranch the two outlaws bought from their accumulated loot.They were attempting to go straight, but Pinkerton agent trailed them to Argentina and in a short time they were forced to sell and flee toother parts of South America.Most published accounts since 1930 have depicted the trio as introducing western outlawry to various South American countries. Etta Place may have returned to Denver in 1906 and what happened to her is not known.Then, in 1909, the two outlaws were supposed to have been shot by Bolivian soldiers m a battle at San Vicente. That battle may never have occurred and the Pinkerton agency now says it has no record of such a shootout.In any case, most western writers, among them PearlBaker, author of “Wild Bunch at Robbers Roost,” and western magazine writer Kerry Ross Boren, believe Cassidy and possibly the Sundance Kid survived and returned to the United States to lead peaceful lives.What happened to the two after that remains a mystery and is what several writers are now researching. Most writers believe Robert LeRoy Parker, a Mormon cowboy from southern Utah, became Butch Cassidy.Mrs. Lula Parker Betenson, 89, Circleville. Utah, is the sole surviving member of the Parker family and she claims to know the family secret where her brother died. Three years ago, she said he died in the Northwest in 1936.This tended to confirm the Phillips’ claim, but Mrs. Beten son now says her brother was not Phillips and that she is writing a book which will reveal the truth. In 1971, she completed a manuscript but publishers weren't interested since she did not include the family “secret.”Many who have interviewed Mrs. Betenson doubt she knows what happened to Butch Cassidy.The Chronicle account reports a biography of Cassidywritten by Phillips m 1934 has been uncovered and it gives such detailed information on Cassidy's life both in the American West and in South America that tt substantially improves Phillips' claim to be Cassidy.Phillips’ son, who survives him in Spokane, says he believes his father was Cassidy. So do many friends still living and business acquaintances who remember Phillips.Among those interviewed is a man, age 71, residing in North Hollywood, Calif., who accompanied Phillips on one of his trips to Wyoming in the 1930s and who witnessed the old-timers greeting the Spokane man as Butch Cassidy. The North Hollywood man, who wants to remain unidentified, said he believes Phillips was Cassidy.While it does not seem logical that Cassidy would pursue the kind of career Phillips had, the Chronicle concludes,F’hillips must have been an intimate friend of Cassidy’s toknow so much about him — or he w as the outlaw.There is another possibility, that both Phillips and Parker used the Butch Cassidy alias. But, w hatever happened, many who knew- Phillips in Spokane and who met him on his many trips elsewhere, are convinced William T Phillips was ButchCassidy,
Newspaper Details
Helena Sunday Independent Record
Helena, Montana, US
Sun, Sep 23, 1973
Page 21
Full Page
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Utah, USA 03 May 2023
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