Posted on 06/12/2013 6:12:03 PM PDT by Colofornian
Butch Cassidy is arguably one of the most infamous bandits of the Old West. His lucrative heists, daring schemes of tactical brilliance many years ahead of their time, wrested hundreds of thousands of dollars from banks, trains, and businesses—equivalent to multi-millions today. Only caught once on a charge of horse theft for which he served 18 months in jail, the wildly successful Cassidy earned himself such fame that pop culture today still knows his name. And he was a Mormon.
A Mormon outlaw? It seems like it should be an oxymoron. Latter-day Saints take pride in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, and virtuous, and in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law. Cassidy may have struggled with that last bit, but small things in his mild manner like a commitment not to drink alcohol or gamble ring familiar to practicing Mormons. He may have left the Church, but the influence of his Mormon upbringing never completely left him.
Born in 1866 in Beaver, Utah, as Robert LeRoy Parker to pioneers Maximillian Parker and Ann Campbell Gillies, Cassidy came from faithful Mormon stock. It is likely he was baptized into the Church at the age of 8, but by the time the time he was 13, he had stopped attending almost entirely. The posited reasons for his decline in faith range from blaming the example of his father who also only attended meetings sporadically to a brush he had with the law where he was unjustly accused and treated poorly by officials. Certainly, though, it was the influence of his friend and mentor Mike Cassidy that played the largest role. Whatever all the contributing factors were, Robert changed his name to protect his family and left home at 18 to become one of the most well-known bandits in the Old West.
But in between his famous train heists and bank robberies, Cassidy was an upstanding if unorthodox man. In one instance, he heard of a farmer facing foreclosure and graciously paid off the mortgage, delivering the deed to the man. The next day, he robbed the same bank for the exact amount he’d paid to get his money back. On another occasion, he recovered a horse stolen from 16-year-old Harry Ogden, who had spent his life savings on the animal. After confirming he had retrieved the correct steed, Cassidy ordered the bandit to leave the country, because there was no room for people who would harm a young boy.
Stories like these earned Cassidy the distinction of being a gentleman bandit and Robin Hood, a role with which he readily identified. Cassidy himself once wrote, “The best way to hurt them [those who take advantage of the poor] is through their pocket book. They will holler louder than if you cut off both legs. I steal their money just to hear them holler. Then I pass it out among those who really need it.” One of Cassidy’s known criminal associates, Matt “The Mormon Kid” Warner, described him as “a good-natured outlaw.” Commenting further, he added, “Though he was a dead-shot, Butch didn’t like pulling the trigger . . . . He was revered even among lawmen.” Indeed, throughout his lengthy career in the United States, Cassidy befriended many deputies and went to great lengths to avoid killing.
After fleeing to South America with longtime partner Harry “The Sundance Kid” Longabaugh, Cassidy tried to start a reputable ranch, but when times got tough he turned back to banditry to make ends meet. It is believed that he died in the spectacular Bolivian shootout depicted in the 1969 Robert Redford film, though there are many claims that he faked his death. Whether or not he died there remains a hotly contested debate to this day, but one thing we know for certain: despite his chosen profession and the vicious stereotypes associated with it, he was a man with his own moral code who was deeply affected by his heritage.
Read more about Butch Cassidy and other infamous Mormon bandits in Butch Cassidy and Other Mormon Outlaws of the Old West by Kathryn Jenkins Gordon.
Really? This Mormon writer bills Butch Cassidy the Mormon as "wildly successful"????
From the Mormon publication article: A Mormon outlaw? It seems like it should be an oxymoron. Latter-day Saints take pride in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, and virtuous, and in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law. Cassidy may have struggled with that last bit, but small things in his mild manner like a commitment not to drink alcohol or gamble ring familiar to practicing Mormons. He may have left the Church, but the influence of his Mormon upbringing never completely left him.
Oh, no doubt, his Mormon influence never left him! As for Cassidy "may have struggled" with sustaining the law, boy, this Mormon writer does carry a gift for understatement, doesn't she? Hmm...how else could she have played down a serial criminal's behavior? (Oh read on)
From the Mormon publication: Born in 1866 in Beaver, Utah, as Robert LeRoy Parker to pioneers Maximillian Parker and Ann Campbell Gillies, Cassidy came from faithful Mormon stock. It is likely he was baptized into the Church at the age of 8, but by the time the time he was 13, he had stopped attending almost entirely. The posited reasons for his decline in faith range from blaming the example of his father who also only attended meetings sporadically to a brush he had with the law where he was unjustly accused and treated poorly by officials. Certainly, though, it was the influence of his friend and mentor Mike Cassidy that played the largest role. Whatever all the contributing factors were, Robert changed his name to protect his family and left home at 18 to become one of the most well-known bandits in the Old West.
Ahh...doesn't that just make you tingle inside...to the point of burning your bosom???
Well Elder Cassidy did ride a bike in that movie.
You need a new hobby dude.
'Twas interesting that I searched to find out who the "other Mormon outlaws" are who make up the contents of the book highlighted in the first and last paragraphs...and yet...couldn't find out who they are.
Who are they?
Are these Mormon criminals of the Old West sanitized and promoted by the Lds church just like Cassidy apparently was -- given the treatment we see in this article?
Who are the others? Murderers like Orrin Porter Rockwell? Bill Hickman?
And what about the Mountain Meadows Massacre killers? (You bet your life they are not included!)
and then what would i do
The LDS was historically run like a criminal enterprise, not unlike Scientology and other religious cults. Just ask all the women who were pressured into secret marriages with Smith, a fact he and many other polygamous Mormon apostles denied in public though practicing it to the extreme in secret.
Ted Kennedy was a Catholic..
So?? The Catholic Church had a nice thing called the inquisition..
Lighten up Francis.
.....”Ahh...doesn’t that just make you tingle inside...to the point of burning your bosom???”
Are you anti-christ? I’m shocked that you so recklessly ridicule the Holy Ghost and his mission as attested to in the bible as well as the book of mormon.
I’m sorry if you have no dealings or understandings of the Holy Ghost; but just because you don’t .....doesn’t mean that others do not either.
If you can’t trust the Holy Ghost, as Christ recommended for finding truth .... who can you trust? Emperor Constantine?
hahahahaha
Why because he was a thief, liar, charlatan and had many many women at his beck and call?
hi mom
“Are you anti-christ? I’m shocked that you so recklessly ridicule the Holy Ghost and his mission as attested to in the bible as well as the book of mormon.”
The definition of anti-Christ is this:
1Jn_2:22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
This certainly can’t be applied to any true Christian. And Joseph Smith isn’t anywhere in the Bible... and the Book of Mormon, which plagiarizes huge portions of the Bible, doesn’t always help Smith either when it denies polygamy, or in its earlier incarnations where it affirmed monotheism.
1 Nephi 11:21 “And the angel said unto me, behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Eternal Father!”
Now reads: “And the angel said unto me: Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father!”
1 Nephi 11:32 “... the Everlasting God, was judged of the world; and I saw and bear record.”
Now reads: “... the Son of the everlasting God, was judged of the world; and I saw and bear record.”
“If you can’t trust the Holy Ghost, as Christ recommended for finding truth .... who can you trust? Emperor Constantine?”
Did Constantine pen this, polytheist?:
Isa_44:6 Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.
Or this, thou God in embryo?
Isa_43:10 ... before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
Really?
Yet, again you apparently do not address the post about a story written by momorns for mormons about a possible mormon but go on some ramble that makes no sense.
Wait. Did he not pay his taxes? Harry Reid ants to know...
pointless
i know someone who found an old dinner knife in a fallen down cabin near the hideout that they loving claim was the one butch cassidy et his peas with
Latter-day Saints take pride in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent,...”
I can’t believe you let that statement be posted.
Nice try Teppe...
Since when does ‘spreading Truth and exposing what is corrupt’ considered a hobby?
*** though there are many claims that he faked his death. Whether or not he died there remains a hotly contested debate to this day***
I used to have a book WHERE THE OLD WEST STAYED YOUNG about the Brown’s Hole area.
There was a section in it about Cassidy and a woman, who met him after his “death”, claimed he died in Johnie Nevada.
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