Butch Cassidy, a Mormon?

LDSLiving.com ^ | May 23, 2013 | KELSEY BERTEAUX

[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.

[Elsie]

Four of the nine Utah Territorial militiamen of the Tenth Regiment "Iron Brigade" who were indicted in 1874 for murder or conspiracy (Not shown: William H. Dame • William C. Stewart • Ellott Willden • Samuel Jukes • George Adair, Jr.)
Isaac C. Haight—Battalion Commander—died 1886 Arizona	Maj. John H. Higbee, said to have shouted the command to begin the killings. He claimed that he reluctantly participated in the massacre and only to bury the dead who he thought were victims of an "Indian attack."	Maj. John D. Lee, constable, judge, and Indian Agent. Having conspired in advance with his immediate commander, Isaac C. Haight, Lee led the initial assault, and falsely offered emigrants safe passage prior to their mile-long march to the field where they were ultimately massacred. He was the only participant convicted.	Philip Klingensmith, a Bishop in the church and a private in the militia. He participated in the killings, and later turned state's evidence against his fellows, after leaving the church.

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Poor John!!!

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"I am a true believer in the gospel of Jesus Christ, I do not believe everything that is now being taught and practiced by Brigham Young.

 I do not care who hears it. It is my last word - it is so.

 I believe he is lead­ing the people astray, downward to destruction.

 But I believe in the gospel that was taught in its purity by Joseph Smith, in former days.

 I have my reasons for it.

 

"I studied to make this man's [Brigham Young] will my pleasure for thirty years.

See, now, what I have come to this day!

 

"I have been sacrificed in a cowardly, dastardly manner." (Lee enun­ciated this sentence with marked emphasis.)

 

 

Excerpted from -->  http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mountainmeadows/leeexecution.html

[Finny]

Wow -- Zane Gray and A Conan Doyle were not only excellent writers, they were HONEST writers in that though what they wrote was fictional in the details, it was accurate in the general historic sense, and they were contemporaries of all the violent ugly crap that the Mormon Church pushed at the time.

I have many friends who are Mormons. While I love them individually ... as I've gotten older, I've come to loathe their church.

[Elsie]

Like the KJV, which is both given away by Mormonism and is also insinuated to be be improperly translated, the above feline would make a good Spokesanimal for LDS, Inc.

[SunkenCiv]

Note: this topic is from 6/12/2013. Thanks Colofornian.

Butch wrote some unknown number of letters to people back in the states. Of those which are known to have survived, not even one postdates the shootout in Bolivia on November 7, 1908. That's not a coincidence. He had a lookalike brother who (like the rest of the family) amounted to nothing, who in later years visited old friends he and "Butch" had had in common in their youth, and passed himself off as Butch.

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