WEBVTT
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Welcome back, everyone.
2
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Today we head over to Butch Cassidy and Bolivia. Did
3
00:00:06.139 --> 00:00:09.140
he really die there? By the beginning of the 20th century,
4
00:00:09.160 --> 00:00:11.849
the American frontier was disappearing. So was the world that
5
00:00:11.900 --> 00:00:16.510
allowed men like Butch Cassidy to thrive. Born Robert Leroy
6
00:00:16.629 --> 00:00:20.750
Parker in Utah in 1866, Cassidy became the charismatic leader
7
00:00:20.789 --> 00:00:23.890
associated with the Wild Bunch, a loose network of outlaws
8
00:00:23.929 --> 00:00:27.129
responsible for bank and train robberies across the American West.
9
00:00:28.190 --> 00:00:30.690
Unlike the image of the reckless gunfighter, Cassidy developed a
10
00:00:30.730 --> 00:00:34.670
reputation as a planner. He preferred carefully organized robberies, escape routes,
11
00:00:34.729 --> 00:00:38.340
fresh horses. But law enforcement was becoming harder to outrun.
12
00:00:38.560 --> 00:00:43.899
Railroads and banks increasingly employed professional detectives. Telegraph networks allowed
13
00:00:43.939 --> 00:00:47.700
information to travel faster. And then the famous Pinkerton National
14
00:00:48.320 --> 00:00:50.859
Detective Agency pursued members of the wild bunch.
15
00:00:50.659 --> 00:00:51.780
Across state lines.
16
00:00:52.679 --> 00:00:55.799
Cassidy and Harry Longabaugh, better known as the Sundance Kid,
17
00:00:56.240 --> 00:00:59.539
He eventually left the U.S., accompanied initially by Etta Place.
18
00:00:59.979 --> 00:01:03.009
They traveled to South America and purchased a ranch in Argentina.
19
00:01:03.689 --> 00:01:06.450
For a while, it appeared Cassidy might have escaped his past,
20
00:01:06.530 --> 00:01:10.129
and the robberies began again. Cassidy and Sundance were suspected
21
00:01:10.189 --> 00:01:14.079
of involvement in several South American crimes before eventually arriving
22
00:01:14.109 --> 00:01:14.689
in Bolivia.
23
00:01:15.799 --> 00:01:17.500
In November 1908, two.
24
00:01:17.379 --> 00:01:19.819
English-speaking foreigners were linked to the robbery of a mining
25
00:01:19.879 --> 00:01:24.390
company's payroll near San Vicente. Bolivian authorities pursued them. Soldiers
26
00:01:24.420 --> 00:01:27.010
surrounded a house where the two men were staying. A
27
00:01:27.049 --> 00:01:30.750
gunfight followed. According to contemporary accounts, shots were exchanged into
28
00:01:30.790 --> 00:01:34.230
the night. Later, additional gunshots were repeatedly heard from inside
29
00:01:34.250 --> 00:01:37.890
the building. When authorities entered, they found the two men dead.
30
00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:42.180
The assumption eventually became legend. Cassidy and the Sundance kid
31
00:01:42.219 --> 00:01:45.459
had reached the end of the trail. However, the bodies
32
00:01:45.480 --> 00:01:49.500
were not conclusively identified as Cassidy and Sundance, and there's
33
00:01:49.519 --> 00:01:53.700
been no modern forensic identification either. The men were reported
34
00:01:53.760 --> 00:01:56.640
buried locally, and the uncertainty surrounding their identities opened the
35
00:01:56.760 --> 00:01:57.980
door to another story.
36
00:01:59.040 --> 00:02:00.250
Cassidy survived.
37
00:02:00.980 --> 00:02:06.230
Decades, relatives and acquaintances reported stories suggesting Cassidy had secretly
38
00:02:06.269 --> 00:02:09.710
returned to the U.S. His sister, Lula Parker Bettinson, later
39
00:02:09.750 --> 00:02:13.250
maintained that her brother survived Bolivia and visited the family
40
00:02:13.289 --> 00:02:17.610
years later. Other stories place him in Washington, Utah, and Wyoming.
41
00:02:18.310 --> 00:02:20.090
And hey, he could have been in all those places.
42
00:02:20.990 --> 00:02:23.930
One intriguing possibility involved a man named William T. Phillips
43
00:02:23.949 --> 00:02:29.099
who died in Spokane in 1937. Phillips possessed unusually detailed
44
00:02:29.139 --> 00:02:34.240
information of Cassidy's life, leading some researchers to speculate that.
45
00:02:33.479 --> 00:02:35.240
He actually might have been Butch Cassidy.
46
00:02:37.439 --> 00:02:40.719
Later investigations, however, produced evidence that Phillips was probably exactly
47
00:02:40.810 --> 00:02:44.199
who records said he was. Attempts to resolve the Bolivian
48
00:02:44.219 --> 00:02:47.539
mystery have been frustrating. Researchers searching a cemetery believed to
49
00:02:47.590 --> 00:02:51.349
contain the outlaw's remains failed to produce genetic evidence confirming
50
00:02:51.389 --> 00:02:52.629
Cassidy's identity.
51
00:02:53.750 --> 00:02:55.770
None of this, of course, proves he survived.
52
00:02:56.250 --> 00:02:59.009
The simplest explanation remains that Cassidy and Sundance were the
53
00:02:59.050 --> 00:03:02.610
two fugitives killed in 1908. Their movements, the robberies, and
54
00:03:02.629 --> 00:03:05.189
the circumstances of the shootout all support that conclusion.
55
00:03:05.909 --> 00:03:07.830
But certainty is different from probability.
56
00:03:10.219 --> 00:03:13.360
That uncertainty explains why Butch Cassidy's story.
57
00:03:13.099 --> 00:03:14.020
Refuses to end.
58
00:03:15.659 --> 00:03:17.699
More than a century later, we still cannot say with
59
00:03:17.800 --> 00:03:21.620
absolute certainty whether Butch Cassidy finally failed to get away.
1
00:00:00.660 --> 00:00:01.720
Welcome back, everyone.
2
00:00:01.800 --> 00:00:06.099
Today we head over to Butch Cassidy and Bolivia. Did
3
00:00:06.139 --> 00:00:09.140
he really die there? By the beginning of the 20th century,
4
00:00:09.160 --> 00:00:11.849
the American frontier was disappearing. So was the world that
5
00:00:11.900 --> 00:00:16.510
allowed men like Butch Cassidy to thrive. Born Robert Leroy
6
00:00:16.629 --> 00:00:20.750
Parker in Utah in 1866, Cassidy became the charismatic leader
7
00:00:20.789 --> 00:00:23.890
associated with the Wild Bunch, a loose network of outlaws
8
00:00:23.929 --> 00:00:27.129
responsible for bank and train robberies across the American West.
9
00:00:28.190 --> 00:00:30.690
Unlike the image of the reckless gunfighter, Cassidy developed a
10
00:00:30.730 --> 00:00:34.670
reputation as a planner. He preferred carefully organized robberies, escape routes,
11
00:00:34.729 --> 00:00:38.340
fresh horses. But law enforcement was becoming harder to outrun.
12
00:00:38.560 --> 00:00:43.899
Railroads and banks increasingly employed professional detectives. Telegraph networks allowed
13
00:00:43.939 --> 00:00:47.700
information to travel faster. And then the famous Pinkerton National
14
00:00:48.320 --> 00:00:50.859
Detective Agency pursued members of the wild bunch.
15
00:00:50.659 --> 00:00:51.780
Across state lines.
16
00:00:52.679 --> 00:00:55.799
Cassidy and Harry Longabaugh, better known as the Sundance Kid,
17
00:00:56.240 --> 00:00:59.539
He eventually left the U.S., accompanied initially by Etta Place.
18
00:00:59.979 --> 00:01:03.009
They traveled to South America and purchased a ranch in Argentina.
19
00:01:03.689 --> 00:01:06.450
For a while, it appeared Cassidy might have escaped his past,
20
00:01:06.530 --> 00:01:10.129
and the robberies began again. Cassidy and Sundance were suspected
21
00:01:10.189 --> 00:01:14.079
of involvement in several South American crimes before eventually arriving
22
00:01:14.109 --> 00:01:14.689
in Bolivia.
23
00:01:15.799 --> 00:01:17.500
In November 1908, two.
24
00:01:17.379 --> 00:01:19.819
English-speaking foreigners were linked to the robbery of a mining
25
00:01:19.879 --> 00:01:24.390
company's payroll near San Vicente. Bolivian authorities pursued them. Soldiers
26
00:01:24.420 --> 00:01:27.010
surrounded a house where the two men were staying. A
27
00:01:27.049 --> 00:01:30.750
gunfight followed. According to contemporary accounts, shots were exchanged into
28
00:01:30.790 --> 00:01:34.230
the night. Later, additional gunshots were repeatedly heard from inside
29
00:01:34.250 --> 00:01:37.890
the building. When authorities entered, they found the two men dead.
30
00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:42.180
The assumption eventually became legend. Cassidy and the Sundance kid
31
00:01:42.219 --> 00:01:45.459
had reached the end of the trail. However, the bodies
32
00:01:45.480 --> 00:01:49.500
were not conclusively identified as Cassidy and Sundance, and there's
33
00:01:49.519 --> 00:01:53.700
been no modern forensic identification either. The men were reported
34
00:01:53.760 --> 00:01:56.640
buried locally, and the uncertainty surrounding their identities opened the
35
00:01:56.760 --> 00:01:57.980
door to another story.
36
00:01:59.040 --> 00:02:00.250
Cassidy survived.
37
00:02:00.980 --> 00:02:06.230
Decades, relatives and acquaintances reported stories suggesting Cassidy had secretly
38
00:02:06.269 --> 00:02:09.710
returned to the U.S. His sister, Lula Parker Bettinson, later
39
00:02:09.750 --> 00:02:13.250
maintained that her brother survived Bolivia and visited the family
40
00:02:13.289 --> 00:02:17.610
years later. Other stories place him in Washington, Utah, and Wyoming.
41
00:02:18.310 --> 00:02:20.090
And hey, he could have been in all those places.
42
00:02:20.990 --> 00:02:23.930
One intriguing possibility involved a man named William T. Phillips
43
00:02:23.949 --> 00:02:29.099
who died in Spokane in 1937. Phillips possessed unusually detailed
44
00:02:29.139 --> 00:02:34.240
information of Cassidy's life, leading some researchers to speculate that.
45
00:02:33.479 --> 00:02:35.240
He actually might have been Butch Cassidy.
46
00:02:37.439 --> 00:02:40.719
Later investigations, however, produced evidence that Phillips was probably exactly
47
00:02:40.810 --> 00:02:44.199
who records said he was. Attempts to resolve the Bolivian
48
00:02:44.219 --> 00:02:47.539
mystery have been frustrating. Researchers searching a cemetery believed to
49
00:02:47.590 --> 00:02:51.349
contain the outlaw's remains failed to produce genetic evidence confirming
50
00:02:51.389 --> 00:02:52.629
Cassidy's identity.
51
00:02:53.750 --> 00:02:55.770
None of this, of course, proves he survived.
52
00:02:56.250 --> 00:02:59.009
The simplest explanation remains that Cassidy and Sundance were the
53
00:02:59.050 --> 00:03:02.610
two fugitives killed in 1908. Their movements, the robberies, and
54
00:03:02.629 --> 00:03:05.189
the circumstances of the shootout all support that conclusion.
55
00:03:05.909 --> 00:03:07.830
But certainty is different from probability.
56
00:03:10.219 --> 00:03:13.360
That uncertainty explains why Butch Cassidy's story.
57
00:03:13.099 --> 00:03:14.020
Refuses to end.
58
00:03:15.659 --> 00:03:17.699
More than a century later, we still cannot say with
59
00:03:17.800 --> 00:03:21.620
absolute certainty whether Butch Cassidy finally failed to get away.
