August 6, 2012
Professional treasure hunter and author Jameson (Lost Treasures of American History) is dismissive of the “poor chronicling and unsubstantiated research” by outlaw history hobbyists. Outlaw history is not ranked high in academia, he notes, so Jameson sets out to separate fact from fiction. He traces Cassidy from his Utah boyhood to his criminal activities with the Wild Bunch and the Sundance Kid, noting erroneous perceptions generated by the popular 1969 film, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Concluding chapters examine conflicting accounts of Cassidy’s “enigmatic and controversial” final years. Was Butch Cassidy killed in a shootout in Bolivia in 1908, as tradition has it? Or did he return to the U.S. alive to visit family and friends? Some think Cassidy returned with the identity of William T. Phillips—“Could it be only a coincidence that Phillips looked amazingly like Cassidy?” and appeared from nowhere around the time Cassidy allegedly died? Phillips died in 1937, leaving behind The Bandit Invincible, a manuscript filled with little-known facts about Cassidy. Many readers will find themselves transfixed by Jameson’s probing discussion of this intriguing mystery, which he calls “a historical conundrum.” Illus.