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Show 4 ; SALT FLAT NEWS, APRIL, 1975 a" Lola Reoeabers: 0 ".For years' the memory qf Butch Cassidy has endured in around, very intelligent, and he Utah. Cassidy was the state's own home grown outlaw the always left a nice expensive tip. And people were very fortunate man Charles Kelley wrote of as ''the most daring and outlaw in the United States; in South America he to have him. r ?. maintained that reputation by committing the greatest and SALT FLAT NEWS: Did he ever ' most successful series of holdups ever known there. send money home? " - As the leader of an outlaw band known as. the Wild after yes he did. But not Bunch , Cassidy robbed banks and trains and payrolls with he Well, became an outlaw. Because imagination and panache. His outlaw, trail crossed an Old he would know that my folks West that was fast disappearing, however, as the nineteenth wouldnt approve of that or century drew to a' close , and in 1902, after most of the accept it;' even' as poor as they Bunch had come to the end of, that trail. Butch Cassidy were. No, but he was good to and his friend the Sundance Kid, alias Harry Longabaugh, them before he got in trouble, set out for South America. There, according, to history SALT FLAT NEWS: You've said books, they tried to go straight but fell again to robbing oh occasion that Butch broke banks, finally meeting their, deaths Jn an ambush at San . his mother's heart. " What was it Vicente, Bolivia, in 1909. r"" like for you ' when you were Cassidy's real name was Robert'LeRoy Parker. He was growing up, with an outlaw in sue-'cessf- ul . . s . , -- . -- bom in 1867, the first of thirteen children to Mormon settlers Maximilian and Ann Parker. The ninth child of that union was Lula Parker, who today is the. last living of the thirteen. A lively and lucid widow of ninety-onLula Parker Betenson still lives in Cassidy 's hometown ofCircle-vitt- e , Utah, where she keeps busy at a number including answering the questions of curious reporters. On the much disputed subject of whether Batch was really killed in South America,; Mrs. Betenson declined comment, except to say she's certain he was not. Mrs. Betenson also declined to comment on mmors that Butch had come home to visit during the Twenties and Thirties : Asked if she knew where he is buried, she replied, No, that is our secret. I think that would be a good thing to keep.'' With the help of Dora Flack, Mrs. Betenson has written a book, BUTCH CASSIDY, MY BROTHER, to be published in May by Brigham Young University .Press, Provo, Utah. e, of-project- . , . . : SALT FLAT NEWS: Butch Cas- he done a lot for people And I had .two different 'writers who told me ' .the trouble is, I can find nothing against him. And I have had so many people tell me so many, different things. One lady; told me that"1 anyone was fortunate to have Butch Cassidy put Us feet under the table. He was a perfect gentleman.. He had good table manners; he didnt, eat with his knife like lots of cowboys did. And that he was very pleasant" to be sidy has been called the Robin Hood of die West Was he also considered a jolly good felon in his day, air is this something reN cent? He still is, I think, considered that, both in North and South America. I mazing, but people .that 1 have talked to thought so much of him. He was good to people, he was good to the poor. He was death on banks and railroads. Ill say that, but ; . . tsa Oh, that wasn't crime compared with what we have today, doryou know it? These rapes and all the terrible things that's going on. Ithink the Nixon the whole works was dirtier than anything you could ever plaster on Butch Cassidy or any of his gang. . . .. ' the family? he wasa joy was a boy at home ' Well, when he if there ever was one. He ' loved his mother, and he loved his family. And Ive had people tell me that he could have been anything he wanted to be.' He was pretty sharp. And always busy. He had ambition. But, after he left home to find work, you see, in Colorado!, and'' when he got mixed up in different deals, why, thats what broke my mothers heart For sure. I can always hear her prayers. I have all my life. . SALT FLAT NEWS: The second 'part of the question is, was there any. stigma attached to you when you were growing up?. I dont think so. I dont think any of us have ever had it even brought up to us. In a mean way-or- , anything, I. dont think so. I think that the people who knew him they' wouldnt be for what he was doing, Im . not saying that but they would still feel that they were his friends. I think they would, because we have, never' had any trouble, that way.: None what-- ' ever. And thats something. FLAT' NEWS:, Western writer Kerry Boren has said that the motion picture Butch Cassidy and die Sundance Kid" portrayed personalities more accurately than it did facts. Did your brother in fact bear any resemblance to Paul Newman? I think he did. Yes, Paul New-- , man asked me when I met him, Do I look anything like 1dm? And' I said, Yes, your hands. Biit I had a picture that I took; to New York City of my young-- , er brother, and it was amazing how much Paul Newman and he looked alike. So I really think' there was a resemblance. I dont like that . picture taken that one of him alone. He looks sullen. He was anything but that. He didnt have a fat face; That picture I hate to death. But I do like the one With the group. Thats him. Id know him by his hands. The Parker, hands. Ive got 'em myself. They were smaller than a mans hands usually are. And I really believe I could tell him by his hands. . SALT FLAf NEWS: After that movie became a hit, there was a greatly renewed interest in the Wild Bunch and especially in Butch Cassidy. How has , your-lifbeen affected by the Butch Cassidy craze?. SALT . e so-call-ed I hardly know how to answer-- , that-- . I have stacks and stacks of letters from practically all over the. world. England, Ireland,, South America, oh, .different foreign countries. And I doubt theres a state in the union I havent heard from. I doubt it very much. And lovely, beautiful letters. Therell be some of them come out, I hope, in my book. And, I have names, stacks of them, who want books that were sending out. Stacks of them, I cant tell you how many. SALT FLAT NEWS: You sort of went from Lula Betenson to I've had people tell me that he could hade been anything he wanted to be. He was pretty sharp: And always, busy. He had ambition. But . : : when he left home to find work, you see, and when he got mixed up in different deals, why, that's what broke my Another's heart For sure, I can alulays hear her prayers. Dutch' Cassidy's sister, 'didn't y Kv Yes. Of cQurse, Ive always been Butch Cassidys sister. And weve always loved him. And I still love him. And I think he done, a lot of good. Along with things that we didnt approve of, I must say that Because that was out of our line altogether. My father had no patience with it, in a way, to think that he would do that, you know. But with all of it and thats one thing I must, say I think its been proven over and over he never killed a man in his life. I had one man tell me, he said, Bob couldnt kill a dog,' to say nothing of a man. SALT FLAT NEWS: under- stand that for awhile the old Parker ranch was opened to the public. ' 'But now it's closed. Why? Yes, we opened it up two seasons.. It belongs to my son. My the last two brothers here before they were that died they deeded the property to him. And he fixed it upland took the different things up brothers from our. homes, you know, antiques.: And it was .Opened up one night they were professionals, you can bet on that . because the locks were picked pn the gate and the house! And they cleaned it, they cleaned it of everything. A cane of my grandfathers that came from England, I dont know what the price of it would be. There would be no pice, to buy it And his Whtch, my grandfathers watch. It was gold and4 it had the cover and all, like a closed up watch. It was gold, worn dear around the edge. It was almost to fall apart. It was a beautiful gold watch. Oh, and my mothers picture, enlarged picture in a beautiful brass frame. And a picture of my , Paul Newman asked me when I met him, Do I look anything like him ?' And I said, Yes, your hands.' The Parker hands. I've got 'em myself They were smaller than a man's hands usually are, and I really believe I could tell him by his hands. |