San Vicente Cemetery

Some contend that after Sundance died in the house in San Vicente, Butch sneaked out in the dark of night and ultimately returned to the United States. Various "Butch sightings" were reported from 1910 to 1941. Others contend that it has simply not been proven that the two killed in San Vicente were Butch and Sundance. It is contended at least some of the "sightings" prove that it could not have been the two. Other locations for a death of the two in South America have been put forth. A death of the two in 1911, may be confusion with the death of Evans and Wilson noted on the previous page. Based on Anselm Verener Lee Guise's 1922 book, Six Years in Bolivia: The Adventures of a Mining Engineer, it has also been suggested that the two were killed in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Guise wrote:

"A railway construction camp, particularly in a new country, as a rule harbours several men into whose past inspection is not invited by them, and the Patacamaya camp was no exception in this respect. There was one man in particular - a 'gang-boss' and a particularly evil looking individual - who was reputed to the sole surviving member of the 'Hole in the Wall' gang, which, at one time, had been infamous in the Western States of America for its many 'hold-ups' and murders. The existence of the gang was finally terminated by the sudden deaths of most of its members, either as the result of collisions with the sheriff's posse, or through the medium of a rope. This man, who went under the name of Grogan, had made good his escape from the States, and it is said that there was a price on his head of five thousand dollars."

Guise then recounts that Grogan disappeared with three other men in conjunction with the payroll robbery of $10,000.00 from another camp about 15 miles away.

Guise continues:

"Two of these bandits were discovered later in Cochabamba, a town which lies eighteen leagues to the north-east of Oruro. They were both shot dead in an affray with Bolivian soldiery who had attempted to arrest them. Grogan, however, was not one of these."

As to the "Butch Sightings," Anne Meadows in Digging up Butch and Sundance, St. Martins Press, writes that unverifiable reports have Butch:

asking a postal detective in Salt Lake City to buy a wagon, harness, and camping outfit for him with money he peeled from ‘a big roll of bills' in 1910; saving Jesse James's grandson ‘from five kidnappers in the St. Louis railroad station,' after receiving a coded telegram about the plot while getting a medical checkup in a nearby hospital; then returning to Utah to work in a saloon in Price in 1915 and to sell shoes in Delta in 1918. Later, he supposedly went to Wyoming and spent two days in Baggs, drank whiskey in a Lander bar, looked up an old flame, and had his Model-T Ford repaired in Rock Springs, while hauling around a two-wheel trailer full of camping gear. He also attended a Wild West show in San Francisco; prospected with Wyatt Earp in Alaska; popped up in Nogales, Arizona; visited Albuquerque, New Mexico, and drifted to Europe.

Gran Hotel, LaPaz approx. 1908.

Some of the sightings can undoubtedly be attributed to former unsuccessful Spokane businessman William T. Phillips. There have been unverified accounts that Phillips may have worked as a bartender in Lander. Indeed, some authorities give the date of Butch's death as July 20, 1937 (the date of Phillips' death). See Scott A Cupp, Life and Death in the Wild West: A Necrology published in The West That Was, edited by Thomas W. Knowles and Joe R. Lansdale, Wings Books, New York, 1993. Phillips claimed to be Butch, but today his claims have been almost complete debunked. He was the wrong height, weight, and besides, he was born in Michigan.

Other sightings may be attributed to the fact that five of Butch's brothers were still alive in the 1920's. Thus, there may have been confusion with one or more of Butch's brothers. More difficult are the claims of Lula Parker Bentenson, Butch's sister, who claimed that Butch, driving a new Ford, visited the family in 1925. She claimed that Butch died in 1937 in Washington State. She denied, however, that Butch was William T. Phillips. Other members of the family have denied the claims including the claim as to the arrival of the Ford automobile.

Equally intriquing, but without documentation, is the contention by C. F. Eckhardt, Tales of Badmen, Bad Women and Bad Places, p. 144:

"There are historical indications that Butch Cassidy--or somebody who looked and acted almighty like him and knew a lot about him -- was managing a ranch in Sonora, Mexico, as late as the late 1920's. There's even a photograph of a feller who mightily resembles Butch Cassidy, which is known to have been taken on that ranch about 1923."

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Milt Hinkle

Milton David Hinkle (1881*-1972) [*See text below], an early bulldogger and rodeo showman, also claimed that Butch and Sundance did not die in Bolivia as reported. Hinkle claimed to have met Butch and Sundance in Argentina in 1909 and 1913 where Hinkle was participating in a wild west show.

Milt Hinkle, Belle Fourche TriState Rodeo, undated.

Hinkle also described to western writer Kerry Ross Boren an alleged reunion of sorts held in Argentina in the "mid-1920's" between Sundance, Kid Curry, Art Acord, Harry Smith and Clay McGonigal [sic]. Supposedly, as a part of the festivities, and on a dare, a bank was robbed. It is a great story, but with a problem, rodeo star, Henry Clay McGonagal (1879-1921), an alleged participant in the robbery, had already gone to the "Big Corral." He was accidently electrocuted on October 24, 1921, on the Pagago Indian Reservation near Sacaton, Ariz., while moving a downed power line blocking his hay wagon. McGonigal actually went to South America, but in 1902. Art Acord (1890-1931) was a bulldogger for the Miller Bros. 101 who became a silent western movie star. Acord, Hoot Gibson, and Tom Mix were all alumni of the Selig Polyscope Co. for whom all played in the 1912 Pride of the Prairie. Acord's career failed due to alcoholism. He was allegedly murdered by an irate husband in Chihuahua, Mexico in 1931. Mexican authorities, however, listed the death as "suicide." Acord was born in Stillwater, Indian Territory in 1890. In 1939, Acord's body was returned by Tom Mix to the United States for interment at Forest Lawn. Acord is frequently shown as having come from Prattsville, Utah. His family had come from Prattsville. Following, the death of his mother in 1891, the family returned to Utah.

Clay McGonagal, Animas, New Mexico, undated.

It may be speculated that Hinkle's story of the bank robbery in Argentina at the reunion was inspired by newspaper accounts. As late as the 1920's newspapers were attributing bank robberies in South America to Butch and Sundance. It may also be speculated that the story told when Hinkle was in his 80's may have been a confusion of events that Hinkle experienced with stories he had heard. Hinkle's magazine articles were oral accounts taken down by a friend. The friend then placed them into appropriate format for publication without further research for accuracy. Thus, errors crept in.

Milt Hinkle, approx. 1906

Hinkle undoubedly was a larger than life figure but also one who may have exaggerated his life's history. Exaggeration of one's biography by rodeo participants, however, was not unusual. Tom Mix, himself, claimed to have been born near El Paso. Mix was in fact born in Pennsylvania. Mix claimed to have been a lawman. He was not. He claimed to have trained horses for the British Army for the Boer War, to have actually served in South Africa at Ladysmith, and to have participated in the Spanish-American War in the Philippines. He did none of these things.

In the same manner, Hinkle embellished his life's history. Hinkle claimed that he was born in Bovina, Texas, on Oct. 15, 1881, the son of Ford County, Kansas, lawman George T. Hinkle. George T. Hinkle, however, was married to Annie C. Hinkle and was living in Dodge City at the time. Hinkle later suggested that he may have been the product of his father having multiple women. Bovina was not settled until the late 1880's when the railroad came through and a shipping station for the XIT Ranch was established. Prior to the founding of the XIT, the area had zero population, nada. Hinkle claimed that at some point he was employed by the XIT [Writer's note: Hinkle's death certificate reflects that he was born in Texas but fails to give city or county of birth. World War I draft registrations for Parmer County, Texas, in which Bovina is located, show Hinkle to have been born in Little Rock, Arkansas, on 15 Oct. 1888.]

Shortly after Hinkle's birth, Milt moved to Fort Smith, Arkansas where he lived with his mother Lulu Hinkle. Hinkle's death certificate indicates that his mother's name was "unavailable." At age 15, Hinkle was on his own and participating in wild west shows. Thus, Milt was in some of the same shows as the leading performers of the time including Bill Pickett, Lulu Parr, and Buffalo Bill Cody. At some point, he joined the Milller Bros. 101. As above-indicated, Hinkle claimed that he met both Butch and Sundance at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, and later met Butch and Sundance in South America in 1909 and 1913. Hinkle, in fact, traveled to South America in both years. Upon his return from Argentina, Hinkle worked the rodeo circuits under the name "The South American Kid."

Advertisement for Texas Rangers' Rodeo, 1937

George A. Hamid (1896-1971) received his start at age 9 as an acrobat for Buffalo Bill's Wild West then performing in France. Hamid in the 1930 became the largest booking agent for circuses and similar acts. He owned the New Jersey State Fair and presented the Cirque Parisienne at the 1939 New York World's Fair. He later acquired the Atlantic City Steel Pier. The Hamid-Morton Circus remains in business, now operating the annual Shrine Circus.

By 1920, Milt, then living in Rising Star, Texas, was participating in rodeos with Mildred Hinkle. He became an independent rodeo producer but went broke and ended up in California. There, he wrestled and boxed. Among those with whom he later claimed to have boxed was Max Baer. If so, Baer (1909-1959) would have had an advantage of age. Baer's professional career started in 1929 at age 20 when Hinkle would have been 48 years old. Additionally, a review of a list of all of Baer's professional bouts fails to reflect Hinkle. In the 1930's Hinkle was again a rodeo producer. He produced the Texas Rangers Rodeo which performed at, among other places, the Boston Garden.

Milt Hinkle, bulldogging, undated. Photo by Ralph Doubleday.

Hinkle also claimed that he served as body guard for Theodore Roosevelt, and was a friend of Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp. According to Charlie Carlson as quoted by Jim Robison [Orlando [FL] Sentinel, "Osceola Cowboy rode with Butch Cassidy," July 18, 2004], Hinkle as a bulldogger attempted to bulldog a steer in 1931 by diving from a low flying airplane. Hinkle broke his hip. The steer was killed. According to western writer Kerry Ross Boren, this astounding feat was made in support of Pancho Villa. Villa, however, was killed in 1923. Hinkle's credibility has been questioned by others. As a writer for western pulp magazines, Hinkle had a tendency to prevaricate. Another western writer, Gene Bell, cites as an example Hinkle's description of Tom Mix:

No man ever lived who more thoroughly defied psychoanalysis than Thomas Arthur Leventhau later to be known as Tom Mix. His father was a miner of Jewish, Italian, and French Canadian extraction. Elizabeth, his mother, was of gypsy descent. Tom’s birthplace was not far from DuBois, Pennsylvania; his birth date about 1878 or ‘79. Tom was about two years old when his father died. His mother then married Ed Mix, a Greek cab driver of horses who worked for John E. DuBois in 1989 [sic]."

About the only thing true in the above statement was that Mix was born in Pennsylvania. Hinkle's reputation as a showman was also suspect and was known to many early rodeo participants as a "bloomer," that is, a rodeo promoter who would promise great things to rodeo cowboys, but at the end of the show would stiff the poor cowboy of his purse. Indeed, writer Bill King crowned Hinkle as the "king of the run out boys."

By the late 1940's, Hinkle was producing rodeos in the then small Florida cowtown of Kissimmee. In one of his shows Zach Miller, the last of the Miller Brothers, made an appearance. In the 1960's, Hinkle was writing for western pulp magazines. Hinkle's claims as to meeting Butch and Sundance in Argentina cannot, however, be totally dismissed out-of-hand. Hinkle in his claims mentions Andrew Duffy. The claims were made prior to investigations by others revealing that there was in fact a Duffy in Argentina. Duffy is not mentioned, as an example, by Charles Kelly in his The Outlaw Trail. Thus, if Hinkle did not have first hand knowldge, the question must be asked, how did Hinkle know of Duffy?

But if Milt led writers and historians down false trails through his embellishment or egaggeration, he may be forgiven. In the late 1960's, a young boy whose father had repaired Milt's aged, salmon-colored automobile, befriended Milt. In Kissimmee, Milt was living in a modest house on a dirt road. The two would go to the parking lot of a local super market where Milt would attempt to hawk his magazine articles. A sign on the roof of the car would invite passersby to shake the hand of the man who had shaken hands with Wyatt Earp. Somehow, the old cowboy found the money to buy the young boy a pony. The boy's parents had no place to keep the pony so it was pastured in their front yard in a single-family neighborhood. Yet, the neighbors did not complain. In 1972, Milt Hinkle crossed the Great Divide at age 90 following an automobile accident. The boy, too, has now crossed the Great Divide. Perhaps, as is the cowboy in the old Sons of the Pioneers song, they are together "herding stars with Buffalo Bill."

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In 1991, an effort using DNA evidence was made at proving the identity of the two in San Vicente. Bones were excavated. Unfortunately, the only bones that were examined proved to be those of German mining engineer who died subsequent to the incident in San Vicente. The bones of the two desconcides remain just that, unknowns.

And what of Harvey Logan, "Kid Curry," with whom we began on a preceeding page? In 1901, Logan participated in the robbery of the Great Northern Express. In the fall of that year, Logan, going by the name of William Wilson appeared in Knoxville, Tennessee. There, he residing in a downtown parlor house. As noted on a previous page, a brigand by the name of William Wilson was killed in South America in 1911. That Wilson, however, is believed to have come from Montana. As also observed previously, Logan had a bit of a temper. While playing pool at Jones Pool Hall, Logan got into an alteration with Luther Brady. In the fray, Logan strangled Brady, shot Jim Boley who had attempted to come to Brady's rescue. Additionally, he shot two police officers who had responded to a summons by patrons of the Pool Hall. Logan escaped. He was recognized two days later and taken into custody. Moneys from the Wagner robbery were recovered. Based on the presence of indentical past wounds to the wrist from the capture in Lavina, Montana, and buckshot wounds received in the robbery of the Shankersville, Wyoming, Hog Ranch, Logan was positively identified by Pinkerton agent Lowell Spence.

Logan was tried in Knoxville for passing stolen notes and convicted. Yet on June 27, 1903, he escaped. Logan was seen passing through several small towns in North Carolina. There were reports that Logan had been seen in Montana. On June 7, 1904, a Colorado Midland train was anticipated to pass near the small town of Parachute, Colorado. The train bore a sizable payload in the Wells-Fargo safe within the express car. In Parachute, Colorado Midland and Denver & Rio Grande tains used for a short distance the same tracks. A westbound train appeared, paused to discharge a passenger and then as the train crawled up the hill to the west of town, engineer Ed Allison observed someone hopping on the train. The enginner instructed his fireman, John Anderson, to go back and remove the new passenger from the train. Anderson, however, was greeted by a six-shooter. At gunpoint, Anderson, accompanied by the new passenger, proceeded to the locamotive where Allison was instructed to bring the train to a halt at Streit's Flat about three miles to the west of Parachute. There, two more men boarded the train and disconnected the passenger cars. The locomotive, tender and express car then proceeded further up the track and was brought to a halt near where the robbers had secreted a stolen boat. In the meantime, express messenger Daniel Shea barricaded the door. As in several prior robberies, the door was dynamited. Additional charges were placed next to the safe. The safe, however, was not a Wells-Fargo safe, but was instead a Globe Express Company safe. The three men had halted and were robbing the wong train, the Denver & Rio Grande train Number 5 passenger train rather than the Colorado Midland train. The safe allegedly contained only about ten dollars.

Garfield County Sheriff, Francis W. Adams

A Mesa County posse as well as a Garfield County posse led by sheriff Frank Adams trailed the outlaws to a point on Garfield Creek near Rifle, Colorado. There, trapped and wounded, one of the three, rather than be captured, committed suicide. the other two robbers managed to escape. Sheriff Adams took the body to Glenwood Springs where Globe Express agent Otto Barton identified the body as that of J. H. Ross who had shipped a suitcase to Pueblo a week before. Unfortunately, Ross turned up alive and well in Pueblo. The body, based on a letter found on the body was then identified as that of Tap Duncan, a relative of Black Jack Ketchum.

The body, placed in a cheap casket, was photographed from various angles. Based on the photographs, Denver Pinkerton Superintendent James McParland identified the corpse as that of Harvey Logan. The photographs were then sent to Knoxville, where again the body was positively identified as Logan. William Pinkerton then sent agent Lowell Spence to Glenwood Springs to disinter the body. On July 16, Spence, Denver and Rio Grande special agent R. Brunazi, Undersheriff Mohn and Deputy Crissman, and physicians Clark and McAllister, disinterred the corpse.

After a month, the body was badly decomposed. Spence again identified the remains as that of Logan, railroad agents demurred. It has been argued that the railroad agents were influenced by the fact that if the body was that of Logan, large rewards would be due the posses. Notwithstanding, the positive identification by Spense, McParland and the Knoxville sheriff's office, William Pinkerton reported to the American Bankers Association that he had doubts. Because of the uncertainty, cemetery records continued to show the grave as that of J. H. Ross. Several proposals have been made to dig up "Ross" and using DNA determine whether the body is that of Logan. See Wilson, Gary A., Tiger of the Wild Bunch, Globe Pequet, 2007, p. 204. The same was suggested also in June 2009 by anonymous commentators to a story "Was Duchesne farmer the Sundance Kid?" in The Deseret News. The exact location of the grave is uncertain, cemetery records have been lost and a part of the cemetery was affected by a landslide.

Morenci, Arizona, approx. 1910

Charlie Siringo also believed that the body was not that of Logan. In 1910, the Gila Valley Bank in copper mining town Morenci, Arizona, was robbed by a lone gunman. Two weeks after the robbery, Siringo, arrived in Morenci. In searching the hills, Siringo found two Mexicans. The day before the robbery, they had seen an individual they believed to have been the robber. Based on their description of the individual, Siringo believed that the robber was Logan.

Charlie Siringo

Charlie Siringo later wrote:

In my investigations I found out that just before this robbery "Kid Curry's" old pal, Bob McGinnis, who had been pardoned from the penitentiary, had sold his saloon in Alma and dropped out of sight.

Another old pal, "Butch Cassady [sic], who had formerly run a saloon in Alma for four years, under the name of Jim Lowe, was seen with McGinnis not long before the hold-up."

If the indentification of the remains in Glenwood Springs was in error, what happened to Logan? Whoever it was, the body was assuredly not that of George Taplin "Tap" Duncan, an Arizona cowboy and rancher. Although Duncan died with his boots on, it was under much more prosaic circumstances. He was struck and killed by a Ford coupe in 1944 in Kingman, Arizona. It, of course, may be speculated that the body along side the Denver & Rio Grande tracks might have been a different Tap Duncan. Thus, it will be recalled with regard to Green River, that there was a Frank Duncan who ran away with "Madame" Forrestal. Charles Kelly's The Outlaw Trail, Bison Books edition, indexes Frank Duncan as "Duncan, Tap." The text, however, does not bear out the connection.

According to Milt Hinkle, Andrew Duffy, mentioned above, was in fact Harvey Logan. Hinkle claimed that, as Duffy, Logan later married and worked as foreman on a ranch owned by an Englishman, Reginald Casey, and died in 1941 near Bahia Blanca. As previously noted there was an Andrew Duffy who had appeared in Argentina in 1905. In Chubut Provence there was also a rancher named Edmundo Reginaldo Casey y Browne. Luis Sepúlveda also believes that Duffy was in reality Logan.

Saco, Montana, 1893.

Most likely, Duffy was a small-time rustler from Montana who, with Ed Shufelt, purchased the Valley Saloon in Saco, Montana, in 1902, using proceeds from the sale of rustled Montana horses north of the border in Saskatchewan. Shufelt's interest in the saloon apparently ended when he shot "Long" Henry Thompson in the back four times. The jury found Shufelt not guilty believing that it was self defense. Shufelt was ultimately found guilty in Saskatchewan of rustling and died in prison, a guest of the Crown. It is believed that Duffy was killed in 1910 near the border of Argentina and Chile by Robert Evans and another English-speaking pistolero, Mansel Gibbon.

Of the remaining Curry's, Lonnie Logan was killed in front of his aunt's residence by a posse at Dodson, Kansas (now a part of Kansas City), on February 28, 1900. Robert E. "Bob" Lee, aka Bob Curry was sent to prison for passing bank notes stolen in the Wilcox robbery. Of the Logan brothers, Hank remained honest.

Music this page:

When it's Lamp lighting Time in the Valley

There's a lamp burning bright in a cabin
In a window it's shining for me
And I know that my mother is praying
For her boy she is longing to see

When it's lamp lighting time in the valley
Then in dreams I go back to my home
I can see that old light in the window
It will guide me wherever I roam

In the lamplight each night I can see her
As she rocks in her chair to and fro
Though she prays that I'll come back to see her
Still I know that I never can go

When it's lamplighting time in the valley
Then in dreams I go back to my home
But I've sinned against my home and my loved ones
And now I must evermore roam

So she lights up the lamp and keeps waiting
For she knows not the crime I have done
But I'll change all my ways and I'll meet her
Up in Heaven when life's race is run

When it's lamp lighting time in the valley
Then in dreams I go back to my home
I can see that old light in the window
It will guide me wherever I roam

When It's Lamp lighting Time in the Valley is attributed to Herald Goodman of the Vagabonds in 1933. It was subsequently performed by, among others, Tex Ritter and Marty Robbins. Like many old songs there are multiple variations.