Butch & Sundance ~ The New Evidence

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. They were the last of the western outlaws and their Wild Bunch epitomized the spirit and romance of our country just before the arrival of telephones and automobiles. Stealing mostly from greedy cattle barons and railroad tycoons while leaving few bodies in their wake, these bold bandits used their cowboy skills to the fullest, riding like the wind away from pursuing posses and on into our hearts and imaginations. When Butch and Sundance, along with the beautiful Etta Place, sailed off for South American and their final showdown, a legend was born and the Old West perished.
We are forever intrigued by their daring exploits, their enduring friendship, and their mysterious demise. The few photographs we have of them are among the most well-known images in human history. From these and a handful of accepted facts we try to distill unique moments and extrapolate entire lifetimes. However, anyone studying the early association between Robert Leroy Parker and Harry Alonzo Longabaugh soon realizes that there are no records of any kind connecting them during their younger days. Their legendary friendship is simply an unknown quantity before about 1896.
So, over the decades we have fantasized about them, mythologized them in our popular culture. Even during the late sixties, a period of extreme social turmoil in America, their adventures struck a resonant chord with the public that lifted “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” all the way to Hollywood royalty. Yet, despite minor historical corrections by a long line of investigative authors, our basic knowledge of Butch and Sundance has not changed much since Charles Kelly published "The Outlaw Trail" in 1938.
Now, more than a hundred years after their deaths in a Bolivian shootout, a new look at these famous desperadoes is presented by art collector and historian Brian Mida Bleecker. In "Butch & Sundance ~ The New Evidence," he brings to the table a totally unknown photo of both outlaws, posing together in a canvas tent near the mines of Southwest Colorado. His research also uncovers the forgotten saga of a pioneering photographic family, whose youngest son unknowingly captured a fleeting moment in western history then went uncredited for well over a century. This special first edition additionally includes the official academic paper authenticating the photograph, by Dr. Sabrina Caldwell of The Australian National University. All the revealing features are detailed here!
"Butch & Sundance ~ The New Evidence" entirely rewrites the front end of a great American outlaw legacy. Mr. Bleecker explores the historical implications of the new image and draws some stunning conclusions. Did Robert Parker and Harry Longabaugh know each other prior to 1890? Were both men participants in the June 1889 robbery of the San Miguel Valley Bank? Are momentous snippets of world history just laying around in plain sight for inspired eyes to spot? The answers may surprise you.