Etta Place
Encyclopedia
Etta Place was a companion of the American outlaw
s Butch Cassidy
(real name Robert LeRoy Parker) and the Sundance Kid (Harry Alonzo Longabaugh), both members of the outlaw gang known as the Wild Bunch
. Principally the companion
of Longabaugh, little is known about her; both her origins and her fate remain mysterious. Despite Longabaugh and Parker's fame, by the mid-20th century it was the mysterious vanishing of Place that sparked the most interest, which continues to the present day.
," and in another Pinkerton document dated 1906, she is described as being "27 to 28 years old", placing her birth around 1878. This is confirmed by a hospital staff record from Denver, where she received treatment in May 1902, which reports her age as "23 or 24," (therefore again, c.1878), although both records may transpire to be from the same original source, the hospital staff.
Even her real name is a mystery; Place was the maiden surname of Longabaugh's mother (Annie Place) and she is recorded in various sources as Mrs. Harry Longabaugh or Mrs. Harry A. Place. The one instance where she is known to have signed her name, she recorded it as "Mrs. Ethel Place." The Pinkertons called her "Ethel", "Ethal", "Eva" and "Rita" before finally settling on "Etta" for their wanted posters. It has been suggested that her name became "Etta" after she moved to South America, where Spanish speakers could not pronounce "Ethel".
In February 1901, Etta Place accompanied Longabaugh, whom she may or may not have married, to New York City
, where at Tiffany's
jewelers they purchased a lapel watch and stickpin and where at a studio in Union Square on Broadway she posed with him for the now famous DeYoung portrait, one of only two known images of her. She then, on February 20, sailed with him and Parker (who was now posing as one James Ryan, her fictional brother), aboard the British ship Herminius for Buenos Aires
in Argentina.
There she settled with the two outlaws on a ranch which they purchased near Cholila in Chubut Province
of West Central Argentina
. It comprised a 4-room log cabin on the east bank of the Blanco River. Under a new law of 1884, they were granted 15,000 acres (61 km²) of adjacent land to develop, 2,500 of which belonged to Place herself, who has the distinction of being the first woman in Argentina to acquire land under the new act, as land ownership had hitherto been almost the exclusive preserve of men.
However, on March 3, 1902, she and Longabaugh sailed on the SS Soldier Prince from Buenos Aires to New York City, probably to visit family and friends in the USA. On April 2, they registered at a Mrs. Thompson's rooming house in New York City. They toured Coney Island
and visited his family (originally from Mont Clare, Pennsylvania but by then living in Atlantic City, New Jersey). It is also possible that they traveled to a Dr. Pierce's Invalid Hotel in Buffalo
, New York State, for (unspecified) treatment. They then traveled west where again they sought medical treatment, this time in Denver, Colorado. They returned to Buenos Aires from New York on July 10, 1902, aboard the steamer Honorius, posing as stewards. On August 9, she was with Longabaugh at the Hotel Europa in Buenos Aires, and on the 15th she sailed with him aboard the steamer SS Chubut to return to their ranch.
In the summer of 1904, she made another visit with Longabaugh to the USA, where the Pinkerton Detective Agency traced them to Fort Worth in Texas
and to the St. Louis World Fair
, but failed to arrest them before they again returned to Argentina. In early 1905, the trio sold the Cholila ranch as once again the law was beginning to catch up with them. The Pinkerton Agency had known their precise address for some months, but the rainy season prevented their assigned agent, Frank Dimaio, from traveling there and making an arrest. Governor Julio Lezana issued an arrest warrant, but before it could be executed, Sheriff Edward Humphreys, a Welsh Argentine who was friendly with Parker and enamored of Place, tipped them off. The trio fled north to San Carlos de Bariloche where they embarked on the steamer Condor across Lake Nahuel Huapi and into Chile
.
By the end of that year however they were again back in Argentina; on December 19, Place took part, along with Longabaugh, Parker and an unknown male, in the robbery of the Banco de la Nacion in Villa Mercedes, 400 miles west of Buenos Aires. Pursued by armed lawmen, they crossed the Pampas and the Andes
and again into the safety of Chile.
Place had long been tired of life on the run and deeply lamented the loss of their ranch. At her request therefore on June 30, 1906, Longabaugh accompanied her from Valparaiso, Chile, to San Francisco, California
, USA
, where she apparently remained while he once again returned to South America. There is no evidence that Longabaugh and Place saw one another at all between 1906 and his alleged death in 1908.
Eyewitnesses indicated years afterward that Place was one of only five women known to have ever been allowed into the Wild Bunch hideout at Robbers Roost in southern Utah
, the other four having been Will Carver
's girlfriend Josie Bassett
who also was involved with Parker for a time, Josie's sister and Parker's longtime girlfriend Ann Bassett, Elzy Lay
's girlfriend Maude Davis, and gang member Laura Bullion
.
There has been some speculation that she was once married to a school teacher, and at least one claim that she was a teacher who abandoned her husband and two children to be with Longabaugh. The claim that she met the gang while working as a prostitute is widely considered the most likely scenario. There have also been claims that Place was first the lover of Parker, becoming involved with Longabaugh later, and that she met them both while working in a brothel as a prostitute. Both of those claims are possible, as members of the Wild Bunch gang often alternated girlfriends.
It is possible that she met Parker and/or Longabaugh in the brothel
of Madame Fannie Porter
in San Antonio
, which was frequented by members of the Wild Bunch gang and which resulted in several gang members meeting girlfriends that later traveled with them, to include Kid Curry's meeting of prostitute Della Moore
. Gang member Will Carver
also began a relationship with one of Porter's "girls," Lillie Davis, and Wild Bunch female gang member Laura Bullion
is believed to have worked at the brothel from time to time. None of the women working at those places during those times ever declared to have known her.
Many theories have been advanced over the years as to her true identity. It has been suggested that her real name was Ethel and she has been identified with Ethel Bishop, who lived at a similar establishment around the corner from Fanny's at 212 Concho Street. On the 1900 Census her occupation was given as an unemployed music teacher. She was 23 then, born in West Virginia in September 1876. The Ethel Bishop hypothesis neatly combines the stories that she was a schoolteacher or that she was a prostitute in one person.
It has been conjectured that she was a cattle rustler named Ann Bassett
(1878-1956) who knew and operated with the Wild Bunch at the turn of the 20th century. Both Bassett and Place were attractive women, with similar facial features, body frame, and hair color. Bassett was born in 1878, the same year Place was thought to have been born. Dr. Thomas G. Kyle of the Computer Research Group at Los Alamos National Laboratory
, who had previously performed many such comparisons for government intelligence agencies, conducted a series of tests on photographs of Etta Place and Ann Bassett. Their features matched and both had the same scar
or cowlick
at the top of their forehead. He concluded that there could be no reasonable doubt they were the same person.
However, the dates do not match up when alleging she was Ann Bassett. Bassett was a former girlfriend of Parker's and there are several documents to show that Bassett was in fact in Wyoming during much of the time when Place was in South America. In fact, Bassett was arrested for rustling cattle, and also entered her first marriage while Place was in South America with Longabaugh and Parker. However, the most conclusive evidence is that from 1902 to the summer of 1904 Etta Place was in South America, whereas in 1903 Ann Bassett was arrested and for a time incarcerated in Utah.
There is still considerable debate over when her relationship with Longabaugh ended. Some claims indicate that Place ended her relationship with Longabaugh and returned to the United States prior to his death. Other claims indicate that the two were still involved in a relationship, and that she simply returned due to her tiring of life in South America.
As for her life after Longabaugh's death, some indications are that she returned to New York City, while others indicate she moved back to Texas and started a new life there. A Pinkerton report indicates that a woman matching Place's description was killed in a shootout resulting from a domestic dispute with a man named Mateo Gebhart in Chubut, Argentina, in March 1922. Another report indicates she committed suicide
in 1924 in Argentina, while yet another report indicates that she died of natural causes in 1966.
In 1907, she was still known to have been living in San Francisco, and may have been the person who, on July 31, 1909, asked Frank Aller, the US vice-consul in Antofagasta, Chile, to contact the American Legation in La Paz
, Bolivia
, to enquire into the matter of a death certificate for Longabaugh. This was done in order to settle his estate following the November 9, 1908, shootout at San Vicente
, Bolivia where he and Parker were probably killed. The woman making the request was described as being very pretty. After that, nothing more was ever heard of her.
There have been various claims, in addition to those already mentioned, about her life after Longabaugh died . One claim is that she returned to her life as a school teacher, living the remainder of her life in Denver, Colorado
, while another story claims she lived the remainder of her life teaching in Marion, Oregon
. Neither claim has any evidence to support them whatsoever. There are also various claims that she returned to prostitution, living out the remainder of her life in Texas, or New York, or California. Again, those claims have no supporting evidence, and are merely rumor.
Author Richard Llewellyn claimed that while in Argentina
he found links that indicated Place had moved to Paraguay
following the death of Longabaugh, and that she had married into wealth. There also were rumors that Etta Place was in fact Edith Mae, wife of famous boxing
promoter Tex Rickard, who retired to a ranch
in Paraguay shortly after promoting the famous fight between Jack Johnson
and Jim Jeffries in 1910.
Author and researcher Larry Pointer, who up until the late 1970s spent more time researching and chasing leads to Etta Place than any other researcher, wrote that it, "...is one of the most intriguing riddles in western history. Leads develop only to dissolve into ambiguity". He recorded each lead in his 1977 book, The Identity of Harry Longabaugh's Mysterious Lover.
However, the claims made by Longabaugh become very clouded and confusing, with dates that don't match up, as he often cited facts that were inconsistent with earlier claims made by him, and he often changed his story. He spent part of his life in jail in Fresno, California
, where he first came to public notice due to his claims. He even claimed that he was a pallbearer
at Butch Cassidy/aka Parker's funeral years after Parker was alleged to have been killed in Bolivia, and that Cassidy was buried in Spokane, Washington
.
Researchers have been unable to verify any of his claims. In researching his claims about his mother, there is some evidence that she did once teach school, but also some indications that she was a prostitute. There has been no evidence to support her having a half-sister named Hazel Tyrone/aka Etta Place. Researcher Donna Ernst pointed out that Robert Longabaugh possibly was related to Harry Longabaugh, but it was unlikely he was Harry's son, and even less likely that he knew anything whatsoever about Etta Place.
Research has also detected that Robert Longabaugh possibly was told by his mother that Etta Place was in reality her half-sister, and that her real name had been Hazel Tyrone. The remainder of Robert Longabaugh's stories are believed to have been completely fabricated by him. There also is no evidence to support that Harry Longabaugh was ever in the Oregon
area during the timeframe when Robert Longabaugh alleged his mother began an affair with him. There is no mention of Annie Thayne in any reports about the gang from the day, and Pinkerton detectives, who have historically been the best source for the movements of gang members, have nothing indicating a relationship with any woman other than Etta Place after 1899.
Robert Longabaugh died in a fire in Missoula, Montana
on December 18, 1972. His death certificate lists his father as being Harry Longabaugh, and his mother as being Annie Marie Thayne. There is no record of his birth certificate. There were no other available documents to show any other connection to Longabaugh or Place, other than his own claims.
, who for many years operated a bordello in Fort Worth, Texas, and afterwards ran the Waco Hotel there until her death in a fire in January 1962.
Gray once told Delbert Willis of the Fort Worth Press, "I've lived in Fort Worth since 1901. That is except for the time I had to high-tail it out of town. Went to South America for a few years . . . until things settled down." Willis conceded that Gray never admitted or even claimed to be Etta Place; he merely made that connection on his own, given the similarities of their age, and the period in which Gray said she went to South America coinciding with Place's time in South America. Gray was described as being a beautiful woman, but there were no known photographs of her from that period to compare with the one known high-quality photograph of Place. Willis believed that Place and Gray held a striking resemblance to one another, but for many years there was no way of testing his assumption.
More recently, amateur genealogist Donna Donnell found Eunice Gray on a 1911 passenger list from Panama. It was reported in 2007 that following that lead she tracked down the niece of Eunice Gray (real name Ermine McEntire), who had two photographs of her: one taken in her high-school graduation dress circa 1896 and another taken in the 1920s. Comparing the photos with one of Place, both agreed that Eunice Gray was definitely not Etta Place.
Outlaw
In historical legal systems, an outlaw is declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, this takes the burden of active prosecution of a criminal from the authorities. Instead, the criminal is withdrawn all legal protection, so that anyone is legally empowered to persecute...
s Butch Cassidy
Butch Cassidy
Robert LeRoy Parker , better known as Butch Cassidy, was a notorious American train robber, bank robber, and leader of the Wild Bunch Gang in the American Old West...
(real name Robert LeRoy Parker) and the Sundance Kid (Harry Alonzo Longabaugh), both members of the outlaw gang known as the Wild Bunch
Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch
Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch was one of the loosely organized outlaw gangs operating out of the Hole-in-the-Wall in Wyoming during the Old West era in the United States. It was popularized by the 1969 movie, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and took its name from the original Wild Bunch...
. Principally the companion
Cohabitation
Cohabitation usually refers to an arrangement whereby two people decide to live together on a long-term or permanent basis in an emotionally and/or sexually intimate relationship. The term is most frequently applied to couples who are not married...
of Longabaugh, little is known about her; both her origins and her fate remain mysterious. Despite Longabaugh and Parker's fame, by the mid-20th century it was the mysterious vanishing of Place that sparked the most interest, which continues to the present day.
Life with the Sundance Kid
According to a Pinkerton Detective Agency memorandum dated July 29, 1902, she was "said.....to be from TexasTexas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
," and in another Pinkerton document dated 1906, she is described as being "27 to 28 years old", placing her birth around 1878. This is confirmed by a hospital staff record from Denver, where she received treatment in May 1902, which reports her age as "23 or 24," (therefore again, c.1878), although both records may transpire to be from the same original source, the hospital staff.
Even her real name is a mystery; Place was the maiden surname of Longabaugh's mother (Annie Place) and she is recorded in various sources as Mrs. Harry Longabaugh or Mrs. Harry A. Place. The one instance where she is known to have signed her name, she recorded it as "Mrs. Ethel Place." The Pinkertons called her "Ethel", "Ethal", "Eva" and "Rita" before finally settling on "Etta" for their wanted posters. It has been suggested that her name became "Etta" after she moved to South America, where Spanish speakers could not pronounce "Ethel".
In February 1901, Etta Place accompanied Longabaugh, whom she may or may not have married, to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, where at Tiffany's
Tiffany & Co.
Tiffany & Co. is an American jewelry and silverware company. As part of its branding, the company is strongly associated with its Tiffany Blue , which is a registered trademark.- History :...
jewelers they purchased a lapel watch and stickpin and where at a studio in Union Square on Broadway she posed with him for the now famous DeYoung portrait, one of only two known images of her. She then, on February 20, sailed with him and Parker (who was now posing as one James Ryan, her fictional brother), aboard the British ship Herminius for Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
in Argentina.
There she settled with the two outlaws on a ranch which they purchased near Cholila in Chubut Province
Chubut Province
Chubut a province in the southern part of Argentina situated between the 42nd parallel south and the 46th parallel south , the Andes range separating Argentina from Chile, and the Atlantic ocean...
of West Central Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
. It comprised a 4-room log cabin on the east bank of the Blanco River. Under a new law of 1884, they were granted 15,000 acres (61 km²) of adjacent land to develop, 2,500 of which belonged to Place herself, who has the distinction of being the first woman in Argentina to acquire land under the new act, as land ownership had hitherto been almost the exclusive preserve of men.
However, on March 3, 1902, she and Longabaugh sailed on the SS Soldier Prince from Buenos Aires to New York City, probably to visit family and friends in the USA. On April 2, they registered at a Mrs. Thompson's rooming house in New York City. They toured Coney Island
Coney Island
Coney Island is a peninsula and beach on the Atlantic Ocean in southern Brooklyn, New York, United States. The site was formerly an outer barrier island, but became partially connected to the mainland by landfill....
and visited his family (originally from Mont Clare, Pennsylvania but by then living in Atlantic City, New Jersey). It is also possible that they traveled to a Dr. Pierce's Invalid Hotel in Buffalo
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
, New York State, for (unspecified) treatment. They then traveled west where again they sought medical treatment, this time in Denver, Colorado. They returned to Buenos Aires from New York on July 10, 1902, aboard the steamer Honorius, posing as stewards. On August 9, she was with Longabaugh at the Hotel Europa in Buenos Aires, and on the 15th she sailed with him aboard the steamer SS Chubut to return to their ranch.
In the summer of 1904, she made another visit with Longabaugh to the USA, where the Pinkerton Detective Agency traced them to Fort Worth in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
and to the St. Louis World Fair
Louisiana Purchase Exposition
The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the Saint Louis World's Fair, was an international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States in 1904.- Background :...
, but failed to arrest them before they again returned to Argentina. In early 1905, the trio sold the Cholila ranch as once again the law was beginning to catch up with them. The Pinkerton Agency had known their precise address for some months, but the rainy season prevented their assigned agent, Frank Dimaio, from traveling there and making an arrest. Governor Julio Lezana issued an arrest warrant, but before it could be executed, Sheriff Edward Humphreys, a Welsh Argentine who was friendly with Parker and enamored of Place, tipped them off. The trio fled north to San Carlos de Bariloche where they embarked on the steamer Condor across Lake Nahuel Huapi and into Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
.
By the end of that year however they were again back in Argentina; on December 19, Place took part, along with Longabaugh, Parker and an unknown male, in the robbery of the Banco de la Nacion in Villa Mercedes, 400 miles west of Buenos Aires. Pursued by armed lawmen, they crossed the Pampas and the Andes
Andes
The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
and again into the safety of Chile.
Place had long been tired of life on the run and deeply lamented the loss of their ranch. At her request therefore on June 30, 1906, Longabaugh accompanied her from Valparaiso, Chile, to San Francisco, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, where she apparently remained while he once again returned to South America. There is no evidence that Longabaugh and Place saw one another at all between 1906 and his alleged death in 1908.
The mysteries of Etta Place
Those who had met Place claimed that the first thing they noticed about her was that she was strikingly pretty, with a very nice smile, and that she was cordial and refined, but an excellent shot with a rifle. She was said to have spoken in an educated manner, and she indicated that she was originally from the East Coast, although she never revealed an exact location.Eyewitnesses indicated years afterward that Place was one of only five women known to have ever been allowed into the Wild Bunch hideout at Robbers Roost in southern Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, the other four having been Will Carver
William Carver (Wild Bunch)
William "News" Carver was an American outlaw and a member of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch during the closing years of the American Old West. His nickname "News" was given to him because he enjoyed seeing his name in newspaper stories of his gang's exploits...
's girlfriend Josie Bassett
Josie Bassett
Josie Bassett was a female rancher. She and her sister "Queen" Ann Bassett are known for their love affairs and associations with well-known outlaws, particularly Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch.-Early life:...
who also was involved with Parker for a time, Josie's sister and Parker's longtime girlfriend Ann Bassett, Elzy Lay
Elzy Lay
William Ellsworth "Elzy" Lay was an outlaw of the Old West best known as being a member of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch, gang, operating out of the Hole-in-the-Wall Pass in Johnson County, Wyoming...
's girlfriend Maude Davis, and gang member Laura Bullion
Laura Bullion
Laura Bullion was a female outlaw of the Old West. Most sources indicate that Bullion was born of German and Native American heritage in Knickerbocker, near Mertzon in Irion County, Texas; the exact day of her birth is unclear...
.
There has been some speculation that she was once married to a school teacher, and at least one claim that she was a teacher who abandoned her husband and two children to be with Longabaugh. The claim that she met the gang while working as a prostitute is widely considered the most likely scenario. There have also been claims that Place was first the lover of Parker, becoming involved with Longabaugh later, and that she met them both while working in a brothel as a prostitute. Both of those claims are possible, as members of the Wild Bunch gang often alternated girlfriends.
It is possible that she met Parker and/or Longabaugh in the brothel
Brothel
Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...
of Madame Fannie Porter
Fannie Porter
Fannie Porter was a well known Madame of the 19th century. She was best known for her association with famous outlaws of the day, and for her popular brothel.-Career as a Madame:...
in San Antonio
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
, which was frequented by members of the Wild Bunch gang and which resulted in several gang members meeting girlfriends that later traveled with them, to include Kid Curry's meeting of prostitute Della Moore
Della Moore
Della Moore , also known as Annie Rogers or Maude Williams, was a prostitute during the closing years of the Old West, best known as being the girlfriend of outlaw Harvey Logan , who rode with the Wild Bunch gang....
. Gang member Will Carver
William Carver (Wild Bunch)
William "News" Carver was an American outlaw and a member of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch during the closing years of the American Old West. His nickname "News" was given to him because he enjoyed seeing his name in newspaper stories of his gang's exploits...
also began a relationship with one of Porter's "girls," Lillie Davis, and Wild Bunch female gang member Laura Bullion
Laura Bullion
Laura Bullion was a female outlaw of the Old West. Most sources indicate that Bullion was born of German and Native American heritage in Knickerbocker, near Mertzon in Irion County, Texas; the exact day of her birth is unclear...
is believed to have worked at the brothel from time to time. None of the women working at those places during those times ever declared to have known her.
Many theories have been advanced over the years as to her true identity. It has been suggested that her real name was Ethel and she has been identified with Ethel Bishop, who lived at a similar establishment around the corner from Fanny's at 212 Concho Street. On the 1900 Census her occupation was given as an unemployed music teacher. She was 23 then, born in West Virginia in September 1876. The Ethel Bishop hypothesis neatly combines the stories that she was a schoolteacher or that she was a prostitute in one person.
It has been conjectured that she was a cattle rustler named Ann Bassett
Ann Bassett
Ann Bassett , also known as Queen Ann Bassett, was a prominent female rancher of the Old West, and with her sister Josie Bassett, was an associate of outlaws, particularly Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch.-Early life:...
(1878-1956) who knew and operated with the Wild Bunch at the turn of the 20th century. Both Bassett and Place were attractive women, with similar facial features, body frame, and hair color. Bassett was born in 1878, the same year Place was thought to have been born. Dr. Thomas G. Kyle of the Computer Research Group at Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory, managed and operated by Los Alamos National Security , located in Los Alamos, New Mexico...
, who had previously performed many such comparisons for government intelligence agencies, conducted a series of tests on photographs of Etta Place and Ann Bassett. Their features matched and both had the same scar
Scar
Scars are areas of fibrous tissue that replace normal skin after injury. A scar results from the biological process of wound repair in the skin and other tissues of the body. Thus, scarring is a natural part of the healing process. With the exception of very minor lesions, every wound results in...
or cowlick
Cowlick
A cowlick is a section of hair that stands straight up or lies at an angle at odds with the style in which the rest of an individual's hair is worn. Cowlicks appear when the growth direction of the hair forms a spiral pattern. The term "cowlick" originates from the domestic bovine's habit of...
at the top of their forehead. He concluded that there could be no reasonable doubt they were the same person.
However, the dates do not match up when alleging she was Ann Bassett. Bassett was a former girlfriend of Parker's and there are several documents to show that Bassett was in fact in Wyoming during much of the time when Place was in South America. In fact, Bassett was arrested for rustling cattle, and also entered her first marriage while Place was in South America with Longabaugh and Parker. However, the most conclusive evidence is that from 1902 to the summer of 1904 Etta Place was in South America, whereas in 1903 Ann Bassett was arrested and for a time incarcerated in Utah.
There is still considerable debate over when her relationship with Longabaugh ended. Some claims indicate that Place ended her relationship with Longabaugh and returned to the United States prior to his death. Other claims indicate that the two were still involved in a relationship, and that she simply returned due to her tiring of life in South America.
As for her life after Longabaugh's death, some indications are that she returned to New York City, while others indicate she moved back to Texas and started a new life there. A Pinkerton report indicates that a woman matching Place's description was killed in a shootout resulting from a domestic dispute with a man named Mateo Gebhart in Chubut, Argentina, in March 1922. Another report indicates she committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
in 1924 in Argentina, while yet another report indicates that she died of natural causes in 1966.
In 1907, she was still known to have been living in San Francisco, and may have been the person who, on July 31, 1909, asked Frank Aller, the US vice-consul in Antofagasta, Chile, to contact the American Legation in La Paz
La Paz
Nuestra Señora de La Paz is the administrative capital of Bolivia, as well as the departmental capital of the La Paz Department, and the second largest city in the country after Santa Cruz de la Sierra...
, Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
, to enquire into the matter of a death certificate for Longabaugh. This was done in order to settle his estate following the November 9, 1908, shootout at San Vicente
San Vicente
San Vicente can refer to:*Argentina**San Vicente, Buenos Aires**San Vicente Partido*Bolivia**San Vicente Canton, Bolivia and its seat San Vicente*Chile**San Vicente, Chile*Colombia**San Vicente del Caguán** San Vicente, Antioquia...
, Bolivia where he and Parker were probably killed. The woman making the request was described as being very pretty. After that, nothing more was ever heard of her.
There have been various claims, in addition to those already mentioned, about her life after Longabaugh died . One claim is that she returned to her life as a school teacher, living the remainder of her life in Denver, Colorado
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
, while another story claims she lived the remainder of her life teaching in Marion, Oregon
Marion, Oregon
Marion is an unincorporated community in Marion County, Oregon, United States. For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau has defined Marion as a census-designated place . The census definition of the area may not precisely correspond to local understanding of the area with the same...
. Neither claim has any evidence to support them whatsoever. There are also various claims that she returned to prostitution, living out the remainder of her life in Texas, or New York, or California. Again, those claims have no supporting evidence, and are merely rumor.
Author Richard Llewellyn claimed that while in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
he found links that indicated Place had moved to Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
following the death of Longabaugh, and that she had married into wealth. There also were rumors that Etta Place was in fact Edith Mae, wife of famous boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
promoter Tex Rickard, who retired to a ranch
Ranch
A ranch is an area of landscape, including various structures, given primarily to the practice of ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle or sheep for meat or wool. The word most often applies to livestock-raising operations in the western United States and Canada, though...
in Paraguay shortly after promoting the famous fight between Jack Johnson
Jack Johnson (boxer)
John Arthur Johnson , nicknamed the “Galveston Giant,” was an American boxer. At the height of the Jim Crow era, Johnson became the first African American world heavyweight boxing champion...
and Jim Jeffries in 1910.
Author and researcher Larry Pointer, who up until the late 1970s spent more time researching and chasing leads to Etta Place than any other researcher, wrote that it, "...is one of the most intriguing riddles in western history. Leads develop only to dissolve into ambiguity". He recorded each lead in his 1977 book, The Identity of Harry Longabaugh's Mysterious Lover.
Longabaugh's alleged son
Robert Harvey Longabaugh (February 21, 1901-December 18, 1972), who claimed years later to be the son of Longabaugh, claimed that Etta Place was actually Hazel Tyrone, a half-sister to his mother, Annie Marie Thayne. Robert Longabaugh claimed throughout his lifetime that his mother, Thayne, had been involved in a relationship with Harry Longabaugh, and further claims that the rumors that Etta Place was once a school teacher are confused with his mother, who was a school teacher when she became romantically involved with Longabaugh/aka the Sundance Kid. Robert Longabaugh is the reason that the town of Marion, Oregon, comes into question, due to his claim that it was in Marion that his mother taught school. In his claims, he stated that Etta Place became involved with Longabaugh after his mother told him she was pregnant.However, the claims made by Longabaugh become very clouded and confusing, with dates that don't match up, as he often cited facts that were inconsistent with earlier claims made by him, and he often changed his story. He spent part of his life in jail in Fresno, California
Fresno, California
Fresno is a city in central California, United States, the county seat of Fresno County. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 510,365, making it the fifth largest city in California, the largest inland city in California, and the 34th largest in the nation...
, where he first came to public notice due to his claims. He even claimed that he was a pallbearer
Pallbearer
A pall-bearer is one of several funeral participants who helps carry the casket of a deceased person from a religious or memorial service or viewing either directly to a cemetery or mausoleum, or to and from the hearse which carries the coffin....
at Butch Cassidy/aka Parker's funeral years after Parker was alleged to have been killed in Bolivia, and that Cassidy was buried in Spokane, Washington
Spokane, Washington
Spokane is a city located in the Northwestern United States in the state of Washington. It is the largest city of Spokane County of which it is also the county seat, and the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest region...
.
Researchers have been unable to verify any of his claims. In researching his claims about his mother, there is some evidence that she did once teach school, but also some indications that she was a prostitute. There has been no evidence to support her having a half-sister named Hazel Tyrone/aka Etta Place. Researcher Donna Ernst pointed out that Robert Longabaugh possibly was related to Harry Longabaugh, but it was unlikely he was Harry's son, and even less likely that he knew anything whatsoever about Etta Place.
Research has also detected that Robert Longabaugh possibly was told by his mother that Etta Place was in reality her half-sister, and that her real name had been Hazel Tyrone. The remainder of Robert Longabaugh's stories are believed to have been completely fabricated by him. There also is no evidence to support that Harry Longabaugh was ever in the Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
area during the timeframe when Robert Longabaugh alleged his mother began an affair with him. There is no mention of Annie Thayne in any reports about the gang from the day, and Pinkerton detectives, who have historically been the best source for the movements of gang members, have nothing indicating a relationship with any woman other than Etta Place after 1899.
Robert Longabaugh died in a fire in Missoula, Montana
Missoula, Montana
Missoula is a city located in western Montana and is the county seat of Missoula County. The 2010 Census put the population of Missoula at 66,788 and the population of Missoula County at 109,299. Missoula is the principal city of the Missoula Metropolitan Area...
on December 18, 1972. His death certificate lists his father as being Harry Longabaugh, and his mother as being Annie Marie Thayne. There is no record of his birth certificate. There were no other available documents to show any other connection to Longabaugh or Place, other than his own claims.
Eunice Gray theory
Etta Place has been rumored to have been a woman named Eunice GrayEunice Gray
Eunice Gray was a brothel and hotel owner and operator in Fort Worth, Texas from 1909 to 1962. She is best known for the belief that she was in fact Etta Place, the former girlfriend of the famous outlaw Harry Alonzo Longabaugh aka the Sundance Kid, who was allegedly killed in a shootout in South...
, who for many years operated a bordello in Fort Worth, Texas, and afterwards ran the Waco Hotel there until her death in a fire in January 1962.
Gray once told Delbert Willis of the Fort Worth Press, "I've lived in Fort Worth since 1901. That is except for the time I had to high-tail it out of town. Went to South America for a few years . . . until things settled down." Willis conceded that Gray never admitted or even claimed to be Etta Place; he merely made that connection on his own, given the similarities of their age, and the period in which Gray said she went to South America coinciding with Place's time in South America. Gray was described as being a beautiful woman, but there were no known photographs of her from that period to compare with the one known high-quality photograph of Place. Willis believed that Place and Gray held a striking resemblance to one another, but for many years there was no way of testing his assumption.
More recently, amateur genealogist Donna Donnell found Eunice Gray on a 1911 passenger list from Panama. It was reported in 2007 that following that lead she tracked down the niece of Eunice Gray (real name Ermine McEntire), who had two photographs of her: one taken in her high-school graduation dress circa 1896 and another taken in the 1920s. Comparing the photos with one of Place, both agreed that Eunice Gray was definitely not Etta Place.
Pinkerton description of Place
The Pinkerton Detective Agency gave out two official descriptions of Etta Place, both differing only in the age given, due to their being released over a four-year gap. The second, put out in 1906, described her as having, "...classic good looks, 27 or 28 years old, 5'4" to 5'5" in height, weighing between 110 lb and 115 lb, with a medium build and brown hair."Fact timelines generally accepted by historians
- 1899-1900: Ethel is living in Texas and being courted by Harry A. Longabaugh, alias the Sundance Kid, aka Harry A. Place. Some stories claim Etta was a housekeeper or possibly a prostitute in Fannie Porter's sporting house during this time.
- December 1900: Place and Longabaugh marry, with him using the alias of Harry A. Place, shortly after he is photographed in the famous Fort Worth Five photo.
- January 1901: Longabaugh and Place visit his family in Mont Clare, Pennsylvania.
- February 1901: Longabaugh and Place visit New York City, and Tiffany's Jewelers.
- February 20, 1901: Longabaugh and Place board the RMS Herminius bound for Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- March 3, 1902: Longabaugh and Place sail on the ship S.S. Soldier Prince from Argentina to New York City. Pinkerton detectives find evidence that Place is homesick and wanting to visit her family, but were unable to identify who her family was.
- April 2, 1902: Longabaugh and Place register at Mrs. Thompson's Boarding House in New York City, and visit members of his family in Atlantic City, New Jersey, then visit Coney Island.
- July 10, 1902: Place and Longabaugh pose as stewards, and sail on the steamer Honorius back to Argentina.
- August 9, 1902: Place registers them at the Hotel Europa in Buenos Aires.
- Early to late 1903: Female outlaw Ann Bassett marries a rancher by the name of Henry Bernard, and shortly thereafter is arrested for rustling, having no known contact with her former lover Parker.
- Summer, 1904: Place and Longabaugh sail again to New York City, to visit her family. Once again Pinkerton detectives discover she is homesick, but again cannot discover the identity of her family.
- May 1, 1905: Place, Longabaugh, and Parker decide to sell their Cholila Ranch and leave South America to avoid the law there. Longabaugh and Place sail to San Francisco, where she remains, while he returns to South America.
- 1907: Place is living in San Francisco, without Longabaugh, and there is no evidence that they have seen one another since his departure two years prior.
- July 31, 1909: Place attempts to obtain a death certificate following his alleged death in Bolivia so that she can settle his estate. There is no further activity from her, and she disappears from all historical records. With Longabaugh now dead, and Place having no real ties to any overt criminal acts, Pinkerton interests' in her location die down, and her trail goes cold.
Media depictions
- In the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance KidButch Cassidy and the Sundance KidButch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a 1969 American Western film directed by George Roy Hill and written by William Goldman...
Etta Place is depicted as a schoolteacher. The role of Place is portrayed by Katharine RossKatharine RossKatharine Juliet Ross is an American film and stage actress. Trained at the San Francisco Workshop, she is perhaps best known for her role as Elaine Robinson in the 1967 film The Graduate, opposite Dustin Hoffman, which won her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, and her role...
, playing alongside Paul NewmanPaul NewmanPaul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
and Robert RedfordRobert RedfordCharles Robert Redford, Jr. , better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime...
in the title roles. - Elizabeth MontgomeryElizabeth MontgomeryElizabeth Victoria Montgomery was an American film and television actress whose career spanned five decades. She is perhaps best remembered for her roles as Samantha Stephens in Bewitched, as Ellen Harrod in A Case of Rape and as Lizzie Borden in The Legend of Lizzie Borden.-Early life:Born in Los...
portrayed Etta Place in a highly fictional 1974 television movie about her, Mrs. Sundance. - A TV movie called The Legend of Butch & Sundance was released in 2006. David Clayton RogersDavid Clayton RogersDavid Rogers or known as David Clayton Rogers now is an American film producer, writer and actor. He has co-starred in films such as Sublime , Dark Ride and Skylight, which he also wrote...
plays as Butch, Ryan Browning plays as Sundance, and Rachelle LefevreRachelle LefèvreRachelle Lefevre is a Canadian actress. She has starred in the television series Big Wolf on Campus and had recurring roles in What About Brian, Boston Legal, and Swingtown. She played the vampire Victoria in the first two films of the Twilight saga, before being replaced by Bryce Dallas Howard...
plays as Etta Place.
See also
- OutlawOutlawIn historical legal systems, an outlaw is declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, this takes the burden of active prosecution of a criminal from the authorities. Instead, the criminal is withdrawn all legal protection, so that anyone is legally empowered to persecute...
s - Butch CassidyButch CassidyRobert LeRoy Parker , better known as Butch Cassidy, was a notorious American train robber, bank robber, and leader of the Wild Bunch Gang in the American Old West...
- Sundance Kid
- the Wild BunchWild BunchThe Wild Bunch, also known as the Doolin–Dalton Gang or the Oklahombres, was a gang of outlaws based in the Indian Territory that terrorized Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma Territory during the 1890s—robbing banks and stores, holding up trains, and killing lawmen. They were...
- American Old WestAmerican Old WestThe American Old West, or the Wild West, comprises the history, geography, people, lore, and cultural expression of life in the Western United States, most often referring to the latter half of the 19th century, between the American Civil War and the end of the century...
Further reading
- "Answer Man: Mysterious Etta Place", author Chuck Parsons
- "Etta: A Novel", author Gerald Kolpan Release Date: March 24, 2009