Two weekends ago I went to Butch Cassidy's birthplace and old family homestead. This past weekend I went to a place owned by Josie Bassett Morris. Now, If anyone has followed any of the history from Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch, they will recognize her middle name, which is in fact her maiden name. The Bassett family lived in Browns Park about forty miles North West of where these pictures were taken. Browns Park had a reputation of harboring certain outlaws as long as the left their outlaw ways "at the door" and agreed to abide by the rules of the local community. Butch Cassidy and many of his friends found a special place among the Bassett family and had a very close bond with them, working on their farm and taking care of the family when they were living with them or in the area. There is one famous story that you will hear of where Butch and his boys actually cooked Thanksgiving dinner and waited on the Bassett family and some other folks of the area as a token of their appreciation.
The cabin in these pictures belonged to Josie Bassett and she was a tough old gal that lived off of the land and without electricity and running water until the day she died in 1964. Josie's older sister Anne actually got into the outlaw gig herself. Josie and Anne both had "goog goo eyes" for Butch, and according to Josie's accounts that she has told historians, there was a constant battle between her and her sister for Butch's attention. I can't go into all of the detail of the history of Josie Bassett, but I can tell you that I follow as much of Butch Cassidy's trail as I can by going to these places and reading anything I can on him in books and any other resource that I can find. Please....please....if you are interested in Butch Cassidy.....check out the book written by Richard Patterson, entitled "Butch Cassidy, a Biography." This is one of the best, and most well researched books that I have ever found on him. The author interviewed people like Matt Warner and Josie Bassett to put the pieces of this history together, and when you're done reading it, you feel like you have a personal relationship with Butch. Please take care everyone, and thank you for your interest in this piece of history.
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