Page 82 - Cousins - Celebrities, Saints & Sinners

Despite his criminal background, Cassidy had a reputation for keeping his word. As one story
goes, on the night before he was to begin his sentence, Cassidy asked to be released, promising
he'd return to jail the following day. Authorities took him at his word and let him go, and
Cassidy returned to them the following morning.

Upon his release in 1896, Cassidy resumed his life as a criminal. With each new robbery, he and
his gang became better known, and better liked by an American public eager to read about
their exploits.

But the truth about his end has never been fully settled. Some historical evidence suggests that
Cassidy faked his death and returned to the United States with a new name: William T. Phillips.
Back in his home country, Cassidy lived another three decades, making a living as a machinist
before passing away from cancer in Spokane, Washington, in 1937.

The man known as Phillips helped fuel speculation with a book he wrote in the 1920s
called Bandit Invincible: The Story of Butch Cassidy, which included details perhaps only Cassidy
might have known.

While the debate lingers over when and where Cassidy truly died, there's little argument that
he's considered one of the most revered outlaws to come out of the American West. His life
and relationship with the Sundance Kid was immortalized in the 1969 Oscar-winning
movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, starring Paul Newman (Cassidy) and Robert
Redford (Sundance).

References:
1. Relative Finder, associated with FamilySearch, and the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS)
2. Wikipedia.org
3. Biography.com
3. Learn more – Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid (Documentary)
4. LDS Family Tree #

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