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03-25-2009, 09:01 PM #1
The Sundance Kid died in Duchesene. Is it so?
http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=5952997
Producer, scientist say body unearthed in Duchesne is the Sundance Kid
March 24th, 2009 @ 10:00pm
By John Hollenhorst
DUCHESNE -- One of Utah's favorite mysteries is getting revved up again: Did the Sundance Kid really die along with Butch Cassidy in South America, or did he live to ripe old age in Utah?
KSL 5 News has learned fascinating new details about an investigation that involves a body dug up recently in Duchesne.
The Oscar-winning movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" more or less followed the official version of Utah's most famous outlaws: Butch and Sundance high-tailed it to South America.
Image from the documentary showing William Long's body being uncovered. Things didn't go well there. In a shootout with the Bolivian Army in 1908, both outlaws died in a blaze of gunfire, if not necessarily glory.
"Everybody's like, 'They died in Bolivia! They died in Bolivia!' [But] they didn't die in Bolivia," said documentary producer Marilyn Grace.
Dr. John McCullough, who has long experience as a forensic anthropologist, told us, "Two gringos definitely died, but we just don't know which ones."
Three months ago, they dug up a grave in the Duchesne City Cemetery. They're hoping to prove that William Henry Long was, in fact, the Sundance Kid.
Long died an old man in 1936, a Utah rancher with a shady reputation and a mysterious past. "Everybody knew he was an outlaw. They didn't know which one," Grace said.
Her documentary will argue that Long married a widow with six kids in 1894 and led a secret double life during Butch and Sundance's outlaw years. "It's a great cover, to be married with six children instead of an outlaw on the loose," she said.
At a glance, photos of Sundance and Long don't look strikingly alike, but when transparencies are matched up, the images seem to fuse into the face of one very wanted man. "It's a perfect match, almost a perfect match," McCullough said.
Side-by-side images of William Long and the Sundance Kid. "Both have broken noses. Both have a notch in the ear. Both have a notch on the chin," Grace pointed out.
McCullough took it a step further, measuring all their features. He calculated a mathematical match .99. "Which is astounding," he said. "I had never expected to get even that close."
There's another interesting photo comparison: Sundance's known sisters and two women Long claimed were his sisters. "We did a comparison of the sisters as well, and it's just too close. It's just too close," McCullough said.
On top of that, they found a mystery: William Henry Long's skull has a bullet hole. His death in 1936 was ruled a suicide because a rifle was found near his body, but McCullough found no powder burns and an unexpected angle of entry. "It would be difficult to do that with a rifle by oneself," he said.
The acid test is DNA evidence. They haven't got it yet, but they're trying to compare samples from Long's bones with DNA from a descendant of Sundance's mother. We'll keep you posted, and we're keeping our skepticism firmly in place until then.
E-mail: jhollenhorst@ksl.comWilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, as vital to our lives and water and good bread
- Edward Abbey
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03-25-2009 09:01 PM # ADS
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03-25-2009, 10:48 PM #2
I have been following this story for a couple of months. It sounds pretty convincing.
"My heart shall cry out for Moab..." Isaiah 15:5
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03-26-2009, 05:51 AM #3
Very interesting article. Thanks for sharing.
"Always look at the bright side of life"
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03-26-2009, 01:06 PM #4
It'll be cool to learn the results of the DNA test they are doing on the remains.
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03-26-2009, 01:21 PM #5
A turn-of-the-century photograph of the "Wild Bunch". From left: Henry Longabaugh, alias the Sundance Kid; William Carver, alias News Carver; Ben Kilpatrick, alias the Tall Texan; Harvey Logan, alias Kid Curry; and Robert LeRoy Parker, alias Butch Cassidy.
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03-26-2009, 02:40 PM #6
My dear departed dad would've loved hearing about this story. He was a huge history buff of the Wild Bunch and all things included.
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03-26-2009, 03:19 PM #7
My Mom's friend is a direct descendant of Butch Cassidy. Sadly for her the resemblance is remarkable.
"My heart shall cry out for Moab..." Isaiah 15:5
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03-26-2009, 03:20 PM #8Originally Posted by DiscGo
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03-27-2009, 10:40 AM #9
I've known for a long time that Butch was in my family tree. And everybody knows they escaped from Bolivia and returned to the US and lived to a ripe old age. What most people don't know is that Sundance was shot in the head by Billy The Kid, who had escaped from Pat Garrett and lived a long life in relative obscurity.
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