Rare archive of three documents relating to the reputed killing of Butch Cassidy and ‘Wild Bunch’ desperado Joe Walker. Items include (with grammar and spelling retained): a manuscript document, in pencil, one page, 8.25 x 11, County of Carbon letterhead, headed “Burrial Exspences of Joe Walker and Butch Cassidy.” Price, Utah, May 14 and 15, 1898. Clear listing of expenses, including cost of items purchased (“2 Coffins & Boxes”) and from whom and names of those paid for “washing 2 bodies…Digging graves…2 suits under wear…Two Shrouds…halling Coffins…halling Bodies to place of Burial…Digging up Body for identification…Shaving 1 Body”; a manuscript document, in pencil, one page, 8.25 x 11. County of Carbon letterhead, 1898. Headed “Expencies,” listing expenses for a total of five men for a total of two or three days, as well as the costs of hiring and feeding horses; and a DS signed “P.J. Olsen” as Coroner, one onionskin page, 8 x 9.5, May 24, 1898. Sales receipt for two branded horses’ for $19.50, with the horse’s brands drawn in ink. In overall very good condition.
In April of 1897, Butch Cassidy, Joe Walker, and Elzy Lay stole $7,000 in gold from the Pleasant Valley Coal Company at Castle Gate, Utah, sparking a serious manhunt for the gang. When Carbon County Sheriff C. W. Allred’s posse found what they believed to be the fugitives’ camp on May 13th, they opened fire, killing two men inside. They identified one body as Joe Walker and the other as Butch Cassidy. As newspapers announced the death of the outlaw, a Wyoming sheriff who had held Cassidy in his jail for three months arrived in Utah only to identify the body as Bob Culp, a minor cattle thief. Rumors flew that Cassidy, entertained by the whole affair, watched his own funeral from afar, having yet again outsmarted the authorities. Containing three documents from the mistaken killing, with the victim still believed to be Cassidy, this archive highlights a captivating tale from the famous outlaw’s career.
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