Rare archive of three documents relating to the reputed killing of Butch Cassidy and ‘Wild Bunch’ desperado Joe Walker, each written on Seventh Judicial District Court, Carbon County, Utah letterhead. Items include (with grammar and spelling retained): a manuscript document, in ink and pencil, one page both sides, lightly lined, 8 x 10.75, headed “Burrial Exspences of Joe Walker and Butch Cassidy, Elias Parker Tom Gilis,” dated between May 14 and 18, 1898, with clear listing of expenses, including cost of items purchased (“Coffins and boxes”) and from whom and names of those paid for “Washing bodies…Diging graves…Underware and Ice…2 Shrouds…Hawling bodies and boxes…hurding horses…Diging up Body…Shaving 1 Body Barber”; a manuscript document, in pencil, one page, 7.75 x 10.75, dated May 14, 1898, for an "Inquest held on Dead Robbers," in which four men "all testified on information and belief that one was the body of the man that held up Paymaster Carpenter" and that "one was the body of Joe Walker and the other was one of the men that committed the Castle Gate Robbery"; and a manuscript document, in pencil, one page, 7.75 x 10.75, no date, headed "Judicial District," listing the names of four additional people "sworn and testified." In overall fine 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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