I am so excited, and have to get this out, somewhere…since no one in the world really cares, but…
Anyway, Butch Cassidy’s long time friend and lover (IMO) was Ann Bassett, the “Queen of the Rustlers…she moved to Leeds, Utah, and died there in 1956. Part of the reason I went to Utah last week was to find her house, but no one there would give me a clue. Very frustrating, really, but they really don’t seem to like outsiders…
I got a book from interlibrary loan discussing whether the Etta Place who went to South America with Butch Cassidy was actually Ann Bassett (a fascinating book with lots of stories, if anyone wants a copy), and, to make a long story short, it says that when Ann moved to Leeds, UT, she lived with the McMullins…and, as it turns out, if one Googles “McMullin house” one can get a picture of the house as it looked in the 1950’s and how it looks now….AND, using Google Maps, I found the house! Here is how it looks today. This is how I get my kicks, historical detective work…
Photo of the Brigham Young McMullin home at 10 S. Main Street in Leeds.
My ster-grandfather, John Patton, was Willl Patton’s brother, foreman of Ora Haley’s 2Bar ranch John Patton helped in the arrest of Anne in 1910
That is so cool, Traller…do you live in Utah? I am still looking for Ann’s journal…people I talked to said that someone in Leeds had it, but no one either knows who or is willing to tell me who…
What was the book that you got on inter library loan? Have you read Sometimes Cassidy? Do you have evidence of more than one Etta Place? Was the book by Doris Burton?
The house in question was the original home of Butch Cassidy’s uncle, Brigham Young McMullin. In later years it came into the possession of Brig’s daughter, Ethel George, who was a long time friend of mine. I have visited the home many times. Ethel used to delight in showing a hidden compartment under the heating stove where her father kept his records of the “Underground Railroad” – he was involved in helping polygamists escape the U.S. marshals to Mexico.