Butch Cassidy Read Online Free PDF Page A

relationship on the Marshall Ranch, Cassidy passed along much of his knowledge and technique of horse breaking and training to the boy. Cassidy gave Parker a saddle and spent time teaching him the fine points of horsemanship. In a short time, Robert LeRoy Parker was almost as good a horseman as Cassidy.
    Cassidy also gave Parker a pistol, along with money for cartridges. When time was available, he taught the youngster how to handle the weapon. Before long, Parker was nearly the marksman Cassidy was known to be. By the time he was sixteen years of age, the youngster could shoot with remarkable accuracy, even from the back of a galloping horse. With the passage of several weeks, Parker was regarded as the best shot in the valley, replacing Mike Cassidy with that distinction.
    When Cassidy’s herd of stolen cattle became too large to be contained by the Bryce Canyon environs, he decided to move them to the Henry Mountains, another sixty miles to the southeast, near the Colorado River. In need of some extra cowhands to work the herd, it is believed that he asked young Parker to go along. The experience, if it actually happened, likely further solidified the relationship between the two, and Parker probably learned even more about handling livestock and shooting a gun.
    A short time later, Mike Cassidy ran afoul of the law again. He fled to Mexico where, according to most reports, he remained until he died.
    The growing relationship between the boy Robert LeRoy Parker and the outlaw Mike Cassidy did not go unnoticed by Ann Parker. Concerned that the two were spending far too much time together, and worried about the potentially harmful influence the outlaw could have on her son, she eventually moved Robert and his two brothers back to Circleville.
    In spite of his mother’s concerns and admonitions, young Parker maintained contact with Mike Cassidy for a time. Several months later, when Cassidy indicated he would be leaving the Marshall Ranch and moving on, Parker asked to accompany him. Perhaps aware of the concern evinced by the boy’s mother, and perhaps in a sincere attempt to keep the youth from going astray, Cassidy discouraged him. He counseled Parker to remain with his family.
    With the continuous hard work on ranches, and with constantly practicing his horsemanship skills, Parker’s frame filled out with hard muscle. When he was eighteen years of age, he was five feet nine inches tall and weighed approximately 155 pounds. Though strong and durable, Parker remained soft spoken and friendly to all. He was characterized as having a disarmingly charming smile and was quick to laugh and generally liked. He continued to be regarded as dependable, hardworking, and loyal to his employers and to his friends.
    Though Mike Cassidy had departed, Parker was still guided by many of the lessons he learned from the older cowboy. Though he was unable to follow Cassidy at the time, he did so later, at least figuratively.
    Shortly after turning eighteen years of age in 1884, Robert told his mother he was leaving, that he needed to find opportunities above and beyond those offered at the southern Utah ranch. He spoke of traveling to Telluride, Colorado, and finding a job in the mines.
    According to his sister, Lula Parker Betenson, on the day Robert decided to leave, his father was working at some distant location. His mother carefully packed him a supply of provisions and rolled them into a blue woolen blanket his grandfather had made for him when Robert was a baby.
    As Robert saddled his horse, the family dog, Dash, grew excited at the prospect of going along, as was his custom on the ranch. Robert asked his mother to hold the dog so he wouldn’t follow. After mounting his mare, Babe, and taking the reins of his colt, Cornish, Robert LeRoy Parker rode away from the family homestead.
    According to writer Richard Patterson, Mormons had a tradition of planting Lombardy poplar trees wherever they settled. Years earlier, Robert and his