On April 13, 1866, Robert Leroy Parker was born in the Utah frontier, where he’d grow to be an expert cowboy turned outlaw that we know today as the infamous Butch Cassidy. His parents were some of the first pioneers to settle in Utah. They didn’t have much but made ends meet for their 13 children by way of their large cattle ranch.
As a teenager, young Robert (Roy) picked up work on several different ranches and farms in the area. Eventually, he met a man by the name of Mike Cassidy, whose reputation for stealing livestock preceded him. As some would believe, Cassidy’s influence on Roy was the boy’s gateway into a life of crime across the Wild West. When he was eighteen, Roy left home to chase a better life, no, a more prosperous life than he’d had as a child by rustling cattle and horses across the western frontier. It wasn’t long before these minor crimes led to bigger, more lucrative opportunities robbing banks and trains. Soon, Roy Parker changed his name to Butch Cassidy, the great American outlaw we know him as today.
For several years, Butch Cassidy and his partner, the Sundance Kid, terrorized the west with their gang of outlaws at their heels. How their story ends, however, remains a legend to be shared around the campfire.
Don’t let summer slip away without gathering your friends for an outdoor movie night to watch the whole story in the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid over a bowl our movie night Peanut Butter Maple Caramel Corn.
