Written by Tom Clavin
SUMMARY:
Released by St. Martin’s Press in 2024, this 288-page hardcover explores the nefarious exploits of the Old West’s last desperadoes and the lawmen chasing after them. The prologue relates a middle-of-the-night train robbery in proximity to Wilcox, Wyoming, on June 2, 1899. Not only was it another successful raid for Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch, but its notoriety nationwide signaled the end was coming for the Old West’s most elusive desperadoes.
As an unintended consequence of Western expansion, Clavin elaborates on how the vast frontier spanning from Canada to Mexico supplied three prominent outlaw hideouts: Brown’s Hole, the Hole-In-The-Wall, and Robbers’ Roost along the so-called ‘Outlaw Trail.’ For years before the 19th Century’s close, rival bandits could share these remote locales gloating over why savvy posses wouldn’t dare breach these sparse strongholds. The likelihood of hidden ambush, exhausted horses, and a scarcity of food and water (if you didn’t know where to find it) frankly provided no incentives to further these pursuits.
Aside from introducing comparatively obscure bandits meeting foul ends (i.e. George Parrott; the Blackjack Ketchum gang; etc.), Wyoming’s infamous Johnson County War and Arizona’s Pleasant Valley War are discussed. With virtually exclusive control of livestock (i.e. cattle) and, therefore, grazing lands at stake, both range wars would accumulate scores of wanton casualties. Local police, U.S. Marshals, and even the private-sector Pinkertons already had their hands full with smaller-scale crooks to contend with essentially organized crime, including range assassins.
Dogged efforts of undercover operatives, such as the Pinkertons’ Charlie Siringo, at least ensured valuable surveillance over time on fugitives would be shared in a growing law enforcement network. Roving outlaws, in that sense, became hard-pressed to outrace the practicality of telegraphs.
Among the ‘Wild Bunch,’ Butch Cassidy, “The Sundance Kid” Harry Longabaugh, and their incorrigible cronies (including the psychotic “Kid Curry”) usually managed to evade capture. Yet, the brazen Wilcox heist signaled that their profitable fun-and-games would soon end. With Cassidy and Longabaugh absconding to South America (along with Longabaugh’s wife, Etta Place), the region’s remaining bandits would be hunted down, one by one, as necessary, into the early 20th Century. Of the Wild Bunch’s known membership, only ex-convicts Elza Lay and Laura Bullion would live to see past middle age.
Upon their discreet escape to South America, the final fates of Cassidy, Longabaugh, and Etta Place still remain murky. As Clavin acknowledges, the trio shares a lingering Old West enigma that present-day forensics has no certain answers for.
Note: This title is available digitally and as an audiobook. Presumably, Bandit Heaven will be re-released in paperback form at some later date.
REVIEW:
As an author, Tom Clavin’s narrative style for Bandit Heaven is admirably consistent with his prior Old West works. Concocting briskly conversational yet still historically accurate text, Clavin delivers all the necessary goods, including welcome sprinkles of humor. His propensity for extended side stories shouldn’t, otherwise, impact a solid read revisiting The Wild Bunch’s capers and long-befuddled posses in pursuit.
With the infamous Johnson County War as a prelude, Clavin focuses on the era’s most notorious bandits, their cronies, and really, by extension, more cronies of cronies. The same applies to his detailed takes on the Pinkertons and local law enforcement, as their successes often proved hard-earned. Along with his excellent mini-biography of Charlie Siringo, Clavin examines manhunters Tom Horn, Frank Canton, and lesser competition like Joe Lefors, with precision.
Hence, Clavin would make a stellar professor in the classroom engaging students on his subject matter’s less-than-glamorous realities. He also knows better than to pitch unprovable theories and sticks to grounded history. For instance, Clavin doesn’t speculate much on Ethel “Etta” Place’s tantalizingly unknown fate beyond mentioning some possibilities that historians have considered.
Among them is a quick footnote indicating that Place and fellow Wild Bunch girlfriend, Ann Bassett, weren’t the same person since their conflicting known whereabouts at certain times makes such an intriguing notion impossible. Still, given their startling physical resemblance (even evidently sharing the same birth year), let alone Place’s seemingly non-existent past, it does make one wonder about strange coincidences possibly linking Place with Bassett.
As for the unsolved Butch & Sundance mystery dating back to 1908 in San Vincente, Clavin explores it as much as he can – without going overboard. Clavin mentions that at least other two fellow American bandits the duo knew were working South America at the same time, so misassumptions on shady aliases were common. His reporting leave open a remote chance that Butch & Sundance’s inexplicable mistakes in San Vicente weren’t made by them. No matter how slick this dynamite duo (read Clavin’s text on their train heists for this pun) was in its prime: they were either very much off their game that fateful night – or some luckless copycats pretended to be them one last time.
Considering members of Cassidy’s family claimed he survived under an alias to old age, again one wonders. Clavin doesn’t even mention it, but a similar claim has also been made before of Sundance – that is, to a far lesser degree. Unless reliable forensic evidence is excavated from a San Vicente cemetery, it appears the same ‘what-if Butch & Sundance’ scenarios from over a century ago are still on the table.
Much of what Clavin reports is often found elsewhere, but there are occasionally obscure gems that one wouldn’t expect. For instance, the unfulfilled prospect of Butch and his pals enlisting as U.S. soldiers in the Spanish-American War in hopes of securing amnesty is a curious notion. For that matter, having his boys instead hold off from robbing unguarded trains during the war, shows what a patriotic and generous soul the wily Butch Cassidy was (wink-wink). Or how about The Sundance Kid’s failed efforts at commanding his own spin-off faction? Such details and anecdotes are Clavin’s forte, so even if one already knows much of this material, you can appreciate these enlightening revelations.
The only caveat is a heads-up for the squeamish: specifically, Clavin discusses the macabre use of bandit George Parrott’s remains – though true, it’s wincing to read. The author, otherwise, doesn’t delve much into grisly details (i.e. the brutal demise of ex-Wild Bunch desperado Ben Kilpatrick is mentioned but not elaborated upon). Instead, as with his other works, Clavin wisely lets the history speak for itself – along with his knack for well-played sarcasm.
For armchair historians (older teens and up), Bandit Heaven delivers a contemporary Old West history lesson well worth taking for a ride.
ADDITIONAL FEATURES:
After the table of contents, Clavin supplies some helpful maps: 1. A North-to-South map titled ‘The Outlaw Trail;’ 2. A map of the Wild Bunch’s robberies; and 3. Butch & Sundance’s ‘Final Years’ tour of South America. Midway through, there is an intriguing sixteen-page black-and-white photo section. Please note, though not graphic, that a few images depict post-mortem glimpses of lesser-known Wild Bunch members. A ghoulish picture proving bandit George Parrott’s dubious legacy, however, may be cringe-inducing.
In addition to his detailed footnotes, Clavin provides the following sections: two pages of acknowledgements, a three-page ‘selected bibliography,’ and a very helpful nine-page index. The last page offers a brief Clavin biography, which is duplicated on the inside back cover jacket.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 8 Stars
Note: Also recommended is Clavin’s prior work, The Last Outlaws (his take on The Dalton Gang is really a ‘second-to-last-chapter’ on the Wild West). Also, from a visual perspective, there is the 2014 PBS ‘American Experience’ episode: Butch Cassiday and the Sundance Kid. Far grimmer than Clavin’s text, this documentary adds supplemental insights into the real ‘Butch & Sundance’ – further distancing them from their romanticized cinematic counterparts.
