Butch and Sundance: What Happened To Etta?

Another picture of the Patagonia region of Argentina:
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Howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas!

We're in a series about two of America's most famous and successful outlaws, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. In case you haven't been following the series, the boys had moved to Argentina in South America to start their lives over and to avoid capture in the U.S.

They were accompanied by the girlfriend of Sundance, Etta Place and they did indeed build a successful ranching operation until they were forced to go on the run again. In yesterday's post they robbed a bank but one of them was shot and wounded by the posse while they were escaping.

The three vanished and a year later Butch and Sundance both got jobs working for different companies. Butch was in Bolivia and Sundance was in Northern Argentina. There are no records of Etta being in South America at that time.

The mysterious Etta Place

So that brings up the question, what happened to her? This has been a question which has baffled historians for over a hundred years and many have searched for clues that would give us some indication of what happened to her and where she ended up.

It's been frustrating researchers because from what I understand there is only one tiny piece of "evidence" that she even returned to the United States, which is the accepted theory.

You call this Evidence?

That one piece of evidence, if you can call it that, is that a woman who someone "thought" matched her description was seen at the South American consulate in San Francisco trying to obtain records of Sundance.

That was in the year 1909, and was the supposed last sighting. But we don't even know if that was her, there is zero proof that it was. So just as she showed up out of nowhere, she seems to have disappeared in the same way. A few researchers think she never left South America but most want to believe that she did.

And of course, Etta Place was a made up name so we don't know her real one or where she came from. The Pinkertons spent alot of time and manpower trying to find her, with no luck.

My take on it

My 2 bit theory is that she is the one who was wounded in the shootout with the posse and she later died of her wound. I mean, it's not like they could have rushed her to the emergency room. She could have lost too much blood by the time they were able to stop riding.

For all we know she's buried in an unmarked grave in Argentina, the location of which was only known to Butch and Sundance.

From what I've learned about Sundance and Etta I don't think he could have stayed in South America without her. And I for sure don't think he could have gone without writing her. No, they were inseparable. I don't think she ever would have left him either. Do you guys?

In further support of my theory, people who were interviewed about their dealings with Sundance revealed someone who was hurting big time. He was always known to be moody but wow, after that point he was really low.

I mean downright sullen, depressed and angry. And getting drunk every night. I think he was trying to drown out his sorrow.

Here they are in happier times, living high on the hog from stolen money:

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The lighter version

Now, in the Hollywood version, the movie had Etta leaving and going back, I think it was because she said she didn't want to see them get killed. I don't blame them for using that scenario because it's possible and also very noble and dramatic.

Etta would have been wealthy with her share of the bank robbery and could have started a new life. Like in the movie she could see that it wasn't going to end well. By the way, Kathryn Ross played the role of Etta with excellence.

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And here she is with Paul Newman and Robert Redford:

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In the next post we'll catch up with Butch and Sundance.

Thanks for reading folks, God bless you all!
-jonboy Texas
the gentleman redneck

PS- ya know...you might just be a redneck if:

You've been knocked out twice by your own electric fence!