Etta Place: Difference between revisions

Etta Place
Etta Place
	Harry Longabaugh (the Sundance Kid) and Etta Place, just before they sailed for South America.
Born	c. 1878; East Coast, U.S. (alleged)
Disappeared	July 31, 1909 (aged 30–31); Antofagasta, Chile
Status	Missing for 115 years, 1 month and 6 days; presumed dead in absentia
Other names	Ethel Place
Occupation(s)	Teacher, outlaw
Partner	Harry Longabaugh (1899–1906)

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Etta Place (b. c. 1878, d. ?) was a companion of the American outlaws Robert LeRoy Parker, alias Butch Cassidy, and Harry Alonzo Longabaugh, alias Sundance Kid. The three were members of the outlaw gang known as Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch. She was principally the companion of Longabaugh. Little is known about her; both her origin and her fate remain unknown.

The Pinkerton Detective Agency described her, in 1906, as having, "classic good looks, 27 or 28 years old, 5'4" to 5'5" [163–165 cm] in height, weighing between 110 and 115 lb [50 and 52 kg], with a medium build and brown hair."

Identity theories

Ethel Bishop

Place's real name has been suggested to be Ethel Bishop. Such a woman lived at another brothel, at 212 Concho Street, around the corner from Madame Porter's. On the 1900 census, Bishop's occupation was given as "unemployed music teacher". Born in West Virginia in September 1876, she was 23 at the time. The Ethel Bishop hypothesis combines the claim that she was a schoolteacher with the one that she was a prostitute.^[1]

Ann Bassett

Another conjecture is that she was a cattle rustler named Ann Bassett (1878–1956), who knew and ran with the Wild Bunch at the turn of the 20th century. Both Bassett and Place were attractive women, with similar facial features, body frame, and hair color. Bassett was born in 1878, the same year Place was thought to have been born. Dr. Thomas G. Kyle of the Computer Research Group at Los Alamos National Laboratory, who performed many photographic comparisons for government intelligence agencies, conducted a series of tests on photographs of Etta Place and Ann Bassett. Both had the same scar or cowlick at the top of their forehead. Dr. Kyle concluded that there could be no reasonable doubt they were the same person.^[2] Historian Doris Karren Burton also investigated the lives of both women and published a book in 1992 claiming they were one and the same.^[3]

However, Bassett and Place's chronologies do not align. Several documents prove that Bassett was in Wyoming during much of the time when Place was in South America. Bassett was arrested and briefly incarcerated in Utah for rustling cattle in 1903, while Place was in South America with Longabaugh and Parker. Bassett also married her first husband in Utah that year, so could not have been in South America during that time.^[4]

Eunice Gray

A once-popular theory held that she was Eunice Gray, who for many years operated a brothel in Fort Worth, and later ran the Waco Hotel there until she died in a fire in January 1962. Gray once told Delbert Willis of the Fort Worth Press, "I've lived in Fort Worth since 1901. That is except for the time I had to high-tail it out of town. Went to South America for a few years ... until things settled down." Willis conceded that Gray never claimed to be Etta Place; he merely made that connection on his own, given the similarities in their ages, and the period in which Gray said she was in South America coinciding with Place's time there. Gray was described as a beautiful woman, and Willis believed that Place and Gray held a striking resemblance to one another, but no photographs of Gray from that period are available to compare with Place's. In 2007, amateur genealogist Donna Donnell found Eunice Gray on a 1911 passenger list from Panama. Following that lead, she tracked down Gray's niece, who had two photographs of her; one was taken at her high-school graduation circa 1896, and another from sometime in the 1920s. Comparing those photos to Place's, both agreed that Eunice Gray was definitely not Etta Place.^[5]

Life after Longabaugh

Considerable debate still remains over when Place's relationship with Longabaugh ended. Some claims indicate that Place ended her relationship with Longabaugh and returned to the United States before his death. Others believe that the two remained romantically involved, and that she simply tired of life in South America. By 1907, she was known to have been living in San Francisco, but after that, she vanished without a trace.^{[citation needed]}

In 1909, a woman matching Place's description asked Frank Aller (US vice consul in Antofagasta, Chile) for assistance in obtaining a death certificate for Longabaugh. No such certificate was issued, and the woman's identity was never ascertained.^[6]

Author Richard Llewellyn claimed that while in Argentina, he found indications that Place had moved to Paraguay following the death of Longabaugh, and that she had married a wealthy man. Also, rumors arose that Etta Place was in fact Edith Mae, wife of famous boxing promoter Tex Rickard, who retired to a ranch in Paraguay shortly after promoting the famous fight between Jack Johnson and Jim Jeffries in 1910.^{[citation needed]}

A Pinkerton report states that a woman matching Place's description was killed in a shootout resulting from a domestic dispute with a man named Mateo Gebhart in Chubut, Argentina, in March 1922. Another report claims she committed suicide in 1924 in Argentina, and yet another states that she died of natural causes in 1966.^{[citation needed]}

Various additional claims have been made about her life after the death of Longabaugh. Some believe that she returned to New York City, while other theories suggest she moved back to Texas and started a new life there. One claim is that she returned to her life as a schoolteacher, living the remainder of her life in Denver, Colorado, and another story says she lived the remainder of her life teaching in Marion, Oregon. Also various claims contend that she returned to prostitution, living the remainder of her life in Texas, California, or New York, but these claims are mere speculation, without any supporting evidence.^{[citation needed]}

Researcher Larry Pointer, author of the 1977 book In Search of Butch Cassidy, wrote that Place's identity and fate are "one of the most intriguing riddles in western history. Leads develop only to dissolve into ambiguity."^[7]

Media depictions

In the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Etta Place is depicted as a schoolteacher. Screenwriter William Goldman was suspicious of claims that Place was a prostitute; he believed she was too attractive and vibrant to have worked as a prostitute, a profession that tended to age women prematurely and tax their health.^[8] Place was portrayed in the film by Katharine Ross.
Elizabeth Montgomery portrayed Etta Place in Mrs. Sundance, a highly fictionalized 1974 television movie.^{[citation needed]}
Katharine Ross reprised her role as Etta Place in Wanted: The Sundance Woman, a fictionalized 1976 made-for-television movie.^{[citation needed]}
In the 1994 TV movie The Gambler V: Playing for Keeps, Etta Place is played by Mariska Hargitay.
In the 2004 TV movie The Legend of Butch & Sundance, Rachelle Lefevre portrays Etta Place.
Etta Place was played by Dominique McElligott in the 2011 film Blackthorn.
Etta Place was the central character in Etta: A Novel by Gerald Kolpan, published in 2009 by Ballantine Books.^[9]

Notes

^ Place was never found after her disappearence, but today she would be at an age where it is almost guaranteed she would be dead.

References

^ Meadows, Anne (28 October 1996). Digging up Butch and Sundance (Revised, 1st Bison books print ed.). University of Nebraska Press. p. 36. ISBN 0803282257.
^ Reeve, W. Paul (May 1995). "Just Who Was the Outlaw Queen Etta Place?". Utah History to Go. History Blazer. Archived from the original on 21 June 2011. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
^ Miss Cellania (25 June 2013). "The Mystery of Ann Bassett and Etta Place". Mental Floss.
^ Hays, Tony (14 August 2011). "The Mysterious Disappearance of Etta Place". CriminalElement.
^ "Woman's Face Proves She's No Place". The Genealogue. 24 March 2007. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
^ MacKell, Jan (2009). Red Light Women of the Rocky Mountains. University of New Mexico Press. p. 333. ISBN 978-0826346100.
^ Pointer, Larry (1977). In Search of Butch Cassidy. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0806114552.
^ See the 2001 History Channel documentary Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: Outlaws Out of Time.
^ Oldenburg, Don (6 April 2009). "Gerald Kolpan's novel doesn't do justice to the outlaw Etta". USA Today. Retrieved 17 January 2019.

External links

Etta Place at Sundance Kid and Henry Long

[1] Place was never found after her disappearence, but today she would be at an age where it is almost guaranteed she would be dead.

[2] Meadows, Anne (28 October 1996). Digging up Butch and Sundance (Revised, 1st Bison books print ed.). University of Nebraska Press. p. 36. ISBN 0803282257.

[3] Reeve, W. Paul (May 1995). "Just Who Was the Outlaw Queen Etta Place?". Utah History to Go. History Blazer. Archived from the original on 21 June 2011. Retrieved 17 January 2019.

[4] Miss Cellania (25 June 2013). "The Mystery of Ann Bassett and Etta Place". Mental Floss.

[auto-5] Hays, Tony (14 August 2011). "The Mysterious Disappearance of Etta Place". CriminalElement.

[6] "Woman's Face Proves She's No Place". The Genealogue. 24 March 2007. Retrieved 17 January 2019.

[7] MacKell, Jan (2009). Red Light Women of the Rocky Mountains. University of New Mexico Press. p. 333. ISBN 978-0826346100.

[8] Pointer, Larry (1977). In Search of Butch Cassidy. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0806114552.

[9] See the 2001 History Channel documentary Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: Outlaws Out of Time.

[10] Oldenburg, Don (6 April 2009). "Gerald Kolpan's novel doesn't do justice to the outlaw Etta". USA Today. Retrieved 17 January 2019.

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[2]

[3]

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[5]

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[9]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{short description|American companion of the outlaws Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid}}
-{{more citations needed|date = February 2019}}
+{{more citations needed|date = April 2024}}
 {{Infobox person
 | honorific_prefix   =
@@ Line 18: / Line 18: @@
 | disappeared_date   = {{Disappeared date and age|1909|07|31|1878}}
 | disappeared_place  = [[Antofagasta]], [[Chile]]
+| disappeared_status = {{Missing for|1909|07|31}}; [[Presumption of death|presumed dead ''in absentia'']]{{efn|Place was never found after her disappearence, but today she would be at an age where [[Life expectancy|it is almost guaranteed she would be dead.]]}}
-| disappeared_status = Fate unknown
 | death_date         = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (DEATH date then BIRTH date) -->
 | death_place        =
@@ Line 82: / Line 82: @@
 The [[Pinkerton Detective Agency]] described her, in 1906, as having, "classic good looks, 27 or 28 years old, 5'4" to 5'5" [163–165&nbsp;cm] in height, weighing between {{convert|110|and|115|lb|kg|abbr=on|disp=sqbr}}, with a medium build and brown hair."
-===Identity theories===
+== Identity theories ==
-====Ethel Bishop====
+=== Ethel Bishop ===
-Place's real name has been suggested to be Ethel Bishop. Such a woman lived at another brothel, at 212 Concho Street, around the corner from Madame Porter's. On the 1900 census, Bishop's occupation was given as "unemployed music teacher". Born in West Virginia in September 1876, she was 23 at the time. The Ethel Bishop hypothesis combines the claim that she was a schoolteacher with the one that she was a prostitute.<ref>{{cite book |last=Meadows |first=Anne |title=Digging up Butch and Sundance |date=28 October 1996 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=0803282257 |page=x |edition=Revised, 1st Bison books print|p=36}}</ref>
+Place's real name has been suggested to be Ethel Bishop. Such a woman lived at another brothel, at 212 Concho Street, around the corner from Madame Porter's. On the 1900 census, Bishop's occupation was given as "unemployed music teacher". Born in West Virginia in September 1876, she was 23 at the time. The Ethel Bishop hypothesis combines the claim that she was a schoolteacher with the one that she was a prostitute.<ref>{{cite book |last=Meadows |first=Anne |title=Digging up Butch and Sundance |date=28 October 1996 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=0803282257  |edition=Revised, 1st Bison books print|page=36}}</ref>
-====Ann Bassett====
+=== Ann Bassett ===
 Another conjecture is that she was a [[cattle rustler]] named [[Ann Bassett]] (1878–1956), who knew and ran with the Wild Bunch at the turn of the 20th century. Both Bassett and Place were attractive women, with similar facial features, body frame, and hair color. Bassett was born in 1878, the same year Place was thought to have been born. Dr. Thomas G. Kyle of the Computer Research Group at [[Los Alamos National Laboratory]], who performed many photographic comparisons for government intelligence agencies, conducted a series of tests on photographs of Etta Place and Ann Bassett. Both had the same [[scar]] or [[cowlick]] at the top of their forehead. Dr. Kyle concluded that there could be no reasonable doubt they were the same person.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://historytogo.utah.gov/utah_chapters/pioneers_and_cowboys/justwhowastheoutlawqueenettaplace.html |title=Just Who Was the Outlaw Queen Etta Place? |author1-link=W. Paul Reeve |last=Reeve |first=W. Paul |publisher=History Blazer |date=May 1995 |work=Utah History to Go |access-date=17 January 2019 |archive-date=21 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110621215910/http://historytogo.utah.gov/utah_chapters/pioneers_and_cowboys/justwhowastheoutlawqueenettaplace.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Historian Doris Karren Burton also investigated the lives of both women and published a book in 1992 claiming they were one and the same.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://mentalfloss.com/article/51368/mystery-ann-bassett-and-etta-place |title=The Mystery of Ann Bassett and Etta Place |author=Miss Cellania |date=25 June 2013 |work=Mental Floss}}</ref>
 However, Bassett and Place's chronologies do not align. Several documents prove that Bassett was in Wyoming during much of the time when Place was in South America. Bassett was arrested and briefly incarcerated in Utah for rustling cattle in 1903, while Place was in South America with Longabaugh and Parker. Bassett also married her first husband in Utah that year, so could not have been in South America during that time.<ref name="auto">{{cite web |url=http://www.criminalelement.com/the-mysterious-disappearance-of-etta-place |title=The Mysterious Disappearance of Etta Place |last=Hays |first=Tony |date=14 August 2011 |work=CriminalElement}}</ref>
-====Eunice Gray====
+=== Eunice Gray ===
 A once-popular theory held that she was [[Eunice Gray]], who for many years operated a brothel in Fort Worth,  and later ran the Waco Hotel there until she died in a fire in January 1962. Gray once told Delbert Willis of the ''[[Fort Worth Press]]'', "I've lived in Fort Worth since 1901. That is except for the time I had to high-tail it out of town. Went to South America for a few years ... until things settled down." Willis conceded that Gray never claimed to be Etta Place; he merely made that connection on his own, given the similarities in their ages, and the period in which Gray said she was in South America coinciding with Place's time there. Gray was described as a beautiful woman, and Willis believed that Place and Gray held a striking resemblance to one another, but no photographs of Gray from that period are available to compare with Place's.  In 2007, amateur genealogist Donna Donnell found Eunice Gray on a 1911 passenger list from Panama. Following that lead, she tracked down Gray's niece, who had two photographs of her; one was taken at her high-school graduation ''circa'' 1896, and another from sometime in the 1920s. Comparing those photos to Place's, both agreed that Eunice Gray was definitely not Etta Place.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.genealogue.com/2007/03/womans-face-proves-shes-no-place.html |title=Woman's Face Proves She's No Place |work=The Genealogue |date=24 March 2007 |access-date=17 January 2019}}</ref>
-===Life after Longabaugh===
+== Life after Longabaugh ==
-Considerable debate still remains over when Place's relationship with Longabaugh ended. Some claims indicate that Place ended her relationship with Longabaugh and returned to the United States before his death. Others believe that the two remained romantically involved, and that she simply tired of life in South America. By 1907, she was known to have been living in San Francisco, but after that, she vanished without a trace.
+Considerable debate still remains over when Place's relationship with Longabaugh ended. Some claims indicate that Place ended her relationship with Longabaugh and returned to the United States before his death. Others believe that the two remained romantically involved, and that she simply tired of life in South America. By 1907, she was known to have been living in San Francisco, but after that, she vanished without a trace.{{ citation needed|date=April 2024}}
 In 1909, a woman matching Place's description asked Frank Aller (US vice consul in [[Antofagasta]], Chile) for assistance in obtaining a death certificate for Longabaugh. No such certificate was issued, and the woman's identity was never ascertained.<ref>{{cite book |last=MacKell |first=Jan |year=2009 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yIpSl6MJoFMC&pg=PA333 |title=Red Light Women of the Rocky Mountains |publisher=University of New Mexico Press |isbn=978-0826346100 |page=333}}</ref>
-Author Richard Llewellyn claimed that while in Argentina, he found indications that Place had moved to Paraguay following the death of Longabaugh, and that she had married a wealthy man. Also, rumors arose that Etta Place was in fact Edith Mae, wife of famous boxing promoter [[Tex Rickard]], who retired to a ranch in Paraguay shortly after promoting the famous fight between [[Jack Johnson (boxer)|Jack Johnson]] and [[James J. Jeffries|Jim Jeffries]] in 1910.
+Author Richard Llewellyn claimed that while in Argentina, he found indications that Place had moved to Paraguay following the death of Longabaugh, and that she had married a wealthy man. Also, rumors arose that Etta Place was in fact Edith Mae, wife of famous boxing promoter [[Tex Rickard]], who retired to a ranch in Paraguay shortly after promoting the famous fight between [[Jack Johnson (boxer)|Jack Johnson]] and [[James J. Jeffries|Jim Jeffries]] in 1910.{{ citation needed|date=April 2024}}
-A Pinkerton report states that a woman matching Place's description was killed in a shootout resulting from a domestic dispute with a man named Mateo Gebhart in Chubut, Argentina, in March 1922. Another report claims she committed suicide in 1924 in Argentina, and yet another states that she died of natural causes in 1966.
+A Pinkerton report states that a woman matching Place's description was killed in a shootout resulting from a domestic dispute with a man named Mateo Gebhart in [[Chubut Province| Chubut]], Argentina, in March 1922. Another report claims she committed suicide in 1924 in Argentina, and yet another states that she died of natural causes in 1966.{{ citation needed|date=April 2024}}
-Various additional claims have been made about her life after the death of Longabaugh. Some believe that she returned to New York City, while other theories suggest she moved back to Texas and started a new life there. One claim is that she returned to her life as a schoolteacher, living the remainder of her life in Denver, Colorado, and another story says she lived the remainder of her life teaching in [[Marion, Oregon]]. Also various claims contend that she returned to prostitution, living the remainder of her life in Texas, California, or New York, but these claims are mere speculation, without any supporting evidence.
+Various additional claims have been made about her life after the death of Longabaugh. Some believe that she returned to New York City, while other theories suggest she moved back to Texas and started a new life there. One claim is that she returned to her life as a schoolteacher, living the remainder of her life in Denver, Colorado, and another story says she lived the remainder of her life teaching in [[Marion, Oregon]]. Also various claims contend that she returned to prostitution, living the remainder of her life in Texas, California, or New York, but these claims are mere speculation, without any supporting evidence.{{ citation needed|date=April 2024}}
 Researcher Larry Pointer, author of the 1977 book ''In Search of Butch Cassidy'', wrote that Place's identity and fate are "one of the most intriguing riddles in western history. Leads develop only to dissolve into ambiguity."<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_3Bhkad9SwoC |last=Pointer |first=Larry |year=1977 |title=In Search of Butch Cassidy |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=978-0806114552}}</ref>
-==Fact timelines generally accepted by historians==
-* 1899–1900: Place was living in Texas and being courted by Harry A. Longabaugh, also known as the Sundance Kid. Some stories claim Place was a housekeeper or possibly a prostitute in Fannie Porter's sporting house during this time.
-* December 1900: Place and Longabaugh reportedly marry, he using the alias Harry A. Place, shortly after he is photographed in the famous [[:File:Wildbunchlarge.jpg|Fort Worth Five photo]]. No record of the marriage is known to exist.
-* January 1901: Longabaugh and Place visit his family in [[Mont Clare, Pennsylvania]].
-* February 1901: Longabaugh and Place visit New York City and Tiffany's Jewelers.
-* February 20, 1901: Longabaugh and Place board the RMS ''Herminius'' bound for Buenos Aires.
-* March 3, 1902: Longabaugh and Place sail on the ship S.S. ''Soldier Prince'' from Argentina to New York City. Pinkerton detectives find evidence that Place was homesick and wanting to visit her family, but were unable to identify who her family was.
-* April 2, 1902: Longabaugh and Place register at Mrs. Thompson's Boarding House in New York City, and visit members of his family in [[Atlantic City, New Jersey]], then visit [[Coney Island]].
-* July 10, 1902: Place and Longabaugh pose as stewards and sail on the steamer ''Honorius'' back to Argentina.
-* August 9, 1902: Place registers them at the Hotel Europa in Buenos Aires.
-* Early to late 1903: Parker's former lover Ann Bassett marries a rancher by the name of Henry Bernard, and shortly thereafter is arrested for rustling.
-* Summer 1904: Place and Longabaugh sail again to New York City to visit her family. Once again Pinkerton detectives discover she is homesick, but cannot discover the identity of her family.
-* May 1, 1905: Place, Longabaugh, and Parker decide to sell their ranch in [[Cholila, Argentina]], and leave South America to avoid the law there. Longabaugh and Place sail to [[San Francisco]], where she remains, and he returns to South America.
-* 1907: Place is living alone in San Francisco, and there is no evidence she has seen Longabaugh since his departure two years prior.
-* July 31, 1909: A woman matching Place's description attempts to obtain a death certificate following Longabaugh's death in [[Bolivia]] so that she can settle his estate. She disappears from all historical records after that. With Longabaugh dead, Pinkerton's interest in her location wanes, and her trail goes cold.
 ==Media depictions==
 * In the 1969 film ''[[Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid]]'', Etta Place is depicted as a schoolteacher. Screenwriter [[William Goldman]] was suspicious of claims that Place was a prostitute; he believed she was too attractive and vibrant to have worked as a prostitute, a profession that tended to age women prematurely and tax their health.<ref>See the 2001 History Channel documentary ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: Outlaws Out of Time''.</ref> Place was portrayed in the film by [[Katharine Ross]].
-* [[Elizabeth Montgomery]] portrayed Etta Place in ''Mrs. Sundance'', a highly fictionalized 1974 television movie.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071868/ |title=Mrs. Sundance (TV Movie 1974) |date=15 January 1974 |work=IMDb}}</ref>
+* [[Elizabeth Montgomery]] portrayed Etta Place in ''Mrs. Sundance'', a highly fictionalized 1974 television movie.{{cn|date=June 2024}}
-* [[Katharine Ross]] reprised her role as Etta Place in ''Wanted: The Sundance Woman'', a fictionalized 1976 made-for-television movie.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075412/ |title=Wanted: The Sundance Woman (TV Movie 1976) |date=1 October 1976 |work=IMDb}}</ref>
+* [[Katharine Ross]] reprised her role as Etta Place in ''Wanted: The Sundance Woman'', a fictionalized 1976 made-for-television movie.{{cn|date=June 2024}}
 * In the 1994 TV movie ''The Gambler V: Playing for Keeps'', Etta Place is played by [[Mariska Hargitay]].
 * In the 2004 TV movie ''[[The Legend of Butch & Sundance]]'', [[Rachelle Lefevre]] portrays Etta Place.
@@ Line 135: / Line 119: @@
 * [[Outlaw]]s
 * [[American Old West]]
+==Notes==
+{{notelist}}
 ==References==