Howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas where it's a sleeveless day today with warm temps and sunny skies!
Yesterday I started a new series about two of our most famous outlaws, much of that fame due to the 1969 movie starring Robert Redford and Paul Newman which was based on their real life criminal career:
source
By the way, the film is mostly true, it's a fairly accurate portrayal of the actual events which, for Hollywood, is rather miraculous. Mostly true.
But back to real life history, I began talking about Butch, or Bob, which was his real name, and his family history. His family immigrated from England to Salt Lake City to join their fellow Mormon Believers.
Like father like son
They were very devout until Bob's dad, Maxi, started avoiding church, smoking tobacco, and basically not being very serious about the faith. Young Bob followed in his steps as a teenager and also began smoking and avoiding church services.
Maxi had tried to buy some land from another Mormon but they got into an argument about who actually owned it.(long story)That dispute was settled by the local bishop who sided with the other Mormon and not Maxi.
Maxi was sure that he was discriminated against because the other man was a devout member of the church and he wasn't.
Bob's first brush with the Law
Another incident which influenced Bob was when he traveled into town to buy a new pair of work pants but when he arrived the store was closed. Well, he forced his way in, got a pair of pants his size and left an IOU on the counter.
The owner of the store didn't like that idea and told the Sheriff who went and arrested Bob. It got straightened out but Bob was convinced that because he and his dad were kinda back-slidden in the church and everyone else was very devout and in good standing, that they made this a big issue.
This was big
It sounds like a small thing to us reading it all these years later but back then such an incident was a major one. This humiliated Bob and brought shame upon his family name which was absolutely HUGE in the Mormon community.
After what had happened to his dad and now this, both events which he saw as unjust, left a bitter taste in his mouth. So Bob was thoroughly not seeing any good in authority figures.
Bob's character
I wanted to take a second to talk about what Bob was like besides his resentment of authority. Since he was a small child he loved all kinds of animals and would nurse wounded birds and critters back to health on their ranch.
He just had a way with animals of any kind but his gift was something special when it came to horses because he seemed to know exactly how to act and speak to them in his soft, soothing voice.
Bob's special gift
It was said that there was not a wild stallion that he couldn't tame and he when he wasn't working on the family ranch he would break in "unbreakable" horses at ranches in the area. Horses were his first love, his passion, and there was not a horse he couldn't ride.
You know how it is folks...some kids are just mean from day one, they used to say "bad seed." Some don't seem to have a conscious and are cruel. Bob was the opposite. Plus he loved his momma, whose name was Annie. In fact, he absolutely ADORED her.
His siblings would tell about how he would waltz her around the room and then pick her up and sit her on the dining room table and say "Bring the crown. Ma's the Queen!" And his mom would blush and protest but secretly cherish every minute of course! lol. I can just see that scene with his mom blushing and laughing.
That's the kind of kid he was. His family was a wonderful bunch, very wholesome and lived righteously. So what happened to him?
Chose your friends wisely
Bob's family, the Parkers, were struggling financially. (My God they had 13 kids so no wonder!) His dad was away working most of the time and his mom got a chance to work at a large ranch in the area and the owner was happy to hire Bob also when he learned about his skill with horses.
Plus, Bob was a hard worker and even though he was only about 16 years old he could keep up with full grown men in that department. One of the ranch hands at that ranch was a friendly, handsome drifter named(or calling himself)Mike Cassidy.
Bad influence
No one knows where he came from or what his background was. He was friendly and charming and Bob's mom knew right away that he was bad news. Oh, the wisdom and intuition of mothers, what a blessing.
Evidently Mike had been all over the West and told the enchanted young Bob about his adventures: Saloons, dance hall girls, the Painted Ladies of the cow towns, fights, all the money he had lost and won gambling..and on and on. Bob was spellbound. Annie was mortified.
In the next post Bob makes a fateful decision which changes his life forever.
Thanks for reading folks, God bless you all!
-jonboy Texas
the gentleman redneck
PS- ya know...you might just be a redneck if:
You drove to elementary school!
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Mike Cassidy, huh? These are certainly all details that you would have never known if you were relying on the movie for your history! I am enjoying this.
thank you so much Melinda! Yes, somewhere down the line Mike Cassidy, not his real name if I remember correctly, becomes the Sundance Kid and Bob Parker becomes Butch Cassidy! lol. thanks, I'm so glad you like it.
Great research! I'm amazed how you figure out all these little details! Well done :) (I'll be getting the movie soon... )
howdy sir Keith, thanks for the kind words. I haven't seen it for so long that maybe I'll have the readers tell me where the differences are.
I would appreciate it. Now I think I'm going to finish The Revenant. :)
I loved this movie when it came out. Looking forward to hearing some of the details that were changed or overlooked by the movie industry!
Howdy tamaralovelace! well it's probably been 30 years since I've seen the movie so I need to watch it again so I can point out some differences! lol. Right now I'm not sure what they are because I don't remember every detail of the movie. Maybe I should just tell the facts and let the readers let me know how they differ from the movie. I agree though, it's a great movie with 2 of our biggest stars doing a great job.
Great research Cowboy! Nice to get the history of the background on Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Howdy tonight redheadpei! Thank you, well there's tons of information, too much to keep my posts moving along so I'm just giving what I think is most important and interesting, thanks for commenting!
Damn you and your infernal cliffhangers!
haha! hey it was on one of your comments that you said people had like a 1,000 word attention span so that's what I try to follow. lol.
Don’t listen to my dumb ass!
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Actually I take that back. It is good advice.
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haha! sir madgoat! No it was good advice, I talked to an experienced blogger and she said the research shows that people only have an attention span of between 800 to 1000 words so she says to cut it off in that number. Others say no one reads anything here, they just skim. lol. Probably most people skim.
Great post once again - and I loved the movie.
Well thank you lizziesworld and howdy, good to see you! I agree, it was a great movie and they were fairly accurate in their story, I will have a few things to point out that aren't true so I hope people don't get too upset! lol. Thank you so much for the comment!
Keep up your great posts - I love them
howdy lizziesworld! Well thank you for the kind words, I spend way too much time on them but I'll try to keep them going! thanks so much for reading them!
Hi, @janton!
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Howdy steem-plus! Thanks for the upvote and all you do to help others.
I loved these two posts thanks so much for opening my eyes to their real story and not what the movies want us to think
thank you JJ! There are some people who love that movie so much that they aren't going to like a few things that I point out about the real history! lol. Congratulations on the League win this week! I took the week off but it felt good to step back and work on other things.
I do love the movies but I know full well so many take many liberties but it is so good to actually know the truth about them
Thanks I only worked a couple of days last week and clearly used the free time to be on Steemit more, when I saw the list I knew you must have taken a break and know the top spot will be yours again :)
Hey JJ, I agree about the movies and as far as the League, I'm not sure which direction I'm heading, taking time to work on other things felt good so I might continue my stepping back for awhile. lol. Besides, I think people enjoy it more when there are different leaders and new names at the top! You did fantastic!
Well whichever path you decide to take you are such a strong member on this platform and people really appreciate your visits and support, but that said I can understand if your adjusting your focus and wishing you the best either way I am still glad to have meet you on here
well thank you JJ! Even if I do other things I should still be able to stay on here part time to keep in touch. Now, if the price of Steem started going up then I could justify spending so much time on here. That would help us all out of alot of jams wouldn't it? lol. thanks again, talk to ya soon.
Take care my friend and yes if steem were to rise that would be great and I am sure we would see a lot of peythat have dropped off the platform return fingers crossed 2019 is a good year for steem
Oh no!! Blimmin bad influences can ruin a person's life!
haha! very true, we've seen it over and over in our life times haven't we sir towjam?
Dear Annie, shave Bob's mustache and the spell will be broken... we all know you needed big mustache to be a bad cowboy!
haha! yeah, if only she would have thought of that! dang.
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STOPhowdy steemitboard! well thank you for keeping track of all these stats for us.
You got a 28.03% upvote from @ocdb courtesy of @janton!
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howdy ocdb! Thank you for the upvote and your outstanding program.
I see you are now on the whitelist! 😉
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yes sir blanchy! I don't know how long I've been on it but I decided to take advantage of it but I'm almost out of steem so it's a short run. At least I made it to rep60 and now I gotta figure out what to do. What's your plan? lol. dumb question I know. keep plugging away or skyrocket to rep 70 like coffee? lol.
Well, if he'd been allowed to drink coffee, things might have come out differently! Coffee is proven to straighten out those unruly neurons and clear up clouded judgment.
haha! Hey many people don't know that about the Mormons, very good sir fotosdenada! thanks for the brilliant comment!
Ha! I applied for a job in some little Utah town a few years back. My biggest worry is that there wouldn't be a good coffee shop. I was right to worry, it turns out. It wasn't so much a Mormon issue but that the town was tiny and couldn't support a coffee shop.
haha! so did you get the job or did you leave town because of the coffee shop issue? lol.
I never even got a response from them which, after finding out about the caffeine deprivation involved, was probably for the best.
haha! howdy today sir fotosdenada! "the caffeine deprivation " lol..yeah that's a serious issue, don't know how they survive there!
Howdy Janton, I am sad already, reading about this gifted boy and knowing that nothing good is coming. Oh my gosh, I had no idea he had such a connection with animals. that just breaks my heart!
PS: Finally downloaded esteem surfer 2 app! It took m awhile to figure it out, lol. And I am about to post my Fruits and Veggies Monday post there. Oh and by the way, you forgot about my recipe!!! You are such a bad boy!!!
howdy Miss Lena! yes I did forget but I finally got to it earlier tonight but you already know that don't you? lol. Yes, these young men that choose to be outlaws doom themselves. Usually an early death or life in prison, what a waste. But at least since you know this doesn't end well that means you won't be disappointed right?
Very good to hear about the surfer 2 app! I hope it works wonderfully for you. The newer versions don't work on any of our computers, I have to use the first version they came out with! lol. very strange.
I guess you are right, I wont be disappointed later, because I am already, lol. By the way, I completely forgot to mention the photo of R.Redford and P. Newman. It's been a long time since I've seen them. What a charming couple they were,lol.
And that is very strange that the new surfer doesn't work on your computers. It works very good on my.
howdy again Miss Lena! Of course I'm right! lol. Oh, our computers don't like the new version, not sure why. It may be something in there about them that Malwarebytes doesn't like. But they are going to get a web based site set up to use also and I'm hoping my machines will like that one!
Sounds like you are more computer smart than I am, because I have no idea what's the difference, lol.
oh well, yes I am quite brilliant in many categories! lol...I'm just teasing. No, Malwarebytes is just a great virus protection software program and sometimes it has problems with certain sites and programs that's all. Eventually I'm sure that all will be running smoothly.
What do you have going on this week, anything big?
I do love the image you gave about him and his momma. I would have loved to have had that type of relationship of my son. So sweet.
Ren
Howdy again Ren! oh..I don't know what to say..your relationship was not quite so close? It happens alot though so it sure ain't your fault.
My son decided to go live with his father when he was in the 8th grade. I was too strict apparently. We have gotten a bit closer since we moved back to Tulsa.
oh I see. what a bummer but I'm sure you guys can continue to grow closer from now on.
We are. I like that he and i can be friends.
I LOVE these!
Oh yeah, here comes the seduction! He should listen to his Momma but we know he doesn't. Lesson so far is....Always listen to Momma.
haha! exactly. we all can look back(well, alot of us can) and regret that we didn't listen to momma at least in one occasion.