"WHERE THE KID GOT HIS NAME" The
Page 14. Thursday, June 3, 2004
This house located on Second Street is owned by Jake
and FIo Jacobs. The house was built in the 1940s by Claude
Sackett who ran the power plant across the street. The first
cabin built in Sundance was also located in this spot. The
house had to be moved in order to remove the tree roots
that caved in the basement.
Black Hills NFAB elects officers
Tom Blair of Deadwood (SD)
has been elected chairman of
the board of the Black Hills
National Forest Advisory Board
(NFAB).
Board members chose Blair
to head the Board for its sec-
ond year.
Campground owner Blair will
share responsibilities with
archeologist and historian Bob
Kloss who was elected vice~
chairman in a meeting held
Wednesday, May 19 in Rapid
City.
Blair, representing developed
recreation, is a career U.S.
Army veteran and has served
as Deadwood's mayor and
president of the Deadwood
School Board. Blair has 16
years of service with the Dead-
wood Fire Department. He has
worked with the Rocky Moun-
tain Elks Foundation and
Ducks Unlimited.
Kloss, a retired California
State University sociology pro-
fessor, has worked as a con-
ciliator for organized labor and
environmental groups in addi-
tion to researching
multiculturism, cultural diver-
sity, and teaching tolerance.
He is a member of the USDA
Forest Stewardship Program
and designed his home using
the latest standards of urban-
forest living.
Both men have been active
participants on the Board.
Black Hills Acting Forest Su-
pervisor Brad Exton said he is
delighted with the election of
two committed people whose
knowledge and experience will
contribute substantively to
Board activities.
Exton thanked Ed Yelick for
his year of service, a year
marked by discussions of
some of the more difficult is-
sues facing the Forest Service,
including fire and insects, in-
vasive species, the loss of
open space, and the beginning
of travel management plan-
ning.
Exton also thanked .John
Teupel, Spearfish, who served
as vice-chair with Yelick.
Exton cited Teupel's leader-
ship in helping the Board or-
ganize and deal with issues
like fuels management and
multiple uses of the National
Forest.
KID from page 1
term bill expire on the 5th of February. I should have sent it to you but was his first visit home in nearly twenty years. He
fearing that you might be ab'aV from~ome and not get it in time I forwarded relationship with his sister, Samanna Longal:~ugh
it directly to him. The sheriff tells m~'-that you will assist in obtaining a seven years older. During their visit to her home,
pardon so that the boy may be restored ~O t~is civil rights." to be extremeb, careful because the local post office was at the
On February 4, 1889, Govc nor Thomas Moonlight ~TOte tWO letters, one street and the Pinkerton Detective Agency had set up
to Mr. Hunter and the other to Mr. ?dden. informing them that he had within view of Sarnanna's home. They often opened her mail,
pardoned Harry Longabaugh and asked Mr..Alden to deliver the pardon to dues to Sundance's whereabouts.
Mr. Longabaugh in person as he would already be free t:5" the time the
pardon reached him.
A portion of the pardon reads:
"His term of sentence bill expire Feb. 5, 1889; that he is still under 21
years of age, and his behavior has been good since confinement, showing
an earnest desire to reform and whereas the sheriff, Clerk of Dist. Court,
Ex. Co. & Pros. Attorney- and prr. "nt Co. & Pros. Atts'. and others have
this day made application to me to ~ ant unto the said Harry Longabaugh a
pardon of said crime of which he stands convicted.
"Therefore, by the authority vested in me as Governor of the Territory, of
Wyoming, I do hereby grant unto Harry Longabaugh a full and complete
pardon of the crime of which he was convicted and hereby restore him to all
of his civil rights."
As Longabaugh collected whatever possessions he had upon leaving the
jail in Sundance, Wyoming, he also took with him what would come to be
the famous name of "The Sundance Kid." Little did he know just how far
reaching that title would become, nor did that small, quiet western com-
munity in the far reaches of northeastern Wyoming. We now find origins of
the "Sundance" name ~x~rld-wide in such things as ski resorts, dude ranches,
trampolines, boats, resorts, merchandise catalogs, film festivals, TV chan-
nels, consulting companies, market place squares, dance studios, solar
energy systems, power plants, a~iation compm~ies, Mexican restaurants
and even a place called "The Sundmlce Monster House.~
Soon after leaving Sundance, history seems to indicate he hooked up
bith Butch Cassidy and they became the leaders of a group of thieves
better known as The Wild Bunch. Their gang was prominent in the United
States from 1896 to 1901. Together these men were so skilled at escaping
the lab" that the American Bankers Association and the Union Pacific Rail-
road hired the Pinkerton Det0ctive Agent, to capture them.
In 1900 Sundance took up with Ethel (Etta} Place, described as a striking
beau~', a refined type, and a real lady. They had their photograph taken
together in New York City in 1901, where the- along b5th Butch Cassidy
were reported to have gone on quite a spending spree before lea~ng for
South America. (Although she is most frequenthl oaIled Erta, her name was
actually Ethel).
Sundance was described as a ruggedly handsome man, kno~3n to have
been an immaculate dresser wearing monogramed shirts with the letters
H.L. He was known to be somewhat of a loner and alwavs a gentleman.
As their reputation began to catch up x~ith them and pressure from the
Pinkerton Agency increased, the three of them are believed to have moved
on to Argentina to start a new life.
Just before leaving the U.S., The Wild Bunch met in Texas for a good-bye
celebration. One of the things they did was to have a picture taken to-
gether. This is the photo most often seen today. However, unknown to
them, the photographer displayed the photo in his b~ndow where it was
seen by a Wells Fargo detective who recognized one of the men.
According to Ernst, before the}" left the States, Sundance took his wife,
Ethel, home to meet his family in PhoenLx~le and Mont Clare, Pa. This
During one of Phoenixville's celebrations, the family
of Indian artifacts that were displayed in a store front. The
the letters he wrote home are believed to have been destroyed in:
the Pinkerton's. The only remaining evidence of his
unsigned postcard which he had sent to his sister, Emma, fro~l
Louis World's Fair. She is claimed to have disowned him
her will and changed the spelling of the family name from
Longabough in order to avoid her brother's infamous reputation.
The famib, believes Sundance, Ethel and Butch intended to
and live as law-abiding citizens. They settled on a ranch in
tina, and for about five years were well-h.X'ed and respected by
borE. However, the Pinkertons were still reading the family
Phoenixville and found their trail again. They sold the ranch in
returned to a Iife of crime.
It is believed they held up a payroll near in
Bolivia on November 4, 1908, and two
town of San Vicente, Bolivia. Contrary to the famous movie scene,
did not corner the outlaws as they rested for lunch. A local had
the brand on the stolen pack mule and ran to ask the mayor and
of local armed miners to help. One newspaper reported that a
or six armed men tried to capture the bandits. Within an hour a
the posse and both bandits were dead, the outlaws by their
The two unidentified bodies were buried as unknowns in
eters'. Rumors abounded for years that these were the bodies
dance Kid and Butch Cassidy. To date this has never been
In 1991, Donna and Paul Ernst cooperated with a team
researchers to dig up the graves and with DNA testing
not one of the bodies was that of Harry Ix)ngabaugh. The bod~
brother ,~as also exhumed for DNA comparisons, however, the
proved negative. In a recent visit with Donna Ernst, she
with continued research she and her husband both feel they w~e
there somewhere.
Donna and Paul Ernst have dedicated a large part of their
search and documentation of their great-great uncle,
They have traveled extensively throughout the West
Sundance was said to have been. They have seen every robbery t
ited ranches where he worked, and everywhere that ever
'Sundance slept here.' Donna has published a number of books
two tiffed "Sundance, My Uncle" and "From Cowboy to
written dozens of articles and continues to give a number
well.
Ernst went on to say that today the family of "The Sundance
remained friends with the family of Butch Cassidy and continue
frequent contact and communication.
She will be a guest at the first annual Butch ~/Wild
posium in Rock Springs, W)x)., June 17-19. She will be one
tured speakers including Bill Betenson, a relative of Butch
Friday, June 18.
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