Right with you, Terry.
On the matter of the ambush & 7MM carbines, the History Channel piece referred to the Bolivian inquest that followed the shooting. They showed the manuscripts and indicated that they were thorough and detailed. The inquest manuscript was the source of their information on how it went down, the firearms that were used, etc.
The History Channel piece also addressed the issue of Butch returning to the US. The lady who swore Butch returned was his sister, or cousin, or somethin' - I can't remember. All other family members discounted her story, but the point was made that perhaps they wanted things kept quiet to keep the law off of Butch, and also to keep their own criminal liability down (aiding and abetting, etc.). The supposed post-return photos of butch were actually of a businessman from either Oregon or Washington state (again, I'm old and can't remember). He used to show up in Wyoming around Butch and Sundance's old stomping ground. He frequently had one of Butch's old girlfriends with him, and he held himself out to be Butch. After seeing the show, it seems unlikely that he was, in fact, Butch. The show had a forensic artist, a lady who taught the subject at FBI, do a photo comparison of Butch and the businessman. The differences were pretty clear - the nose and ears were totally different, and the most telling thing was that the width of the businessman's face was nowhere near as wide as that bucket jaw of Butch's. Also, think about this - if he really were Butch, would he advertise it? Especially in light of how hard he had worked to disappear, for instance by going to South America. Seemed pretty clear to me that the businessman was a wannabe. No way to alter ears or noses back then, and no way at all to alter the width of the overall face.
Anyway, the only reason I even brought this up was that it struck me in a romantic way - an event that marked, or at least evidenced, the end of one era, the "old west", and beginning of another (the industrial age) - Butch and Sundance, two of the last old-west outlaws still in operation and armed with the weapons of their day, revolvers and perhaps lever guns, meeting and being overpowered by Bolivian soldiers with new, "high-tech" Mauser bolt rifles.
Perhaps it struck me this way because I was fondling the new $5,000 U.S. Model 1917 I just bought from GB during the show.
Regards,
Jon
