Etta Place: Riding into History with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

by D.J. Herda

The Pinkertons knew her as "Ethel,” "Ethal,” "Eva," and "Rita" before finally settling on "Etta" Place for their wanted posters.

After Sundance introduced her to Robert Parker (Butch Cassidy), the three joined the rest of their Wild Bunch gang and set off on a spree of bank, stagecoach, and train robberies. With the law hot on their heels, they rode up to Robber’s Roost in southwestern Utah where they laid low until word reached local authorities of their whereabouts.

On the run again, Place accompanied Longabaugh to New York City where on February 20, 1901, she sailed with Butch and Sundance, posing as Etta’s fictional brother "James Ryan," aboard the British ship, Herminius, for Buenos Aires.


On December 19, 1904, Place, Longabaugh, Parker, and an unknown male robbed the Banco de la Nacion in Villa Mercedes, four hundred miles west of Buenos Aires. Pursued by armed federales, they crossed the Pampas and the Andes and returned to Chile, but Place had grown tired of life on the run and deeply lamented the loss of their ranch and the promise of stability it had held for her. In June 1906, Longabaugh accompanied her from Valparaiso, Chile, to San Francisco, where she kissed him goodbye for the last time before he returned to South America and infamy.

Genres: Westerns

296 pages, Hardcover

Published June 23, 2021

About the author

The author is a consummate award-winning professional with more than 40 years of experience in a wide range of media from books, newspapers, and magazines to television and DVD. Herda is a former book, magazine, newspaper, photo, and video editor and author of more than 80 books on a wide range of topics, both fiction and nonfiction. He has written several hundred thousand short pieces, including the second most widely syndicated newspaper column in history behind "Ask Ann Landers." He has also written several magazine columns, short stories, articles, and corporate and business features and profiles. He has had two stage plays produced.

A former ghostwriter for Sammy Davis Jr., Lawrence Welk, Art Linkletter, Ronnie Schell, top CEOs around the world, and others, he is president of the American Society of Authors and Writers and a past member of The Writer's Guild, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and the Washington Press Club.

Herda has taught Creative Writing Workshop and several book editing courses at the college level in Chicago and frequently mentors working writers and professional acquisitions' editors on improving their skills.

Reviews

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having zero knowledge about Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, or Etta Place, I found this book very interesting - especially the end! I only gave it three stars though, because the title of the book is extremely misleading and the book is hard to follow at times. Not much is known about Etta Place, and the book isn’t about her pretty much at all. The organization of the book leaves much to be desired. You start at the beginning and get to the end, but everything in between jumps all over the place, is repeated, and gets pretty confusing. If I knew about these three prior to reading this book, I probably would have been disappointed in the book. Since I didn’t, I can say it was an interesting read and makes me want to learn more, which is a sign of a good book!

[Janilyn Kocher · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting rendition of the story of the famous renegades Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid that also focuses on Etta Place. The author offers many suppositions but ultimately can't say conclusively what exactly happened to her. The book actually is more about her two male companions and theories on if they really died when they supposedly did. I find outlaw stories interesting, although I've never seen the famous movie. Thanks to TwoDot Books and Edelweiss for the advance read.

[Jbondandrews · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well this book was more about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kidd then about Etta. In fact the book was maybe a quarter about Etta and the rest about the outlaws associated with Butch and Sundance and the two main outlaws. It was disappointing in that sense but I hadn't known too much about Butch and Sundance so there was an interesting read from that perspective.

[Stefanie Geitz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Talks about everyone except Etta. There is so much information that tends to contradict itself.

[Theresa A. Garcia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Should be titled Butch and Sundance

Very little here about Etta and nothing that we don’t already know. Very disappointing read and hardly worth your time.