Postcard from the Past: Outlaws Dress Up for Thanksgiving Dinner Party

Noted Outlaw Butch Cassidy has been portrayed as both a dangerous criminal and the Robin Hood of the West.

This week’s Postcard from the Past relates the gentler side of George Parker, better known as Butch Cassidy, in the Brown’s Park area of the corner of Wyoming, Colorado and Utah.

Historians write of one fanciful event which took place about 1895 when the Bender Gang, Cassidy, the Sundance Kid and Elza Lay treated the residents of Brown’s Hole to Thanksgiving dinner.

No expense was spared. The menu included blue point oyster cocktails, roast turkey with chestnut dressing, giblet gravy, cranberries, mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, creamed peas, celery, olives, pickled walnuts, sweet pickles, fresh tomatoes on crisp lettuce, hot rolls with sweet butter, coffee, whipped cream, Roquefort cheese, pumpkin pie, plum pudding, brandy sauce, mints and salted nuts.

Another account noted Tom Davenport raised the turkeys and the gang bought them. The dishes, linens and silver were furnished by the women of Brown’s Hole.

Held at the Davenport Ranch, the affair attracted nearly 35 people. 

Isom Dart presided in the kitchen, and the outlaws donned white aprons to serve dinner. A diary recalled Cassidy got flustered pouring coffee and retreated from the dining room. 

“The boys went into a huddle in the kitchen and instructed Cassidy in the formal art of filling cups at the table,” the entry reads. “This just shows how etiquette can put fear into a brave man’s heart.”

One young lady by the name of Anne Bassett at the gala wrote – reprinted with her faulty spelling and casual punctuation – to her friends:

Men wore dark suits – vests were always worn – white shirts, stiff-starched collars, patent low cuts. No man would be seen minus a coat and a bow tie at the party if it killed them, and it almost did I am sure. If a mustache existed, that must be waxed and curled.

The women wore tight-fitted long dress with leg-o-mutton sleeves and boned collars, hair done on top of the head either in a French twist or a bun and bangs curled into a frizz. Girls in their teens wore dresses about three inches below the knees, spring-heeled slippers and their hair in curls or braids, tucked up with a big bow of ribbons at nap of neck.

Esther Davenport had the pretty dress for the party – a yellow silk mull over yellow taffeta. She looked very pretty. 

Now I will tell you what Anne wore at the party – a silk mull, powder blue accordion pleated from top to bottom, camisole and petticoat of taffeta, peter pan collar, buttoned in the back, puff sleeves to the elbows and belted by a wide sash with a big bow in back. The mull pleated well and how it swished over the taffeta undies. A narrow black velvet ribbon around the neck, a gold locket fastened in the front.

Now for the stockings – hold your hat on and smile – lace made of silk and lisle thread, black to match shoes. They were precious and worn only for parties. We had to be careful with them as they cost three dollars per pair and lasted a long time.

I wore my hair in three curls fastened at nap of neck, held in place by a large barrette beau catcher curl on forehead, spring-heeled shoes like the babydoll shoes shown in catalogues now.

The older women wore black taffeta with tucking at the neck and sleeves, high-button shoes often with white tops and high curved French heels – always too tight, as were their corsets. 

Josie’s dress for the party was a sage green wool, many-gored skirt, tight to the knees then flared to the floor to sweep up the dirt.

Josie was married, I was not and girls were not permitted to wear long dresses, put up their hair or wear high heels.

Anne also noted, “The party lasted about six hours. That evening we danced at the Davenport home. I say evening, I mean until sun up the next day. Program at the dinner was put on by the guests. The hosts waited table – outlaws and friends. The other boys helped in the kitchen. All but the cook wore butcher aprons over their white shirts and suit trousers. The outlaws received their guests, then slipped on aprons to help serve the crowd of 35 or more, lots of work for the dinner was served in courses.”

“By the way, Josie played a ‘Zither’ and rather well. She was accompanied by Sam Bassett on the fiddle and Joe Davenport with a guitar. I gave a short reading on the meaning of Thanksgiving after being coached by Mr. Jarvie for a couple of weeks,” Anne added.