16 Facts About Etta Place

In February 1901, Etta Place accompanied Longabaugh to New York City, where at Tiffany's jewelers they purchased a lapel watch and stickpin, and posed for the now-famous DeYoung portrait at a studio in Union Square on Broadway.

Under a new 1884 law, they were granted 15,000 acres of adjacent land to develop, 2,500 of which belonged to Etta Place, who has the distinction of being the first woman in Argentina to acquire land under the new act, as land ownership had previously been denied to women.

Governor Julio Lezana issued an arrest warrant, but before it could be executed, Sheriff Edward Humphreys, a Welsh Argentinian who was friendly with Parker and enamored of Etta Place, tipped them off.

On December 19,1904, Etta Place took part, along with Longabaugh, Parker, and an unknown male, in the robbery of the Banco de la Nacion in Villa Mercedes, 400 miles west of Buenos Aires.

Etta Place had long been tired of life on the run, and deeply lamented the loss of their ranch.

Those who had met Etta Place claimed the first thing they noticed about her was that she was strikingly pretty, with a very nice smile, and that she was cordial, articulate, refined in speech and manners, and an excellent shot with a rifle.

Etta Place was said to have spoken in an educated manner, and she indicated she was originally from the East Coast, although she never revealed an exact location.

Years later, eyewitnesses said that Etta Place was one of only five women known to have been allowed into the Wild Bunch hideout at Robbers Roost in southern Utah, the other four having been Will Carver's girlfriend Josie Bassett, who was involved with Parker for a time; Josie's sister and Parker's longtime girlfriend Ann Bassett; Elzy Lay's girlfriend Maude Davis; and gang member Laura Bullion.

Etta Place was believed to have once been married to a schoolteacher, and at least one person claimed Etta Place herself was a teacher who abandoned her husband and two children to be with Longabaugh.

Bassett was born in 1878, the same year Etta Place was thought to have been born.

Several documents prove that Bassett was in Wyoming during much of the time when Etta Place was in South America.

Bassett was arrested and briefly incarcerated in Utah for rustling cattle in 1903, while Etta Place was in South America with Longabaugh and Parker.

Some claims indicate that Etta Place ended her relationship with Longabaugh and returned to the United States before his death.

In 1909, a woman matching Etta Place's description asked Frank Aller for assistance in obtaining a death certificate for Longabaugh.

Author Richard Llewellyn claimed that while in Argentina, he found indications that Etta Place had moved to Paraguay following the death of Longabaugh, and that she had married a wealthy man.

Also, rumors arose that Etta Place was in fact Edith Mae, wife of famous boxing promoter Tex Rickard, who retired to a ranch in Paraguay shortly after promoting the famous fight between Jack Johnson and Jim Jeffries in 1910.