Etta Place
Etta Place (c. 1880–?) was an associate of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch in the American Old West. She is most remembered as the companion of the Sundance Kid.
Much is unknown about Place's life. She is said to have been born near Denver in about 1880, but specifics are uncertain. Etta grew up to be tall with black raven hair and fine features, and even women at the Robber's Roost, an outlaw hangout in Utah, commented on her beauty. Some historians say Etta was working as a schoolteacher by the time she first met Butch and the Sundance Kid, but other historians say she was a former prostitute who worked at a bordello in Fort Worth, Texas. Given Cassidy and Sundance's frequent visits to bordellos, the latter is probably more likely.
Etta was said to be a good shot with the Colt .45 and a Winchester rifle, in addition to being an expert horse rider. She went on many of the Wild Bunch's crime jobs, but stayed behind the action and was apparently not directly involved in any crime.
In 1901, with the Pinkerton detectives on their trail, Cassidy and Sundance, with Etta along, left the west and went to New York City. The following year, they headed to South America, and from here the fate of all three is left to conjecture. Some accounts say Etta stayed with the pair in South America until 1907, when she went back to New York for medical treatment for acute appendicitis, although it may have been for a venereal disease. Sundance was said to have gone with her on this trip, but returned to South America without her and rejoined Cassidy. Cassidy and Sundance were said to have been killed in Bolivia a few years later in about 1909. Etta Place disappeared from history, her fate unknown.