He often did business with notable outlaws of the era such as Butch Cassidy, Harvey "Kid Curry" Logan, and Black Jack Ketchum, selling them horses and beef for supplies.

Both Ann and Josie Bassett were attractive young women, well taught by their father in the arts of horse riding, roping, and shooting.

Both were educated early on in prominent boarding schools, and were intelligent and articulate in their speech, but chose to return to the life of ranching.

Reportedly, Kid Curry, the most feared member of the Wild Bunch gang, once paid a visit to several cowboys known to be employed by the cattlemen, warning them to leave the Bassetts alone.

Elzy Lay, having ended his relationship with Josie Bassett, joined them with his girlfriend and future wife Maude Davis.

The total length of their relationship was around seven years, but was interrupted often with his being away, and for an 18-month period when he was in prison starting in 1894, during which time she was involved with Ben Kilpatrick.

The marriage lasted six years, ending in divorce, with Bernard helping Bassett and her sister Josie in maintaining their ranch.

Several other outlaws from lesser-known gangs drifted in and out of the ranch, usually visiting only to obtain beef or fresh horses, and have a place to stay for a few days.

Elzy Lay reportedly visited the ranch again in 1906, shortly after his release from prison, before moving on to California, where he lived out the remainder of his life as a respectable businessman.

However, Willis is alleged to have grieved greatly over her death, and was unable to complete that task, keeping her ashes in his car for the remainder of his life.

In spite of enthusiastic efforts to conflate them as one and the same, evidence confirms that Bassett was under arrest for cattle rustling in Utah while Place was in South America with Cassidy and Longabaugh in 1903.

Michael Rutters' book Bad Girls details how Bassett often faked a New England accent in order to appear more cultured.

Stronger evidence comes from Dr. Thomas G. Kyle of the Computer Research Group at Los Alamos National Laboratory, who has previously performed many such comparisons for government intelligence agencies.

[4] However, Burton did not account for documented instances showing Bassett to have been in the United States at the same time that Etta Place was known to have been in South America.