tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54293308283395532502024-02-19T08:43:48.485-08:00James PylantJames Pylanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15556648653557776655noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429330828339553250.post-38665775564212512642023-11-08T13:30:00.000-08:002023-11-08T13:30:32.237-08:00On the Run: Walter Turnbow’s Sprint from the Law <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR1JZwHIJnsLoIxYrs-Kd_OZGpFrdKkp7y46Q_JH_9kpzY5QG-563gMYmyUJ6dfQDSKRPD-ZLBVxdBzWIZiKCnqyf_9jHKko2vfs1uzET_dPE4NF6WnPZgbk0XtN2iVBIl6o1lRWoHo4KFpjkfDLsvpyw5OiWGGry3kSTbiF3Ko2K5x3ax6dBLgZSSd0aE/s5688/Walter%20Turnbow%20(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Walter Turnbow" border="0" data-original-height="5688" data-original-width="4440" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR1JZwHIJnsLoIxYrs-Kd_OZGpFrdKkp7y46Q_JH_9kpzY5QG-563gMYmyUJ6dfQDSKRPD-ZLBVxdBzWIZiKCnqyf_9jHKko2vfs1uzET_dPE4NF6WnPZgbk0XtN2iVBIl6o1lRWoHo4KFpjkfDLsvpyw5OiWGGry3kSTbiF3Ko2K5x3ax6dBLgZSSd0aE/w313-h400/Walter%20Turnbow%20(1).jpg" title="Walter Turnbow" width="313" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">In the early 1900s, Walter Turnbow (1877—1947), one of
the colorful characters perched on my family tree, drew acclaim as one of the
swiftest runners in the Lone Star State.</span></b></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">With $1,000 at stake, he won a race against James
Goldforth in Dublin, Texas, on October 16, 1905. That prompted G. H. Burrell of
Cleburne to stake $500 that he could defeat Walter in a race. Yet, the plan was
thwarted by the arrival of Officer Kirk from Hamilton County who came to arrest
Walter for escaping from the county farm where he had been sent to pay off a gambling
fine. The officer, refusing to accept Walter’s offer to pay the fine, boarded
him on a Hico-bound train from Dublin. En route, the prisoner jumped through a
window near Alexander and used his racing prowess to escape.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Officer Kirk could find no trace of Walter Turnbow. On October
19, Kirk traveled to Brownwood where he learned that some foot racers were in
town to run in a competition the next afternoon. On the morning of the race, the
officer scouted around town until he found and arrested Walter.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Eight years earlier, Walter—with a brother and a cousin—donned
disguises in a failed train-robbing attempt. The trio were caught, leading to
Walter’s two-year prison stint. More about the daredevil’s exploits are told in
the pages of my book, <i><a href="https://www.alibris.com/search/books/isbn/9780962274664?invid=15658117445" target="_blank">Sins of the Pioneers: Crimes & Scandals in a Small
Texas Town</a></i>.</span><o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><p><br /> </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p><br /></p></blockquote><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p>James Pylanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15556648653557776655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429330828339553250.post-62340311068103370102022-01-14T13:30:00.002-08:002022-01-14T13:35:46.865-08:00The Murders at Starved Rock: Prosecutor’s Son Reexamines 1960 Crime<h3 style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="412" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UVZL2pAnaZU" width="497" youtube-src-id="UVZL2pAnaZU"></iframe></div></h3><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">David Raccuglia is best known as the founder of American Crew, the leading professional men’s grooming brand in the world. He’s also known for capturing famous faces through the camera lens, with outstanding portraits of Jack Nicholson, Ray Charles, and Yoko Ono—among many others. And he’s now appearing in <i>The Murders at Starved Rock</i>, an HBO miniseries that incarnates the boogeyman of his childhood nightmares. </span></h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">On March 16, 1960, three women were found savagely murdered at Starved Rock State Park in LaSalle, Illinois, David Raccuglia’s hometown. “Things like this just didn’t happen,” he says of the Illinois Valley town that then sported less than 12,000 residents. The wives of prominent businessmen, Lillian Oetting and Mildred Lundquist, both 50, and Frances Murphy, 47, made near-100 mile trip from Chicago to the popular state park for sight-seeing. The trio were last seen two days earlier outfitted in skirts, jackets, and rubber footwear pulled over walking shoes as they made their way along the wooded trails. Their battered bodies, with wrists bound by twine and clothing in disarray, were discovered in the cave of a secluded canyon. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">“I was only seven months old, but the Starved Rock murders was with me from the first day I could form a memory,” Raccuglia tells in HBO’s three-part documentary.
An investigation led to the arrest of Chester Weger, a 23-year-old dishwasher at the lodge where the three victims were staying. Weger was given a life sentence in 1961. “I would lay in bed terrified that Chester Weger was gonna climb through the window and kill me,” says Raccuglia. That’s because his father, noted attorney Anthony Raccuglia, acted as lead prosecutor in Weger’s conviction. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The crime is chronicled in historian Steve Stout’s 1982 book, <i>The Starved Rock Murders</i>. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">In 2003, an appellate court defender reopened the case, arguing that Weger was wrongly convicted more than 40 years earlier. “She was accusing my father of making inaccurate claims,” says the American Crew founder, who—for the first time—began to wonder if it’s true. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>The Murders at Starved Rock</i> is a look at David Raccuglia’s wrestling with the question of Chester Weger’s guilt, his reexamining the triple crime with interviews with his attorney father, victims’ relatives, and Weger himself. Raccuglia follows every lead, objectively viewing every angle of the case that results in a compelling documentary about the boogeyman of his childhood.
</span></div>James Pylanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15556648653557776655noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429330828339553250.post-90844039730019848572021-11-12T10:58:00.000-08:002021-11-12T10:58:13.845-08:00Netlfix's "Yara" is a compelling true story<iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpermalink.php%3Fstory_fbid%3D4589360511102998%26id%3D236490843056675&show_text=true&width=500" width="500" height="548" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share"></iframe>James Pylanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15556648653557776655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429330828339553250.post-124950931094673452021-08-25T12:57:00.001-07:002021-08-25T12:57:40.283-07:00Serial Killers: A Scary Statistic<p><br /></p> <iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpermalink.php%3Fstory_fbid%3D4344252315613820%26id%3D236490843056675&show_text=true&width=500" width="500" height="548" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share"></iframe>James Pylanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15556648653557776655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429330828339553250.post-8152807614526217912020-03-10T16:47:00.001-07:002020-03-11T15:18:41.666-07:00Oh, by the way, my wife was hacked to death last night<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJu6Lye11PSh9dmgE6kLieejaWzBbtO8sL8SOuA1GyUZEhXlwA8CSFIPN7SuYcSvxOwnVVIwfJRgg8TR7wDaxNqemicvjraPKQNUijARF7u8C4Rt1UGO_2qKGXKoznkVVZ-9xJRr7IM3zx/s1600/mysterious+man+with+hatchet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="783" data-original-width="1012" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJu6Lye11PSh9dmgE6kLieejaWzBbtO8sL8SOuA1GyUZEhXlwA8CSFIPN7SuYcSvxOwnVVIwfJRgg8TR7wDaxNqemicvjraPKQNUijARF7u8C4Rt1UGO_2qKGXKoznkVVZ-9xJRr7IM3zx/s400/mysterious+man+with+hatchet.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">In 1910, an 81-year-old named Benjamin Franklin Matthews—called
Frank—and his 71-year-old wife, Millie, lived on their farm in Cedar, a township
in Boone County, Missouri. The federal census that year indicates that a servant
made her home with them; yet, by 1914 they lived alone. The couple’s only two
children, both sons, were seven years apart in age. Albert, the oldest, was
born with a debilitating disability requiring constant care. He lived 45 years,
dying in 1902, by which time the younger son, Eddie, had already died. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.2in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Mr. and Mrs. Matthews were respected in
the community, though Frank had a reputation for being miserly and eccentric. Although he apparently had money to live
comfortably, he continued to toil on their farm into his 80s. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">For two weeks during the end of
September and the first of October in 1914, Frank, then 85, spent nights
outside near the pigsty to shew away any prowling dogs from attacking his hogs.
On the night of Tuesday, October 7, Frank returned to the bedroom he shared
with his wife but slept in a different bed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.2in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">At 6:30 the next morning, he
went to the home of a neighbor and asked for some matches. The two men chatted
and discussed “trivial matters” before Frank prepared to leave.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.2in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“Millie is dead, so I must go
home and get breakfast,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.2in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Dead? The startled neighbor
asked what happened.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.2in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Oh, that. Frank took the neighbor
to the Matthews farmhouse and showed him Millie’s body in bed, explaining
that’s how he had found her that morning—bloodied from gashes in her neck and
head.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Law officers and a coroner were
summoned, but Frank had more important things to do than be bothered by a
murder investigation. Needing to tend to farm chores, he wanted to bury the
body of his wife that morning and didn’t expect his day to be interrupted by
providing statements at the coroner’s inquest. The burial of his wife would be
postponed until the next day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.2in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The coroner’s examination
revealed the four or five jagged wounds in 75-year-old Millie’s head and
neck resulted from being struck by an axe or hatchet. Her death certificate
simply states “Murdered” as cause of death, but a supplementary certificate
specifies “skull crushed with some blunt instrument.” When the farmer’s wife
was found in bed, she was still in the clothes that she had worn during the
day. Frank could explain that; Millie’s nighttime habit was to shed her shoes,
crawl into bed and sleep in her clothes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Two hammers and a hatchet were
found in the bedroom. In searching the house, several boxes of matches were
discovered. Why, then, did Frank need to borrow matches from the neighbor? Investigators
also searched an attic room and found an old lard can containing a
blood-stained pair of trousers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.2in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Oh, that. At the coroner’s
inquest, Frank said that he had worn the trousers the previous morning when he
was repairing a wagon. The blood had dripped from his hand after he
accidentally crushed it attempting to set the wagon bed on the running gear. But
why were the slightly bloodied trousers stuffed into an old lard can in the
attic?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.2in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Frank theorized that the murder
happened at night while he was milking his cows on a lot near the house.
When he returned home, he found his wife lying in bed. He spoke to her, but
she didn’t answer. Frank assumed Millie was already asleep. He slept soundly
that fall night; nothing roused the farmer from his slumber, though he awakened
twice during the night. Both times he spoke to her, but she never responded.
The next morning when he awoke, he called out Millie’s name. Again, she didn’t
answer. It was then, he said, that he realized that she was dead.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.2in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Rumors said the Matthewses were
wealthy people who kept a large amount of money in their home, though some
believed Frank buried pockets of cash in various spots on his farm. Some months
earlier, Frank supposedly couldn’t get Millie to return money that he had left
in her care, and townsfolk speculated that it caused discord in the Matthews
marriage. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“No arrests have been made
although suspicion strongly attaches to one person,” announced the <i>Moberly
Weekly Monitor </i>(Oct. 13, 1914), alluding to Frank Matthews. Yet, investigators
admitted they lacked evidence to make an arrest. Other Missouri newspapers,
such as the <i>Centralia Fireside Guard </i>(Oct. 9, 1914), referred to the
crime as “Another Ax Murder.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.2in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>Another?</i> Two years earlier, in Villisca, Iowa, five
members of the Joseph Moore family and their two guests were hacked to death
while they slept. Coroner E. G. Davis remarked that the Matthews murder
“resembled” the Moore murders “in many respects.” In March 1915, a man named
Loving Mitchell was arrested in St. Louis for a committing a triple hatchet
murder in Illinois four years earlier. Mitchell was suspected of the hacking
deaths of many others in the Midwest—including Millie Matthews, but detectives
doubted there was a connection between the crimes. <span style="color: red;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">What became of Frank Matthews?
He relocated some 40 miles north to New Franklin, in Howard County, where he
survived his wife by five years, dying in 1919 at age 90. He suffered with
chronic inflammation of the heart muscle, but it’s not known when he was
diagnosed with that ailment. His death certificate states senility as a
contributing factor to his demise, though that’s commonly found on early 20th-century
death certificates for older adults. The death certificate gives full details
about his exact date and place of birth and the full names of his parents and
their places of birth, suggesting these facts were supplied by a close family
member. Curiously, though, the spaced provided for identifying the informant is
left blank. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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James Pylanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15556648653557776655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429330828339553250.post-16977811629530111462020-02-06T17:45:00.000-08:002020-02-06T17:45:02.551-08:00Finding Black Sheep in Your Family<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh39EYyT92IPFQScU93luNxRcpxp98ihvZ8QjzyCubY4jX58sTC8kf9zCCui1rVBaeJSzIsOvxt7xCmUUPC9NNKjja6HG3D66gh4IsUt5qBc2eMWdFUgJubsZyXR5kZLiMyqH1Mylz6mbv/s1600/Finding+Black+Sheep+in+Your+Family.jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1086" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh39EYyT92IPFQScU93luNxRcpxp98ihvZ8QjzyCubY4jX58sTC8kf9zCCui1rVBaeJSzIsOvxt7xCmUUPC9NNKjja6HG3D66gh4IsUt5qBc2eMWdFUgJubsZyXR5kZLiMyqH1Mylz6mbv/s320/Finding+Black+Sheep+in+Your+Family.jpg.jpg" width="217" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">In the 1950s Leon Nutes was at his mother-in-law’s New York City apartment when a stranger came knocking. Nutes recalled that the man’s handshake was a firm as steel. “Who is he?” he asked. In a hushed tone, his mother-in-law explained, “He’s a cousin of mine and he just got out of jail.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"> Nutes told of this encounter years later in a phone call to Carl R. Migden, a distant cousin who was researching the family tree. Bronx-born Migden learned that the “jail” was the infamous maximum-security prison Sing Sing. And the cousin released from there was Jacob “Kuppy” Migden, a member of the criminal organization known as Crime, Inc.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Kuppy’s criminal activities—an embarrassment to the family—were a long-held family secret. “It was the most fascinating genealogical research I ever undertook,” says Carl R. Migden, who wrote of the quest to uncover his criminal kinsman’s hidden story for a book entitled <i>A Step-by-Step Guide to Finding Black Sheep in Your Family.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">In the 165-page paperback, published in 2016, author Migden gives advice about the sources available for research while detailing his own success with the clues and leads from newspapers, hospitals, cemeteries, courthouses, state archives, the Social Security Administration, municipal archives, census, prisons, U.S. Treasury Department, and the FBI.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"> In newspapers, for instance, the author found more than 20 articles about Kuppy Migden’s involvement in a first-degree murder case in 1939. An order to assassinate a would-be court witness from testifying in a racketeering case led to mistaken identity and the shooting death of the wrong man. Kuppy unsuccessfully attempted to thwart arrest by having his face surgically altered. When he was apprehended, federal agents found Kuppy had planned to conceal his identity with a falsified birth certificate and other documents.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“I discovered the very interesting and rich details that criminal records can reveal… It put faces and images onto the pages of genealogical notes: precise dates, times, locations, buildings, allegations, and more,” says Kuppy’s cousin-turned-sleuth, Carl R. Migden.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>A Step-by-Step Guide to Finding Black Sheep in Your Family </i>may be ordered online for $15.95 plus shipping from eBay: <a href="https://www.ebay.com/itm/Black-sheep-in-your-family/322271906831">https://www.ebay.com/itm/Black-sheep-in-your-family/322271906831</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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James Pylanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15556648653557776655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429330828339553250.post-65869087892457742612020-01-30T14:11:00.000-08:002020-01-30T14:11:37.357-08:00The Mysterious Woman Upstairs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBZSwvuoJh1SnWHyrd_JW18ChjR3DZbBExVMorZYXjuIW9-jZ0tv3MHRIeheSgmkf8Du2U_IfpTulgJ-aiviswDs1y1vk5THkxN0gFaCFE9uu2mx1ikKiYQB3KSf6lhJ20trVofXZjxtO0/s1600/Emma+Borden+at+Newmarket.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="504" data-original-width="560" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBZSwvuoJh1SnWHyrd_JW18ChjR3DZbBExVMorZYXjuIW9-jZ0tv3MHRIeheSgmkf8Du2U_IfpTulgJ-aiviswDs1y1vk5THkxN0gFaCFE9uu2mx1ikKiYQB3KSf6lhJ20trVofXZjxtO0/s400/Emma+Borden+at+Newmarket.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large;">In
November 1915 Mary Connor purchased a large two-story home in the small town of
Newmarket, New Hampshire. Mary and her sister, Annie, moved there from their
farmhouse two miles away. The middle-aged, unmarried sisters were soon joined by
a reclusive older woman, a stranger to townsfolk. George Bennett, the sisters’
former neighbor, would often drop by their new house for a visit. As Bennett
recalled, “that lady living with them would instantly slip away and disappear
upstairs.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .2in;">
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large;">The
mysterious lady was sometimes seen—dressed in black—stepping outside the house
briefly but only at night. From a second-floor bedroom closet, the mysterious
lady had a hidden staircase built that descended to the back of the house. She
made a strange, cryptic remark to one of the Connor sisters of her inevitable
fear that <i>“one night they will come for me.”</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .2in;">
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large;">Mail
carrier Robert Bennett (brother to the sisters’ former neighbor, George
Bennett) knew the name of the mysterious lady living with the Connor sisters,
because he delivered letters addressed to her. She was Emma Borden, the estranged
sister of Lizzie Borden who was acquitted of the 1892 axe murders of her
wealthy father and stepmother in Fall River, Massachusetts. Emma’s New
Hampshire residence was nearly 130 miles away from Fall River.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .2in;">
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large;">This
story, from Frank Spiering’s <i>Lizzie: The Story of Lizzie Borden </i>(New
York: Dorsett Press, 1984), pp. 219-222, says Emma moved into the Connors’ home
in 1916. However, in <i>Lizzie Borden: Past & Present</i> (Fall River:
Al-Zach Press, 1999), pp. 312-313, author Leonard Rebello notes the appearance
of Emma’s name in Fall River directories during 1914 to 1918. She then moved to
an apartment in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1919. Annie Connor later told a
newspaper reporter that Emma moved into her home in 1923.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .2in;">
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large;">What
caused Emma to relocate to the small New Hampshire town? Why did she live in
fear? <s><o:p></o:p></s></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .2in;">
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large;">While
Spiering speculates Emma chose Newmarket because of its remoteness, Rebello’s book<i>
</i>(p. 314) points to a 1981 newspaper article in which Louis Fillon recalled that
while delivering grain to the Connor house, he learned that Emma Borden was
living there. “He was requested by Emma’s lawyer to keep his discovery a secret
to prevent Lizzie from finding Emma’s whereabouts and taking her money.” Annie
Connor was surprised that Fillon discovered the mysterious lady’s identity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .2in;">
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">In
<i>Lizzie: The Story of Lizzie Borden </i>(p. 224), Spiering tells of Emma’s
being awakened at night after hearing a noise on the first floor. She came down
the concealed staircase to investigate but missed her footing and fell,
breaking her hip. She died on June 10, 1927, nine days following the death of
her sister, Lizzie. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />James Pylanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15556648653557776655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429330828339553250.post-26863853984310739132020-01-09T16:53:00.000-08:002020-01-09T17:51:59.136-08:00When walking with Mrs. Fitzpatrick after 9 p.m. could get you arrested<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK5mExQ1bvY9dZt4TsC9OW9nKaCYcnrQLoog7rZf5O5SfNSxNhFdhtq6TCAzVIKZnRQh1wDmjp4nr9xNx4wp04BPMUxkNQEXhMf08UatgUQK-cMqZrlZ1tx7nkmCvMeas14pSanWHPjMLr/s1600/Walking+with+Mary+Fitzpatrick.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="539" data-original-width="759" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK5mExQ1bvY9dZt4TsC9OW9nKaCYcnrQLoog7rZf5O5SfNSxNhFdhtq6TCAzVIKZnRQh1wDmjp4nr9xNx4wp04BPMUxkNQEXhMf08UatgUQK-cMqZrlZ1tx7nkmCvMeas14pSanWHPjMLr/s400/Walking+with+Mary+Fitzpatrick.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In Stephenville, Texas, in the late 1890s, any man seen walking with Mrs. Mary Fitzpatrick after 9 p.m. could be arrested and fined. Why? Because city penal code made it a misdemeanor for any male over 14 caught strolling the streets or riding in a vehicle with a known prostitute. Mrs. Fitzpatrick was one such character.<br />
<br />
In December 1896, six men were arrested for taking night-time strolls with the strumpet.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white;">From <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sins-Pioneers-Crimes-Scandals-Small/dp/B00941BB7C/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Sins+of+the+Pioneers&qid=1578620928&sr=8-1">Sins of the Pioneers: Crimes and Scandals in a Small Texas Town</a></span></div>
James Pylanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15556648653557776655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429330828339553250.post-71379877923508753672016-06-09T15:13:00.000-07:002016-06-09T15:24:17.235-07:00Lifetime's "The Night Stalker" based on true-crime bestseller<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCY9LDDwEJoZp9OQlJKfRzpU7L2l9WgidMECOIDgjLti9yQJtDz2Nb-d_7QkSF3Iv3IMG7x11Z6I28vR1s_mp7h-6m0BGnBKeI0_S6Z0qLx2Fh8AgR3hyphenhyphen5YLsoWshg374prEqkrSl9k2uo/s1600/Lou+Diamond+Phillips.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCY9LDDwEJoZp9OQlJKfRzpU7L2l9WgidMECOIDgjLti9yQJtDz2Nb-d_7QkSF3Iv3IMG7x11Z6I28vR1s_mp7h-6m0BGnBKeI0_S6Z0qLx2Fh8AgR3hyphenhyphen5YLsoWshg374prEqkrSl9k2uo/s320/Lou+Diamond+Phillips.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Eddie Ramos and Lou Diamond Phillips </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">both play killer Richard Ramirez in </span><i style="font-size: 12.8px;">The </i></div>
<i></i><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i><i style="font-size: 12.8px;">Night Stalker,</i><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> Lifetime's movie version of </span></i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Phillip Caro's bestseller of the same name.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.8px;"><i>(Photo: copyright 2016 Michael Clifford)</i></span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i> The Night Stalker, </i>premiering on Lifetime at 8 p.m. (CT), Sunday (June 12), stars Lou Diamond Phillips as Richard Ramirez, the serial killer who terrorized Los Angeles in the mid-1980s. This “real-life” story is not a remake of <i>Nightstalker, </i>the 2002 flick inspired by Ramirez’s crime spree.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Lifetime’s <i>Night Stalker,</i> based on Phillip Carlo’s bestseller of the same name, opens in June 2013 with a lawyer named Kit (Bellamy Young) visiting Ramirez in San Quintin where he’s been imprisoned for two decades. As Kit leaves the prison, she sees other women are waiting to visit with the convicted killer, too. But she’s not there as one of his fans. Kit meets with the Night Stalker to get a confession; she’s been hired to clear another convict who she believes is serving time for murders committed by Ramirez. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Flashbacks retrace Ramirez’s steps in becoming the Night Stalker, but they also reveal disturbing memories from Kit’s past. “You affected my whole life,” she tells him, explaining how their lives paralleled nearly 30 years earlier. </span></div>
James Pylanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15556648653557776655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429330828339553250.post-76433487192908909972015-10-27T12:11:00.000-07:002015-10-27T12:13:37.943-07:00The Violent Life and Death of Samantha Olds<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]--><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_h8HWzG8IJxWpzNGjad1nAmIpisavzicDRE7BqIhkPMLAqQmS9CJZ3bAXJAmZdfzNXilj1hC5eoVVF3qjUm-8HklIRfvp5gCU4_kM__PtNrU7Iielk2DXtEKGaYmhyjZJtjXl8RTvjeHr/s1600/woman-walking-old-mansion_MJVjw_8d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_h8HWzG8IJxWpzNGjad1nAmIpisavzicDRE7BqIhkPMLAqQmS9CJZ3bAXJAmZdfzNXilj1hC5eoVVF3qjUm-8HklIRfvp5gCU4_kM__PtNrU7Iielk2DXtEKGaYmhyjZJtjXl8RTvjeHr/s320/woman-walking-old-mansion_MJVjw_8d.jpg" width="255" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Halloween</span> 2015 <span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">marks the 165<sup>th</sup> birthday of
Samantha Olds, one of the victims of an axe-wielding frenzy at a
dilapidated Texas farmhouse in 1925. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Violence had a strange, lifelong grip on her.
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Beautiful and vivacious, Samantha had a penchant for
dangerous men, and they were equally drawn to her. Her teenage marriage to Amos
Smith ended when he was gunned down in a hit orchestrated by a couple of his
gambling partners in Iredell, Texas, in 1875. One of the men, according to <i>The
Austin Statesman</i>, “was exceedingly intimate with Smith’s wife.” However,
Samantha was never implicated in the crime, whereas the two gamblers and their
triggerman were lynched. While awaiting execution, one of the men reportedly
said, “This will make seven men who have been killed in quarrels about Mrs.
Smith.”
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Soon Amos Smith’s widow was on the prowl for a new
husband. She found Bill Olds, who was later arrested for theft, forgery, and
murder. The daughters from the first marriage despised Olds for mistreating
their mother. Samantha, however, used a gun to keep her husband at bay. She
finally abandoned him in Iredell and moved to Waco with family members. “That
old lady could shoot better than any man I know,” recalled a longtime Wacoan. “She
lived down by the wagon yards and used to shoot up the place right regular—just
for the hell of it.”
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Samantha’s legacy as a beacon of brutality passed to her
daughter by Bill Olds, Maggie, who was twice widowed with the murders of her
second and fourth husbands. Her choice for a fifth husband, F. M. Snow, led to the
1925 gruesome tragedy. She married the woodchopper shortly after the family
moved to Erath County from Waco. Samantha’s new son-in-law, whom she called a “no-account,”
was a violent ex-convict. Weeks after this unholy union, Samantha, Maggie, and
Maggie’s son were butchered by Snow in an uncontrollable fit of rage. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> No pictures are known to exist of Samantha or Maggie.
Curiously, photographs of the fireplace where Snow burned her body show what
some say is a woman’s face outlined on the chimney’s bricks.
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCsweNMReLTTa9lpY0dv8LD0wdiiHH5saQi25RwxJnxGissQJIJVXAFnRyaw7vp8Q9sjsJC2uoyWZoRPZJpJizOF4e1hRuV6diXkKpLXV9qUETKxqlyezrHQ18igpfj3sPcpDX5DrGkhLA/s1600/Snow+fireplace.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCsweNMReLTTa9lpY0dv8LD0wdiiHH5saQi25RwxJnxGissQJIJVXAFnRyaw7vp8Q9sjsJC2uoyWZoRPZJpJizOF4e1hRuV6diXkKpLXV9qUETKxqlyezrHQ18igpfj3sPcpDX5DrGkhLA/s400/Snow+fireplace.jpg" width="400" /> </a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.alibris.com/Blood-Legacy-The-True-Story-of-the-Snow-Axe-Murders-James-Pylant/book/26627020?binding=S&qsort=p">Blood Legacy: The True Story of the Snow Axe Murders</a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
James Pylanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15556648653557776655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429330828339553250.post-2997981453997372372015-07-13T07:40:00.000-07:002015-07-13T07:40:34.112-07:00Gunfighterology<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That's the name of Bill O'Neal's upcoming presentation at the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum. We'll be there!</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4pz-nuPanvKDVBqlryIJeNhNC8kFdgb5SwRcaNlP9QW_urPUpmfXnT5HnW9vOk8WYCej5MxzY7fr4R3opA82pEe6Tl_zEaPJ0z1JQnVKId_-U13L0Xs70BIwrcQ-Ct7WzMHyN6lxIIMp3/s1600/Gunfighterology.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4pz-nuPanvKDVBqlryIJeNhNC8kFdgb5SwRcaNlP9QW_urPUpmfXnT5HnW9vOk8WYCej5MxzY7fr4R3opA82pEe6Tl_zEaPJ0z1JQnVKId_-U13L0Xs70BIwrcQ-Ct7WzMHyN6lxIIMp3/s320/Gunfighterology.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />James Pylanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15556648653557776655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429330828339553250.post-20002584286297307262014-01-23T08:32:00.000-08:002014-01-23T08:32:52.742-08:00Lizzie Borden Brings Her Hatchet to TV<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">One of America’s most infamous
unsolved murders will unfold in <i>Lizzie
Borden Took an Ax, </i>premiering on Lifetime, January 25 (8 p.m., ET). Golden
Globe® and Emmy® Award nominee Christina
Ricci takes on the title role, while Stephen McHattie and Sara Botsford portray
her father and stepmother. Screen Actors Guild Award® winner<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #455560; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span>Clea
DuVall plays older sister Emma. The 2014 movie, however, is not a remake of <i>The Legend of Lizzie Borden, </i>the 1975
made-for-TV movie starring <i>Bewitched</i>
actress Elizabeth Montgomery. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On a hot August day in 1892,
wealthy Andrew Borden and his wife, Abby, were the victims of a
hatching-swinging killer in their home in Fall River, Massachusetts. Borden’s
daughter Lizzie, an unmarried Sunday school teacher, was charged with
committing the double homicide, but at the sensational trial that followed, the
accused murderess was found not guilty. The gruesome story, a crime writer’s
dream come true, has spawned countless books, many with different perspectives
and theories which set out to prove or disprove Lizzie’s guilt.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Lizzie
Borden Took an Ax </i>captures
the tension and resentment in the Borden household, but viewers can expect the
movie will take creative license with the facts. Five-foot-three Abby Borden was
“very well nourished and very fleshy,” at least according to the autopsy. That
hardly describes Sara Botsford, the outstanding yet oft-overlooked Canadian
actress who portrays Lizzie’s stepmother. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Christina Ricci had already
turned 33 when it was announced she would play Lizzie Borden, making her closer
in age to her character than Elizabeth Montgomery, who was 41 when she depicted
the 32-year-old accused murderess. Although it’s hard to imagine the 2014
movie—or any other incarnation—eclipsing <i>The
Legend of Lizzie Borden, </i>Lifetime’s <i>Lizzie
Borden Took an Ax </i>sports a fine cast and a script from <i>Mod Squad </i>screenwriter Stephen Kay. </span><span style="font-family: Palatino Linotype, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcG5PJHLGebhumjuQk62hZJgvlBq6SBlrhrrq9NC_ZF8uIf9guD6S-JLu7rNwy3C-lq1Ccumi4Nc8K1sWTGz3NyIKGhrRurrZ7_XzkLyQ4n9e-KxwDctMp64j5I44Ew_1wNN60JyIC-E6l/s1600/Lizzie+Borden+Took+an+Ax.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcG5PJHLGebhumjuQk62hZJgvlBq6SBlrhrrq9NC_ZF8uIf9guD6S-JLu7rNwy3C-lq1Ccumi4Nc8K1sWTGz3NyIKGhrRurrZ7_XzkLyQ4n9e-KxwDctMp64j5I44Ew_1wNN60JyIC-E6l/s1600/Lizzie+Borden+Took+an+Ax.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Christina Ricci stars in Lifetime's fact-based movie, <i>Lizzie Borden Took an Ax<br />(Photo Courtesy of Lifetime. Copyright 2014)</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
James Pylanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15556648653557776655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429330828339553250.post-66591958548712036662013-06-08T09:25:00.000-07:002013-06-08T09:25:02.837-07:00A review of "Sins of the Pioneers"<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Bob Alexander’s latest book,
<i>Riding Lucifer’s Line: Ranger Deaths
Along the Texas-Mexico Border, </i>includes a review of my second true-crime
volume, <i>Sins of the Pioneers: Crimes & Scandals in a Small Texas Town. </i>Alexander
wrote:</span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Author Pylant creates an
enlightening portrait of the routine and not-so-routine criminality and
scandals, surgically exposing the underbelly of Stephenville's raunchy and racy
and sometimes perilous past.”</span></span></blockquote>
James Pylanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15556648653557776655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429330828339553250.post-84060825169699635932012-06-26T11:00:00.000-07:002012-06-26T11:04:22.061-07:00Pistols, Petticoats, and Poker<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrnI9G4-_gr8s4KO6Ia-7zP7jNbqkzLYUWQyuo35Uy0mM4XvfGysc61UQEHboHImURjflXRCxNlIeYVPo-u4KxpDHYH9gfInO8N31Q_TiUlvR768ihGT8cCz455B0kffeAzljg6csoYw0n/s1600/Pistols,+Petticoats+&+Poker.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrnI9G4-_gr8s4KO6Ia-7zP7jNbqkzLYUWQyuo35Uy0mM4XvfGysc61UQEHboHImURjflXRCxNlIeYVPo-u4KxpDHYH9gfInO8N31Q_TiUlvR768ihGT8cCz455B0kffeAzljg6csoYw0n/s320/Pistols,+Petticoats+&+Poker.JPG" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> I first read about Lottie Deno in the pages of a Texas history book, Ida Lasater Huckabay’s <i>Ninety-Four Years in Jack County, 1854-1948 </i>(privately published by the author in 1948). Lottie Deno, Huckabay explained, was one of the most successful gamblers at Fort Griffin during the Old West days of Lone Star State. Lottie, whose real name was unknown, was also regarded as strange and very reserved. Somewhere along the way she earned the nickname Mystic Maud. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Jan Devereaux, recipient of awards from both the Western Outlaw-Lawmen History Association and the National Association for Outlaw and Lawman History Association, carefully backtracked the legendary Lottie Deno’s life, sifting through the folklore until she could reconstruct a true portrait of the lady gambler. Even the oft-published photograph identified as being that of Lottie Deno, Ms. Devereaux learned, was actually of someone else. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Lottie Deno is said to have been the inspiration for the character Miss Kitty Russell, the red-headed saloon keeper portrayed by actress Amanda Blake in the long-running TV series <i>Gunsmoke.</i> “We never say it, but Kitty is a prostitute, pure and simple,” said Norman McDowell, the show’s creator. Jan Devereaux found evidence where Lottie Deno was charged with <i>“keeping a disorderly house.”</i> Like Miss Kitty, Lottie Deno was described as having dark red hair.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> In Silver City, New Mexico, in 1880, Lottie Deno, at age 35, wedded Frank Thurmond. The marriage license records giving her name as Carlotta J. Thompkins. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Despite these discoveries much of the colorful Old West character’s life is shrouded in mystery. Jan Devereaux’s research unfolds in a book entitled <i>Pistols, Petticoats, & Poker: The Real Lottie Deno: No Lies or Alibis. </i>This well-documented, 277-page volume includes more than 100 photographs. It's available from the publisher’s website, <a href="http://www.high-lonesomebooks.com/">High-LonesomeBooks.com</a></span></div>
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<br /></div>James Pylanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15556648653557776655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429330828339553250.post-39625056282485480472012-05-05T15:01:00.001-07:002022-06-12T18:44:28.678-07:00"Behind the Scarlet Mask" Inspired by Real Events<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">J. T. Upchurch's novel exposed the <br />truth about prostitution in Texas</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> In J. T. Upchurch’s 1924 novel, <i>Behind the Scarlet Mask,</i> he told of a bartender called Jo Sally, a man who was born and raised in the red light district. “His mother was an outcast, his grandmother was an outcast, his great-grandmother was an outcast, and for ten generations back his maternal antecedents were of the scarlet sisterhood,” Upchurch wrote. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> The author, as a long-time social reformer whose mission was to stop prostitution, was very familiar with the profession and the lives of those working in the trade. He drew heavily on that knowledge when writing <i>Behind the Scarlet Mask</i>, often creating characters based on actual experiences and people in Texas, including Waco. While Jo Sally was likely a composite character, he may have been loosely based on a Waco businessman named W. R. “Bud” Orman. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Not unlike Jo Sally, Bud Orman came from a questionable family background. How his divorced mother supported her three children and two unemployed young black women is unknown, except that Mrs. Orman had a “bad reputation.” Bud earned a living as a gambler, saloonkeeper, and a real estate investor. Specifically, Orman’s real estate investing involved building a bordello. He also was known to cosign bonds when madams were arrested for running “bawdy houses.” In fact, several such establishments dotted a lane in Waco known as Orman’s Alley. As Sherri Knight and I explain in </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Oldest Profession in Texas,</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> the offspring of madams and prostitutes often kept their ties to the red light district; they knew of no other way of life.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> In September 1885 a hack driver began repeating old tales about Mrs. Orman’s alleged past as a prostitute, and her livid son responded by shooting the man to death. Bud Orman stood trial for murder the next spring.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> “The testimony is shockingly indecent,” reported the </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Dallas Morning News. </i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“The courtroom was crowded.” </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A jury found him guilty, but his attorney succeeded in having the case reversed and remanded. When a second trial ended with the same verdict, his attorney once again won a reversal. The third trial was heard in 1888, and this time jurors decided the accused was not guilty. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Despite the scandalous murder trail, Bud Orman remained in Waco. He died there in 1920, four years before J. T. Upchurch’s novel appeared in print. In </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Behind the Scarlet Mask,</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Jo Sally loses control of his anger and kills a man in a saloon. But unlike Bud Orman, Jo Sally’s murder trial ends with a guilty verdict which sentences him to death by hanging. </span><br />
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<br /></div>James Pylanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15556648653557776655noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429330828339553250.post-21224455316751641322012-04-29T15:15:00.002-07:002012-04-29T15:15:45.398-07:00A Look at Nineteenth Century Seduction<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Nineteenth century Texans deemed that a girl had reached the “age of consent” on the day of her tenth birthday. Any man having carnal knowledge of a female under the age of ten — with or without her consent — was guilty of rape. The revised penal code, as amended in 1887, raised the age of consent by only two years. The Lone Star State was not alone in that mindset; other states had also followed the old English common law. After the age had been raised to 16 in New York, two attempts were made to lower it to 14, first in 1890 and two years later. <i>The Encyclopedia of Social Reform</i> (1897) reported that earlier in Delaware, “the age was at the shockingly low period of 7 years!” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Are the fathers who pass such laws drunk or insane?” asked a journalist in 1905. By that year Texas had raised the age of consent to fifteen. In the Carolinas, however, it remained at the age of 10. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In Texas, a man eloping with a seventeen-year-old girl was guilty of breaking the law because he did not have parental consent. Yet, had he merely seduced her without eloping, no harm had been done — <i>unless</i> he first promised her marriage. And that could have led to an indictment for seduction. Even though a 15 year-old girl had reached the age of consent, the seduction of an adult female as old as 25 was still an indictable offense if her lover first promised marriage. The guilty party could face a five-year prison sentence or a fine up to $5,000. But such cases were hard to prove in court. A female was considered “an incompetent witness,” at least until the law changed in 1891 which allowed her to testify.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Texas’s statute provided an escape clause if the male were willing to make good on his promise. “If the parties marry each other at any time before the conviction of the defendant in good faith…no prosecution shall take place, or, if begun, it shall be dismissed,” the law stated.</span></div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />James Pylanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15556648653557776655noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429330828339553250.post-88272714885222762002012-04-22T16:44:00.000-07:002012-04-22T17:05:54.761-07:00Did John Wilkes Booth Flee to Texas?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfV19ztsb7RZ8qnHmLgaHXXHOMkhRtPwlH1jLrGoFgPjmIQ0O4mrFsQaNOlxFzHHReuM0n8NVNHVEuLvXwk8l_KRr_V2c3qVaaTNdoMw7NDoWqsMdKZE6yvrCK-3ApG877ilgaj0Smx1Pl/s1600/CUMMINGS%252C+Russell.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfV19ztsb7RZ8qnHmLgaHXXHOMkhRtPwlH1jLrGoFgPjmIQ0O4mrFsQaNOlxFzHHReuM0n8NVNHVEuLvXwk8l_KRr_V2c3qVaaTNdoMw7NDoWqsMdKZE6yvrCK-3ApG877ilgaj0Smx1Pl/s320/CUMMINGS%252C+Russell.JPG" width="152" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;">
Russell Cummings at </div>
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the premiere of <i>The </i></div>
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<i>Legend </i><i><div style="display: inline !important;">
<i>of Hell's Gate </i></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Many tales are told of infamous characters such as Jesse James, Billy the Kid, and John Wilkes Booth faking their own deaths and fleeing to Texas and assuming new identities. The late outlaw historian and author Phillip Steele once told me that of all of the claims he had heard, the one he considered most intriguing was that of John St. Helen, believed by many to have been John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln. St. Helen, a barkeep, ended up in the small town of Granbury in the 1870s. About thirty miles away, near Stephenville, lived a woman identified only as “Mrs. Booth,” who claimed that Lincoln’s assassin was her husband’s cousin. “It is generally believed that Booth is dead, reported the </span><i style="background-color: white;">Stephenville Empire</i><span style="background-color: white;"> (Aug. 8, 1885), “but this lady says that it a mistake; that he is still alive, and that the family knows where he is.” </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Granbury would not only become home to John St. Helen, but also to J. Frank Dalton, who made headlines in 1948 when he claimed to be Jesse James. Dalton was not alone; Phillip Steele found at least a half-dozen other men who claimed to be that Wild West bandit.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"> I recently attended the premiere of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007SS7N2A/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=genealogymagaz07&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B007SS7N2A"> The Legend of Hell's Gate,</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=genealogymagaz07&l=as2&o=1&a=B007SS7N2A" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">a Western that depicts John St. Helen, J. Frank Dalton, and John Davis Howard (an alias of Jesse James) in Texas. St. Helen is portrayed by Henry Thomas, with Lukas Behnken as Dalton and Russell Quinn Cummings as Howard. Perhaps one of the lines in the movie best explains why John Wilkes Booth and Jesse James would supposedly end up in the same small town: </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Granbury can be a great place to become someone else.”</i></div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />James Pylanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15556648653557776655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429330828339553250.post-68909155989382424222011-12-04T09:07:00.000-08:002020-02-26T17:11:19.715-08:00The State of Texas vs. One Chicken<div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoM5nvAcn38JFP7hzhxL2kj6MiIt9kAQKV1s4n6kPEWDAp4zbdLFqpFi7Q5vqLxIkwn3p9_ey-TqFteWfNH6oiSiM2ocX2Q1gvCHsMB76JEXGo-j-M4AtYj0Y8oHbpEY7lZiNpvOI9OKjl/s1600/Wanted+One+Chicken.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1416" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoM5nvAcn38JFP7hzhxL2kj6MiIt9kAQKV1s4n6kPEWDAp4zbdLFqpFi7Q5vqLxIkwn3p9_ey-TqFteWfNH6oiSiM2ocX2Q1gvCHsMB76JEXGo-j-M4AtYj0Y8oHbpEY7lZiNpvOI9OKjl/s320/Wanted+One+Chicken.jpg" width="283" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif;">While searching through 100-year-old criminal
records in Waco, Texas, I came across an indictment against “one Chicken.”
Although it may sound like a case of a fowl running afoul of the law, it
was a<b> </b>situation where officials filed charges against
a lawbreaker who was only known by his nickname: <i>Chicken. </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif;"> Similarly,
Erath County officials charged “One Cat-Faced Kid” with gaming within the city
of Dublin in November 1891. Then in May of 1894 a charge of prostitution was
filed against “One Cross-Eyed Woman.” </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
Chicken’s identity surfaces in another indictment in Waco. In January
1903 Jonathan Columbus Turnbow, alias Chicken, did “unlawfully keep and
exhibit, for the purpose of gaming, a gaming table and bank.” In 1910 either he
or one of his relatives, noted only as “Mr. Turnbow,” and a madam, Mary Doud,
were subpoenaed as witnesses in the <i>State of Texas vs. Mary Hayden</i> in
which the accused was charged with running a brothel in Waco.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
Sometimes indictments reveal the true identities of these colorfully
named characters when arrests were made. The accused, if posting bond, had to
sign his or her name. But not so in the cases of Erath County’s feline-faced kid
or the cross-eyed hooker, both of whom apparently eluded capture.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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James Pylanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15556648653557776655noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429330828339553250.post-33616239665648292492011-11-13T15:42:00.001-08:002020-03-10T07:14:43.741-07:00The Murder of Josiah Philips <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A story featured in <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sins-Pioneers-Crimes-Scandals-Small/dp/B00941BB7C/">Sins of the Pioneers: Crimes & Scandals in a Small Texas Town</a></i> tells of schoolteacher Josiah Philips who had only been married a couple of months when the Lone Star State became embroiled in the War Between the States. Enlisting in the Confederate States Army, he was appointed chaplain of his regiment. Philips became a Presbyterian minister after the war, and he and his wife became parents to seven children, all of whom they raised on an Erath County farm. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRNp3AvZhmmv60UN2OCiyc7M2jbq0IgNrRCC0-iGe9CDauBIN-180RbMWhqO3J1A-vYLngJoxbUM9XzyO7NTSkv16unFCmWh-6IxG61d2gI73S8ZECyRio42xd-ko3uDMqX8FYsi90detL/s1600/PHILIPS%252C+Josah+funeral+notice.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRNp3AvZhmmv60UN2OCiyc7M2jbq0IgNrRCC0-iGe9CDauBIN-180RbMWhqO3J1A-vYLngJoxbUM9XzyO7NTSkv16unFCmWh-6IxG61d2gI73S8ZECyRio42xd-ko3uDMqX8FYsi90detL/s320/PHILIPS%252C+Josah+funeral+notice.JPG" width="203" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>(Courtesy of Stephenville Museum)</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One of Philips’s older sons, Willard, was judged insane and institutionalized, but in January of 1898 his parents brought their thirty-year-old son back home. He was not entirely discharged from the asylum, and the parents were cautioned that they may need to send him back.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> A little after dark on Saturday, May 7, 1898, Reverend Philips completed his work and returned home in his wagon. His son, hearing the father drive into the lot, took a gun and went outside to greet his father with gunfire. The fatal shot struck Josiah Philips in the lower part of his face on the right side, blasting away his jaw line. The killer was arrested and lodged in the county jail on Sunday morning. His trial was set for Monday, May 23.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As Willard Philips was found insane, officials returned him to the asylum on November 17. Two years later residents of Erath County were shocked by similar murder in their midst. In April of 1900 nineteen-year-old farmer’s daughter May Bruce took an axe and gave her mother several whacks. May, a blue-eyed, dark-haired beauty, who had been an affectionate and attentive daughter and a good student in school, could offer no motivation for the crime. “Do not know why I did it,” she said. “There was not a cross word between us. No quarrel; nothing at all.”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> The story of mysterious May Bruce also unfolds in the pages of <i>Sins of the Pioneers. </i>In researching this bizarre case, I had the opportunity to meet and visit with three of May’s nieces who shared interesting family stories for the book. </span>James Pylanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15556648653557776655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429330828339553250.post-58695083889106107592011-10-12T19:33:00.000-07:002011-10-12T19:33:10.973-07:00The Ghost at McDow's Hole<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzyH6WDOdqMlxefjsdDA2b4Hz4ET0736axV4b5QuT559p7gRACMpug8sbGgZMHSHHJxKP6ImkFBdpx3vcFQrJP-pCzB0rJTMsB-tMDuEqomFHoihE22xWa_qUGDnk3cG_JMfbWQYAqfHYL/s1600/McDow%2527s+Hole+2011+B.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzyH6WDOdqMlxefjsdDA2b4Hz4ET0736axV4b5QuT559p7gRACMpug8sbGgZMHSHHJxKP6ImkFBdpx3vcFQrJP-pCzB0rJTMsB-tMDuEqomFHoihE22xWa_qUGDnk3cG_JMfbWQYAqfHYL/s320/McDow%2527s+Hole+2011+B.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">McDow's Hole as it looks today<br />
<i>(Courtesy of Sherri Knight)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In <i><a href="http://www.jacobusbooks.com/Sins-of-the-Pioneers-Crimes-Scandals-in-a-Small-Texas-Town-JB-004.htm">Sins of the Pioneers: Crimes & Scandals in a Small Texas Town</a>,</i> I told the legend of Jenny Papworth, a young wife and mother who met her fate at the hands of ruthless cattle-rustlers along McDow’s Hole, in Erath County, sometime in the 1870s. Several versions of this story were repeated over the years, always ending with eerie nighttime sightings of Jenny Papworth’s ghostly return to her neighborhood. Witnesses insisted that the willowy apparition bellows a blood-curdling scream. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb6uqlIFIy4w7XWEHY5RIFHkVTOVB9QRxZaigQ-fpRyBUlAXkOt1yMPR-Uyia6ucvh1E3islVbApHAUHxJB-AS1SsvHMTQnT0yNPSazz1kWGV8q-49Q5QG0lt0U2JaE61CqqY5DsOQzTA8/s1600/LONG%252C+Sheriff+R+T.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb6uqlIFIy4w7XWEHY5RIFHkVTOVB9QRxZaigQ-fpRyBUlAXkOt1yMPR-Uyia6ucvh1E3islVbApHAUHxJB-AS1SsvHMTQnT0yNPSazz1kWGV8q-49Q5QG0lt0U2JaE61CqqY5DsOQzTA8/s200/LONG%252C+Sheriff+R+T.JPG" width="172" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sheriff R. T. Long<br />
<i>(Courtesy of Stephenville Museum)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One entirely different version of the haunting at McDow’s Hole made its way into the pages of a national magazine sometime in the late 1950s or early 1960s when Texas writer Lewis Nordyke wrote an article for <i>Cavalier</i> called “Even the Ghosts Are Greater in Texas.” According to Nordyke, Sheriff R. T. Long, believing that the screams were made by a panther, kept a late-night vigil at McDow’s Hole until he, too, saw a strange apparition, a cloud forming over the water that morphed into the shape of a woman clutching a baby. Long, as the story goes, reported hearing the cloudy figure emit a piercing scream. “There is no man on earth who can begin to describe the feeling that comes over you when you are near McDow after sundown,” Long reportedly said. "You are scared to the marrow of your bones whether you see or hear anything or not." </span></div>James Pylanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15556648653557776655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429330828339553250.post-49567032133199542132011-08-28T14:01:00.000-07:002011-08-28T14:03:58.325-07:00What became of prostitutes' children?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeORRkSxYI39olALTQsJ6d9K4C8JrVCc2E47p_xbyK5814CkShJtx7I8IYgmriSoyhqew2sVto233diMZMcngbAvM_dp9rjnH4qBYpH48PszMaqwb6DoXPHOMMZid3jYYBuv-IDg7BsLvs/s1600/baby+farm.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeORRkSxYI39olALTQsJ6d9K4C8JrVCc2E47p_xbyK5814CkShJtx7I8IYgmriSoyhqew2sVto233diMZMcngbAvM_dp9rjnH4qBYpH48PszMaqwb6DoXPHOMMZid3jYYBuv-IDg7BsLvs/s320/baby+farm.JPG" width="223" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A young mother leaves her infant at a "baby farm"</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Many divorced prostitutes and madams lost custody of their children or they simply left them behind after embarking on a career in the skin trade. Others either sent their children away to live with relatives or they managed to keep and raise them in the business. Not surprising, many daughters followed their mother's professional footsteps. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> While prostitutes used a variety of contraceptives--from alum to carbolic acid--pregnancies still resulted. Abortions, though illegal, could greatly endanger their health. History professor Ruth Rosen, author of <i>The Lost Sisterhood: Prostitution in America, 1900-1918,</i> explains that prostitutes were known to tote their unplanned offspring to what was called a "baby farm," where children were cared for by an older woman who was often a one-time worker in the skin trade. <i><a href="http://www.jacobusbooks.com/The-Oldest-Profession-in-Texas-JB-008.htm">The Oldest Profession in Texas: Waco's Legal Red Light District</a></i> gives examples of madams and pimps adopting the offspring of their working girls. Such arrangements were not always formal adoptions, but they were often the only choice a prostitute had to "place" her child. (Society frowned on the mainstream adoption of these "tainted" children.) </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> In 1912 <i>The American Journal of Clinical Medicine</i> declared that, among prostitutes, both illegitimacy and abortion were "comparatively infrequent." However, social reformer J. T. Upchurch disagreed. "There are born in the United States annually one hundred and fifty thousand babies under the scarlet curse," he wrote in his novel, <i>The Scarlet Mask.</i></span>James Pylanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15556648653557776655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429330828339553250.post-37670295182352237982011-08-21T13:46:00.000-07:002020-03-10T07:13:32.139-07:00Rube Burrow gained notoriety as a daring train robber<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ5aAa2XIsGJDZuvfc6mKkS77lCeCMxtzPWYGy16HjNbY4k-cQH6bdCRlDtwuoPedsCQzaztwiBvzobgk1nPSEzPc5tVS5vjsghOROChXCxrmV4LCEPrxHnU7nqs97T1RPmmjt_Tos2w0J/s1600/STEPHEN%252C+Homer.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ5aAa2XIsGJDZuvfc6mKkS77lCeCMxtzPWYGy16HjNbY4k-cQH6bdCRlDtwuoPedsCQzaztwiBvzobgk1nPSEzPc5tVS5vjsghOROChXCxrmV4LCEPrxHnU7nqs97T1RPmmjt_Tos2w0J/s320/STEPHEN%252C+Homer.JPG" width="235" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
Homer Stephen holds the weapon Rube Burrow </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
used in his train robberies. </div>
<i>(Courtesy of Stephenville Museum)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Organized Crime," a chapter in <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sins-Pioneers-Crimes-Scandals-Small/dp/B00941BB7C/">Sins of the Pioneers</a></i>, ends with a brief story about Reuben Houston "Rube" Burrow, who formed a band of outlaws. The Burrows gang gained infamy throughout the South as the most daring train robbers since Jesse James. In 1872 Rube Burrow left his native Alabama and came to Texas, first settling on the small ranch of his uncle, Joel Burrow. After being joined in Erath by his brother, James Buchanan "Jim" Burrow, Rube organized an outlaw gang.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Harry Hawkeye's <i>Rube Burrow, the Outlaw</i> (Baltimore: I. & M. Ottenheimer, 1908, pp. 9-11), states:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> "At this time his party, consisting of Jim Burrow, Nep Thornton and Henderson Bromley [Brumley], returning from a bootless excursion into Indian Territory, rode in the direction of Bellevue, a station on the Fort Worth and Denver Railway. Here Rube proposed to rob the train, which they knew to be due at Bellevue at 11 o'clock a.m. Hitching their horses in the woods a few hundred yards away, they stealthily approached a water tank three hundred yards west of the station, and where the train usually stopped for water. Thornton held up the engineer and fireman, while Rube, Bromley [Brumley] and Jim Burrow went and robbed the passengers, but did not molest the express.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> "The booty amounted only to a few hundred dollars and some miscellaneous jewelry of no great value.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> "This, his first train robbery, a rather impromptu affair, far from satisfied the greed of the amateur and stimulated his predisposition to take up the business as a profession."</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> While none of Rube Burrow's robberies happened in Erath, he did garner arrests for less serious offenses in the county.</span><br />
<i><br />
</i>James Pylanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15556648653557776655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429330828339553250.post-8058880411325943422011-08-17T10:48:00.000-07:002020-03-18T14:34:56.692-07:00The Legend of Old Man Snow<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieyG74gduy-_VnQ8Ogr5b9Ibb3IwoDGOJGA69saLfGTicxHTN8F4lU2fBZWJmr0cllMs6YVuz30GvAVR_b2bsO0OdOu3RZHyz7XDFzeXbuTnTTWwLy9K2CnJ_nstFUWt8pySuY6tpyPqpm/s1600/Canaan%2527s+Oothoon.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieyG74gduy-_VnQ8Ogr5b9Ibb3IwoDGOJGA69saLfGTicxHTN8F4lU2fBZWJmr0cllMs6YVuz30GvAVR_b2bsO0OdOu3RZHyz7XDFzeXbuTnTTWwLy9K2CnJ_nstFUWt8pySuY6tpyPqpm/s320/Canaan%2527s+Oothoon.JPG" width="206" /></a> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Killer F. M. Snow, convicted of the 1925 murder of Bernie Connally, became a character in folklore--while sitting on death row--when Milton Brown wrote a song entitled "Old Man Snow." (Brown is now remembered as "the father of Western swing.") Decades later came Carroll Martin's ballad, "The Legend of Ole Man Snow." Both ballads were reprinted in the updated <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Legacy-True-Story-Murders/dp/0962274690/">Blood Legacy: The True Story of the Snow Axe Murders</a>. </i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Now only did several embellished versions of F. M. Snow's bloody saga unfold in detective magazines over the years, but the gruesome tale inspired two vignettes in Mary Joe Clendenin's <i>Galloping Ghosts </i>(1997). Most recently, the murders and the Snow farm made appearances in Donna Walker-Nixon's novel, C<i>anaan's Oothoon </i>(2010).</span>James Pylanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15556648653557776655noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429330828339553250.post-73124006927123114682011-08-02T13:35:00.000-07:002011-08-02T13:35:11.168-07:001976 Murder Case Continues to Fascinate<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIRiITp5M3XNuXtA2b43ZQFNPqw_5QpI4zqlNS9h57-tFhMNGMWKiWSxXlrJaiohUfsOfevt-dgxNjTjtQFr3_9ESKkHD-7N1o94SnYamdFoB9A9pKvoGDwjqr18w8ZY-QALxl1oWkruij/s1600/Sex+Murder+and+Unwritten+Law.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIRiITp5M3XNuXtA2b43ZQFNPqw_5QpI4zqlNS9h57-tFhMNGMWKiWSxXlrJaiohUfsOfevt-dgxNjTjtQFr3_9ESKkHD-7N1o94SnYamdFoB9A9pKvoGDwjqr18w8ZY-QALxl1oWkruij/s320/Sex+Murder+and+Unwritten+Law.JPG" width="211" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, geneva; font-size: x-small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Today marks the thirty-fifth anniversary of the shocking shooting rampage at a Fort Worth mansion that left two people dead and two others wounded, all at the hands of "a man in black." </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Cullen Davis stood trial for the crime and was acquitted in 1977. Melody McDonald, a writer for the <i><a href="http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/07/30/3258283/racehorse-haynes-looks-back-at.html#my-headlines-default">Fort Worth Star-Telegram</a>, </i>recently interviewed attorney Richard "Racehorse" Haynes about his defense of Davis. The saga unfolded in a television miniseries as well as several books, most recently in <i>Sex, Murder and the Unwritten Law </i>by Bill Neal. Cullen Davis declined to comment for the Melody McDonald article. However, a few years ago I interviewed him for an online magazine article, "<a href="http://www.genealogymagazine.com/cullendavis.html">A Texas Oil Dynasty</a>," which told about the roots of the Davis family. </span>James Pylanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15556648653557776655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429330828339553250.post-73640742723110380712011-07-28T14:47:00.000-07:002011-09-30T15:49:15.201-07:00The Red Light District of Waco<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLIxAuU3ZsjJV2V_ALazff-dbPHjpTpv8doHqsXCaq-4aJldjWLzOY-0GT5WqpLS6ZsDqXLuTE3K_As_8XXAXxbGrrPTYA3X2orakkRmNn-oetjbMtCETMU57pVkOSAp_a8-DG5NM7mwRN/s1600/Madam+blog+photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLIxAuU3ZsjJV2V_ALazff-dbPHjpTpv8doHqsXCaq-4aJldjWLzOY-0GT5WqpLS6ZsDqXLuTE3K_As_8XXAXxbGrrPTYA3X2orakkRmNn-oetjbMtCETMU57pVkOSAp_a8-DG5NM7mwRN/s320/Madam+blog+photo.JPG" width="295" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photograph by David Houghton</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sherri Knight and I were interviewed by J. B. Smith, a staff writer for the <i>Waco Tribune-Herald</i>'s July 27, 2011, issue about our joint writing endeavor, <i>The Oldest Profession in Texas: Waco's Legal Red Light District.</i> This 380-page paperback (released in May) was the subject of Smith's excellent, in-depth article about "the Reservation," the name given to the red light district of Waco. "<i>The Oldest Profession in Texas</i> takes a nonjudgmental tone toward the Reservation era," Smith writes, "but Pylant said he thinks Waco's containment strategy for prostitution was a mistake that trapped hundreds of women in an underworld." </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> While the legalization of prostitution brought money into city offers, it did nothing to curb crime in the red light district. Reservation women were frequent victims of assault, robbery, arson, alcoholism, drug abuse, suicide, and murder. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> We were also interviewed by Paul Romer about Reservation madam Cora McMahan for the <i>Temple Daily Telegram. </i>Romer's <a href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/default/article/Waco-madam-s-life-recalled-1401059.php">article</a> then went nationwide on May 29, 2011, when it caught the attention of the Associated Press. Cora, not unlike other workers in the skin trade, took up with the wrong man. This led to her being ambushed and executed by a group of vigilantes in 1890.</span>James Pylanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15556648653557776655noreply@blogger.com0