Grave Used to Trap Tourists

Steven Sederwall is no longer fighting to exhume "Brushy Bill" Roberts to see if he was Billy the Kid. He can't be certain where to dig.

Sederwall said he suspects Roberts' actual grave is at the back of the cemetery and the one up front is "a tourist trap for them to sell their wares," referring to the Billy the Kid Museum in Hamilton. The back of the headstone, which is visible from the highway, contains a clear plastic cylinder full of museum fliers.

"I find it hard to believe that a pauper would get a front and center next to the highway gravesite," said Sederwall, who is investigating Bonney's jailhouse escape and the murder of two deputies during a courthouse shootout in 1881. [Link]

Genealogue Challenge #7

When outlaw Frank James died in 1915, someone from his hometown served as undertaker.

What was his name, and what kind of business did he operate when not undertaking outlaws?

Where Is Butch Buried?

Bill Betenson's great-grandmother was the sister of outlaw Butch Cassidy, and it was from her that he learned that Cassidy didn't die in Bolivia in a hail of bullets.

"She (Lula Parker Betenson) was adamant that he came back," he said. "I support her."

Lula Parker Betenson never divulged where her brother was buried. She wanted to keep the curious away, but took heat for keeping the secret.

Betenson has some ideas about where Cassidy is buried. But he's not talking. [Link]

Brushy Bill May Rise Again

The City Council in Hamilton, Texas, is considering a request to dig up the remains of "Brushy Bill" Roberts to obtain DNA samples.

Steve Sederwall, a former mayor of Capitan, N.M., told the council that he hopes to compare the DNA samples from Brushy Bill with remains of Billy the Kid’s mother. He said he already has samples from John Miller, another would-be Billy from New Mexico, along with a blood-stained bench where the Kid supposedly died after Sheriff Pat Garrett shot him. [Link]

Woman's Face Proves She's No Place

Eunice Gray (aka Ermine McEntire) ran a "house of ill repute" in Fort Worth, Texas, in the early 1900s. Long after Gray's 1962 death, amateur genealogist Donna Donnell set out to investigate an intriguing rumor: Was Eunice the "Etta Place" who accompanied fugitives Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to South America?

With a few keystrokes she found a surprising document that caused her heart to quicken. On the screen appeared a copy of an alphabetized passenger list of the S.S. Turrialba, which sailed from Colon, Panama, on May 11, 1911.

The 11th name on the manifest, penned in a delicate cursive, was a Eunice Gray. Age 30. Destination: Fort Worth, Texas.

Her investigation led Donnell to Mrs. D.S. O'Leary, Eunice Gray's niece.

Donnell found her answer the moment she spotted a framed photo on a wall in O'Leary's home. In the picture, taken during the 1920s, a young Ermine McEntire - Eunice Gray - is sporting a wide-brimmed hat. Another photo, circa 1896, pictures Gray wearing her high school graduation dress.

"Eunice isn't Etta Place," Donnell said with certainty. O'Leary compared photos of her aunt with one of Place and agreed. [Link]

Jesse James: Bank Robber, Civil Rights Pioneer

James R. Ross, a former Superior Court judge and the great-grandson of Jesse James, died on Monday. He wrote a book about his outlaw ancestor called I, Jesse James.

Of all the cases he handled, his cousin said, Ross was most proud of one involving two men who were kicked out of Disneyland in 1980 for dancing together. In 1984, Ross ruled in favor of the couple.

"He felt that basically it was in the tradition of the James family to make sure civil rights are restored to citizens," Eric James said. [Link]

The World's Oldest Liar

The Gerontology Research Group is keeping an eye on the world's supercentenarians—those people who've neglected to check out by age 110. The group's website has a number of tables with data on current and past supercentenarians, but my favorite is the one listing False And Exaggerated Claims of Longevity.

Charlie Smith claimed to have been born in Liberia on July 4, 1842, and died Oct. 5, 1979, in Florida at the whopping age of 137. The July fourth birth date was chosen by Smith himself—"Out of loyalty to his country" reported Time in 1967. He may have chosen the year of his birth as well, if a Boston Globe article on Guinness World Records is correct:

A record search in Arcadia, Fla., showed a marriage record in which Smith claimed he was 35 years old in 1910. He apparently exaggerated his age by at least 33 years. ["Eat a Tree, but Never a Bicycle," Feb. 11, 1982]

His exaggeration was perhaps even worse. A partial marriage index for DeSoto County (county seat Arcadia) shows a marriage for Charlie Smith and Bell Van on Jan. 8, 1910. The couple was living in Lily, DeSoto County, in April of that year, at which time Charlie's age was 32. His place of birth was given as "Georgia."

If a liar, Smith was a very talented one. He said in interviews that he came to America in 1854, and lived in slavery until freed by Lincoln. No one seems to have doubted him. On its Emancipation Proclamation page, the National Archives links to an audio clip of Smith saying he was "21 years old when freedom was declared." A 1975 conversation with historian Elmer Sparks may be read or listened to at American Memory. At one point in the interview, Smith pushes the year of his birth back even further.

I'm a hundred and forty-four, last, last year, fourth of July. A hundred and forty-four years old now. My birthday, I gets a birthday card, I'm a hundred and forty-four last fourth day of July, last year. I'm a hundred and forty-four.

It's hard to consider Smith truthful when you read the other stories he told of his life. A few years ago, a screenplay titled 'Long Came Charlie was optioned by Dustin Hoffman's production company.

Described as "a black Little Big Man," 'Long Came Charlie is the incredible true tale of the world's oldest man, crusty codger Charlie Smith, who on his 134th birthday shares his poignant and often hilarious life story, which includes a disasterous [sic] cattle drive on the Chisholm Trail, a brush with death at Gettysburg, an encounter with Abraham Lincoln, Charlie's travels with the Jesse James Gang, his gunfight with Jesse himself and how he apprehended the man who shot President Garfield. [Link]

According to the Sparks interview, Smith's partner in apprehending Garfield's shooter was none other than Billy the Kid.

Throw in Mark Twain and Queen Victoria and that'll make a great movie.

[tagged: genealogy, family tree, ancestry]

The Bushranger Who Couldn't Shoot Straight

From the Melbourne (Australia) Herald Sun:

Ned Kelly under fire, again

Danny Buttler
31dec05

BUSHRANGER Ben Hall's great-grandson has fired a salvo at Ned Kelly, more than 125 after he was hanged.

Shepparton man Ben Hall Jr said his famous ancestor, who was shot by police in 1865, was a better bushranger than Kelly, who swung from the gallows 15 years later.

Mr Hall, 79, said his great-grandfather was known as the "gentleman bushranger" who never killed anyone, despite committing 600 crimes in just three years.

"He didn't shoot anybody because he was an awfully bad shot," he said.

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

tags: genealogy, family history, family tree