A Wild Girl in the Swamp 1855

Below is an interesting news story taken off the syndicated telegraph wire and published by the Los Angeles Star on October 13, 1855:

A Wild Girl in the Swamp

The people of Eaton County, Michigan, have been excited for some time past by the story that a wild girl has been seen wandering in a swamp near the town of Chester. The Eaton Republican gives a long account of the circumstances which seem to prove that some lost child has been changed into a savage, and wanders in a wild condition in the forest. The people had turned out en masse to search for this strange creature, and for more than a week, the pursuit has been kept up.

The Detroit Tribune says, "The girl is described as a white child, apparently of seven or eight years old, with long hair, dressed in what seems to have been once a light colored gown, now very much torn and soiled, and something like an old sun bonnet on her head. School children report having seen the wild girl at various times, on the outside of the swamp, into which, however, she invariably disappeared.

Inquiry has failed to discover that any child has ever been lost in that vicinity, and some of the people are disposed to pronounce the whole affair a delusion or a hoax, but as these reports have been made, in some cases, by children of an age, judgment and character to be respected, the largest portion of the people think there must be something in the matter, of sufficient importance to demand attention.

Handbills have been issued offering a $50 reward for the capture of the child, and the swamp in which the singular creature must be concealed has been thoroughly and repeatedly scoured by the citizens, but without success. Foot prints, however, were discovered, plainly enough to convince those in search that a child had been wandering barefoot through the swamp, and a place was found which was believed to be the sleeping place of the child —a dry, comfortable place, underneath the roots ot a tree.

The swamp contains about forty acres, is quite wet and miry, and rendered nearly impassable by a dense growth of underbrush, but there are roads all around it. and quite a number of cleared fields in its vicinity. At last accounts, an Indian, somewhat noted for his sagacity and intelligence, together with a half-breed friend, had commenced a cautious and deliberate search for the wanderer. 

By next week, we hope to be able to inform our readers whether this story of the lost child is a premeditated hoax, a childish delusion, or a sad reality."

--- end of news story. 

The "Swamp Girl" hoax is today a common urban legend told around campfires. Yes, more or less just a folklore story. While folklore refers to the traditional beliefs, legends, and customs of a people, urban legends are a specific type of folklore that involves stories passed down about unusual or scary events. Those stories are often presented as true, but lack any sort of real, verifiable evidence. Of course, as with most folklore, there are different versions to these stories depending on the region where the story is being told and who is telling the story.

It's a very popular and well-circulated urban legend in the Southern states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. The core of the urban legend is said to be a woman, or spirit, often called "The Swamp Girl" or a similar name, who roams around in a swamp. Supposedly, she haunts a swamp in search of a child. 

The most common thread is that it's a woman. Some versions say she's lost, abandoned, in search of her lost child, grieving the loss of a child, or involved with seeking revenge for being left to die in the swamp. Some versions suggest her child drowned in the swamp, while others say her child was kidnapped by Indian Warriors.  And yes, there are even versions that warn listeners to stay out of swamps. But if you are dumb enough to enter and say, "I have your baby" three times, then she will attack you. Imagine that. A ritual saying, "I have your baby" three times, to trigger the Swamp Girl's attack. 

The specific details of "The Swamp Girl," her age, what she's wearing, if she's searching for her child, her child's fate, and having to recite the triggering ritual in a specific manner, all change and vary from region to region. And yes, the story's "facts" also change from one storyteller to another. It is said that such stories have been around for a long time because this type of folklore has something to do with our anxieties regarding swamps, the unknown of what may be found there, or what has disappeared there. 

So, how long has "The Swamp Girl" tale been around? 

Well, while the 1855 newspaper report above came out of the Northeast and not the South, where "The Swamp Girl" urban legend is supposedly fairly common, the 1855 news story just shows us how such hoaxes were well circulated around the country even back in the day. Also, the age of "The Swamp Girl" is much younger than other versions. In the 1855 story she's a young girl instead of an older woman, and in the case of the "Wild Girl in the Swamp" story, readers have no clue how she ended up in the swamp or why she hides there. That just adds to that mystery of the story. 

Tom Correa

 

Let's Talk About American Hero 1st Lt. Sharon A. Lane, 67th Medical Group, 44th Medical Brigade

Since this is Memorial Day, let's talk about U.S. Army First Lieutenant Sharon A. Lane, who was with the 67th Medical Group, 44th Medical Brigade, in Vietnam on June 8, 1969. 

According to the U.S. Army Museum, Sharon Ann Lane was born on July 7, 1943, in Zanesville, Ohio. Her family moved to Canton, Ohio, when she was two. That is where she spent her childhood. That's where she grew up. That's where her character was formed and where she dreamt of being a nurse. 

After graduating from Canton High School in 1961, she enrolled at Aultman Hospital School of Nursing, which is now Aultman College of Nursing. She graduated in 1965 before spending the next two years in the Obstetrics Unit at Aultman Hospital. Then, in 1968, supposedly after never having ever talked about joining the military, it's said she surprised her family and friends by joining the U.S. Army Nurse Corps Reserves in April of 1968. 

Let's remember that 1968 was a year of significant anti-military sentiment in the United States. College campuses were rioting, and student protests were common and fueled by the unpopular Vietnam War and pro-Communism professors. The anti-war movement gained momentum throughout the decade, but really reached a peak in 1968. 

The war in Vietnam, which began escalating in the mid-1960s,  and the Tet Offensive in early 1968, where the North Vietnamese launched a surprise attack, significantly shook public confidence in the war's progress and the government's handling of it. Anti-war protests were widespread. The anti-war movement had a significant impact on fueling an anti-military sentiment that plagued American society for many years. The anti-war sentiment had a major impact on how Americans looked down on those serving our country in our military.

It was not uncommon for Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines to return home from duty in Vietnam to people spitting on them. Most who served in the military at the time, including those who never served in Vietnam, were treated horribly by Americans -- especially in colleges and universities, but also by being discriminated against when it came to finding jobs and adjusting to civilian life. Many veterans at the time found it easier to say they never served, rather than put up with disdain and ridicule for serving. 

The anti-war movement had a lasting impact on our American culture for years. It contributed to the shift in public opinion of anyone serving in the military. The 1960s and 1970s were a time when Americans serving our country were treated with disdain and loathing. As for Lt. Lane volunteering to join the military in 1968, I can definitely understand why she would keep her interest in a career in the military a secret. It was extremely unpopular to join the military back in those days. 

For me personally, I remember having to wade through protestors outside of a Marine Corps Recruiting Office in 1972 when I went there for information on enlisting. I also remember later, while being in the Marine Corps and attending an event at a California University in 1976. Even though it was just a year after the fall of Saigon, I was pelted with food and spit on by students who called me all sorts of vile things. And yes, I remember how the faculty looked on with approval. They might not have said they agreed or approved of the actions of their students, but their silence and unwillingness to hold those students to account for their horrid behavior was proof enough for me to understand that they supported what their students were doing. 

As for women in the military in 1968, we should understand that American women were officially forbidden from combat roles in our military until 2013. Women did serve in other areas of the military. Mostly working as rear-echelon nurses. The fact is, it was not until the establishment of the Army Nurse Corps of the Medical Department under the Army Reorganization Act of 1901 that women nurses were allowed to join the Army in a formal capacity. 

Sharon Lane underwent basic training at Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. She graduated in June of 1968 with the rank of Second Lieutenant. Her first post was at the Army’s Fitzsimons General Hospital in Denver, Colorado, in the Tuberculosis Ward. She was soon promoted to First Lieutenant. Her promotion allowed her to move to the Cardiac Care Unit and the recovery room. 

It's said, while Lt. Lane liked her work, she soon requested a transfer to a place far more challenging. She requested duty in Vietnam. Many nurses who served in the Vietnam War were recent graduates and were ordered to go after receiving stipends from the Army while in school. In contrast to others, Lt. Lane volunteered to be sent to Vietnam. 

She arrived at the 312th Evacuation Hospital in Chu Lai, South Vietnam, on April 29, 1969. And yes, it's said that not long after arriving there, Lt. Lane volunteered for one of the most unpopular wards at the hospital. She volunteered to work in the Vietnamese ward where American doctors and nurses not only looked after injured Vietnamese civilians and children. But also, that ward was where wounded Viet Cong prisoners were kept. And yes, they would often spit, kick, and insult the American doctors and nurses there. 

Martha Green, who worked with Lt. Lane, remembered her taking everything in stride. “She didn’t make a big deal out of it,” recalled Green, “she said she was a nurse, and she had to take care of patients. It didn’t make a difference whether they were Vietnamese or POWs or our own soldiers.” 

Attending to her patients kept Lane extremely busy. She worked five days a week for 12 hours each day. During her days off, she volunteered to care for critically injured American Soldiers in the hospital’s intensive care unit. Being so close to the frontlines was dangerous, however, and within weeks of arriving, two enemy rockets struck the hospital compound. 

While it's said that Lt. Lane remained unfazed, in a letter to her parents, she summed up her new environment by saying, “… hardly anyone is scared though. It is just like part of the job.” 

Her attitude and dedication, not only to those she cared for but those she worked with, earned her instant admiration and respect. Forty-one days after she arrived in Vietnam, 1st Lt. Sharon A. Lane was killed by shrapnel from a 122-mm rocket that hit the hospital. She died while trying to protect her patients from the incoming blasts. 

She was laid to rest with full military honors, and the Army posthumously awarded her several medals, including a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star with the “V” for valor decoration. She was the only American servicewoman to be awarded such an honor at the time. Her name can be found on panel 23W, line 112 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. 

Lt. Lane’s time in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, while short, left a lasting impression on all those who met her. Since her death, a memorial has gone up in her honor at Aultman College of Nursing, and she was inducted into the Ohio Military Hall of Fame. 

It's said America's military is full of heroes and heroines. Sharon A. Lane was one such heroine. A member of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps, Lt. Lane has been remembered for being quiet, hardworking, and dedicated to her patients. And while other nurses died in Vietnam, she has the tragic distinction of being the only U.S. military nurse killed by enemy fire in the Vietnam War. 

So, if we talk about a common thread that runs through those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, the character of those who should not be forgotten. We must talk about their caring, their devotion to duty, their devotion to their comrades, their selflessness, their love for others, and their doing what's right -- even if it's at the expense of their own lives.  

Tom Correa

Let's Talk About Trump Hoaxes And Why Americans Don't Trust The News

Most miners made barely enough to get by during the California Gold Rush. Some were convinced that getting rich in California was all just a wicked hoax played on them. The California Gold Rush did see people get rich overnight. And no, that wasn't a hoax at all. But it wasn't the miners who got rich. In fact, those who ended up getting rich at the time were the people who supplied the miners with food, clothing, shovels, and everything else miners needed to get by during their search for those elusive nuggets. 

Like today, there have been small hoaxes and large hoaxes, famous hoaxes and not-so-famous hoaxes. As I was saying in my long six-part series on Was The Capt. Jonathan R. Davis 1854 Gunfight A Hoax? -- Part Four, back in the 1800s, hoaxes were very commonplace. Of course, though that was the case, hoaxes in newspapers didn't stop after 1900. In fact, just as what's taking place today with the Left's money-making Climate Change Hoax, and people trying to make rapists and murderers look like misunderstood victims to sell newspapers, fraud and people perpetrating such things seem eternal. 

A hoax that caught a lot of people off guard took place in 1931 in Dallas, Texas. The initial story of what supposedly took place was big enough. But then, when the fraudster came clean and owned up to the hoax that he tried to pull, well, that really made bigger news. 

The initial story was about how four men attempted to lynch a 30-year-old Baptist Minister by hanging him from a chandelier directly over the pulpit where he stood each Sunday morning. The story had people wanting to know what sort of degenerate would lynch a preacher right over the very spot where he preached the gospel on Sundays. The preacher was Rev. B. P. Brown. He was an assistant pastor at the North Dallas Baptist Church. And yes, it was all a fraud created by him. 

TEXAS PASTOR SAYS HANGING STORY A HOAX

Rev. Brown Confesses That He Lost Nerve In Attempt To Commit Suicide

DALLAS, Texas, June 20, 1931, (UPI) The story of how four men attempted to lynch a 30-year-old Baptist Minister by hanging him from a chandelier directly over the pulpit where he stood each Sunday morning was a hoax, the preacher confessed today. The Rev. B. P. Brown, supply pastor at the North Dallas Baptist Church, hanged himself in an attempt to commit suicide, but lost his nerve and then concocted the story of the lynching. A mental disorder brought on when he was slugged in the head early this year at Midland, Texas, was blamed for his actions.

Brown was beaten by burglars when he discovered them rifling a safe at the hotel where he was working at the time. He then came to Dallas, entered the ministry, and supported himself by working as a baggage clerk in the Adolphus Hotel. Brown confessed that his story was a hoax before his whole congregation, assembled for a revival meeting. He told of the elaborate plan he made to hang himself. 

He looped the rope over the chandelier, placed the loop around his neck, and climbed on a chair, he said. Then, he kicked the chair away and was suspended in mid-air, slowly choking to death. That's when Brown changed his mind and finally freed himself from the knotted rope. 

He was found by police, stripped of his clothing and his mouth bound with strips of adhesive tape, "I intended to kill myself, and then just couldn't do it when 1 was hanging there and looking death right in the face," he said. 

He gave no reason for his action. The "crime" had puzzled Dallas Police ever since Brown was found in the church early Thursday. The "lynching" was first believed to be the result of hatred held for Brown by various members of his church.

Even the Ku Klux Klan entered the case. It was reported that the Klan, once strong in the area, had attempted to punish the minister for Communist leanings. The story Brown first told was elaborate. He claimed to have been kidnapped shortly after midnight Thursday while walking home from work. His abductor, he said, took him to his own church, where three other masked men were awaiting him. They first stripped him of his clothing, bound his mouth with tape, and then hanged him, he told police. He said he was able to save himself only because the rope they used was new and stretched, allowing him to reach a nearby chair with the tips of his toes.

-- end of the 1931 news article.

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Before his confession, the newspapers in Texas put the news story on the wire and ran with it. They attributed the preacher's faked hanging to everyone but the preacher himself. With egg on their face, the newspapers that ran with the story never took responsibility for having published a false story. Yes, a story that many kept believing was true. Instead of waiting to ferret out the truth, the newspapers simply ran with it. 

While that was in the 1930s, nothing's changed. The news media today wants to be the first to publish a story -- true or not. And no, they don't seem to care if what they are saying is credible or if it's just another lie. They are not held accountable and see themselves above being held to standards of honesty and truthfulness. 

As for running hoaxes, the Mainstream Media outdid themselves when they ran with the Trump-Russia Collusion Hoax story. The false information they spread elevated them to a level of fakeness that will never be matched again in our history. They lied and lied and lied for years. They did so by bringing on so-called "legal experts" and others who pushed that story even though there was not an ounce of truth in it. 

After years of hype and distortion, with the Left in America calling for Trump's immediate arrest, Americans were able to read the full 316-page report from Justice Department special counsel John Durham. That report not only debunked the Left's vile assertions that President Trump committed treason, but it indicted some of our country’s leading institutions -- including the FBI. 

In fact, the Durham Report said that the FBI should have never launched an investigation into alleged Russian collusion with Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, given the suspicious evidence coming from biased Democratic Party sources. All in all, the FBI appeared to be either duped or was made a tool by members of the Democratic Party trying to smear President Trump in any way they could. 

President Trump's vindication was a huge win for him, especially after years of unfair treatment by the FBI, a "weaponized" Department of Justice, and a national press with a lynch mob mentality -- of hang him, then we'll find out what he did wrong. To say it was shameful would be an understatement. But no, even though they were proven wrong and exposed for being the political tool of the Democratic Party, that hasn't stopped the news media from continuing to conduct business as usual -- and still fire off lie after lie to attack President Trump.  

The attacks on President Trump from the news media showed them as all too willing to blame President Trump for everything -- just short of the 9-11 attack. The investigation into the "Russia Collusion" hoax affected President Trump’s entire first term. As for the people responsible for the hoax, the news media's complicity in the criminal fraud was brushed aside as Democrats were elated while trying to paint President Trump's first term as "illegitimate." 

To many, what was done to President Trump was criminal, and the people who perpetrated that fraud on the American people should be held to account for their actions. Sadly, because those behind the "Russia Collusion" hoax, those who actually orchestrated and coordinated that effort to unseat a sitting American President, are among the most powerful and wealthy Democrats in the United States, they are above the law and will most likely never be brought to justice. 

Whether some want to admit it or not, the ill effects of the "Russia Collusion" hoax have taken their toll on our society as a whole. While hoaxes and fraud being played on the people have been around forever, the news media lying and distorting the truth is now why only 3 out of 10 Americans trust the news media today. The biased reporting and obviously unfounded attacks on President Trump has ruined the credibility of the Mainstream News Media. 

And yes, while the news media will tell us that it is "essential to maintaining our freedoms," most Americans don't believe it and see their claim as "defenders of Democracy" as their way of trying to justify their criminal behavior. Because their Leftist Political Agenda supersedes their ability to be fair and honest, Americans see the news media today as both horridly unfair and dishonest.  

If you think the news media may have learned a lesson from the Trump-Russia Collusion Hoax, they haven't. In fact, they are still doing the same thing by spreading hoax after hoax, lie after lie after lie. For example, take a look at these Trump hoaxes, which were tried and played out by the new media in just the last few months. Since President Trump took office this year, there has been a nonstop deluge of hoaxes and lies from Democrats and their allies in the news media. The news media lies because they know they have followers who will believe anything they say. That's the reason the news media publishes hoaxes, fake information, things that no honest person would think of repeating. 

Take a look at these examples of Fake News:

HOAX: Fake News CNN attempted to “fact check” President Trump’s claim that the Biden Administration spent millions on “making mice transgender.”

FACT: After their so-called “fact check” was thoroughly debunked, they were forced to update it in disgrace and admit the claim was, in fact, true.

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HOAX: The Fake News claimed the Department of Defense removed Gen. Colin Powell’s name from a list of notable Americans buried at Arlington Cemetery.

FACT: No service members’ names were removed from that section — and Gen. Powell’s name remains among those listed.

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HOAX: Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) claimed “no president” presided over more plane crashes during their first month in office as President Trump.

FACT: “There were 55 aviation accidents in the U.S. between Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 21, 2021, and Feb. 17, 2021, compared to 35 during the same period for Trump,” Fox News reported.

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HOAX: Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) and Chicago Public Schools officials claimed, without bothering to verify, that ICE agents had conducted a “raid” at an elementary school — a false claim echoed by media outlets, including the Chicago Tribune.

FACT: It was actually the U.S. Secret Service investigating a threat unrelated to immigration.

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HOAX: Far-left influencers and other leftist hacks falsely claimed the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and Elon Musk were out to “cut Social Security.”

FACT: They were referencing an interview in which Musk was clearly referring to the tremendous amount of waste, fraud, and abuse within entitlement programs.

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HOAX: The media smeared DOGE as “young, inexperienced engineers” engineering a “government takeover.”

FACT: In reality, DOGE is led by seasoned industry professionals, including successful CEOs who paused their lives to aid in the effort of streamlining government and holding the bureaucracy accountable.

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HOAX: NBC’s Peter Alexander peddled the lie that “constituents in some traditionally red districts” were unhappy with President Trump’s effort to cut waste, fraud, and abuse in government.

FACT: The same “protests” cited by the Fake News were funded and organized by far-left special interest groups.

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HOAX: NPR claimed NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore — who were stuck on the International Space Station for more than nine months following problems with their spacecraft — were “not stranded.”

FACT: NPR itself had described the astronauts as stranded in prior reporting, and only seemed to take issue with the description once President Trump and Elon Musk made it a priority to bring them home.

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HOAX: A foreign Fake News outlet reported that President Trump “shut down” the British prime minister during a news conference.

FACT: In reality, President Trump was simply moving on from a reporter who was trying to goad the two leaders into division.

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HOAX: NPR falsely claimed the White House was actively searching for a new secretary of defense.

FACT: This lie was immediately shut down by multiple Trump Administration officials, including President Trump himself.

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HOAX: The Fake News attempted to paint illegal immigrant gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia as an innocent “Maryland father” who was unjustly deported by the Trump Administration — and actively censored the truth about him.

FACT: Abrego Garcia is a citizen of El Salvador and was deported to his home country amid overwhelming evidence of his gang affiliation.

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HOAX: Deranged “filmmaker” Michael Moore questioned whether deported illegal immigrants would go on to cure cancer or stop “that asteroid (sic) that’s gonna hit us.”

FACT: Moore’s statement was a strong early contender for the dumbest, most ridiculous statement of the year, considering those deported illegal immigrants were violent criminals.

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HOAX: The Fake News portrayed Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Hamas radical who led violent protests at Columbia, as an innocent graduate student with an absolute right to remain in the U.S.

FACT: An immigration judge ruled Khalil — who is not a U.S. citizen — can be deported.

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HOAX: A foreign Fake News reporter claimed President Trump referred to European nations as “parasites.”

FACT: President Trump immediately pushed back on this ridiculous claim — as did the Italian prime minister.

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HOAX: Fake News CNN’s Brianna Keilar implied the Trump Administration was somehow wrong for stopping illegal immigrants from stealing taxpayer dollars in the form of welfare benefits.

FACT: Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller summarily embarrassed her with the facts: “The federal government will find EVERY illegal alien who is stealing American taxpayer dollars — and that’s what Americans expect to happen. I don’t even fathom the premise of your question.”

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HOAX: A favorite refrain of the Fake News is that Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is “anti-vaccine.”

FACT: Kennedy debunked the lie in his confirmation hearings: “This has been repeatedly debunked … Bringing this up right now is dishonest.”

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HOAX: Reuters falsely reported that the Trump Administration “stalled a United Nations program in Mexico aimed at stopping imported fentanyl chemicals from reaching the country’s drug cartels.”

FACT: The Department of State is actually trying to expand the initiative.

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HOAX: Fake News savant Tara Palmeri falsely reported that President Trump’s proposal for Gaza was conceived by Jared Kushner.

FACT: This lie was immediately and summarily debunked by the Trump Administration: “The worst reporter in America makes up fake news for clout because she has no real sources. Sit down, dummy.”

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HOAX: Sen. Chris Murphy, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, and media outlets claimed President Trump’s directive to pause radical, wasteful government spending meant an end to Medicaid, food assistance, and other individual assistance programs.

FACT: Individual assistance programs — Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP, etc. — were explicitly excluded, as was made clear by Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and the Office of Management and Budget. Only unnecessary spending — DEI, Green New Scam, NGOs that undermine the national interest — were included in the directive.

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HOAX: A “physicians advocacy group” was widely cited as opposing President Trump’s nomination of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

FACT: The “advocacy group” was really an astroturfed partisan organization funded by prominent left-wing donors — and accepted fake signatures.

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HOAX: Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) and other Democrats pushed the lie that DOGE posted “classified information” on their website.

FACT: That alleged “classified information” was really just an employment headcount — which has been publicly available for years.

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HOAX: Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) claimed Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem called all Venezuelan immigrants “dirtbags.”

FACT: Secretary Noem actually called illegal immigrant members of the vicious Tren de Aragua gang “dirtbags,” which is true.

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HOAX: The New York Times wrote that Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., wanted to “ban fluoride in drinking water” and “reverse … one of the most important public health practices in the country’s history.”

FACT: New York Times made no mention of their own reporting that fluoride may be “linked to lower IQ scores in children.”

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HOAX: Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) repeatedly lied about President Trump “going after” Social Security.

FACT: President Trump has repeatedly pledged to protect Social Security and make it more robust for American citizens.

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HOAX: Sen. Mark Kelley (D-AZ) attempted to scare veterans by shamelessly claiming their care was in jeopardy due to “layoffs” at VA hospitals.

FACT: The lie was debunked by Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins: “What changes are you talking about? We’ve not had those layoffs… I put $360 million back into community care… It’s concerning to me that a veteran would actually tell stories to veterans that are not true.”

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HOAX: Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) exploited the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport plane crash tragedy by claiming President Trump “froze the hiring” of air traffic controllers.

FACT: Air traffic controllers were exempt from the federal hiring freeze.

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HOAX: Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) implied that “cutting” members of an aviation advisory committee was somehow a cause of the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport plane crash tragedy.

FACT: The advisory group hadn’t met since 2023 and was comprised of business and union leaders who gave “advice” to the TSA and had nothing to do with actual air travel.

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HOAX: A far-left writer claimed Elon Musk and DOGE staffers “illegally installed a commercial server to control federal HR databases that contain sensitive personal information, including SSNs, home addresses, and medical histories.”

FACT: A top official confirmed “there’s nothing illegal and no server, just more made up tall tales from uninformed career bureaucrats.”

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HOAX: The Washington Post alleged the Trump Administration was setting “quotas” for immigration authorities — and gave the administration just four minutes to comment before publishing.

FACT: As usual, this was a fake story.

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HOAX: Online liberal activists claimed President Trump “took down” President Obama’s portrait in the White House.

FACT: Obama’s portrait was not taken down — it was simply moved only feet away from its previous location.

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HOAX: Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) claimed Attorney General Pam Bondi created a “weaponizing task force.”

FACT: It was a task force to END weaponization at the Department of Justice.

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HOAX: CBS News reported that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered a “makeup studio” be installed inside the Pentagon.

FACT: It was a “totally fake story,” and the alleged studio was really an existing green room with no frills.

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HOAX: Politico reported the Trump Administration was debating lifting sanctions on Russian energy assets, including the Nord Stream pipeline.

FACT: This was debunked by both Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.

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HOAX: An illegal immigrant in U.S. custody “simply disappeared,” The New York Times reported.

FACT: The illegal immigrant was a confirmed member of the vicious Tren de Aragua gang. An immigration judge ordered his removal, and he was deported along with other threats to national security.

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HOAX: The Wall Street Journal alleged that Special Envoy Steve Witkoff was receiving sensitive information on a personal phone while in Moscow and that Russian Intelligence must’ve had access to the information.

FACT: This was a total fabrication. Special Envoy Witkoff did not even have a personal phone with him in Russia. He had only a government phone; a secure line of communication.

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HOAX: The Wall Street Journal claimed the Trump Administration “sought to portray” deported criminal illegal immigrant gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia as “violent.”

FACT: Abrego Garcia’s own wife filed an order of protection against him and testified that he brutally beat her.

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HOAX: An AP reporter claimed that FAA staff who worked on “radar, landing and navigational aid maintenance, among others” were “harassed on Facebook” by DOGE.

FACT: That was a total lie. DOGE doesn’t have a Facebook page and no professionals who perform critical safety functions were fired.

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HOAX: The Daily Beast claimed Vice President JD Vance “broke one of the most notorious Vatican rules during his Easter weekend visit” by being photographed in the Sistine Chapel.

FACT: Buried all the way down in the 14th paragraph, The Daily Beast admitted the vice president was given special permission by the Vatican to have photographs taken inside the Sistine Chapel.

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HOAX: Left-wing social media accounts promoted fake, AI-generated audio of Vice President Vance “disparaging Elon Musk in private.”

FACT: The audio was debunked as fake.

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HOAX: The New York Times reported that funding for the Women’s Health Initiative was being slashed by the Department of Health and Human Services.

FACT: Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., himself declared this Fake News and recognized the project is “mission critical.”

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HOAX: Fox News’s Jennifer Griffin gave legitimacy to a hoax from delusional Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth requested nearly $140,000 in “upgrades” to his government residence.

FACT: This lie was debunked by Secretary Hegseth — and it was so outrageous, even the Associated Press was forced to admit it was completely fake.

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HOAX: Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) and many others claimed the Supreme Court ordered the return of illegal immigrant gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the United States.

FACT: Even CNN admitted that’s not what happened: “They did not order the administration to return him to the United States … they could’ve said ‘we order him returned,’ but they didn’t do that.”

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HOAX: Joe Biden accused the Trump Administration of “taking aim at Social Security.”

FACT: As usual, he was lying — President Trump has repeatedly pledged to protect Social Security.

_____________________

HOAX: Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) claimed the arrest of a Milwaukee judge who helped an illegal immigrant evade arrest was “unprecedented.”

FACT: It wasn’t; it has happened before.

_____________________

HOAX: Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) called the arrest of a Milwaukee judge who helped an illegal immigrant evade arrest a “gravely serious and drastic move.”

FACT: The judge violated the law by obstructing an ICE arrest of an illegal immigrant.

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HOAX: Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) claimed the arrest of the Milwaukee judge who obstructed an apprehension of a criminal illegal immigrant “threatens the rule of law.”

FACT: It literally does the opposite because no one is above the law.

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HOAX: Politico claimed the Trump Administration “wipe[d] out firefighter health and safety programs.”

FACT: The programs remain a top priority for the administration — and will remain intact.

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HOAX: Sen. Elizabeth Warren claimed that President Trump’s policies make it so “no one wants to make investments in the United States.”

FACT: President Trump has secured more than $5 trillion in investments since taking office, which is expected to create more than 451,000 new jobs — and the list is only expected to grow.

_____________________

HOAX: NBC’s Kristen Welker peddled a Fake News hoax that the Trump Administration was deporting children.

FACT: Secretary of State Marco Rubio shut down her desperate attempt at a hoax by highlighting how the mother, who was in the country illegally, made that choice all on her own.

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HOAX: The New York Times implied President Trump was alone in wearing a blue suit to the funeral of Pope Francis.

FACT: Photos show dozens of world leaders and other attendees — many situated near President Trump — also wearing blue clothing.

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HOAX: Teachers’ union boss Randi Weingarten accused President Trump of taking teachers’ salaries and giving them to “billionaires” by cutting the Department of Education.

FACT: President Trump has repeatedly called teachers “the most important people in this country” who should be paid more, not less. The federal government does not pay the salaries of teachers; state and local governments do.

_____________________

HOAX: The Fake News and their predictable allies ran with a story that claimed an American citizen was detained by authorities after he informed them he was, in fact, a citizen.

FACT: That’s not what happened. The individual “approached Border Patrol in Tucson and stated he had entered the U.S. illegally through Nogales. He said he wanted to turn himself in and completed a sworn statement identifying as a Mexican citizen who had entered unlawfully … A few days later, his family presented documents showing U.S. citizenship. The charges were dismissed, and he was released to his family.”

_____________________

HOAX: PBS News claimed “DOGE operatives attempted to gain access to secure spaces,” implying they attempted to access classified information without approval.

FACT: This wasn’t even remotely true.

_____________________

HOAX: The AP falsely claimed Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said President Trump is “very good friends” with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

FACT: The AP was humiliatingly forced to retract its story, admitting they were wrong. Stephanie Ruhle also had to issue a correction. DNI Gabbard was referencing President Trump’s relationship with Indian PM Narendra Modi.

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HOAX: Student visa holders should have unfettered access to do whatever they want in the United States.

FACT: Wrong. As Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, “When you apply to enter the United States and you get a visa, you are a guest… If you tell us when you apply for a visa ‘I’m coming to the U.S. to participate in pro-Hamas events,’ that runs counter to the foreign policy interest of the United States… If you had told us you were going to do that, we never would have given you the visa.”

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Today, the worst fraud carried out on the American people has nothing to do with some shady character standing on a corner trying to trick you out of your money. Americans today have learned the hard way that believing the lies that the Mainstream Media pushes -- actually demands that we all believe in hoax after hoax after hoax -- lie after lie after lie. And really, that's why the news media as a whole is not trusted today. They lie. 

They lie because they know that political hoaxes are believed. Also known as "Fake News," those deliberately false stories and claims are designed to deceive or manipulate public opinion. And yes, people believe them even after those stories have been debunked. It seems as though it just doesn't matter. The world is such that people would rather believe the lie, even when they've been given the truth. 

Of course, because the Mainstream Media is primarily in bed with the Democratic Party and the extreme Left, the lies that are spread are used to advance a particular political agenda of the Left. Because fraud is being perpetrated on a lot more people today, simply because technology is such that a lie can be spread far and wide in no time at all, the Mainstream Media uses fraud, hoaxes, and lies to promote their Leftist political agenda. That's just the way it is. And really, it doesn't look like it will ever stop.

It's sad, but that's why the Mainstream Media, the news media, the entertainment industry, and other forms of media sympathetic to the agenda of the Democratic Party have lost the trust of the American people. As seen above in example after example, the news media has almost zero credibility today. That's the reason the Mainstream Media is now commonly referred to as "Fake News." 

Tom Correa

Did Obama Remove More Noncitizens From The U.S. Than Any Other President In U.S. History?

President Barack Obama gave an immigration policy speech in El Paso on May 10, 2011. 

(Image from White House video)

  Story by Sofia Sierra, February 13, 2025

Did President Obama remove more noncitizens from the U.S. than any other president in U.S history? 

Yes. Former President Barack Obama formally removed 3 million noncitizens from the U.S. over two terms – more than any other president in American history, according to data from the Department of Homeland Security.

In comparison, President George Bush removed about 870,000 people; Bill Clinton, about 2 million; and Donald Trump about 1.2 million people during his first term.

The DHS defines a removal as a formal court order expelling a person from inside the U.S. Obama does not hold the record for returns, a separate statistic addressing individuals turned away at the border prior to entering the U.S.

According to the Migration Policy Institute, immigration and enforcement policies and practices under the Obama administration focused on recent unauthorized border crossers and those who had committed crimes. When combining removals and returns, Clinton expelled about 12.3 million people, the most of any U.S. president overall. 

___________________

This is short and to the point. Too bad Democrats would rather hate Trump than recognize our past, including what Democrats have done compared to what Trump is doing now. 

Of course, with Democrats fighting for Illegal Aliens who are violent criminals, one has to wonder if they have lost their sanity.  Trump has targeted the worst of the worst first. What's wrong with that? No one on the Left can answer that question because there's nothing wrong with what he's doing. Yes, especially since what he's doing by deporting and imprisoning criminals will make us safer. 

Tom Correa

Running Fire -- A Horse Thief's Wild Ride

The story below was reported in the Fort Wayne News in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on October 5th, 1894:

RUNNING FIRE.

A Midnight Chase With the Patrol Wagon.

A THIEF'S WILD RIDE.

He Steals a Horse and is Hotly Pursued.

A RACE FOR LIBERTY.

Three Policemen Fire at the Fleeting Horse Thief.

Shortly after 1 o’clock this morning John Riedmiller’s valuable pacing horse, with a mark of 2:20, was standing, hitched to a post at the corner of Wayne and Calhoun streets. Officer Bower saw the animal there and had been watching it for some time.

A few minutes after 1 o’clock the policeman saw a negro step into the buggy quietly and drive away without any evidence of being in a hurry or any movement to conceal his identity. The officer watched the colored man drive the horse east on Wayne street.

The carriage was about a block east of Calhoun street, when in an excited manner Mr. Reidmiller made inquiries concerning his horse.

Officer Bower informed him that a colored man whom he supposed was a stable boy taking care of the animal, had driven it east. After a hasty exchange of explanations in regard to the disappearance of the horse, both men concluded that the animal had been stolen.

The patrol wagon was called out in a few minutes and sent east over the East Wayne street pavement at a wild run, manned by Capt. Borgman, Sergt. Dasler and Officer Gallmeier.

The officers flew down the thoroughfare with the horses at breakneck speed. Near the Concordia College, they met a farmer driving into the city. He gave the officers a clue, and the panting patrol steeds were turned south on Walton Avenue. Through the drizzling rain, with mud flying in all directions, the steeds galloped in a maddened run.

Fresh tracks were noticed going east, and the officers turned in that direction. In the darkness, a few hundred feet away, they saw the outlines of a carriage. The speed of the patrol wagon never faltered, and the policemen yelled “halt.”

The vehicle in front forged ahead with unchecked speed. Several shots were fired into the air to frighten the driver of the horse in front of the patrol wagon. The running fire had no effect. After a hot chase for a quarter of a mile, with neither the police nor the fleeing horse-thief gaining or losing any ground, there was a sudden halt.

The carriage in front of the patrol wagon stopped, and almost instantly, the patrol wagon wheeled up beside the foaming horse.

The driver had escaped, and only a few seconds before, as the lines were warm where he had held them in his grasp. The ditch, culvert, and fences in the vicinity were searched in vain. Not a trace of the horse-thief could be found. He successfully eluded the officers and escaped. The horse and carriage were brought back to the city.

This is the wildest ride the Fort Wayne officers have experienced since the patrol wagon has been in the police service. The thief’s daring was bold in the extreme, and his escape was miraculous.

-- end of Fort Wayne News 1894 article. 

This was the sort of thing that fueled dime novels. Some writers expanded on stories like this and ran with it.

Tom Correa

The Battle of Ingalls from the Diary of Dr. Jacob Hiram Pickering

Dr. Jacob Hiram Pickering tended to those wounded in the September 1st, 1893, gunfight in Ingalls, Oklahoma between the Doolin-Dalton Gang and the U.S. Marshals. Dr. Pickering is mentioned in several reports dealing with the gun battle. 

The best of those reports found online is from the State of Oklahoma history website and the Oklahoma State Digital Library. The reason that I believe it's the best is that it actually contains excerpts from Dr. Pickering's personal diary. So yes, this is what he actually wrote down in regards to what he witnessed firsthand at what became known as the Battle of Ingalls.

Here are excerpts from the diary of Dr. Jacob Hiram Pickering:

In July, William Doolan, George Newcomb (alias Bitter Creek), Slaughter Kid, Tom Jones (alias Arkansas Tom), Dynamite Dick, Tulsa Jack, and Bill Dalton began to come here frequently, and in a short time they all stayed here except Dalton. He was out at Bee Dunn’s. 

As a rule, they were quiet and peaceable. They all went heavily armed and constantly on their guard, generally went 2 together. They boarded at the O.K. Hotel, stayed at Bee Dunn’s when not in town. 

The last of this month, a man by the name of Doc Roberts and Red Lucas came to town looking up a proposed railroad route. Both parties took in the haunts of the outlaws. They were both jovial fellows, and soon were drinking and playing cards with them. They left and came back in a week and said they were here to locate a booth, a place for intended settlers to register and get certificates to make a claim for land or town lots. They stayed here until the last week in August, then left. 

On the morning of Sept. 1st, there were 27 Deputy Marshals piloted into town in covered wagons. They caused no suspicion as there were hundreds of Boomers moving the same way. Two wagons stopped at Light’s Black Smith Shop, and one drove up by my house, and they all proceeded to unload in a quiet manner and took positions. 

Doolan, Bitter Creek, Dynamite Dick, Tulsa Jack, and Dalton were in Ransom & Murry's Saloon. Arkansas Tom was in bed at the hotel. Bitter Creek got his horse and was riding up to a small building where Conley stayed, and the Marshals, thinking he was known, moved to try to take him. Marshal Dick Speed from Perkins fired the first shot. 

The magazine was knocked out of Bitter Creek's gun, and he was shot in the leg. He made his escape to the southwest. Speed was shot about this time and instantly killed, also, young Simonds was mortally wounded. The fires of the Marshalls were centered on the Saloon. old man Ransom was shot in the leg. Murry in the arm and side. Walker was shot through the liver. 

By this time, the outlaws had gotten to the stable and saddled their horses. Doolan and Dynamite went out at the back door and down a draw southwest. Dalton and Tulsa made a dash from the front door. As they came out, Dalton’s horse was hit on the jaw, but he had a hard time getting him started, but finally succeeded.

He probably went 75 yards when his horse got his leg broken. He then got off of him & walked on the opposite side for a ways, then left him but came back to his saddle pockets & got his wire cutters & cut a fence, then got behind one of the other boys & rode off. A great many say he shot Shadley, but I seen Shadley run from my place to Dr. Call’s fence & in going through it he was first shot. He then got to Ransom’s house & was debating with Mrs. Ransom, she ordering him to leave when he got his last shots. He fell there and crawled to Selph’s cave. 

A great many believe that Dalton shot him. In fact, he shot so fast when I and Dr. Selph was working with him in the cave, he said Dalton shot him 3 times quicker than he could turn around. But I think I know better, taking the lay of the ground in consideration, and I stood where I saw Dalton most of the time and never saw him fire once, and Shadley was hit in the right hip, and all the balls tended downward. If Dalton had shot him, he would have been shot in front and balls of ranged up. 

The outlaws crossed the draw south of town and stopped a few minutes shooting up the street my house is on. One of these shots hit Frank Briggs in the shoulder, but a slight flesh wound. I took him to my cave and dressed his wound, then went to Walker and gave him temporary (sic) aid, from there to Murry’s and laid his wound open and removed the shattered bone. Some of the doctors wanted me to amputate, but I fought for his arm; 2 2-inch radius (and) was shot away, slight flesh wounds in the side. 

About this time, I was called aside and told to go to the hotel, that Jones was up there, either wounded or killed. I and Alva Peirce, and a boy by the name of Wendell, boys about 12 years old, went over. I went in and called but got no answer and was about to leave when he came to the top of the stairs and says, "Is that you, Doc?" 

I told him it was. I asked him if he was hurt, and he said no. He said for me to come up, and I told him if he wasn’t hurt, I would not, but he insisted. So I went up. He had his coat and vest off, also his boots. Had his Winchester in his hands and revolvers lying on the bed. 

I said, "Tom, come down and surrender." He says, "I can't do it for I won't get justice". He says, "I don't want to hurt anyone, but I won't be taken alive." He says, "Where are the boys?" (meaning the outlaws).

I told him they had gone. He said he did not think they would leave him. It hurt him bad. I never seen a man wilt so in my life. He stayed in the Hotel till after 2 o’clock and then surrendered to Mr. Mason, a preacher. They took him off right away. 

Of the wounded, Simonds died at 6 p.m. Shadley and Hueston were taken to Stillwater, both died in three or four days. Walker shot through the liver, died on the 16th. All the rest recovered. The outlaws stayed close to town as Bitter Creek was not able to travel. Dr. Bland of Cushion tended him. 

I loaned him instruments to work on the wound with, although I did not know just where he was at. A piece of a magazine was blown into his leg. It eventually worked out, and he was able to again ride. Tom was indicted for the killing of Hueston, Speed, and Shadley, and was tried on the Hueston case and convicted of manslaughter in the 1st degree with no leniency of the court. Judge Dale sentenced him to 50 years at hard labor in the Lansing Penitentiary. 

Dalton drifted away from the crowd and was killed near Ardmore. The rest stayed around Dunn’s. Dynamite ordered a big gun sent to Tulsa. The Marshals got onto it and watched for him, thinking he would come in at night to get it, but he rode in at 2 p.m. and got his gun & was getting out of town before they knew it. They started after him and had a running fight from there to the Turkey Track ranch. They killed 2 horses from under him. They thought they had him surrounded in the timber there & sent for more help, but when they got it & searched thoroughly, he was gone. He then left the territory for good. 

Bitter Creek and Tulsa still stayed here. Doolan disappeared, and no one knew where. Also, Edith Elsworth, as they probably went off together. Bitter Creek, Tulsa, Pierce & others went to Dover & held up a train. Was pushed closely & Tulsa, in trying to cover the retreat of the others, was shot and killed. Bitter Creek and Peirce came back to their old haunts, and in a short time were killed on Dall Dunn’s farm. It is the universal belief that they were betrayed by the Dunn boys, if not killed by them.

There is a break in the Diary, and it picks up here:

In March 1896, Bill Doolan was captured in Eureka Springs by Bill Tilghman of Perry. He was brought back and lodged in the Guthrie jail. I went and saw him there. In June, Dynamite Dick was caught in Texas for bootlegging, tried and sent to county jail for 60 days, and they suspected him of being one of the Doolan gang and sent Magee, the U.S. Marshal, word, and he sent a man there to identify him, and they brought him to Guthrie. They got several murder cases against him, but on Sunday night July the 5th, Doolan and a negro overpowered the guards, locked them in cells and 14 of the worst men made their escape, and I think for good. Rumor is they were helped to get out. 

Time will tell, as there is to be an investigation. Toward the last of August, Doolan and a small band were located on Mud Creek about 12 or 15 miles east of Ingalls. He was seen to go to Lawson Post Office several times, and the Marshals laid a trap for him. Between 9 and 10 o’clock Monday night, Aug. 24, he walked into it and was shot and killed dead. No particulars yet in regards to it. I will note them when I get a full account. They say Dynamite Dick and 8 others are hiding close by. 

Later, Doolan was at Lawson making arrangements to leave the country with his supposed wife. He had just left the woman and was walking down the road when he was shot from ambush. He was killed dead. He was put in a wagon and taken to Guthrie that night. The parties that killed him were Heck Thomas, Dall, Bee, George, and John Dunn, with one or two others. They had Dr. Call's No. 8 shotgun.

This did the work, for he had 16 buckshot in him and also 2 Winchester balls. His wife went to Guthrie to get his body, but failed to get it. On the morning of the 25th, the Marshals sighted the remaining outlaws a few miles from where they killed Doolan, but they were on the move heading for Turkey Track ranch. It is doubtful if they ever got them now. There were 4 in the bunch.

Here, the Doctor’s Diary gives some insight into what happened a few months later:

Friday, Nov. 6, at 4 p.m., George Dunn rode into Ingalls very fast and said his brother Bee, had been shot by Deputy U. S. Marshal Canton in Pawnee. They left for there immediately. Saturday afternoon, Mr. Cots of Stillwater & family, also Mrs. Bee Dunn arrived with the dead body of Bee. They took him to his stepfather’s house and kept the body until Sunday noon & then buried it. There was a long funeral procession. They found no bill against Canton for the killing and let him loose at once. The feeling in Pawnee is all in favor of Canton. 

Past reputation is what hurts Dunn. All kinds of reports are afloat in regard to his past life. At Ingalls, people are divided on the case. All were looking for Dunn to be killed, but expected it to come from some of the remaining outlaws. There is bound to be more killing over this. I think it's only a matter of time until more of the Dunn boys are killed or they get Canton. After Bee’s death, John, Dall, and George go on the scout. There are a number of bills against them in Pawnee for cattle stealing. 

T. Boggs and Bill Long left for Kansas to avoid the same charge. They got into trouble there and were sent to jail. As soon as their time was out, McLain wrote for his step-son, Bill Long, to come home. He thought there was not anything against him, but just as soon as he got here, they took him in. He laid in jail at Pawnee a month or 80 and gave bond for two thousand to appear at the Sept. 1897 court. 

Bob Boggs went to Texas to get away and stole down there 47 head of cattle. They caught him & sent him over the road for 4 years. Pawnee County will get him when his time is out. Bill Chappel, Tom Boggh,  A. E. Peirce, and several others left the country for good. William McElhanie (Narrow Gauge Kid) skipped his bond and is gone for good. Some think he went to Cuba. McLain, Dr. Steel & W. Wilson are his bondsmen. 

The Grand Jury found bills against John and Al McLain at our place and several others in Stillwater for perjury. They gave bonds. It was on scheduling their property for taxes.

The above is according to the State of Oklahoma history website. The above diary excerpts are "out of a very interesting book called the 'Chronicles of Oklahoma.'” 

Of the 13 Deputy U.S. Marshals who went into Ingalls to clean out the outlaws that day, because they were spotted before they could get into position and carry out their plan, three Deputy U.S. Marshals were killed during the Battle of Ingalls. Deputy Marshal Speed, Deputy Marshal Thomas Hueston, and Deputy Marshal Lafayette Shadley were shot and killed during a gunfight with a group of seven outlaws in Ingalls, Oklahoma Territory (modern-day Oklahoma). 

The marshals had gone to the town in search of the outlaws, who were wanted for the murder of Marshal Charles Connelly, of the Coffeyville, Kansas, Police Department, and encountered one of them on horseback. The first suspect, George "Bitter Creek" Newcomb, exchanged gunfire with a marshal immediately. Newcomb was wounded.  A second suspect, Arkansas Tom Jones, who was in a nearby hotel, began shooting at officers from his second-story hotel window with a Winchester rifle. 

It was a horrible shootout. One of the things that saved the Marshals was when Deputy Marshal Jim Masterson threw dynamite into the hotel where Arkansas Tom was shooting from. The Marshals were able to capture Arkansas Tom when the blast stunned him.

 

Tom Correa

Sacramento's Oriental Saloon Opened In 1851

Most folks interested in the Old West know about Tombstone's Oriental Saloon. That Oriental Saloon sits at the intersection of Fifth and Allen streets in the city of Tombstone, Arizona. It was opened by Milt Joyce in the summer of 1880. Outside the Oriental Saloon is a historic marker which reads:

The Oriental Saloon was opened in 1880 by Milton Joyce with the gaming concessions run by Lou Rickenbaugh. The Epitaph News described it as "the most elegantly furnished saloon this side of the Golden Gate". Wyatt Earp bought a share of the gaming tables. The Oriental became one of Tombstone's most notorious saloons due to several shooting deaths on the front walk. It was also the scene of confrontations, one involving gunfire, between Milt Joyce and Doc Holliday and later with Virgil Earp. 

The Oriental burned in the 1881 fire with the conflagration spreading so quickly Joyce was unable to save anything. The building owners, Vizina and Cook, rebuilt quickly and the Oriental re-opened for business as usual. Once again, the Oriental was threatened in the 1882 fire, but the fireman made a stand there and by keeping a steady stream of water on the building were able to keep the damages minor. Joyce left Tombstone in 1884. When state prohibition came to Tombstone in 1914 the Oriental became a drug store and remained so for a number of years. Since then it has had many tenants and purposes but still stands in it original historic location. Tombstone Restoration Commission, Marker Number 27.

Twenty-nine years before Arizona's Oriental Saloon was opened, Samuel Colville opened what he called "The Oriental Saloon" in Sacramento in 1851. Though his family immigrated from Ireland when he was just a boy, Samuel Colville arrived in California in 1849. Instead of digging for gold, like many other merchants during that time, he saw it easier to "mine the miners" for their gold. 

He did very well do that during the opening days of the California Gold Rush. He did so well that by 1851, he opened his Oriental Saloon on the corner of I and 7th Street in Sacramento, California. 

The saloon that he called "The Oriental" was a saloon for drinking, but it also had stage performances of women wearing "bloomers." Yes, bloomers. Which, as you can imagine, was considered fairly scandalous at the time. 

According to promotional materials, the Oriental was “fitted up with the most splendid and costly manner altogether with a view to the comfort of its patrons.” The saloon featured a cigar stand, a billiard table, four bowling alleys, and, most importantly, a stage where entertainment was provided. The Oriental under Colville became known for featuring women parading about in a radically new mode of female dress that fitted just above the waist and pantaloons that hung three or four inches below the knee, as shown here. Called “bloomers” they were controversial. 

For the lonely miners of Sacramento the chance to view female legs, even if covered in cloth, must have been enticing. Despite this unique attraction, the Oriental did not do well and was sold about a year later. The experience left Colville an important lesson: In stage productions “sex sells.” 

Of course, beings that not every venture is successful, Colville's Oriental Saloon went bust and he sold out. But, ever the showman, Colville persisted and improved his skills as an impresario in San Francisco and then in Melbourne, Australia, before taking over the National Theater in Cincinnati, left, bringing to that city America’s most noted actors and actresses. Recognizing that New York was the center of the nation’s theatre scene, about 1868 Colville moved to The Big Apple. With partner George Wood they operated “Wood’s Museum” (later, Daly’s Theatre). They scored a great commercial success by featuring Lydia Thompson, shown below, and her British Blondes, an English burlesque act that had New York theatre folk abuzz.

Thompson’s show was filled with double-entendre songs and, although no bloomers were in sight, featured artfully posed beautiful women clad in gauzy material. One critic observed that from the standpoint of talent the ladies “really had nothing to offer but their persons.” Nonetheless the show under Coville’s sponsorship toured the U.S. for six years and took in more than $1 million at the box office—equivalent to $24 million today.

Taking advantage of his growing wealth, Colville launched multiple theatrical companies. His Coville’s Folly Company traveled the nation presenting early musical comedies. The Colville Opera Company brought Americans early operettas. He also ran the Colville Burlesque Opera Company that offered travesties of popular operettas and plays. “Many of the productions staged for these companies were instrumental in the evolution of musical theater and provided experience and opportunity.”

The impresario was noted for introducing to the Broadway stage and on tour actresses and actors who would become celebrities of the times. Among them was Alice Oates, an American performer in light operas and burlesques, who made her New York debut in 1870 under Colville’s auspices. Another was British actress Julia Mathews, known for playing female leads in comic operas. While on tour, she unfortunately died of malaria in St. Louis at the age of 33.

In addition to staging these productions, Colville was writing for the theatre. Among his plays was one called “Taken from Life,” which had its debut at Wallace’s Theatre in New York. The cast included a horse named “Comet,” billed as “the great racehorse.” 

Coville’s ads called his Burlesque Opera Company: “The most complete organization on earth for the representation of light entertainment combining musical culture of the highest order of merit with mirth of the most hilarious character governed by refinement.”

Amid his multiple theatrical enterprises, Colville was having a personal life. Unfortunately, despite diligent searching, I have been unable to find any photo or illustration of him. A passport application when he was 42 provides these details: Colville was five feet, nine and one half inches tall, had black curly hair, hazel eyes and a “short & full” face. He apparently was married three times. 

 His first wife was Mary Provost with whom he had a daughter Violetta, born in 1844. His second was Elizabeth Ure Ferguson. That union produced a son, David. The record appears to be silent on the fate of these women.

This brings us to Emeline Rosenquest. Born in New York City in 1843 and married at 22 years of age to Isaac B. Reed, Emaline. Her stage name as “Eme Rosenau” and she became the star of Colville theatricals. 

Although the critics were not always kind, a musical and drama critic of the St. Louis Republican by the name of Garrett stated in a local newspaper, “M’lle Eme Roseau…as a singer is a genuine surprise to every audience. Nobody expects to hear such pure, artistic vocalism and refined manners in burlesque. Roseau comes upon the scene like a new and sweet spirit from the tone world, her voice strikes a sympathetic cord at once, and her refined presence gives the key-note to the whole performance.”

An occupational association eventually bloomed into romance. Sam and Emeline were married in July 1883 in a quiet ceremony conducted by a Presbyterian minister in Philadelphia, far away from the lights of Broadway. Sam was 60; Emeline was 40. Further evidence of the couples’ desire for privacy, only one of the few attendees was a show business figure.

That same year Colville, with a partner, purchased the theater shown here. Located at 107 West 14th Street, this venue had opened in 1866 as the Theatre Francais, dedicated to staging French language dramas and operas. By the mid-1880s, it had become simply known as the "14th Street Theatre."  Under Colville’s direction it became the primary site for his productions. At his death the building passed to Emeline who with her brother turned it into a profitable motion picture house. The building was demolished in 1938.

As he aged, Colville was troubled with heart problems. And yes, it's reported that his heard problems worsened in early September of 1886. For several days he had complained of feeling ill, had seen a doctor and received treatment. His business agent dropped by the Colville home in New York as he was convalescing and the two took a carriage ride in Central Park, apparently believing the fresh air would do Sam good. They had barely returned when the impresario slumped dead in a parlor chair. Colville was 63 years old.

The funeral was held at Manhattan’s "Little Church Around the Corner" where the Colville had been a friend of the pastor. The services were well attended, with many mourners from the entertainment industry. He was buried in Brooklyn’s Cemetery of the Evergreens. Emaline would join him there 28 years later. Their joint headstones are shown here.

The reading of Colville’s will indicated that the immigrant Irish boy had become a wealthy man during his lifetime. It also sprung several surprises. In addition to the 14th Street theater property, Sam left a flat $30,000 in cash to Emeline. The bulk of the estate, including real estate and personal property was left to David Colville, his son from Elizabeth Ferguson. Violetta, his eldest child from Mary Provost, received no mention. At the official reading Emeline and David both waived all rights to contest the will.

In addition to Colville’s work in theatre, he is remembered in Sacramento for having published an early city directory, dated 1853-1854. Reprinted with a facsimile of the original cover in 1997 by the California State Library Foundation, the volume contained a history of Sacramento, a map, and a list of residents, including address, occupation, and place of origin. Strangely, Colville’s name is not among those listed. An ad, shown below, appears there for the Oriental Saloon under its new ownership. 

Notes: I was brought to the story of Sam Colville by a brief mention of him in a book prepared by the staff of Special Collections at the Sacramento Public Library called “Sacramento’s Gold Rush Saloons: El Dorado in a Shot Glass,” The History Press, Charleston, 2014. From there, the Internet provided more than ample resources describing Colville’s rise from saloonkeeper to famed 19th-century American theater mogul. Imagine that.

The Two Will Wests -- Brothers Changed Criminal Identification Methods Forever

Will West and William West mugshots.

Story by Dean Jobb 

The Will and William West Case: The Identical Inmates that Showed the Need for Fingerprinting, 1903

On May 1, 1903, an African-American man named Will West entered the U.S. Penitentiary at Leavenworth. Like any other new prisoner, West was subjected to the standard admission procedure, which included a prison clerk taking photographs, a physical description, and eleven anthropometric measurements. Using West’s measurements and description, identification clerks matched him to the record of William West, who had a previous murder conviction. Not surprisingly, in the clerks’ view, West denied that he was this man.

The discovery of Will West’s past conviction must have seemed routine to the Leavenworth clerks. Once again, the world-famous Bertillon system of identification had prevented a criminal from escaping his past. Once again, science had exposed a criminal’s lies and evasions.

This incident suddenly deviated from the usual, though, especially when the clerks discovered to their amazement that this same William West was already incarcerated at Leavenworth!

According to authors Harris Hawthorne Wilder and Bert Wentworth (1918): “From the Bertillon measurements thus obtained, [the record keeper] went to the file, and returned with the card the measurements called for, properly filled out…and bearing the name, 'William West.” 

This card was shown to the prisoner, who grinned in amazement and said, “That’s my picture, but I don’t know where you got it, for I know I have never been here before.” The record clerk turned the card over and read the particulars there given, including the statements that this man was already a prisoner at the same institution, having been committed to a life sentence on September 9, 1901, for the crime of murder.

This doppelgängers case sparked the need for fingerprinting. 

The second West was summoned, and he looked startlingly like the first one. Subsequently, the fingerprints of Will West and William West were compared. The patterns bore no resemblance. The fallibility of three systems of personal identification (photographs, Bertillon measurements, and names) was demonstrated by this one case. The value of fingerprints as a means of identification was established.

The warden, R. W. McClaughry, according to the legend, declared, “This is the death of Bertillonage!” and discontinued anthropometry at Leavenworth “the very next day.”

After the Will West-William West case, most police departments began using photographs, Bertillon measurements, and fingerprints on their mugshot files. Eventually, the Bertillon system was discarded.

The William and Will West story is somewhat sensationalized and omits prison record information, uncovered by later researchers, indicating that William and Will West both corresponded with the same family members and thus were probably related.

Prison records also cite that Leavenworth inmate George Bean reported that he knew William and Will West in their home territory before prison and that they were twin brothers.

Their exact relationship is still unknown. What is factual is that the two West men were not unusual; many people have similar anthropometric measurements.

It is generally accepted that identical twins will have the same or almost the same anthropometric measurements, yet easily differentiated fingerprints. The superiority of fingerprints over anthropometry is thus clear.

Will and William West mugshots and fingerprints.

Regardless of how crucial the incident was to the adoption of fingerprinting, the men’s prison records—including their almost identical mug shots, matching Bertillon measurements, and mismatched fingerprints—survive to authenticate an amazing coincidence.

Will West, the newest of the two Leavenworth inmates, served his manslaughter sentence and left no trail after his release, thus disappearing from history. William West, the lifer, spent time in solitary confinement for fighting and creating disturbances during his early years behind bars. He was released on parole in 1919, but not before making a dash for freedom.

By 1916, West was a model prisoner and a “trusty,” an inmate entrusted to guard and discipline other prisoners on work details. One afternoon, he “succumbed to the temptation,” as he put it, and walked away. He hopped a freight train and made it as far as Topeka before he was arrested the next day and returned to Leavenworth.

The police officers who picked him up did not need fingerprints to confirm he was an escapee. A prison-issued circular bearing his mug shots and a written description had already reached Topeka. Ironically, they were enough to nab a man who had helped to modernize the identification of criminals.

Nowadays, fingerprinting remains critical for identification in the criminal justice system, useful for identifying records and maintaining criminal history.

(Photo credit: Suspect Identities. A History of Fingerprinting and Criminal Identification / Police Photography By Larry S. Miller, Norman Marin, Richard T. McEvoy Jr / The Two Will Wests By Dean Jobb).

A 49ers' Story of Mining for Gold in California

The story below is from the Overland Monthly, published in the Baltimore American on November 19, 1887: 

On the Golden Shores  –  A California Pioneer’s Story

Two of us went to Sacramento again, where we met a darky who had come out from New York with George Hyatt, and he wished us to go immediately with him to Placer County. He said he had found a place where the gold could be taken out in large pieces. He had blazed the trees on the way out and could find the place again. 

We started with him at once and came out at what is now called Todd’s Valley. Todd was then building his log cabin there for a store and tavern. From here we went up on the divide and, wandering about the woods, at last found the blazes on the trees, which finally led us into what is still known by the euphonious name of Shirt-tail Canon. 

We camped here overnight, and in the morning set to prospecting with good results, proving the truth of our guide. We hastened back to the city, and when we returned we found a few other parties there at work. We could make four to six ounces a day, and many made as high as one thousand dollars a day with their pans. 

Claims were here, as well as elsewhere, fifteen feet square. Water came in rapidly as we went down. This drove us away, and we returned for a while up to El Dorado County. This time we went high up, about fifteen miles from Johnson’s ranch on the emigrant road, intending to cross the river and go over towards Coloma after prospecting. But after we had crossed some very heavy canons and had come to the river, we found it impossible to ford it there. 

About noon, one of our party fell into the river. After getting out, he spread his wet clothes on the rocks to dry, and when he went to get them, what was his astonishment to find shining in a crevice some particles of bright gold. We were not long in breaking open the rock and found that the crevice contained about sixty dollars, which we extracted with a knife and washed out in a pan. 

We concluded to camp there; so, going up on the hill and staking our animals to good feed, we tried the bar. It was a small one, but we had to use crowbars and a hammer, a knife, and a pan—scarcely any dirt to wash; but we could get out from three to five pounds of gold in a day. 

Every two or three days, I would saddle up and go down the old emigrant trail (then traversed daily by hundreds of emigrants from the States) and, wending my way to Johnson’s ranch, would deposit with him for safe-keeping our gold. He wished to find out where I got it, so when I started back, he would send someone to track me. I always started in the evening and camped on the road, somewhere where I found emigrants already camped so that if followed, I could manage before morning to slip away without being discovered by my shadow. 

After I had done this a few times and had several thousand dollars in Johnson’s keeping, he became resolute to find out our whereabouts. So finally, he sent a lot of Indians, thirty-two in number, to track us up. 

This they did the next day by following up the river and watching for some slight discoloration of the water, such as would be produced by washing the dirt. It so happened that upon going up this time, we had taken with us a Portuguese man who we wanted to do our cooking and packing, and as he was a good shot also for game. 

About noon, while we were at the lower end of the bar, I heard Joe sing out, “Look out—there comes the Indians!” 

And sure enough, they were approaching us from below on both sides of the river. They had no intent of harm, desiring only to find us and our whereabouts, but Portuguese Joe, without waiting for orders, opened fire. 

The shot went whizzing by my head, aimed at the nearest Indian, but at the same instant, I motioned him to jump into the river, which he lost no time in doing. 

The rest got away as fast as they came. I expostulated with Joe for his imprudence but he thought he knew what was right. I told him they would return and kill us all. He said, “No, Indian come no more.” 

I told him we should have to look out now for they would be on us before we knew it, and where we were, it was impossible to get out except in one way, and that way these Indians knew as well as we did. Sure enough, not two hours later, the Indians made their appearance, and this time where they had the advantage on the bluff above our heads. 

Our chance of getting away by the pass we had entered by was cut off, and we stood a poor showing of escaping their vengeance. Showers of arrows came down thick and fast, but by keeping up close under the hill, we managed to evade them as they overshot all the time. 

We were now in a dilemma. We could not cross the river where we were, for it was a narrow channel between the sides of the gorge and the current ran very strong. As to anyone coming to our aid, that was not to be thought of, for we were miles ahead of where any prospecting had been done at that time, and there was no possibility of anyone finding us. We kept close up under the bluff all that afternoon but were kept in anxiety by the continuous rolling down of rock and stone upon us from above, and when we tried to escape these, the arrows would be brought into play. 

Night came on, but we knew the darkness would not help us, for our only mode of egress was guarded by the Indians. One of our boys tried to clamber around at another place to get out and make known our situation, but failed to do so. The next morning, however, a little reconnoitering showed us one point where, by throwing a lasso up into a tree above, there might be a chance, but it would not do to try it in the daytime. 

So, waiting till the dusk set in, my companion went to work to make his exit. The place was about a quarter of a mile above on the river and just where a projection of the wall of rock came down to the river, cutting off all further communication up the stream at that point. While he made the attempt, we moved about on the bar to attract attention that way in case the Indians should be on the watch. This time he succeeded, got out safely, and communicated with a body of men who came to our relief the next day—making indiscriminate war at the same time upon every Indian they met. 

This was the beginning of the El Dorado Indian War in which Major McKinney and a portion of his command were killed — an incident in the history of that country that very few have ever known the cause of all — Portuguese Joe’s foolish and unprovoked shot. Many lost their lives by that Indian war. 

We had escaped the Indians, but our secret diggings were overrun with men in twenty-four hours and our time was up. Within two days after we left, one man found in a crevice on the bar we had left a single piece of pure gold, weighing nine pounds. 

Upon getting out, we found our horses were gone—probably taken by the Indians at the first. We left all our tools and baggage on the bar and never returned for them. We went down to Johnson’s and got from him our money that I had deposited with him. He explained that in sending up the Indians, it was with no other intention than that of discovering our whereabouts so as to reap some of the benefits, and that but for the indiscretion of our man, the Portuguese, no harm whatever would have come of their visit as they were entirely peaceable unless molested. 

We soon got away from this part of the country, which was now in a state of great disturbance, and we fairly launched on a regular nomadic life of unrest, wishing to be constantly on the move, ready for adventure and chance. The men in the mines of these early days were not the stereotyped miners of the present day. They were in nearly every instance young men, full of fire and ambition, most of them gentlemen, intelligent, well-educated, and well-bred, men who had means at home but had come out here from a spirit of adventure, intending only to remain a year or two, then go home and enjoy the competency that everyone believed he was sure to obtain. 

But the adage “Easy got, easy go” was verified in almost every instance, and here is just where the old Californians and their families got their prodigal habits—taking no thought for the future, living up to and beyond their incomes, however large; a habit that has become so engrafted upon even the present generation that it cannot be uprooted no matter how great the pressure of the times. 

Why, even at this late day, I know men who will spend fifty dollars to have a good time at night at the opera or a banquet and its accompaniments, and borrow fifty cents to get their breakfast the next morning. 

Now, as the mines promised such immense and speedy fortunes, almost all went to them in their endeavors to acquire sudden riches. Some, with only a pick, pan, and spoon or knife, met with fabulous success, while many others were doomed to as great disappointments. 

Rockers sold at fifty dollars to one hundred dollars each. Men made from two ounces to twenty a day and frequently picked up pieces of from five dollars to five hundred dollars each, and I am personally acquainted with one man, a Mr. Strain (still living), who picked up a piece of pure gold that was worth ten thousand dollars. This find was made at Knapp’s ranch near Columbia in Tuolumne County. 

A Frenchman, who was on the point of starving at the time, found another in Tree Pine Gulch near the same town that weighed five thousand dollars. His prosperity was too much for the temperament of the Frank, and he immediately became insane and never recovered. He died in the asylum at Stockton. 

The gold was given the French Consul for the benefit of his relations in France. It is estimated on good authority that this Columbia basin, within a space of not over three miles square, has produced in all, within twenty-five years, the enormous sum of one hundred million dollars or about one-thirteenth of the product of the whole state. The largest piece of gold extracted in the state was taken from Calaveras County. It weighed one hundred and ninety-five pounds troy, or about thirty-nine thousand dollars.

-- end of story from the Overland Monthly, published in the Baltimore American on November 19, 1887.


I hope you found that as interesting as I do.

Tom Correa