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Didn’t mean I was helpless.
The forums and discussion groups for treasure-seekers — of all kinds — posed a rabbit hole the size of the Grand Canyon.
I sidestepped around it carefully and found, instead, a piece on what kind of people became treasure-hunters. Only one piece — always want two independent sources — but interesting, nonetheless.
Three-quarters who identified themselves as treasure-hunters were male. They liked risk and challenge. The reward — beyond any treasure — was a sense of striving, leading to mastery. They competed, not against themselves, but the other treasure-seekers.
I sat staring out the windshield for a while, considering that.
Then I called Mrs. P.
****
“So the women’s names as we know them today came from Pinkerton?” I asked as a recap to get us going again.
We were back in her front room, on those hard chairs, with Emmaline Parens as serene as ever and me pretending to serenity.
“In part, yes. There is a school of thought that the woman companion of the outlaw popularly nicknamed Sundance Kid, who was, in fact, Harry Alonzo Longabaugh and—”
“Longbaugh? The Sundance Kid was a Longbaugh? Like James, the lawyer in Sherman?”
He wasn’t the only lawyer in the county, but he was by far the best. His family had been lawyers here for generations.
“The outlaw’s last name is Longabaugh, with an ‘a’ after the ‘Long’ in a number of public records. Although it does appear as Longbaugh without the ‘a’ at times, including on historical markers.”
She’d chosen to discuss the least interesting aspect of this.
“Uh-huh. Typos happen, even on historical markers, but is James related to the Sundance Kid?”
I couldn’t see how that fit in with Keefe’s murder, but it would tickle my dad. And, I had to admit, I found it intriguing.
“I am not aware of the complete branches of James’ family tree, only being familiar with those of that name who have resided in and served our county for three generations. I can assure you, none of the Longbaughs I have known have ever been on the wrong side of the law.”
Well, that was disappointing, but not the end of my speculations.
Perhaps reading my reaction, she added, “You would need to make your enquiry to James for any further information on that topic.”
She compressed her lips in a way that said the matter was closed. She had firm rules about indulging in gossip. And a very strict definition of what qualified as gossip. I wanted to protest the ruling: C’mon, it’s not gossip when it’s about someone who’s been dead for more than a century.
On the other hand, did I want to use up any chance of earning a gossip exemption on a topic that wouldn’t further our investigation? No.
“You were saying something about the woman companion of Sundance or Longabaugh, whose name might have been Etta Place. Or might not have been anything like that.”
“Yes. There is the school of thought that the woman associated with him and commonly referred to as Etta Place was named Ethel, with Etta an approximation of her name’s pronunciation by the locals from the period when they, along with the man known as Butch Cassidy, lived and ranched in South America. In short, there was not great care taken to get the correct names of the women. In addition, as I earlier indicated, when a male outlaw died, interest in his female associate or companion evaporated. One might have expected better of the Pinkertons, since the agency was far-thinking in using women and minorities as agents when that was unheard of. Not, I fear, from a concept of right or fairness, but because they could pass unnoticed more readily than their male counterparts. A premise they then proved by their own conduct.”
Another woman, say, Wendy Barlow, might have snorted to punctuate that. She sniffed. Delicately.
“Altogether, this lack of attention to the women meant that a number of them disappeared into the mists, whether permanently or for an extended period of time. It is widely accepted that the woman known as Etta Place was in San Francisco in 1907, having returned there accompanied by Harry Longabaugh some time earlier, before he returned to South America, where he reportedly met his death in 1908. At a later date, a woman whose description matched that of Etta Place approached a consulate official, trying to obtain a death certificate for Harry Longabaugh.”
“That’s interesting. Why would she want a death certificate? If it happened today, you’d think for an insurance claim, but somehow I doubt the Sundance Kid had life insurance. Settling an estate? There’d have to be a will. Another stretch for Sundance. Or they’d been legally married and she wanted to remarry. Has there been any evidence they were married?”
“Not that I have encountered in my reading. The other motives you enumerated also have no support in the limited factual record.”
“Limited? The factual record is a string. A skinny string with frayed ends.”
She did not pause to sympathize. “Another woman associated with an outlaw of that period did have success in obtaining a death certificate and with that documentation was able to sell land in the southeastern corner of Cottonwood County. It is largely the area now known as Elk Rock Ranch. It was once owned by Oscar Virtanen.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
