Search found 141 matches

by Potbelly Jim
Mon Apr 09, 2018 8:01 pm
Forum: LDM Discussions
Topic: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains
Replies: 129
Views: 738832

Re: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains

From the Hrdlicka documents provided by Joe and Garry, and reading some of Hrdlicka’s work, it appears to me: 1. Odd Halseth mailed Ruth’s skull to Neil Judd in Wash DC, with instructions to contact both the Ruth family and Dr. Hrdlicka, for identification. Halseth and the doctors in Phoenix were un...
by Potbelly Jim
Thu Mar 29, 2018 12:24 pm
Forum: LDM Discussions
Topic: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains
Replies: 129
Views: 738832

Re: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains

Garry, Hrdlicka never served in a military capacity, but at this early stage I can see a few smoking guns in how he may have seen skulls from battlefields: 1. He was instrumental in taking charge of medical specimens (skeletal) from the Army Medical Museum and transferring them to the National Museu...
by Potbelly Jim
Thu Mar 29, 2018 12:14 pm
Forum: LDM Discussions
Topic: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains
Replies: 129
Views: 738832

Re: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains

Seconding Joe, I believe there may be reason for caution in throwing out Hrdlicka's conclusions just yet. While there is always some room for questioning the qualifications of any individual, but so far everything I've read in the forensics realm gives great credit to Hrdlicka for his early efforts ...
by Potbelly Jim
Tue Mar 27, 2018 6:47 pm
Forum: LDM Discussions
Topic: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains
Replies: 129
Views: 738832

Re: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains

Just re-reading this and had a few observations...Don, I agree that the entire LDM legend as we know it is pretty jumbled up now, perhaps impossibly so. There may have been some "tongue in cheek" use of the LDM and Ruth legends by people in Apache Junction to "drum up business" s...
by Potbelly Jim
Wed Mar 21, 2018 12:09 pm
Forum: LDM Discussions
Topic: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains
Replies: 129
Views: 738832

Re: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains

Don wrote: thanks jim....heres a question...any idea from who or where the story came from that Ruth's skull was POSITIVELY identifid by Ruth's Dentist? If it came from Ely then that practically renders the rest of his(Ely's) story worthless Hi Don, Not necessarily…if I had to make a guess, I think ...
by Potbelly Jim
Tue Mar 20, 2018 10:14 am
Forum: LDM Discussions
Topic: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains
Replies: 129
Views: 738832

Re: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains

Hi Don, All good points, as usual. It was a strange event, no disagreement there. A couple of points: Maricopa and Pinal counties were relative backwaters in 1931. Keep in mind that the City of Phoenix was not involved as it was out of their jurisdiction. So we had county Sheriffs and county coroner...
by Potbelly Jim
Mon Mar 19, 2018 5:13 pm
Forum: LDM Discussions
Topic: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains
Replies: 129
Views: 738832

Re: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains

Ales Hrdlicka was considered one of the foremost experts on the human skeleton in the US, if not the world. He graduated from two medical colleges, then studied for 4 months in Paris under one of the era’s leading forensic scientists (Brouardel). Brouardel is considered one of the fathers of medical...
by Potbelly Jim
Thu Mar 08, 2018 1:32 pm
Forum: LDM Discussions
Topic: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains
Replies: 129
Views: 738832

Re: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains

Hi Garry, thanks for digging that PDF up, I will PM you with my e-mail address. I believe (since you were at the Ranger museum) that you saw a Walker Colt, (vice Wilson?). The Rangers were reportedly the first to use the Patterson Colt in combat, and their leader (Walker) put his head together with ...
by Potbelly Jim
Wed Mar 07, 2018 2:54 pm
Forum: LDM Discussions
Topic: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains
Replies: 129
Views: 738832

Re: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains

Hi Garry, All good points. I believe it’s impossible to say, with the information we have, what caused those holes in Ruth’s skull. I’ve amassed quite the collection of papers from the internet dealing with non-shotgun gunshot wounds to the head. Without exception, they all agree with what Thomas ha...
by Potbelly Jim
Wed Mar 07, 2018 3:12 am
Forum: LDM Discussions
Topic: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains
Replies: 129
Views: 738832

Re: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains

Mea culpa...not that anyone probably gives a hoot, but the formula I gave above WILL NOT calculate bullet energy in foot lbs 8O ...it's simply the kinetic energy formula in Joules...I also messed up the order of operations while trying to get it all on one line. It should be read "one half the ...
by Potbelly Jim
Tue Mar 06, 2018 4:24 pm
Forum: LDM Discussions
Topic: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains
Replies: 129
Views: 738832

Re: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains

Hey Joe, one other thing: I would be very interested in seeing any of Dr. Hrdlicka’s notes on the subject. I’m one of those weirdo’s that walks around with a bunch of formulae floating around in my head, so I’d like to see what he came up with. While modern ammunition tends to make the types of hole...
by Potbelly Jim
Tue Mar 06, 2018 12:15 pm
Forum: LDM Discussions
Topic: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains
Replies: 129
Views: 738832

Re: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains

Hi Garry, As far as provenance to the stories, I don’t really believe any of them. Provenance is a real problem. Just looking at, say, the “Gassler” manuscript could be an exercise in futility. It may as well have been created out of thin air. I don’t know, that’s for sure. If T.K. or B.C. showed up...
by Potbelly Jim
Mon Mar 05, 2018 8:23 pm
Forum: LDM Discussions
Topic: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains
Replies: 129
Views: 738832

Re: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains

Wow!!! 8O Thanks, Garry! I don’t have any of the news articles so these lists are a big help for me to try to understand what was happening on Ruth’s “last trip”. Much food for thought! Best regards, Jim
by Potbelly Jim
Thu Mar 01, 2018 2:14 pm
Forum: LDM Discussions
Topic: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains
Replies: 129
Views: 738832

Re: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains

Hi Joe and Thomas, From memory (and MUCH speculation) also… Thanks Joe, I’ll get Sims Ely out tonight and check it out! I’ve never seen a list of items recovered with the remains either. I remember reading somewhere that his boots were found in his “camp”. I also don’t believe he was beheaded, as th...
by Potbelly Jim
Wed Feb 28, 2018 5:48 am
Forum: LDM Discussions
Topic: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains
Replies: 129
Views: 738832

Re: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains

Hi Joe, From what Garry said in his last post, I took that to mean he was done talking about the Jones letters until his site was back up and people could get a clearer picture of everything in context. Not sure. As far as the PD, here is what I’ve found out so far from a friend: 1. The files probab...
by Potbelly Jim
Fri Feb 16, 2018 12:15 pm
Forum: LDM Discussions
Topic: Taking a Stand
Replies: 31
Views: 43411

Re: Taking a Stand

Thomas, regarding your comment on the condition of school finances: I took a look at the current status of state school lands. It looks like about 85% of the original State Trust lands are still owned by the state (about 8.5 million acres). They say every acre of that land is under one or more lease...
by Potbelly Jim
Wed Feb 14, 2018 2:13 pm
Forum: LDM Discussions
Topic: Taking a Stand
Replies: 31
Views: 43411

Re: Taking a Stand

Well I just dug out a purchase agreement between the State and Frank Luke for 88 acres of T1N R3E section 16, it was dated 1917...so it would appear that Frank Luke Jr. probably didn't ever live on section 16. But like you guys have been saying, people were paying REAL money for that land, it was be...
by Potbelly Jim
Mon Feb 12, 2018 3:41 pm
Forum: LDM Discussions
Topic: Taking a Stand
Replies: 31
Views: 43411

Re: Taking a Stand

I’m probably going to confuse the issue even more. Sorry. I have some county land records that show there was a whole bunch of people living all over Section 16 from just before the time of statehood on…it must have been a terrible mess! Just as an aside, one of those people was Frank Luke…I wonder ...
by Potbelly Jim
Sat Feb 10, 2018 8:10 am
Forum: LDM Discussions
Topic: Taking a Stand
Replies: 31
Views: 43411

Re: Taking a Stand

Hi Garry, Guilty as charged. :oops: Re: Chuning/Bark thread, Paul directed me over to that discussion you guys had years ago... I would imagine a lot of you guys that have been doing this for awhile get a little tired of seeing the same stuff rehashed when all we have to do is LOOK...I thought I had...
by Potbelly Jim
Fri Feb 09, 2018 1:53 pm
Forum: LDM Discussions
Topic: Taking a Stand
Replies: 31
Views: 43411

Re: Taking a Stand

Hi Thomas, While I’ve never looked into it myself, when I read what you had found about section 16 (that there was never any ownership records, and it took a LONG time for the land to be transferred to the state) I immediately suspected the Army Corps. Seen issues like that regarding river banks bef...
by Potbelly Jim
Thu Feb 01, 2018 10:37 pm
Forum: LDM Discussions
Topic: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains
Replies: 129
Views: 738832

Re: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains

Garry, thanks for your response. I’m going to go ahead and see what I can dig up at Phoenix PD. I know some people there that might be able to point me in the right direction. It’s a long-shot, I doubt there’s anything there at all, but I might as well pursue it. Sorry to hear about Eleanor’s passin...
by Potbelly Jim
Wed Jan 31, 2018 8:26 pm
Forum: LDM Discussions
Topic: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains
Replies: 129
Views: 738832

Re: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains

Hi Roy, thanks to both you and your friend who provided the letters to me via e-mail. As I said in my reply email, I now think I was wrong in my initial assessment that the police in question were only trying to get maps from the Ruth family. Garry, if you happen to log in and read this: It looks li...
by Potbelly Jim
Wed Jan 24, 2018 9:47 pm
Forum: LDM Discussions
Topic: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains
Replies: 129
Views: 738832

Re: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains

Hi Roy, I know he had a map, but was it a "Ruth" map? Here's what I'm thinking: If Keenan and Purnell had any involvement in Ruth's death, how was it that Tex and Adams found Ruth's notes and at least one map on his body a few months later? Wouldn't Keenan/Purnell have taken those items wh...
by Potbelly Jim
Wed Jan 17, 2018 12:16 pm
Forum: LDM Discussions
Topic: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains
Replies: 129
Views: 738832

Re: The Legend of the Superstition Mountains

Roy, apparently some hacker was able to figure out a way into the free rootsweb pages, and suck up all the user names and passwords...unfortunately, many people use the same u/n & p/w's for their paid ancestry accounts...so they had to take rootsweb down until they can figure out what happened a...
by Potbelly Jim
Tue Jan 16, 2018 6:56 pm
Forum: LDM Discussions
Topic: Taking a Stand
Replies: 31
Views: 43411

Re: Taking a Stand

Hi Thomas, Glad you were able to re-locate your records on those sections! In your experience, (or from what you have seen in your research) is the fact that there seems to be a lack of urgency in the transfer of section 16, and the lack of any ownership records, an outlier? i.e. does it generally c...