The REAL Fate of Jacob Wieser = ????????

[Roger]

I have been going back over my 15yrs of collected LDM clues as I put them into an improved spreadsheet format. One item that has struck me from reading all these clues in a short time regards the death of Jacob Wieser and Jacob Waltz’s involvement in it. The most commonly accepted version of Wieser’s death comes from The Bark Notes, Page 16/17 (Thomas Probert Version) which is quoted selectively as follows:

“After their arrival there (2nd time to the mine without Peralta – my note), they concluded that they were going to run out of grub, so Jacob Waltz took the burros and went down to Adamsville (just below Florence), where there was an adobe grist mill and a kind of general store kept by the Pima Indians, in fact, a kind of Trader’s store. Waltz said he would be gone three to four days.
Upon his return to the mine, he found his partner, Jacob Wiser, stripped naked, and his new hickory shirt hanging on a bush nearby with his Masonic pin sticking to it.
He said that he buried his partner, walled up the tunnel, rolled dirt and rocks over it……….
The camp in general was shot up and destroyed; that the handle of the frying pan was broken off and three bullet holes through the pan, and many other utensils destroyed by bullets.”

Bark wrote in these same two pages that he had several reservations about the story told by Waltz as follows:

“Doubt number two. I never knew an Apache Indian to overlook any kind of a shirt, much less a new hickory shirt.”
“Doubt number three: For if there was one thing in the world that an Apache was careful about, and sparing and jealous of, it was ammunition; and for them to waste it on a frying pan and coffee pot was entirely out of the question, in my mind.”

Waltz’s story doesn’t make sense to me either. Here are my thoughts on it:

1. When Waltz and Wieser went to the mine the first time with Peralta and his peons, they had a scrape with the Apaches on the way out and two of the peons were wounded (Bark: Page 15). Other writers have said that when Waltz and Wieser were working the mine, one would stand guard and the other would work in the pit. If they knew the area was that dangerous, why would Waltz go for supplies and leave Wieser alone???? Surely, the two of them would have gone out together and returned together for safety vs leave one alone at the mine.
2. On Page 20, Bark includes some statements that Waltz supposedly made when he was dying as follows:

“When Jake passed away, he kept murmuring, “God forgive me; I had to do it”. Then he would repeat it and those around him supposed he had killed his partner Jacob Weiser.”
“There was an old prospector by the name of Old Germany, who would drop in and see Jake, and Jack would say, “Tell him to go out; I don’t want him here”.

This certainly sounds like someone with a heavy feeling of guilt for a past action.
3. Waltz said that he found Wieser dead and he buried him. We know later in the Bark Notes that some Pima Indians found the wounded Wieser at a water hole and took him to John Walker’s ranch where he died and was buried. This would lead me to think that Waltz did not really know what happened to Wieser and just assumed that the Apaches had killed him.
4. On Page 30, Bark gives a quote supposedly made by Wieser to John Walker before his death:

“It is an old Mexican mine worked by the Mexicans on and off for
many years. The mine is located in the Superstitions Mountains and has a tunnel and two pits. It was being worked by my partner and me and was owned by us, but the Apache Indians jumped us and they got him, but I managed to give them the slip and get away, though I guess not for long, as I think I worked too hard in getting away.”

If the Apaches jumped Waltz and Wieser together and Wieser assumed that the Indians got Waltz, then they must have gotten separated in the
skirmish.

My overall conclusion is that the Apaches jumped Waltz and Wieser while they were together at either their camp or mine, Waltz made a successful run for it and did not stay and fight with his partner. Wieser had to take on the Indians by himself, was wounded, and eventually got away, but later died of his wounds. In those days it was considered worse than killing someone to abandon you partner in a fight. I think however that event went down, it haunted Waltz the rest of his life and even on his deathbed.

Roger

[djui5]

Has anyone ever tried to find any records from this general store in Adamsville?

Personally I think Waltz meant by "God forgive me, I had to do it" that he was either referring to something else entirely (IE killing the Mexican peon's), felt guilty for having to leave Weiser, or felt guilty for leaving his partner to fight the Apache.

Who was this "Old Germany" person? Is it possible that Weiser was never killed, and lived in a recluse state becoming known as "Old Germany"? Maybe Waltz and Weiser had a falling out for some reason??

Nice post Roger

[zentull]

There is something even more interesting in that ...........if Waltz was with Holmes as he lay dying, how did Rhiney and Julia relate any of Waltzs words as he lay dying?

We have some odd discrepancies in some cases that Rhiney wasn't even there or passed out drunk in the corner(depending on the Holmes version you like best). That however is another can of worms.

Of course even more interesting is Waltz turns away a caller as he obviously is incapacitated, but didn't say a word about the supposed other visitors or was too ill to make any remarks. Of course maybe "Old Germany" was bugging Waltz about the mine and Waltz wanted nothing to do with him?

I do agree if the Weiser story is true, it is likely that Waltz was able to slip away and hide and the Apaches were unaware of Waltz. Waltz probably thought of it as cowardice instead of self preservation?

I have never been able to resolve whether Weiser is killed by the camp or the mine? I believe it was more likely the camp as how did the Apache find it if Weiser was killed at the mine and the camp is some distance away? Waltz took some time afterwards to hide the tunnel and mine, so it was possibly not as dangerous as the camp? Remember it was the camp Waltz was most interested in later.

[Roger]

“There was an old prospector by the name of "Old Germany", who would drop in and see Jake, and Jack would say, “Tell him to go out; I don’t want him here”.

I think Waltz was turning "Old Germany" from his deathbed because he was a fellow German countryman who reminded him strongly of Wieser. Waltz must have carried a heavy guilt load related to Wieser all his life after Wieser's death - he surely must have had a strong involvement in that event. Something he took to his grave.

Roger