September 27, 2007 Bonus Blog
This is post number 1901. Pretty amazing. By the way, for all of you who have not been able to find certain parts of the archived posts, we are working on that snafu and will have it fixed soon.

I had to finally call a halt to the corrections on the Dick Liddil vs. Wood Hite Classic Gunfight. Why?

The Curse of Too Much Information
I read in the most recent Esquire a column by Chuck Klosterman who claims we are suffering from too much information, and that in a study done in the 1960s researchers tested this hypothesis by showing two groups a series of blurred photos of a fire hydrant. The first group had ten steps to a clear photo and the second group had only five steps to a clear photo. The first group did worse because with the tiny steps of gradual clarity they developed all kinds of theories as to what they were looking at and went off on wild tangents that actually inhibiited their ability to discern what was actually there. Or, something like that.

Meanwhile, in my world, Meghan demanded to know who "Cap" is in the Liddil narrative (he just names him and expects everyone to know who he is). This sent me scurrying in search of "Cap" Ford (I knew that much) and who he was (Brother? Father? Uncle? Cap Champion?). As I poured over the eight Jesse James books on my floor I discovered three, count 'em, variations on aspects of our narrative. For example, in his confession, Dick Liddil says that after Wood Hite was shot "He lived fifteen or twenty minutes but did not speak." Well, as I'm looking for Cap Ford, I find this: "Martha's son, a lad but 14 years old, had said that he was present at the murder of Wood Hite, and that person had died game. The boy stated that Hite was carried up stairs as soon as the shooting was over. His groans were so loud that his murderers tied a handkercheif about his mouth and smothered him to death."

Yes, this is the same 14-year-old that author Ron Hansen has meeting Wood outside the Bolton home, and the one who said he was a good man (see book excerpt below).

And, his name is Capline "Cap" Elias Ford and he is a brother to Charley and Bob. Whew!

Then I get this from Mark:

“The autopsy definitely found the bullet in Jesse's skull, embedded in bone behind/above the left eye. The occipital bone (eye socket) was shattered. That discoloration on his face could have been a result of the shot--but the bullet did not puncture the skin in an exit wound. It's never been made absolutely clear just what that mark was.

“It is believed that the Blue Cut bandits--six of them--did end up with between $140 and $160 apiece, plus some jewelry (watches, bracelets, etc.). For whatever reason, Wood Hite believed Dick Liddell had palmed about $100 when the cut was made. Liddell denied that. It was just another point of contention between the two men, who seemed to have disliked each other from day one.”
—Mark Boardman

I went in and told Robert Ray to pdf the pages. We are going to press regardless of what else we find, because we could do this 'til the cow comes home and never solve anything.

Meanwhile, On The Lighter Side of The Atlantic
"New book by GOLDIE'S LOX AND THE THREE BAGELS authors Jeffrey Dubinsky and Lila Dubinsky's A FISTFUL OF DREIDELS AND OTHER YIDDISH TALES OF THE OLD WEST, short western stories with a Jewish twist, such as Gunfight At The Oy Vey Corral; The Good, The Bad, and The Meshugah; Have Gelt, Will Travel; and My Darling Clemenstein, to Gary Goldstein at Citadel for publication in Fall 2008 (World)."
—Fred Nolan

Classic Onion Headline de Jour
The Death Of Rosa Parks: Now We Can Finally Put Civil Rights Behind Us

"The people who are playing it totally safe are never going to have either the fun or the reward of the people who decide to take some risk, stick out, do it differently."
—John Akers