THE SOUTHERN OREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY STAFF OF THE JACKSONVILLE MUSEUM OFFICERS OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES Director ...... C. William Burk 899-1847 Richard Orr ...... President Administrative Assistant ...... Dottie Ellen Bailey 899-7222 Robert Butler ...... First Vice-President Librarian ...... Richard Engeman 899-1847 Rod Reid ...... Second Vice-President MembershipiVolunteer Coordinator ... Maureen Smith 899-8203 Mark Merriman ...... Secretary/Treasurer Historian/Newsletter Editor ...... Marjorie Edens 899-1711 Newsletter Features ...... Raymond Lewis 899-1711 Registrar of Collection ...... Greg Gualtieri 899-1847 Curator of Exhibits ...... Jime Matoush 899-7522 Programs Director ...... Dawna Curler 899-8203 Photographer ...... Doug Smith 899-7522

LAURA NEUBER WALLINGTON 1896-1983 SOHS members will remember Mrs. Wallington as the winning contestant in the titanic popularity contest of 1908 and the proud owner of the brand new Reo sports car. She was an attractive young girl and a beautiful lady.

TH E TABLE ROCK SENTIN El :2 • "' St' �,�..:.�(\ • �� � ,��t> � �'\� � � � �� � �, \(�,-,,� � ElL elI{ BART, THE P@"" A h�ghwayma� w�o pul�ed 28 stagecoach robberies , ripped off that many Wells Fargo money boxes yet d�dn t do-�n any of the good guys , abduct the ingenue or end up dangling from a rope, has earned respect. And when he turns out to be a poet with a sense of humor he deserves his niche in company with the other famous bummers of the west .

LACK BART might have worn a white tacle he made and relished every second - , hat and joined the cluster of law­ of it. 1m- men on the scent of rowdy western As John Shine brought the horses to a desperados, but he wouldn't have had so sudden halt, the man walked up to the much fun or ended up with his name per­ team and crouched behind one of the horses manently scratched into the record of im­ to protect himself from possible rifle mortal knights of the road. He chose in­ fire. stead to don a black derby,b ecome a bush­ "Please throw down the box, " he called. ranger and indulge his taste for fine Then, turning to either side of the road, haberdashery. There is nothing unique he shouted, "If he dares to shoot, give in that, but Black Bart, working alone, him a solid volley, boys. " didn't ride a horse, fire a shot, steal In the fading light of the late after­ from ladies or threaten his pigeons with noon the driver could see at least six mayhem. gun barrels pointed at him, partly con­ His adventures as a western bandit be­ cealed by the rocks and brush beside the gin� on July 26, 1875, in California's road, and he didn't waste anytime pre­ Mother Lode country. On that date John senting his side of the debate. He tossed Shine, driver of the stagecoach on the down the sacks of mail and the Wells Fargo Milton-to-Sonora run, was held up by a strong boxes which had been, as usual, man who was standing in the middle cf stored under the driver" s seat. At the the road on the crest of a steep hill, same time an agitated female passenger, at a spot where the driver had just fearing gunfire or--horrors--worse, pulled the horses out of a sharp turn. pitched her purse out the window. The The outlaw was wearing a white linen highwayman picket it up and handed it duster, socks over his boots to dis­ back to her, saying, with a courtly bow, guise his footprints, and a flour sack "Lady, I don't want your money. I only over his head with eyeholes cut out. He collect Wells Fargo boxes. " had crowned his ensemble with a derby Dragging the loot into the bushes he hat perched atop the flour sack. It's ordered John Shine to drive on and dis­ pretty certain he was aware of the spec- appeared into the brush. The unnerved

3 DECEMBER 1983 driver giddiapped the horses, held his self behind the lead horse, he gave nis breath and looked neither left nor right command, "Throw down the box. " as he drove between the two rows of gun After the driver had complied with the barrels pointed at his head. order, and the boxes and mailsacks lay at A little later John Shine began to in the road, the highwayman gave the think about his arrival at Sonora. He order, "Drive on. " The stagecoach rolled would report the loss of the Wells Fargo down the hill while he broke open the boxes and the mail to the sheriff, and, lids of the boxes with a hand axe, re­ although no one could have expected him moved the contents, and then slit the to have offered more resistance--a lone mail sacks with the T cut which was to man against a gang of desperados--he become part of his signature. might be criticized for making no ef­ The very next day the same masked man fort to retrieve the mail and the mail robbed the Alturas-Redding stagecoach. sacks. Hoping that his assailants had He had apparently made his base in no cause to hang around the scene of the northern California or southern Oregon, crime, he turned the stage coach around and he had certainly obtained inside in­ and retraced the route. In the last formation about the driver and the light of day, as he approached the spot freight. The robberies occurred when from the opposite direction, he could no one was riding shotgun alongside the clearly see that the menacing gun bar­ driver, and when the Wells Fargo boxes rels were only a bunch of sticks jammed contained a good deal of gold coins and into the boulders. The mail sacks lay gold dust. beside the road, each one slashed with His last two hold ups netted him a two cuts in a T shape. Letters and nice boodle, and he wasn't hurting for papers were scattered in the dust amid want of money. A month later, though, bootprints camouflaged by socks and all on August 3, 1877, he stopped the Point made by one man only. The boxes, their Arena stage near the Russian River and lids smashed, were empty. Scooping up again made off with plunder. This time the mail , the sacks and the broken boxes, he added a new touch to his operation. John Shine set his team once more on the After he had emptied the boxes and the way to Sonoma, grateful to be in one sacks, he stuck a folded paper to the piece but considerably chagrined at trunk of a nearby tree. On it he had having been tricked by a lone gunman. written an original poem and signed his name:

• he daring of the hooded brigand, I've labored long and hard for bread : his ruse with the sticks and his For honor and for riches� c �.c civility toward the lady passen- But on my corns too long you've tred� ger made an interesting story which soon You fine-haired sons of bitches. Tappeared in the newspapers. But the Black Bart� the PO-8 mystery bandit didn't seem to be overly greedy for more than his share of ill­ The poem taunted the lawman, but now, gotten gains; there were no further re­ at least, the mysterious hold-up-man ports of robberies that fit the pattern had a name. of his operations, and after awhile his The intervals between robberies be­ story slipped back into the limbo of came shorter. It was apparent Black Bart yesterday's news. was getting a good deal of amusement out A whole year passed before he struck of his dishonest activity, a fact which again. This time he hit the Roseburg­ the agents who were assigned to track Redding stage at Cottonwood, not far him down failed to appreciate. In the from the Oregon border. As the driver series of robberies which followed the wheeled the coach around a sharp turn fourth holdup, he no longer attached at the summit of the hill, he suddenly the poem to a tree; he left it in the found himself facing the man in the empty Wells Fargo strongbox. His second outrageous get-up, calmly pointing a poem had a little less profanity and was gun at his head. Although the bandit not so disrespectful, but it was just no longer wore stockings over his boots as much a pain in the neck to the agents and had given up the bluff that he was and the lawmen. one of a gang, he followed the same Here I lay me down to sleep� procedure as before. Concealing him- To wait the coming morrow�

4 THE TABLE ROCK SENTINEL Perhaps success� perhaps defeat driver would be most concerned with his And everlasting sorrow. driving. After he had emptied the strongbox, Let come what may I'll try it on� he'd leave his verse, always signed with MY condition can't be worse� a flourish, Black Bart, the PO-S. None And if there's money in that box of the poems would have brought a liter­ Tis money in my purse. ary award, but there were few poets who had his following. There is no recorded instance that he was generous to the poor, but he appeared to think of himself as a sort of Robin Hood. The following example presents that claim:

I rob the rich to feed the poor Which hardly is a sin. A widow never knocked at my door But what I let her in. So blame me not for what I've done� Black Bart had not harmed anyone during I don't deserve your curse� his robberies, and he made those in And if for any cause I'm hung authority look ridiculous. The public Let it be for my verse. and the press began to delight in his exploits and he became something of a Black Bart ranged from San Francisco folk hero. This state of affairs was a into southern Oregon. He had a camp in thorny vexation to Wells Fargo's Chief the Siskiyou Mountains above the Dollar­ of Detectives, James B. Hume, who had hide Station where he hid out for a time the reputation of always getting his man. after each successful sortie. He made Since its beginnings in 1852, the at least six stagecoach robberies in company had taken well deserved pride in Shasta county, but, even though his the safe and speedy delivery of gold and heists there were big ones, he became other express. Desperados who had the disenchanted with northern California. audacity to try to abscond with Wells It was rumored that after he had held Fargo freight had been relentlessly up the Redding-Bieber stage, the lawmen, tracked down. The company motto was with dogs, were perilously hot on his "Wells Fargo never forgets. " And now heels and he crawled into a hollow log here was Black Bart, acting alone, daring to hide only to find that he was sharing to destroy the splendid record. As the his sanctuary with a skunk who laid one robberies continued, he even had the on him. The blast was a powerhouse and impudence to tell the stage driver, Black Bart swooned dead away. When he "Please give my regards to Detective revived, the lawmen, the dogs and the Bume. " skunk were long gone, and he was com­ Wells Fargo offered $300 reward, the pletely fed up with the whole county. Federal Government offered $300 in addi­ At his next opportunity he deposited a tion, and the postal authorities added poem in the strong box which poetically $200. This reward was repeated after declared his irritation: each new robbery until a total of $18,400 Goodbye Shasta County stood on Black Bart's head. I'll bid you adieu; As he continued his forays, he became I may emigrate to hell even more methodical. Each hit reaped But I'll never come back to you. another rich kitty. He visited mining towns, posing as a miner, and sociably joined conversations on the street and eventeen holdups by Black Bart in the saloon, where he overheard dis­ were recorded over the next five cussions of shipments soon to be made. years. In November, 1883, the He usually knew where the boxes were to string of robberies came full circle. As be placed and who the passengers would he had done in his very first caper, he be, and he always reconnoitered the once again held up the Milton to Sonora road to find the most advantageous spot, stage. This time he did not slip away always at a turn on a hill where the so craftily.

DECEMBER 1983 5 Jimmy Rolleri, a nineteen year old first two shots went wild and the th�rd youth, had joined the driver, Reason E. barely grazed the wrist of the fleeing McConnell, and sat beside him watching bandit. for game. There was no other passenger Black Bart obstinately hung onto the and the principal cargo was 228 ounces sacks for dear life, but he had no time of gold amalgam, $550 in gold coin and to cover up his tracks or tidy up his $65 in gold dust. hiding place. He sprinted into the dense Jimmy had a new Henry repeating rifle thicket, dashing left and right, and was and he was eager to fire it. Seeing no soon hidden from view. deer along the road, he decided to take Left behind, partly concealed in some off on foot, hike over the crest of the rocks, were his derby hat, some sacks of hill and meet the stage on the other side food, a leather case for fieldglasses, a of the grade. magnifying glass, some buckshots, a belt, As McConnell, alone on the driver's two flour sacks and--most important--a seat, approached the crown of the hill, scented handkerchief which bore the laun­ Black Bart suddenly stepped out of the dry mark F X 0-7. bushes. There was no order this time to "Throw down the box. " The company had insisted that the strongboxes be nailed to the floor inside the passen­ etective James B. Hume was ec-

ger's compartment, and Black Bart had 0- - static. After eight years of pour- advance knowledge about the change. lIDing over piddley little evidence "Who was the man who got off the stage and false leads, he had some tangible down the road? " he asked. clues. The most damaging was the fine "Ao boy looking for stray cattle, " silk crepe handkerchief which Black Bart McConnell said. should have left in the handkerchief box Certain things about the situation in his dresser drawer. Who ever heard of didn't seem copacetic, but after all a bandit carrying a hankie anyway? And the preparations Black Bart had made, drenched with cologne already. Detective he was reluctant to back off. He told Hume, with high hopes, turned the evidence Reason McConnell to get down from the over to his right-hand man, Agent Harry driver's seat. Morse, with the command, "Find out who "I can't get down, " said McConnell, this belongs to. " "the brakes are bad and won't hold." There were ninety-one laundries in "It won't roll if you put a rock be­ San Francisco, but Detective Morse took hind the wheel, " Black Bart told him. the list and patiently started with num­ "You do it, " McConnell said, and Black ber one. After about sixty duds, his Bart, aware that the driver was unarmed, dogged persistance paid off. A laundry­ rolled a big stone behind the rear man at the California Laundry Company on wheel. Bush Street recognized the identifying He then ordered McConnell to unhitch mark. It proved to be Black Bart's un­ the horses, stand with them behind the doing. coach and make no suspicious moves. The handkerchief belonged to Charles Just as Black Bart entered the coach E. Bolton who was well-known at the to break open the boxes, Jimmie Rolleri laundry. The California Laundry Company appeared at the top of the hill. He was proud to have his patronage because could see at once that something was not his clothes were of such fine materials cricket, and McConnell managed to sig­ and so expertly tailored. He was a nal to him to detour around the hill wealthy mining man who was frequently and come up at the rear of the coach. called out into the country to see his Working desperately fast, Black Bart, mines. Sometimes he would be gone for clutching the sacks of gold, backed out months. of the coach door. Jimmy Rolleri, who Detective Morse, not wishing to show by that time had joined McConnell, his hand, told the manager of the laundry, raised his rifle and blazed away, not Mr. Ware, that he wished to consult with once but three times. Black Bart darted Bolton about some rich ore samples, and into the bushes at the side of the road. would Ware please be so kind as to give Either the brand new gun had faulty aim him the gentleman's address. or Jimmie was a terrible marksman. His Yes, he would do that gladly: Mr.Bolton

6 TH E TABLE ROC K SENT IN El Charles E. Bolton lived at the Webb Hotel on Second Street. Just as he reopened the conversation Morse thanked the manager graciously about Charles Bolton, Mr. Ware looked and departed. At the Webb Hotel he was down the street and said, "Why, here told that Mr. Bolton was away on one of comes the very man now. Come with me his extended business trips. The detec­ and I'll introduce you. " tive placed a watch on the hotel, but He was no fiery character with mis­ after an uneventful two days, he went chievous eyes, a devastating dimple in back to the laundry for a chat with his chin, an attitude of carefree devil try Mr. Ware. and an aura of suppressed passion. Alas.

DECEMBER 1983 7 James B. Hwne Harry Morse He was a middle aged gentleman, nattily and I don't see how my affairs concern dressed, and he sauntered down the you. " street swinging his cane. He wore a Hume told him to sit down again, and jaunty derby hat, a diamond tie pin, said calmly, "You will know presently. " a large diamond ring and a heavy gold Changing his tactics, the detective chain. He held himself straight as an said, "During his last robbery, Black arrow and had broad shoulders. His Bart was wounded." Then suddenly point­ eyes were piercing blue, he had high ing at a small red scar on Bolton's cheekbones and sported a handsome gray wrist, he asked, "How did you get that? " moustache and a neat imperial. He would Bolton was startled by the question. never in all the world have been taken "If it is any of your business, " he said, for a stagecoach robber. "I will tell you I struck it on the car Mr. Ware introduced the two men and rail. " they shook hands. The detective asked "No, you didn't, " Hume said. "You got if he were not Bolton, the mining man. that when you broke open our box not long When he confessed that he was, Morse ago. " then asked him to walk a few steps with Hume then went to a cabinet and brought him and look at some sample ores he had out the derby hat which had been found in his office. with the other items left behind by Black Charles Bolton said, "Certainly, " Bart during his escape after his last with polite interest, and the two men robbery. Saying nothing, the detective strolled to the corner of Bush and placed it on Bolton's head. It fit Montgomery streets into the Wells Fargo perfectly. Taking it off, Bolton exam­ office. ined it and expressed admiration for its Bolton remained perfectly calm, but quality. "I will gladly buy this hat, " Morse noticed large beads of perspira­ he said, "if you will sell it to me. " tion standing out on his nose as the The detective told him that they in­ two men entered the office. The detec­ tended to search his rooms. No doubt tive introduced him to James Hume, the Bolton was certain they could find no chief agent, who began questioning him incriminating evidence there and that about his mines. The questions seemed further protest would only make him look to irritate and confuse him. He refused more suspicious. to give the location of any of his Changing his approach as well, he operations and seemed to have forgotten said, agreeably enough, "Well, if that the names. Becoming more and more dis­ is your pleasure. " Bolton and the two turbed by the pointed questions of the agents walked to the Webb House. two detectives, he jumped up and said, In the suite the two detectives made a "I am a gentleman. I do not know you thorough search. They found nothing

TH E TABLE ROC K SENTIN El s wbich would be of any use to a highway­ he plead guilty to robbery, he denied man or indicate that this gentleman was any knowledge of Black Bart or of any a robber. The rich clothing hanging in of his string of hold-ups. He was sen­ his wardrobe was carefully searched and tenced to San Quintin for six years. the fine linens in the dressers were ex­ Entering prison just eighteen days amined. They found a Bible with the after his last robbery, he became pris­ flyleaf bearing the inscription: "To my oner number 11,046. beloved husband, Charles E. Boles. " Wells Fargo Agent James Hume marked But in a dresser drawer, neatly tucked the case closed and filed away Black into the corner was a handsome box Bart's statistics: containing handkerchiefs and sachets. BOLTON, CHARLES E., alias C.E. BOLES, Many of the handkerchiefs were marked alias BLACK BART, THE PO-B. Nativity: with the laundry mark F X 0-7 New York; County, Calaveras. Age, 55 Detective Hume pointed to the marking years; Occupation. Miner. Height, and said, "This laundry mark will con­ 5 feet 71 inches; Complexion, light; vict you. " From his pocket he brought Color of eyes, Blue; Color of Hair, out the handkerchief left near the Gray ..•heavy eyebrows, two upper scene of the last hold-up and showed teeth on right side gone •..gun shot Bolton the identical mark. wound right side of navel. Bolton said, "I am surely not the Shortly afterward he was interrogated only one whose things bear this mark. at the prison and at last admitted to Others have their washing done at the being Black Bart and confessed to the same place. That handkerchief may have string of robberies begun eight years been stolen from me or I may have lost earlier. it. " He assumed an attitude of offended dignity. "Do you take me for a stage robber? I have never harmed anyone in my life and this is the first time my oday Black Bart is just about all character has been questioned. " , - that is left of Charles E. Boles In spite of his display of wounded , alias Charles Bolton. Perhaps the innocence, he was placed under arrest Tman himself helped keep the facts of his by the Wells Fargo men and taken to life under cover because he knew that jail. Black Bart generated more spark and ex­ citement than the dapper gentleman he Eventually, after hours of question­ replaced. Yet certainly neither one of ing, Bolton said to Detective Morse, the two men was the real person. His "I don't admit that I did this, but story, unfortunately, will probably re­ what would happen to the man who did it main forever guess'work and speculation. if he should confess? " Some rumors persist and a few alleged Morse replied that the government, facts have been filed away, but there is saving the money of an expensive trial, no sound documentation for any of it. would be lenient, and that if the treas­ One historian reports that he was born ure could be recovered, the courts would in Jefferson County, New York, a member be very gentle. of a large and prosperous family. That's Charles Bolton, still denying he was a nice start on a biography, but on the Black Bart, confessed to robbing one same page, another writer declares, for stage coach. a fact, that Charles E. Boles came to He revealed the hiding place of the America from England as one of a family money taken in his last robbery, the of ten children, and that, because of stump of a hollow tree, buried in leaves, poverty, he was forced to leave his home and agents found there several hundred as a boy and go to work. dollars in gold coin. Most of the loot Whatever his background, he must have taken by Black Bart over a period of received a sketchy education at least. eight years was, of course, spent on He quoted Shakespeare occasionally and " Charles Bolton's wardrobe and high style had some knowledge of the Bible. He of living. took his name from a character in a On November 17, 1883, in Judge Gotts­ dime novel, Bartholomew Graham alias chalk's courtroom at San Andreas, Black Bart. Charles E. Bolton was tried. Although Some unwarranted reports are within

DECEM BER 1983 9 reason, and they might as well be incor­ to teach a bunch of young ones the porated in his story. He spent much of multiplication tables. Let's junk the his early life in Illinois and came west teacher bit. The Frontier Times, which in 1849 for the goldrush. He had lit­ propounded the school teaching theory tle success in the gold fields and re­ in an article published in 1958, also turned to Illinois and served in the presented an additional item of informa­ army with Company B, 116th Illinois In­ tion that stretches the imagination a fantry, during the Civil War. His re­ bit further, but the episode could have corq as a soldier was not outstanding, happened. but he did become a sergeant. Wounded Black Bart got his first taste of rob­ in the battle outside Atlanta, he was bery when, riding along the road after mustered out of the army and returned school, he heard the stage come lumber­ to civilian life and Illinois, where he ing down the grade. Knowing the stage­ later married. driver and wanting to have some fun, he A brief analysis of the character of decided to give the driver a scare. Charles Boles-Barton-Black Bart would Securing his horse in the bushes he reveal that he could have assumed the tied a handkerchief over his face, guise of many fascinating personalities broke a stick off a manzanita bush but acting the part of an exemplary about the size of a pistol and jammed family man was not one of them. In a it into his pocket. Soon, as the stage few years this dreamer who fantasized came along, he stepped from hiding out a life of wealth and elegance, linked onto the road. There was no shotgun with a life of dangerous adventure, messenger aboard and the driver looked found himself trapped in the conven­ pretty scared, so Black Bart thought tional, stultifying confines of the role he'd see how far his joke would go. of breadwinner for a wife and three "Throw down the box!" he said. daughters. Without hesitation the driver pulled In the cold light of logic he must the old style wooden Wells Fargo treas­ have foreseen a future on poverty row, ure box from under the seat and tossed chained there by his inability to earn it to the ground, whipped up his team a fortune through honest effort and by and left the vicinity in a hurry. Black the acquisition of a houseful of un­ Bart's joke backfired. But there was wanted children and the constant threat no joke about the loot he secured from of another on the way. His next move the box. This robbery was never offi­ should surprise no one: he simply walked cially recorded. out on the little woman and the unasked­ for family. He was a scoundrel all A likely story. But highwayrobbery right, but a lovable scoundrel apparent­ paid better than schoolteaching and a ly. Like any other abandoned female road agent didn't have all those papers who should have realized she was in­ to correct. The career of Black Bart had finitely better off without a fly-by­ to begin somewhere... and end somewhere. night husband around the house, the dis­ illusioned wife spent the rest of her '. rison life gave Black Bart time to life longing for his return. keep up his correspondence. His No doubt he kept a low profile which _ faithful wife, ever hoping for a prevented his spouse from knowing what reconciliation, wrote letter after letter, he was doing, but it also left holes in pleadingP with him to come home after his his biography. After leaving Illinois release. He was not interested in fan­ he took off again for the far West, ning the dead ashes, but he may have given stopping for a year or two in Montana her false hopes by answering her beseech­ where he mined with no great success. ing epistles with courteous replies; he Later he drifted back to California and owed her some consideration, in addition at that point the researcher draws a to having given her a liberal education. blank for a few years. Perhaps he mined" But people who have to face rejection perhaps he did odd jobs. One account often search for little signs of maybe claims he was a teacher in a mining town, and possibZy even when they know it's but this seems out of character. A ro­ futile. The lady also wrote to the court manticist doesn't cotton to the idea of asking for her errant husband to be either Bolton or Black Bart having to paroled into her loving care.

10 TH E TABLE ROC K SENTIN El There is no report of a blissful reunion But the Wells Fargo detectives knew and they probably never saw each other the style from long experience. They again. There's no use to look for a managed to get hold of him and make happy ending in that direction. a deal. One optimistic researcher, ending his "We're willing to call it quits, " story on an upbeat, wrote that Black Bart they told him, "if you are. " maintained a warm correspondence with Bart said he was getting pretty old the daughter of the hotel proprietor at to continue with his trade and would Woodleaf and married her after he left like to retire from the road-agency prison. Since this would make him a business if o�ly he had a little regu­ bigamist in addition to his other pecca­ lar income. dillos, the report should be deposited in Wells Fargo agreed to put him on the recycling box. Black Bart did write their pension list at $200 a month, a pleasant letter to Reason McConnell, provided he would report every week who drove the stage coach in Bart's last where he was and wouldn't rob them robbery, praising him highly for his at­ anymore. So the old timers will tempts to save the Wells Fargo boxes. stick to their report that Black Bart, That shows a tender nature. the PO-S, had the last laugh on Wells Fargo after all. After four years in prison Black Bart ... Ones that knew Bart stick to was pardoned for his good behavior. their firsthand facts and say that This decision by the governor was to be they saw his monthly pension checks. expected. The prisoner was congenial, Historians say it's only rumor Wells considerate and cooperative and past his Fargo pensioned him off and Wells early youth when he might have been rash Fargo says they most certainly did not. and rebellious. If the bars seemed to One thing is certain. Few of Bart's close in upon him at times, he could biographers should willingly take a calm his restlessness by enumerating the polygraph test. Stories created by hiding places where he had stashed his his contemporaries and later by re­ take--and where there was probably porters may have produced a personali ty treasure still to be found by retracing that didn't exist. There is no real his steps. proof that anyone, anywhere, saw Black When he was released from prison, the Bart within a few months after he left warden said to him, "Well, Bart, I hope prison. Yet rumors persist that you've learned your lesson and won't (1) he took a trip to Japan commit any more crimes. " (2) he went to Boston and lived as "No, Warden, " Bart said, "I'm through a gentleman of means with all that." (3) he spent his last years in The warden asked him, "What will you Gold Hill, Oregon do? Will you write poetry for a living? " (4) he died in Canada in 1917 "Warden, " said Bart, "didn't I say I (5) he retired to Mexico. wasn't going to commit any more crimes?" In the Wells Fargo history room in After he left San Quintin he spent San Francisco one may see on display a some time in San Francisco and then he cane, a toothpick and a jackknife, items disappeared. From then on it's a black which belonged to Black Bart. That is out. a small legacy for a man who left his The author in The Frontier Times wrote: indelible mark on the history of the But the old timers around the Mother west. Lode up north in California still say Old bandits, like old soldiers, never that no sooner had they let the old die, but the man behind the mask must boy out of San Quentin than a lone eventually make his exit. Age tends to robber began popping up again in reduce some of her victims to mere Mendocina County, Sierra County, Sis­ caricatures of earlier, vibrant figures. kiyou County--helping himself to the Charles E. Boles may have decided Black Wells Fargo boxes just when they were Bart deserved more than that. Although the heaviest. He didn't leave any his departure will probably be forever poems or sign his name to his works shrouded in mystery, perhaps that's the as Bart used to do, and he was so well way it was planned. disguised nobody could identify him. Raymond Lewis

DECEMBER 1983 II -.------

A HUNDRED YEARS OR SO,

by RICH MORGAN

This playlet was written in commemoration of a train station on the Southern Pacific line during the centennial celebration, and it is the news. We also spout a lot of nonsense SETTING: A platform. Settee left. At right, two music stands and three stools. Center, but we are the recorders of history. chair for banjo player. TIMES As the lights dim, the banjo player enters and sits on center seat . He starts playing I am the Democratic Times of the beautiful "I've Been Working on the Railroad. " The city of Jacksonville, the crock of gold at newspapers march on, taking positions on the the end of the rainbow of the West. stools. TIDINGS PAPERS (Unfolding) I am the Tidings of the city of Ashland. A We are the newspapers of the Rogue River center of learning and culture--a beacon, Valley--a hundred years ago. Circa 1883. flaming in the shadows of the mighty We are the signs of the times. We tell Siskiyous.

12 THE TABLE ROC K SENTINEL E===---r==-G(] , -.--=--=.,..: OR

,=�--. .... ---�=- ---

AND SEVERAL DAYS AGO ld BILL COTTRELL ;he one-hundred years that Medford has been The melodrama was presented in November� �produced here by permission of the authors. ROCKY railroad, from central California to MUSIC: I speak for the Table Rock Sentinel Portland. The grant was made to the Oregon of Jacksonville-now called Oregon Sentinel. and California Railroad Company--the O&C, I also speak for the Table Rock Saloon, which was organized in Portland in May of which was pretty important in that town­ 1868, and was to provide not only right­ a hundred years ago. Just call me Rocky I of-way, but also land which the railroad and Rocky II. could sell to the settlers, who were TIMES streaming from the East, for $ 2. 50 an acre. Our story begins in 1869, when the U. S. Music Passage from "Oh Suzanna" Congress granted 2,500, 000 acres of land TIDINGS toward the construction of a North-South The railroad was constructed south from

DECEMBER 1983 13 Portland to Roseburg by 1872, but this states: "Jacksonville will not be lert was where the money gave out. For about out in the cold very far, in any event, ten years, Roseburg remained the end of and will hardly be injured any, no mat­ the line. Then in 1882, Henry Villard ter where the route runs. took over the line from Ben Holiday and FLOSSIE continued laying track south toward the Well, I should think not! My goodness. Oregon border. From the south, the Cali­ A booming town like this--the county fornia and oregon--C&O, was construct­ seat and all. They wouldn't dare pass ing a railroad which was to meet the O&C us by. That would be just plain silly. at the state boundary. PRISSIE ROCKY You may be right. But my cousin, Lydia The people of southern Oregon watched the Pinkham, says them big railroad trains line progress toward the valley. The smell something awful, what with the Jacksonville Democratic Times and the smoke and tootin' and all. She says Ashland Tidings, weekly newspapers, gave they'd be stinking up our back yards their weekly reports. At the Table Rock worse than them pesky bob cats! Saloon, in Jacksonville, there were FLOSSIE

rumors--and counter rumors. • • But, Prissie! That's what progress is ENTER: Prissie Pinkham and Flossie Ferber. all about. Think what it would mean to Prissie is an older woman--a bit sour . our city. Flossie is young and ecstatic. ROCKY (Coming down) PRISSIE Think what railroad tracks mean to the Flossie Ferber! Come right in! I haven't villains in the Gilded Cage melodramas seen you for ages! in Talent. FLOSSIE PRISSIE Well, I just said to myself, I'm going Well, I say we don't need no iron to go and stay with Prissie Pinkham horses huffin' and puffin' around town. while all this excitement about the rail­ The horses we got are bad enough. I say road is going on, because she has the let's keep this city clean. papers. Right? TIMES (Rising) PRISSIE MUSIC: November 10, 1882. Work will Right! And you're welcome as the flowers commence at once on the foundation of in May! Have you heard anything new? the new court house here! FLOSSIE PRISSIE Well ... Viney Pitcher had it straight from There now! That's what I call Progress. the horse's mouth that the railroad FLOSSIE tracks are going to run from Central But do you know what those white workers Point, straight to Jacksonville. What do on the railroad are getting paid? $1.75 you say to that? per DAY! Even the Chinese get 90¢. PRISSIE PRISSIE I say it depends on whose horse's mouth Ninety cents? And I'll bet some of them was a-doing the talking. I heard the line are thinking they ought to get even more! was going to come a mile west of Hanley's ROCKY Butte and then swing back over to Phoenix. They say down at the saloon that the FLOSSIE railroad is going to wreck the whole Is that what the papers say? damn money system around here. PRISSIE PRISSIE Here is the Jacksonville Democratic Rocky! Watch your language. Of course Times. Well see what it says. the price of everything is bound to go MUSIC CUE: The Times stands and bows. up. It'll cost money to haul things FLOSSIE around on a train, you mark my word. My! What a handsome paper. I LOVE THAT FLOSSIE TYPE! And what a format! Oh, how I'd love to ride on a train! TIMES I'm simply entranced at the thought of It is rumored that information has been all that whistling and clanking and received from headquarters that Jackson­ bell ringing! ville will not be slighted by the rail­ ROCKY road, and that the town will not be There was a young lady from France missed more than a mile. Editor Nickell Who boarded a train in a trance--

THE TABLE ROC K SENTIN El 14 The fireman probably be located about five miles PRISSIE east of us... the people of Jacksonville You just stop right there! Anymore of acted wisely in declining to pay the that and I'll cut you up in little railroad company a large sum to con­ squares, and hang you in my outhouse-­ struct their line nearer to town than for the races. where it is now located. lt will really ROCKIE be of more benefit to Jacksonville Oh-oh. where it is than if it ran through the FLOSSIE place Oh, Prissie! I thought that was cute. PRISSIE But. let's hear what the Democratic You see! What did I tell you? Times says. FLOSSIE TIMES My uncle George Rummel, who is a very David Loring of the O&C, the right-of­ far-seeing man, says it is better that way agent was in town this week enroute we keep up our quaintness and our charm. to Ashland and vicinity. He says that if the railroad came FLOSSIE through Jacksonville, in a hundred years Oh my! Did he decide anything? it would be a veritable Medford. TIMES PRISSIE It seems as though the railroad authori­ Mercy! What's a Medford? ties are not displosed to recede from FLOSSIE their proposition to run the railroad Some kind of a jewel, I think. Uncle this side of Hanley's Butte for $25,000 George is a very far-sighted man. and the right-of-way . . . PRISSIE PRISSIE Ought to see an oculist. $25, 000! That's outrageous! FLOSSIE

TIMES No ..•I mean he has SP. . . . and from the present indication, PRISSIE it looks like there is either not pub­ What's SP? lic spiritedness or money enough in FLOSSIE Jacksonville to raise the required It's a very special gift. Uncle George amount. says that in a hundred years, everybody FLOSSIE will be enjoying SP. That's silly! The newspapers groan at the horribZe pun. TIMES It is said that the railroad wants to FLOSSIE buy some of the Buttler Farm in Man­ I wonder just where the depot will be, zanita precinct for station purposes. if they locate down there in that pas­ FLOSSIE ture land. Manzanita! Oh pooh, that's nothing but TIMES a cow pasture. MUSIC CUE: August 24, 1883. It is PRISSIE rumored that the C. Mingus place is to The oak trees are pretty. be the site of the Central Depot in TIMES Manzanita precinct. MUSIC: May 18, 1883. The Oregon and FLOSSIE California railroad is to run their line The Mingus place! Oh, no! straight through the valley. TIMES FLOSSIE MUSIC CUE: October 5, 1883 I simply can't believe it! FLOSSIE AND PRISSIE PRISSIE Yes? Maybe it's better in the long run. TIMES TIMES There are three or four candidates for MUSIC CUE: June 1, 1883. The Chinese the Central Depot of the valley, but workers struck for $1. 15 a day, and the whether it will be put close to Central railroad paid! Point, or on either the Beall, Mingus PRISSIE or Phipps place remains to be seen. Lord a'mercy! What next? ROCKY TIMES (Continued) Ahem. The boys down at the Table Rock

. . • The depot for the place will Saloon ...

15 DECEMBER 1983 PRISSIE corner you there. " (MUSIC) watch it, Rocky! PRISSIE FLOSSIE Flossie! Yes, yes. Go on! ROCKY ROCKY The Sentinel says: "The name of our Jack­ They're saying that four men--C.C. Beek­ sonville depot is still in doubt, some man, C.W. Broback, C. Mingus and J. J. calling it East Jacksonville, while Phipps have given 240 acres of land to others persist in naming it Phippstown. the O&C Railroad. They gave 20 acres TIDINGS (Laughing) for the station and outbuildings. Ha-ha! East Jacksonville is pretty good. PRISSIE That 's rich! Why not call it North Phoenix Twenty acres of outbuildings? or West Eagle Point! FLOSSIE PRISSIE Well, you know--so many people travel­ Why don't they just call it what it is? ing. What do the papers say? Tanktown. PRISSIE TIDINGS You out to take the papers yourself, A name has not been finally adopted, but Flossie. You really should. "Medford " or "Middleford " has been sug­ FLOSSIE gested by the railroad people--we are I'd simply love to. But honestly, with told. prices so high, I couldn't afford to FLOSSIE feed them! I'd still like to know what a Medford is. PRISSIE PRISSIE Well, we'll see what the Ashland Tidings Sssssssh! has to say. TIDINGS TIDINGS Messrs. George Crystal and C. Wilprel MUSIC CUE: November 2, 1883. It is re­ have each built a blacksmith shop at the ported that the depot for the Central new town at the Phipps place. J. S. Howard portion of the valley and Jacksonville intends to build a store there as soon has been located upon land belonging to as he can get the lumber, and several C. C. Beekman, C. Mingus, C.W. Broback, other persons are intending to put up and I. J. Phipps about four miles from buildings and start businesses. By the Phoenix. The report is that a tract of time the track reaches the place, a 160 acres, belonging to the gentlemen town will be looming up. named, is to be laid off in blocks, FLOSSIE and every alternate block is to be Did he say looming--booming? given to the Railroad company, in con­ PRISSIE sideration of the location there for It'll be "glooming," if the train de­ the depot. cides not to stop there. ROCKY TIDINGS Wow! Those lots will sell like hotcakes. MUSIC CUE: The first train reached TIDINGS Grants Pass last Saturday night. About MUSIC CUE: November 16, 1883. Building 300 people were present to welcome the for the depot and roundhouse at Grants iron horse. The Oregon Sentinel jokes Pass has begun. thusly: The central station in the val­ FLOSSIE ley is to be called Medford, and the one Oh, that will be so cute! at Chavner's Bridge is named Bedford. PRISSIE with passengers coming from the south, What do you mean, cute? it is all right, as they can commence FLOSSIE undressing at Medford before reaching I mean the little round house. What is Bedford. Ha-ha! a round house for? ROCKY PRISSIE Hey! Just a minute! That should have I haven't the least idea. Why? been my line! Anyway, they've decided to FLOSSIE call the station at Chavner's Bridge I heard some children singing about it "Gold Hill" instead of Bedford.

the other day. Let's see •..how did TIMES

that go? . . • (clears throat) "Run MUSIC CUE: Ta-da! The tracks are ap­ into the roundhouse, Nellie, he can't proaching Gold Hill!

16 THE TABLE ROCK SENTIN EL Dignitaries Dick Orr" Lou Hannwn and D.J.RusseU (Past President of the Southern Pacific) appear before a crowd at the depot on October 27" 1983., for the Hundred Year RaiZroad Commemoration.

:ROCKY chandise business, and will call his They're saying at the saloon that place the Pioneer Store. Emil Peil is they're going to change the name of building a livery stable. William Egan Grants Pass too. is also building a livery stable. Dr. P:RISSIE Vrooman and Miller had the foundations Pray God we're still Jacksonville! laid for a restaurant. (MUSIC STOPS) TIDINGS Bitterton and Werk are already in their Ta-da! Ground was broken in the rail­ saloon. road grading inside the limits of Ash­ :ROCKY (down to audience) land last Tuesday morning! Most Jacksonville folks are almost always P:RISSIE in their saloon. (Papers Zaugh) Ooh! Ta-da. P:RISSIE TIMES Oh, shut up, shut up, shut up..... A feeling of security is apparent on TIDINGS every hand in Jacksonville, and the (MUSIC) December 28, 1883. The railroad place will prosper in spite of those company charges 37¢ per 100 pounds of who hope for its decadence. Double the freight from Portland to Grants Pass, business of any other place south of and Teamsters charge $1. 00 for the same :Roseburg has always been done here, and from the terminus to Jacksonville. it is expected that whatever trade new FLOSSIE candidates may take off, will be fully The price of knitting wool is coming down. made up by the increase in population. P:RISSIE P:RISSIE It takes a train to haul a hank of yarn? I should say so--all the babies being TIDINGS born! (MUSIC) January 11, 1884. The southern Romantic music behind the next speech terminus for the railroad operating TIDINGS division is to be moved from Grants Pass

The Medford townsite ..•a beautiful to Phoenix. The track is expected to site for a town, situated near Bear reach Medford--yesterday! Creek, on high gravelly land--oak trees TIMES dot it with shade here and there, but (MUSIC) Grading of the tracks nearly aside from this, it is a clear grassy completed to Ashland! Some of the lum­ plain. . .with all the buildings being ber for the depot at Medford has arrived located between the railroad tracks and and work of construction will soon be Bear Creek. J. S. Howard has just begun. The well, which will supply the finished a house for his general mer- water for the tank, is nearly completed.

DECEMBER 1983 17 Dick Orr, Historical Society -President, Richard FJngeman and BiU Burk, staff members, at the pre­ sentation of a corrunemorative plaque to the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. (2) A descendant of the Phipps family arrives in Medford.

PRISSIE It just makes you think, don't it? Tank town! This old world is getting so awfully ROCKY small. Chinese after February 1, 1884, will have TIMES their wages reduced to 80¢ a day. (MUSIC FANFARE) The passenger train FLOSSIE came up the valley last Sunday for the What a shame! first time! A very large crowd wel­ TIMES comed the advent of the iron horse at When the construction train rolled into both Medford and Phoenix. Medford last week, a great many people All actors stand and shout., "Hooray!" for some distance around were there to receive it. Many of those present had FLOSSIE (Ecstatic) never seen a train. Oh, Prissie, Prissie! It was such a ROCKY sight! I only wish you'd gone. I wore It was the Gol durndest sight you ever my brown merino and my badger fur, and saw in your life! Pastor Hoople made a speech, and it was PRISSIE all about progress and the future, and You watch your mouth! he didn't hardly mention temperance FLOSSIE at all. They run so fast! PRISSIE TIMES Sssssh. Listen! The construction train attains a speed TIMES of 30 miles per hour. Jacksonville now gets her mail from PRISSIE Medford. Freight trains arrive at Med­ I simply can't believe it! ford and Phoenix twice a week--Tuesdays FLOSSIE and Fridays. First shipment from Med­ People trains are even faster. ford Station was made by Max Muller. It TIMES was 550 pounds of mohair for New York. (MUSIC) February 29, 1884. Trains run The Ashland Woolen Mills made the first straight through to Portland now-a-days, shipment from Phoenix--six cases of leaving Phoenix at 7: 00 p.m. and arriv­ goods for San Francisco. ing at Portland at 4: 00 the next morning. PRISSIE Canned goods? All actors say "Wow" -- struck dumb with FLOSSIE awe. Silence) FLOSSIE (a'.'ed)w Woolen goods, I guess! Just think of it.

18 THE TABLE ROC K SENTIN EL S�n Francisco wearing woolens all the hear more about the shooting! way from Oregon! TIMES TIMES C.W. Brobak of Medford has been fully The railroad brought a quantity of exonerated from killing Cardwell. fresh oysters to Jacksonville Saturday, PRISSIE most of which were sold. Well, I'll declare! FLOSSIE TIMES Real raw oysters! Think of that! All the (MUSIC) April 4, 1884. At Medford dur­ way from -the Pacific Ocean! ing the month of March, nearly 720,000 PRISSIE pounds of freight was received and 8,365 I wouldn't touch the slimy things. pounds sent from that station during the TIDINGS same time. (MUSIC) A Portland paper says that TIDINGS parties from Ashland have leased a (MUSIC) April 18, 1884. Track completed stall in Central Market in Portland, as far south as Mill Creek in Ashland, who received their first carload of ap­ and the first construction train ran in­ ples from Phoenix last week! to that place Wednesday last. FLOSSIE TIMES First apples! Oh, Prissie, isn't it (MUSIC) J. S. Howard and family moved to wonderful? Medford this week. PRISSIE TIDINGS Just like the Garden of Eden. (MUSIC FANFARE) The first locomotive ROCKY that ran into Ashland created quite a Have you heard that William Caldwell has stir among the residents of the place, been shot and killed by C. W. Brobeck at almost everybody going to see it! Medford? All actors shout� "Hooray!" PRISSIE Tank town shenanigans! FLOSSIE (Ecstatic) TIMES Millie Rummel wore her dotted swiss; (MUSIC) The Medford Post Office is now Suzie wore her organide; her mother wore open. The track has reached a point her taffeta. You never saw such a less than two miles north of Ashland. hustle and bustle! ROCKY PRISSIE Hey! The boys in the saloon want to Some of them bustles are downright in-

Richard Morgan� co-author of the railroad play� models a commemorative tee shirt. (2) Rich shows off his honorary button�presented to him by the Southern Pacific Company� to members of a local muzzle-loaders' club.

DECEMBER 1983 19 decent! TIMES liver a temperance lecture at Med­ (MUSIC) April 25, 1884, Medford pre­ ford today. cinct established at the last meeting of PRISSIE the county commissioners and polls will I should hope so . . Brother Hoople be opened there on election day. told us last Sunday that . . (Romantic music under f'o llOUJing) TIMES (BIG MUSIC FANFARE) June 6, 1884. TIDINGS The railroad authorities at Portland It will not be far into the future be­ have issued the following circular to fore the foothills and uplands in the the fruit growers: To encourage vicinity of Jacksonville and also fruit growing in southern Oregon, throughout this entire section will be this company will ship fruit boxes taken up and planted in fruit trees. . at 20¢ per hundred pounds in ANY . and grape vines . . QUANTITY! ROCKY The wine is great! Hic! FLOSSIE TIMES You can get a hundred pound sack of flour .This land is especially adapted for only $2. 25! for fruit-growing, and the people who TIMES are enterprising and not afraid of work A gentleman named Freeman, lately from are all that we lack to transform thou­ the east, is discussing the project of sands of acres of land, now unclaimed, building a railroad between Jacksonville into a vegetable paradise! and Medford. FLOSSIE TIMES and TIDINGS Shake hands. Oh, Prissie! Our own railroad! Won't Music out that be grand! FLOSSIE PRISSIE Whee! Just like you said, Prissie! A I think I'll settle for a small trolly. Garden of Eden. TIMES (sedately ) TIMES June 20, 1884. Jacksonville Amateur (FAST MUSIC) Salt is now selling for Association will reproduce the drama, $1.00 per hundred pounds in Jackson­ "Our Folks, " which met with so much favor ville. Quite a difference from the here, at Medford on Friday evening, old high prices. June 27th, and will also present the FLOSSIE screaming farce, "Thirty Minutes for Re­ The price of everything is COMING DOWN! freshments, " as an afterpiece. PRISSIE That may just drive some of our local Single note of music then silence merchants out of business! PRISSIE TIMES Now I ask you, Flossie, do you think, a Alfalfa and grain prices dropping hundred years from now, that anyone will sharply care? ROCKY There is a silence, then banjo music strikes What about the price of Rye? up a spirited "I've Been Working on the Rail­ TIMES road," as the newspapers fold up and march off Left , following Flossie and Prissie. The Turning on him and "acting" MUSIC CONTINUES , amid thunderous applause, as The Reverend B.J. Sharpe will de- the actors march back in for curtain calls.

20 THE TABLE ROCK SENTIN EL CHRISTMAS SPIRIT INVADES MUSEUM When: December 1?-18 and 20-23 1:00 - 5:00 P.M. NANA CLAUS (Mary Schwiger) is back again this year to meet with the kids at the Children's Museum. She and her helper, Stacey Williams, will cond�ct a workshop where children can re-create Victorian style ornaments and gift-wrapping paper for their own gifts at home. At the same time those who attend '.'I7ill learn the history behind many of our Christmas traditions and be given an op­ portunity to tell about their own family traditions. The Children's Museum will be festively decorated and during the work shop tradi­ tional Christmas music will be played.

Photographs by Doug Smith

(below) Byron Ferrell, Maintenance Super­ visor, poses by a pile of leaves which were raked up by Clarence Shoemaker. (right) Natalie Geiger, new assistant to the staff photographer.

DECEMBER 1983 21 l� iRda, 'fi esen

inda Gail Wiesen , a Museum/Library Aide , who joined the staff in 1982, was recently recording insurance appraisals of the clothing collection when she discovered a label in a garment which revealed it was an original creation made by Phoebe Egan in her dressmaking shop in New York ������ Ci ty. This was startling news to Linda as the modiste , Phoebe Egan , was her great grandmother . The dress , made around 1915, is green and white satin and velvet with crystal beads sewn into net by hand . Mrs . Edith W. Hale of Medford gave it to the museum in 1967. It is presently displayed in the museum exhibit cabinet at the Cen­ tral Point Bank in Jacksonville . The photograph was taken by staff photographer Doug Smith. Linda Wiesen does a great variety of tasks at the museum . For the library she is in process of cleaning and classifying glass plate nega­ tives and packing them archivally . SOHS has over 6,OOO of these rare artifacts, most of which were made by Peter Britt . For the accessions department she works on inventory , research , photography , accessioning and general sectretarial work. In addition to her duties at the museum complex , she spends a day and a half of each week at the Hanley farm where she accessions items which were included in the property donated by Miss Hanley to the historical society . Born in New York ci ty , Linda was rai sed in Hawthorne near White Plains. "When I was about three years old," she said , "my sister Frances and I were dumped in the lap of my Great Aunt (Janet Egan Smith , Phoebe 's daughter) and she took us in ." She attended high school in Thornwood, New York, but a little short of graduation , she eloped with Harry . She was sixteen years old , he was a neat serviceman in the Airforce and the future looked pretty rosy. But after service transfers took them to umpteen-dozen cities, includ­ ing Cheyenne, Amarillo , Denver and Newark, they discovered that some­ where along the line the marriage had gone sour . After a few more un­ happy years , Linda scrounged up some money , bundled up her baby daughter Rosemary , went to the nearest airport and bought a ticket for a place as far away from Harry as she could get . She made it to Long Beach, California, and still had fifteen dollars tucked away in her purse for security and comfort . But even a grand sum like that won't last forever so she found a baby sitter for Rosemary and a bookkeeping job for herself . She en­ joyed her independence and freedom and was especially happy with her work but after two years she returned to the east to be with her sis­ ter whose husband had died . Harry , a close friend of the family , ap­ peared on the scene , and the couple were reconciled. Linda , who had never known her own father , decided that Rosemary should not be de­ nied hers, and the couple reunited and moved to Datona Beach . In Florida Linda found she had a choice of professions: she could be a waitress or pump gas . She chose the former . After a year it became apparent that the marriage was no less troubled and that even though she had tried every effort she could dream up to make it work, the re­ lationship was not going to spring again into beautiful bloom . As she had done before , she gathered up the baby and took it on the lam . This time she and Rosemary ended up , incognito, in Phoenix , Oregon, where she ultimately received her divorce and came out of hiding . "Phoenix was like coming home," she said. "It is almost identical in many ways to Hawthorne , New York. " Although she was smitten with southern Oregon , she spent the next four or five years in and out of the hospital . After she had at last regained her health, she enrolled in the High School Equivalency Program of the Rogue Community College . In three or four months she had so impressed the administration with her super-high scores in every department that they recommended she join the Ceta Program . From there she made the move to the Southern Oregon Historical Society in one short jump . Since she has always been interested in collecting and preserving old and precious things , she loves her work. "If you are hung-up on the irreplacable artifacts of the past ," she said , "a museum is your natural habitat ." Linda , who is into cookery in her spare time and is widely acclaimed for her irresistible oven things, is also proud of her granddaughter, Crystal Rose , who is three months old .

THE TABLE ROC K SENTIN El 22 DECEM BER 1983 23 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION SOUTHERN OREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY U.S. POSTAGE PAI D 206 N. Fifth St., P.O. Box 480, Jacksonville, Oregon 97530, (503) 899-1847 Permit No. 13 Volume 3, No. 12, December 1983 Jacksonville, ISSN: 0732-0523 Oregon 97530 ADDRESS CHANG E REQUEST ED

JA CKSON VILLE MUSEUM -CHILDREN'S MUSEUM -BEEKMAN HOUSE -BEEKMAN BANK ARMSTRONG HOUSE - CA THOL IC RECTORY - ROGUE RIVER VA LLEY RA IL WA Y STA TlON

U.S. HOTEL II RESEA RCH LIBRARY a MUSEUM SHOP

Photographs by Doug Smith (top) Members of the Phoenix Grange gather at the presen­ tation of a plaque for the historic Phoenix Grange Hall. Rod Reid, holding the plaque, is Chairman of the Historic Preservation Committee. (bottom) Staff members Jerome Champagne, Dorothea Corbin, Rosemary Bevel, and Jack Stater dismantle the Armstrong House which is being converted into office space. The scene makes one think of Yankee Carpet­ baggers looting Tara.

TH E TABLE ROCK SENTIN El