The Mysterious Story of Uncle Henry: Update
So, it turns out that perhaps Uncle Henry’s story isn’t so mysterious at all! I just needed my cousin Joanie to tell me that I should be searching for information under H.M. and not Henry Polan. (This newsletter is already proving an invaluable way to get questions answered by people who know more than I do!) I found a fairly detailed write-up in THE TEXAS RANGERS IN TRANSITION by Charles H. Harris and Louis R. Sadler:
Then in March, the nude body of a middle-aged man with a bullet hole in his back was found about half a mile away from where the woman and girl were found… Rangers and the sheriffs of neighboring counties went to Fort Stockton to view the body and try to solve the mystery of the man’s death. Although hundreds of people viewed the body, it remained unidentified. But when photographs of the corpse were circulated, there was a break in the case. The victim was positively identified as H.M. Polan, a “big-time gentleman gambler” who had recently won large sums at stock shows in Forth Worth and San Angelo. He had attended the cattlemen’s convention in San Angelo two weeks earlier, saying he was a buyer from Montana. Officers learned that he had registered at a San Angelo hotel and had a suit made by a local tailor, who said Polan was carrying a large sum of money. Polan had disappeared the last day of the convention, March 22, 1930.
The Polan mystery was finally solved when one Fred Leroy Moutray was arrested after being tracked across the United States, Canada, and England. He admitted that he, R.F. Thompson aka Tommy Thompson, and Ruby Taggart had conspired to rob Polan in San Angelo. Taggart enticed Polan to drive her to a deserted spot where Thompson attempted to rob him. When Polan resisted, Thompson shot him to death, stuffed him into the trunk of his own car, hauled him 150 miles to the Pecos River, and dumped him in. Wanted posters of Thompson, who had served time in Texas prisons, were circulated across the United States. He was finally located in Walla Walla, Washington, where he was a convict in the state prison. In October 1932 Captain Wright, Sergeant J. W. Smith [and can I just note how delicious it is that these are also Joanie’s initials!], and Private Jim Rooney traveled to Walla Walla. The governor of Washington commuted Thompson’s sentence—six months to fifteen years from King County for second-degree burglary—so the Rangers could take Thompson back to Texas to stand trial for murder.
Prompt:
Google search a storied ancestor and see what unexpected things you find. How would you retell the story of what you find with yourself as the narrative character and still keep it nonfictional? Write a flash essay doing just that. I’ll set up a message board where folks can share if they like. (Don’t worry, since it’s behind the paywall, posting your flash essay there won’t count as publishing it online.)
Because I’m just getting started with the newsletter, and finding it so very fun and useful, there is a flurry of activity. Trust me, that’ll die down soon and I promise to stop flooding your email inboxes quite so often.