Saturday, February 23, 2013

Peter Reilly proven innocent of Murder, despite the evidence, the Police still say he did it.


Justice, honesty and integrity are something that is in your character or isn't. If it isn't, a lot of innocent people will pay for your character defect. And that is wrong.
Truth is the "Daughter of Time" 

As George Santayana once said, those who do not learn the lessons of history, are doomed to repeat them.


The Peter Reilly murder case from Wikipedia

In 1973, Catherine Roraback faced yet another controversial case that impacted the Connecticut courts profoundly. Peter Reilly, an 18-year-old from Litchfield County, Connecticut, was accused of sexually assaulting and brutally murdering his mother, Barbara Gibbons, on September 28, 1973, after returning from a youth meeting at his church. Reilly arrived home and called the police after discovering his mother's mutilated body. When the police arrived they questioned Reilly about what happened and believed him to be acting suspiciously. They subjected him to over 25 hours of interrogation before he finally confessed to the crime. The police made him sign a formal confession before going on trial. Peter Reilly asked Roraback to represent him, as he was sure that he would be sentenced to years in prison without strong legal assistance. Roraback agreed to defend Reilly because she truly believed in his innocence and believed that the police had forced him to confess after hours of mental and emotional torture. Her determination to prove his innocence and expose the corruption that Reilly was subjected to was so strong that she agreed to take on the case for an infinitesimal amount of money. Despite lack of evidence against Reilly and the doubts that most people had regarding the validity of the confession, Roraback could do nothing to persuade the court that he was innocent, the argument being that he had signed a formal confession. Peter Reilly was found guilty by the jury and sentenced to 6 to 16 years in prison.
Roraback appealed the trial immediately, refusing to allow the court to get away with the conviction based on a forced confession. Soon after hearing the conviction, many friends and neighbors of Reilly's began to assist him in his campaign to be proven innocent. Among them was playwright Arthur Miller, who made the case a public issue and alerted The New York Times of the case and asked them to investigate. The outcome of the second case did not look promising for Reilly, as the prosecutor continued to stress the point that Reilly had confessed to the murder. However, as the case continued, the prosecutor, John Bianchi, died suddenly and was replaced. The new prosecutor quickly found details and extensive evidence that showed that Reilly was miles away from his house when the murder happened. Upon discovering this evidence, the judge dropped all charges against Reilly and Roraback had successfully proved of his innocence. The case was very significant in Connecticut because the public began to feel that the police were not to be trusted, as they forced a man to sign a confession of murder when he was clearly innocent.
The case reopened in 2004 when Peter Reilly demanded to see the files from the case. Though he was found innocent, he still felt it necessary to uncover who had murdered and sexually assaulted his mother. However, State police were reluctant to release the files to the public, a notion that angered many who felt that the murder should be solved. The Freedom of Information Commission eventually ruled that the police were obligated to release the files but were not required to release those mentioning Peter Reilly. Wikipedia


A really good TV Movie which gave the facts


The first time I met Conchata "Two and a Half Men" Ferrell and Brian "10" Dennehy was in "A Death in Canaan" (1978). I've been fans of them both ever since, they portrayed townsfolk who rallied to Peter Reilly's defense. If townspeople had not fought for Peter, he would have spent the rest of his life in prison for a crime he did NOT commit. Actor Paul Clemens played Peter and did a wonderful job, convincing us how an innocent teenager and orphan could be bullied into a confession which led to his  conviction for a crime he did NOT commit. 





I was a kid on September 28, 1973 and remember this case well. Peter had come home from a church social and found his Mom,  Barbara Gibbons, viciously raped and murdered, their house was a horrendous, bloody crime scene. Peter immediately called the police. Within a few minutes they arrived. They forced Peter to strip naked and minutely examined his body for any traces of the crime.  Barbara's body and the crime scene indicated a vicious fight had taken place. They found no evidence on Peter's body to support the fact that he was the perpetrator. Peter said over and over again, he had nothing to do with it. They took Peter into custody, where further questioning took place at the state police barracks. Then Peter was given a lie detector test. Afterward the examiner told Peter that he knew Peter was guilty, the lie detector test proved it and offered that same opinion in his official report. Peter kept saying I don't remember doing it. And he continued to protest his innocence, but no one was listening and no one was on his side. Eventually this avalanche of accusations had their effect on Peter. In a rambling, incoherent confession he basically said I must have done it, but I don't remember doing it. It is an amazing thing to read. Much like the Central Park Rapist Case, it is easier to prove something you already believe, than to let the evidence take you to the truth.

I was Peter's age and it was deeply troubling to think that the same thing could have happened to me. I actually thought about going to Connecticut and helping the defense anyway if I could. If I had had the money I would have. That's isn't a theory. That is a fact.

Subsequently, other people have looked at Peter's lie detector results and have been stunned. The examiner's conclusion are in no way justified in the test results. They feel his conclusions are without foundation. Some have even ventured that the police had come to the conclusion that Peter did it, without any evidence to support it, and the examiner either deluded himself into thinking Peter did it, coloring his professional opinion, or was testilying to support their opinion.

Proof of Peter's Innocence was there from the very beginning

The District Attorney, John Bianchi, was contacted by a witness who saw Peter driving home from the church youth group on the night of the murder. The witness was rushing home to catch a TV show. He made it home just in time, he had just clocked out of his job,  which gave a specific time for when he saw Peter, whom he recognized. The only problem for the prosecution and police was that it was ten minutes later than the police had stated in their timeline for the investigation. It was almost impossible with the police time line, this made it absolutely impossible,  there simply wasn't enough time.  Oh, by the way, the witness was above reproach, he was a Connecticut State Trooper.



Everyone in town knew Peter as much for his unique car, a 1968 Corvette with cloth roof, as for anything else. The officer pinned down Peter's location and time, making it impossible for him  to have committed his Mom's murder. Peter called police at 9:58 PM.


The sighting of Peter Reilly 5 miles from home at 9:39 PM, the time the police and DA said the crime had been committed, earned Peter an acquittal in the retrial. It would take another 7 or 8 minutes to get to his home. The coroner would determine that Barbara had bled to death, which could take five to ten minutes, exsanguination, add the time for the struggle another ten minutes, as testified by defense expert in the retrial, NYC Medical Examiner Milton Halpern, America's #1 Medical Examiner, he actually wrote the book used to teach Medical Examiners. The office of Medical Examiner, occupied by a licensed doctor, replaced coroners which were a political office, said police and prosecutors were absolutely 100% wrong and. their theory of the crime was IMPOSSIBLE . There was simply no time for Peter to have committed this murder. 

Ernest M. Izumi, deputy state medical examiner, testified that the cause of death was exsanguination of blood due to wounds in the neck and body caused by a sharp object and asphyxiation due to aspiration of blood. Ernest Izumi testified that the autopsy revealed the following injuries concerning Barbara Gibbons: defense stab wound through her right hand, blow to her elbow, blow to her face which broke her nose, a minor brain contusion, at least two slashes of her throat which severed her jugular vein, multiple stab wounds in the lower back, a gash wound in her abdomen, three broken ribs, a deep penetration of her vagina with an unknown object, and two broken femurs.

Later after Peter's acquittal, a fresh fingerprint was identified as belonging to a young neighbor who was feuding with Barbara and who had left town for over a week immediately after Barbara's murder. 

Neighbors raised bail and the Madow family took Peter home with them. When his Mom died, Peter was both and orphan and alone. 


Many experts believe that having no one to turn to, when police began their accusations, Peter did what too often happens, he tried to give the police what they wanted. No kid should ever feel that alone, ever.

DA Bianchi making a not so subtle sign of his feelings when his case fell apart and Peter got a new trial because of the illegally suppressed evidence proving Peter's innocence.. 


Peter went back to  school while out on bail awaiting his retrial, graduating with honors. Bianchi would have a heart attack in 1976. 


Peter used the time awaiting his retrial to finish high school, graduating with honors. His friends and supporters deserve credit for keeping Peter's spirits up to finish school.

NO ONE EVER STANDS AS TALL AS WHEN THEY  STAND ALONE. Peter Reilly was and is one of my heroes. I wish you only the best, pal.

The DA did not reveal this during the trial and did not give this exculpatory evidence to the Peter's Defense as required by law.
Now, requests for information from the local and state police who have always held the Peter did, in fact, commit the murder, have led to the discovery that pertinent information has mysteriously disappeared or been erased.



The local community, including famed Playwright Arthur Miller(Death of a Salesman), Author Joan Barthel(who wrote the book about the case) and Author William Styron, rallied to Peter's cause. The people who knew Peter and his mother didn't believe that Peter was guilty for a second. If you have a chance find a copy of Joan's book, it will take you through the story and show you how Peter's conviction was a miscarriage of justice. It is well worth the price.


Arthur with his wife Marilyn Monroe, his help gave a great boost of publicity about the case.



Peter and his Mom

Every neighbor, every schoolmate, church parishioner and acquiantance had the same opinion, Peter was a good kid, who made good grades, never got in any trouble, had no temper or ever showed and anger. A quiet, intelligent good kid everyone liked. They unanimously believed he was innocent. The police and DA didn't care, they had found a suspect, they were going full steam ahead even without evidence of the boy's guilt. 


These supporters brought in world famous expert and forensic specialist, New York City Medical Examiner, Dr. Milton Helpern. He immediately came to the conclusion after examining pictures of the crime scene and medical reports that it was impossible for Peter to have committed the crime and have no traces on his person or clothes. He also concluded that the timeline that the police were using was impossible as well. And this is before the witness statement suppressed by Prosecutor Bianchi came to light, which gave Peter 10 fewer minutes to have committed the crime.




The small home Peter shared with his mom in which he found her body, police accused the boy of raping and murdering her after returning from a church social. 




Sept. 28 1973: At some time between 9:30 and 10:00 p.m., Barbara Gibbons, 51, is murdered in her Falls Village home, probably by more than one assailant and almost surely while she puts up a fight for her life. She is stabbed many times and almost beheaded by deep throat slashes. Her nose, three ribs and both thigh bones are broken. Her body is mutilated and internal injuries are inflicted by the sexual use of an unknown weapon. There is a great loss of blood.

The victim’s son, Peter A. Reilly, 18, returns home from a youth center board meeting at Canaan Methodist Church just moments after the assault. Discovering his mother’s body on the bedroom floor, he makes five telephone calls for medical assistance. The calls bring a state police cruiser and the Canaan volunteer ambulance as well as friends within minutes.

As other police personnel arrive, led by the Canaan barracks commandant, Lt. James Shay, Peter Reilly is regarded as a suspect. He is questioned and searched. After his constitutional rights are read to him, a statement is taken down, including his estimation that he arrived home at 9:50-9:55 and his belief that, as he saw his mother on the floor, “She was having problems breathing and she was gasping.” He states, “I didn’t touch my mother but went straight to the telephone.” The boy is forced to strip naked and his body is minutely examined by the officers present for about 20 minutes. The attack and rape were vicious, Barbara Gibbons had several broken bones and severe cuts, including one which nearly decapitated her, but looking at the boy's naked body, the police found no bruises or cuts.




Sept. 29: Soon after 2 a.m., four hours after the homicide, Reilly is taken from his home to the Canaan barracks. He waits four more hours until Lieutenant Shay arrives to again read him his rights and begin an hour and a half interrogation. Reilly asks, “Am I actually a suspect?” He is told that he is. Perceiving that his story is not believed, he volunteers for a “lie detector” and is told that one will be arranged.

After 25 sleepless hours, Reilly is permitted four hours rest in a barracks bedroom. Meantime, a six-hour autopsy of the victim’s body is underway, conducted at Sharon Hospital by Dr. Ernest M. Izumi. He and the state medical examiner, Dr. Elliot Gross, had earlier examined the body at the murder scene. Dr. Izumi’s opinion that some of the blows and wounds were inflicted after breathing had stopped reinforces Lieutenant Shay’s suspicions of Reilly because the suspect said he thought he heard his mother breathing.

At noon, Reilly is driven to Hartford for a polygraph test that is coupled with a tape-recorded interrogation by Lieutenant Shay and three other officers that continues for some eight hours until almost 11 p.m. Statements that he slashed his mother’s throat with a straight razor and jumped on her legs before phoning for emergency aid are put in writing. After signing the confession, he is arrested, fingerprinted and driven back to Canaan.
http://www.findadeath.com/forum/showthread.php?11010-Peter-Reilly-Did-he-kill-his-mom
http://www.cwcy.org/resources/227_attach_Reilly%20v%20State%20(1976).pdf

Milton Halpern the Medical Examiner for the City of New York and one of the finest forensic experts in the country testified that whoever committed this horrendous crime had to have been injured or show traces of the crime in its commission. Peter Reilly was strip searched by the police on the scene within minutes of the crime, there were no marks or injuries on his body. Dr. Halpern indicated that that was not only highly improbable, given the timeline, it must be considered impossible. There was no time for Peter to have cleaned himself up if he was the murderer.

Police were not willing to let the evidence speak for itself, they started leaking accusatory opinions about Peter and crime scene photos hoping to feed outrage, instead of providing evidence of Peter's guilt. Almost immediately after Peter's acquittal they offered a new theory, Peter ran over his Mom with his car and created a crime scene mimicking a burglary. None of which accounts for Barbara's rape and cut throat. arranging the scene would still take over 10 minutes, Peter's and his body were pristine, no blood or trace evidence. 

To get a sense of the story and the efforts of the police to convict Peter, read this commentary from 2013 in the Hartford Courant: http://articles.courant.com/2013-09-27/news/hc-op-connery-peter-reilly-murder-case-justice-092-20130927_1_state-police-investigation-barbara-gibbons-new-trial


Peter Talks about the Hell he went through
To be kept awake for many hours, confused, fatigued, shocked that your only family was gone, in a strange and imposing place, surrounded by police who continue to tell you that you must have done this horrible thing and that nobody cares or has asked about you, . . . assured by authorities you don’t remember things, being led to doubt your own memory, having things suggested to you only to have those things pop up in a conversation a short time later but from your own lips . . . under these conditions you would say and sign anything they wanted. (Peter Reilly, 1995)

 "Disillusioned, divorced, unemployed, and recently back in Connecticut after bouncing through a series of low-paying jobs in other states. At the end of that interview, Reilly revealed what it was about the entire affair that most puzzled and distressed him. Interestingly, it was not the puzzle of how he could be persuaded to confess falsely to a murder." 


http://www.ablongman.com/html/productinfo/kenrick/revisiting_mystery_ch5.pdf

It should break any civilized person's heart that Peter's Mom was murdered and the final horror he was blamed for the crime. The one comfort and, I hope Peter realizes this,  a lot of people care about him and wish him only the best.
And that he has a lot of friends that he never met. Maybe someday he will.


FREEDOM OF INFORMATION COMMISSION
OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT

In the Matter of a Complaint by FINAL DECISION
Ruth Epstein and
The Lakeville Journal Company, LLC,

Complainants
against Docket #FIC 2003-320
State of Connecticut,
Department of Public Safety,
Division of State Police
Respondents September 2, 2004


The above-captioned matter was heard as a contested case on January 22, 2004, at which time the complainants and the respondent appeared, stipulated to certain facts and presented testimony, exhibits and argument on the complaint. This case was consolidated for hearing with docket #FIC 2003-313, Donald S. Connery v. State of Connecticut, Department of Public Safety, Division of State Police.


After consideration of the entire record, the following facts are found and conclusions of law are reached:


1. The respondent is a public agency within the meaning of §1-200(1), G.S.


2. By letter of complaint filed September 8, 2003, the complainants appealed to the Commission, alleging that the respondent violated the Freedom of Information (“FOI”) Act by denying their request for records of the homicide of Barbara Gibbons. That case is commonly known as the Peter Reilly case, because of the conviction, ultimately set aside in 1977, of the victim’s teenaged son in 1974.


3. It is found that by letter dated June 26, 2003 the complainants requested the complete state police file on the Barbara Gibbons homicide case, from September 28, 1973 to the present. Specifically, the complainants indicated that the records in the file “should include, but not be limited to, all data on the original investigation, led by Lt. James Shay, that resulted in the manslaughter conviction of Peter Reilly on April 12, 1974; and all data on the reinvestigation in 1976-77, as requested by Governor Ella Grasso and led by Captain Thomas McDonnell, following the vacating of Reilly’s conviction.”


4. It is found that the respondent replied by letter dated July 1, 2003 that the complainants’ request had been received, and then by letter dated August 28, 2003 denied the request on the grounds that the investigation was still pending and that the records were exempt from disclosure pursuant to §1-210(b)(3), G.S.


5. It is further found that, by letter dated November 28, 2003, the respondent added that “upon further review of this matter … determined that pursuant to C.G.S. Sec. 1-215 and 54-142a, there is no public record in response to your request.”


6. The respondent maintains that there are no public records responsive to the complainant’s request, and that the Commission therefore lacks jurisdiction over the complaint, pursuant to §§54-142a(a) and 1-215(a), G.S.


7. Section 54-142a(a), G.S., provides in relevant part:


Whenever in any criminal case, on or after October 1, 1969, the accused, by a final judgment, is found not guilty of the charge or the charge is dismissed, all police and court records and records of any state's attorney pertaining to such charge shall be erased upon the expiration of the time to file a writ of error or take an appeal, if an appeal is not taken, or upon final determination of the appeal sustaining a finding of not guilty or a dismissal, if an appeal is taken….

8. Section 54-142a(e), G.S., provides in relevant part:

…any law enforcement agency having information contained in such erased records shall not disclose to anyone, except the subject of the record …information pertaining to any charge erased under any provision of this section….

9. With respect to disclosure to the subject of the record, §54-142a(f), G.S., provides in relevant part:

Upon motion properly brought, the court or a judge thereof, if such court is not in session, may order disclosure of such records (1) to a defendant in an action for false arrest arising out of the proceedings so erased ….

10. Section 54-142c(a), G.S., provides in relevant part:

…any criminal justice agency having information contained in such erased records shall not disclose to anyone the existence of such erased record or information.


11. It is concluded that erasure does not mean the physical destruction of records. Rather it involves sealing the files and segregating them from materials that have not been erased and protecting them from disclosure. State v. Anonymous, 237 Conn. 501, 513 (1996)


12. Section 1-215(a), G.S. provides in relevant part:


Notwithstanding any provision of the general statutes to the contrary, and except as otherwise provided in this section, any record of the arrest of any person, other than a juvenile, except a record erased pursuant to chapter 961a, shall be a public record from the time of such arrest and shall be disclosed in accordance with the provisions of section 1-212 and subsection (a) of section 1-210, except that disclosure of data or information other than that set forth in subdivision (1) of subsection (b) of this section shall be subject to the provisions of subdivision (3) of subsection (b) of section 1-210.


13. Section 1-215(b), G.S., provides:


For the purposes of this section, “record of the arrest” means (1) the name and address of the person arrested, the date, time and place of the arrest and the offense for which the person was arrested, and (2) at least one of the following, designated by the law enforcement agency: The arrest report, incident report, news release or other similar report of the arrest of a person.


14. Section 1-200(5), G.S., provides:


“Public records or files” means any recorded data or information relating to the conduct of the public's business prepared, owned, used, received or retained by a public agency, or to which a public agency is entitled to receive a copy by law or contract under section 1-218, whether such data or information be handwritten, typed, tape-recorded, printed, photostated, photographed or recorded by any other method.


15. Section 1-210(a), G.S., provides in relevant part:


Except as otherwise provided by any federal law or state statute, all records maintained or kept on file by any public agency, whether or not such records are required by any law or by any rule or regulation, shall be public records and every person shall have the right to (1) inspect such records promptly during regular office or business hours, (2) copy such records in accordance with subsection (g) of section 1-212, or (3) receive a copy of such records in accordance with section 1-212.


16. The respondent maintains that §1-215(a), G.S., provides that any erased record is not a public record.


17. It is concluded, however, that §1-215(a), G.S., by its terms specifically applies only to the limited information contained in a “record of arrest,” not to all erased records.


18. It is therefore concluded that the Commission has jurisdiction to determine whether records have been erased, and whether erased records are exempt from disclosure.


19. It is found that requested records are public records within the meaning of §§1-200(5) and 1-210(a), G.S.


20. It is found that Barbara Gibbons was killed in the home she shared with her son, Peter Reilly, an 18-year-old high school senior.


21. It is found that Reilly, who had arrived at home that night after a teen center meeting, reported the crime in a series of telephone calls for medical assistance.


22. It is found that Reilly was taken into custody and interrogated, made certain confessions, and was placed under arrest for the crime of murder.


23. It is found that, after a lengthy jury trial, Reilly was found guilty of the crime of manslaughter in the first degree on April 12, 1974.


24. It is found that Reilly subsequently petitioned for a new trial on the grounds of newly discovered evidence.


25. It is found that a new trial was granted on March 25, 1976. Reilly v. State, 32 Conn. Sup. 349 (1976) (Speziale, J.) In his memorandum of decision, Judge Speziale, who had also presided over the original trial, concluded that, “After a long and deliberate study of all of the transcripts of the original trial and the instant proceeding, together with the pleading and exhibits in both cases, this court concludes that an injustice has been done and that the result of a new trial would probably be different.” Reilly v. State, at 356-57.


26. It is found that, on November 24, 1976, Judge Maurice Sponzo dismissed the charges against Reilly, after State’s Attorney Dennis A. Santore determined not to prosecute Reilly for the Gibbons homicide.


27. It is found that on November 26, 1976, Governor Ella Grasso ordered the respondent to reinvestigate the Gibbons homicide, and asked Chief State’s Attorney Joseph Gormley to see if there had been misdeeds in the case by police or prosecutors.


28. It is found that on December 23, 1976, three days after Gormley reported that he had found nothing improper in the police and prosecution actions, Judge Speziale named a one-man grand jury to investigate possible crimes by the state in the handling of the Gibbons homicide. Judge Maurice Sponzo was appointed to conduct the inquiry, with the assistance of Paul McQuillan as special state’s attorney.


29. It is found that on June 1, 1977, Judge Sponzo’s report of his findings concluded that no crimes were committed by police or prosecutors, but he severely criticized the state’s handling of the case. Eliminating Peter Reilly as a suspect, Sponzo’s secret addendum to his report named five persons as suspects worthy of investigation.


30. It is found that on September 28, 1977, Captain Thomas J. McDonnell, the detective division commander who led the state police reinvestigation ordered by Governor Grasso, issued his 58-page report. Eliminating all other suspects, he came to “the inescapable conclusion” that Peter Reilly “is, in fact, the sole perpetrator in the Barbara Gibbons homicide.”


31. It is found that on November 22, 1977, Judge Sponzo added the words “with prejudice” to the dismissal of the manslaughter charges against Reilly ordered a year previously.


32. It is found that on June 2, 1978, Governor Grasso authorized a $20,000 reward for information leading to the solution of the Gibbons homicide, but no individuals were subsequently charged with the crime.


33. It is found that the police and court records of the Gibbons homicide as they pertain solely to the charges against Mr. Reilly were erased by operation of law no later than 1978.


34. The complainants maintain that given the heightened public interest in the Reilly case, and continuing assertions since 1980 by present and former state police officials and employees of Reilly’s guilt, the records should be disclosed so that the public may know whether the respondent conducted its investigation and prosecution properly.


35. The complainants additionally maintain that the requested records must be disclosed because they were disclosed, at least in part, to a reporter sometime in 1988.


36. While it appears that a redacted disclosure was in fact made to a reporter at the Lakeville Journal who was writing an anniversary story at the time, it is concluded that the erasure statutes contain no provisions for waiver, and that such a disclosure would not affect the status of the records as erased.


37. On February 19, 2004 the Commission received what appears to be an affidavit of Peter Reilly, stating his desire that the requested records be disclosed, and waiving any privacy rights that he might have.


38. However, Mr. Reilly is not a party to this case, nor has he requested to be made one. Nor did any party offer Mr. Reilly’s affidavit into evidence. The affidavit is therefore not properly before the Commission. Even if it were, the erasure statutes have been interpreted by the Supreme Court to mean that the blanket prohibition against disclosure also applies to the person who was the defendant in the criminal case, and that the erasure provisions may not be waived by him. Lechner v. Holmberg, 165 Conn. 152, 161-62 (1973); State v. West, 192 Conn. 488, 495-96 (1984).


39. It is concluded that the respondent did not violate §1-210(a), G.S., when it failed to provide copy of erased records that pertained solely to the dismissed charges against Mr. Reilly.


40. However, the complainants maintain that, even if the records pertaining solely to Mr. Reilly have properly been erased, not all of the records of the Gibbons homicide pertain to Mr. Reilly, and that the records that do not pertain to Mr. Reilly are not erased by operation of §54-142a(a), G.S.


41. Based in part on the grand jury report described in paragraph 29, above, it is found that some of the records maintained by the respondent pertain to an investigation of the respondent’s conduct, separate and distinct from records pertaining to Mr. Reilly that are subject to erasure, and that some of the records also pertain to five other individuals deemed worthy of investigation.


42. The language of §54-142a, G.S., does not define the phrase “records … pertaining to such charge” that are to be erased. Specifically, the statute does not address the status of records that pertain to suspects and subjects other than the accused.


43. With respect to the erasure statute, the Supreme Court has stated that it should be construed to give it the “legal and practical effect” intended by its drafters, as revealed by the legislative history. Cislo v. Shelton, 240 Conn. 590, 608 (1997).


44. In State v. Anonymous, 237 Conn. 501, 516 (1996), the Supreme Court observed that the fundamental purpose of the records erasure and destruction scheme embodied in §54-142, G.S., is to “erect a protective shield of presumptive privacy for one whose criminal charges have been dismissed.” The purpose of the erasure statute is to protect innocent persons from the harmful consequences of a criminal charge which is subsequently dismissed.


45. In Cislo v. Shelton, 240 Conn. 590 (1997), the Supreme Court further indicated the central function of the erasure statute. Specifically, the court observed that the legal effect of erasure, as specified by a 1967 amendment (P.A. 67-181) to §54-90, G.S., is such that “[n]o person who shall have been the subject of such an erasure order shall be deemed to have been arrested ab initio ….” Cislo v. Shelton, supra at 600-601. Later legislative debate in 1974 demonstrated that the legislature primarily intended to reinforce the ability of those persons whose records had been erased after a nolle to state that, with respect to those erased charges, they had never been arrested. Id. at 604-605.


46. It is found that, given the extensive publicity surrounding Barbara Gibbons’ death, it would appear to be of little comfort to Mr. Reilly to be able to declare, because of the erasure statutes, that he was never arrested for the crime.


47. In Pascal v. Pascal, 2 Conn. App. 472, 484-85 (1984) the Appellate Court observed: “The beneficiaries of the provisions of General Statutes §54-142a are “only the accused in criminal cases …. The erasure of criminal records demanded by [that statute] is a personal right of the accused only.” (citing McCarthy v. FOIC, 35 Conn. Sup. 186, 193 (1979).)


48. In McCarthy v. FOIC, supra, the Superior Court (Bieluch, J.) held that the coverage of §54-142a, G.S., cannot be extended collaterally to records of complaints and disciplinary proceedings involving police officers associated with erased criminal cases.


49. It is concluded that records used to investigate the conduct of the respondent and its employees, and records pertaining to other persons who either were or should have been investigated as suspects in the crime of which Mr. Reilly was accused, are not shielded by the provisions of §54-142a, G.S.


50. It is found that the legislative purpose of the erasure statutes is clearly not served by shielding from public view information that might tend to implicate others in the crime of which the accused was acquitted, or that might cast light on the respondent’s investigation of the homicide, all without providing any functional protection to the accused.


51. The U.S. Supreme Court has observed, with respect to the federal counterpart to the FOI Act, that the purpose of that FOI Act is to shed light “on an agency’s performance of its statutory duties.” The statute is a commitment to “the principle that a democracy cannot function unless the people are permitted to know what their government is up to.” The statute’s “central purpose is to ensure that the Government’s activities be opened to the sharp eye of public scrutiny.” U.S. Department of Justice v. Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, 489 U.S. 749, 772-774 (1989).


52. It is found that the result of erasure of records of the Barbara Gibbons homicide not pertaining to Mr. Reilly would be to support the respondent’s oft-repeated contention that Mr. Reilly is the actual killer, to prevent any possibility of bringing forth evidence that might exonerate Mr. Reilly, to frustrate the public’s legitimate public interest in the controversy, and to protect the identity of other individuals who might have been but were not charged with the crime. Such a result is directly contrary to a fundamental maxim of statutory construction:


“The law favors rational and sensible statutory construction…. The unreasonableness of the result obtained by the acceptance of one possible alternative interpretation of an act is a reason for rejecting that interpretation in favor of another which would provide a result that is reasonable…. When two constructions are possible, courts will adopt the one which makes the [statute] effective and workable, and not one which leads to difficult and possible bizarre results.


Maciejewski v. West Hartford, 194 Conn. 139, 151-52 (1984).


53. It is therefore concluded that records that do not pertain solely to Mr. Reilly, but rather pertain to an investigation of the respondent’s conduct and the respondent’s investigation of other individuals, are not erased by the operation of §54-142a, G.S.


54. It is therefore concluded that the respondent violated §1-210(a), G.S., when it denied the existence of, and refused to provide copies, of records of the Barbara Gibbons homicide that do not pertain to the charges against Mr. Reilly, but rather pertain to an investigation of the respondent’s conduct and the respondent’s investigation of other individuals.



The following order by the Commission is hereby recommended on the basis of the record concerning the above-captioned complaint:


1. The respondent shall forthwith provide to the complainants copies of records of the Barbara Gibbons homicide that do not solely pertain to the charges against Mr. Reilly. Such disclosed records shall include any records investigating, or used to investigate, the conduct of the respondent, and any records of the respondent’s investigation of inviduals other than Mr. Reilly.




Approved by Order of the Freedom of Information Commission at its special meeting of September 2, 2004.



___________________________________

Petrea A. Jones

Acting Clerk of the Commission


PURSUANT TO SECTION 4-180(c), G.S., THE FOLLOWING ARE THE NAMES OF EACH PARTY AND THE MOST RECENT MAILING ADDRESS, PROVIDED TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION COMMISSION, OF THE PARTIES OR THEIR AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE.


THE PARTIES TO THIS CONTESTED CASE ARE:


Ruth Epstein and

The Lakeville Journal Company, LLC

c/o Alan Neigher, Esq.

1804 Post Road East

Westport, CT 06880



State of Connecticut,

Department of Public Safety,

Division of State Police

c/o Stephen R. Sarnoski, Esq.

Assistant Attorney General

110 Sherman Street

Hartford, CT 06105




___________________________________

Petrea A. Jones

Acting Clerk of the Commission

From the Hartford Courant


The small towns in Litchfield County rose to Peter Reilly's defense. To his friends and neighbors, his innocence was obvious.
Peter was amiable and law-abiding. They could not fathom how a dubious confession, obtained by high-pressure psychological persuasion, could triumph over the absence of evidence. Lt. James Shay and his investigators had to know Peter had no time to commit the crime — and no motive. The medical findings suggested at least two attackers.
Bake sales and other efforts raised $60,000 to free Peter on bond for the appeal. The convicted killer was welcomed back at his high school to complete his senior year. Roxbury playwright Arthur Miller organized a powerful rescue party — a new attorney, a crack investigator, the nation's leading forensic pathologist and a top expert on mind control.
Superb reporting by The Hartford Courant's Joseph A. O'Brien and critical editorials in the Lakeville Journal raised alarming questions about the state police investigation. The case became a national sensation.
After a long hearing for a new trial in 1976, Superior Court Judge John A. Speziale, the future state chief justice, declared that a "grave injustice" occurred in his courtroom two years earlier. State's Attorney John Bianchi dropped dead on a golf course before deciding to risk a second trial. His successor, Dennis Santore, discovered a time bomb: a critical document, never revealed to the defense or the court, placing Peter five miles away at the time the state claimed he was home killing his mother.
Astonishing events followed Peter's exoneration. A one-man grand jury investigation in 1977 condemned law enforcement's actions. A simultaneous nine-month state police reinvestigation, ordered by Gov. Grasso and led by Capt. Thomas McDonnell, reached an "inescapable conclusion" naming the "sole perpetrator" in the Barbara Gibbons killing — Peter Reilly.
Knowing that their conclusion would set off fireworks, the police sought public support by leaking their 58-page, confidential report before giving it to the governor.
"New Police Report Calls Reilly Slayer" was one headline regarding a bizarre new theory. Supposedly, upon arriving home, Peter backed his car over his mother. He then dragged her broken body into the bedroom to start his killing spree.
Gov. Grasso's legal counsel, Paul McQuillan, who was the prosecutor for Judge Maurice Sponzo's grand jury, was appalled by this monument of disinformation. Knowing that I spent three years on a just-finished book on the case, he gave me a copy of the secret police report. "Read it," he said. "Then do whatever you think best."
I was being used — the governor needed public support before taking on the state police — but I felt a need to act. At a Hartford press conference, I described the report's dozens of errors, denounced the rampant speculation, described the reinvestigation as a giant scam and called for the resignation or firing of the state police commissioner, Edward P. Leonard.
More important, State's Attorney Santore rejected the police report as "contrived," "unworthy" and "blatantly contradictory." The car theory was "completely untenable." He considered arresting Leonard.
The governor called Leonard in and he withdrew the McDonnell report. He resigned a few months later, but during a farewell tour of police barracks he told troopers it was about politics and public opinion, not mistakes. Thereafter, for decades, the department's answer to press inquiries about the Gibbons murder was, "We are satisfied with the result of our original investigation."


Actor Paul Clemens, who played Peter in the TV Movie, Author Joan Barthel who fought for Peter's Freedom and wrote the book, "A Death in Canaan" and Peter Reilly. www.corbisimages.com



Thinking Analytically


Though it may sound trite, I remember reading Sherlock Holmes Stories as kid, their logic has stayed with me ever since. Having a critical mind, always looking for the real truth matters to me.


Colonel Ross still wore an expression which showed the poor opinion which he had formed of my companion's ability, but I saw by the inspector's face that his attention had been keenly aroused.
     "You consider that to be important?" he [Inspector Gregory] asked.
     "Exceedingly so."
     "Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?"
     "To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time."
     "The dog did nothing in the night-time."
     "That was the curious incident," remarked Sherlock Holmes.
     The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1893)
     Inspector Gregory and Sherlock Holmes in "Silver Blaze" (Doubleday p. 346-7)


When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever...     

"You will not apply my precept," he said, shaking his head. "How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth? We know that he did not come through the door, the window, or the chimney. We also know that he could not have been concealed in the room, as there is no concealment possible. When, then, did he come?"
     The Sign of the Four, ch. 6 (1890)
     Sherlock Holmes in The Sign of the Four (Doubleday p. 111)

 I read a book which is claimed by some, me included, to be the best mystery ever written. I read it when I was 10-years-old. Elizabeth Macintosh wrote "The Daughter of Time" under the pen name Josephine Tey. It is the story of an injured Scotland Yard Inspector, who is recovering in the hospital and needs something to occupy his time. He comes across a picture of King Richard III. Something troubling occurs to him, this man does not look like a murderer, much less the killer of his two nephews, twelve-year-old  King Edward V and his 10-year-old brother Richard Duke of York. He is driven to find the truth. When he does, he is perplexed by the fact that so many people could be so wrong.

The Guardian Newspaper(UK) ranked it second all time:

2. The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey

Inspector Grant spends the entire book in a hospital bed, the murders happened more than 500 years ago, and you'd get more graphic violence in the phone book. To stop himself going nuts with boredom, and because Richard III's face interests him, Grant starts investigating who really killed the Princes in the Tower. The results aren't exactly what he expected. It's a fascinating piece of research that raises all kinds of questions about the accuracy of "history" but that never gets in the way of the fact that it's a beautifully constructed mystery.


It is predicated upon the premise, that what history records as the truth, isn't necessarily the truth.

On its publication Anthony Boucher called the book "one of the permanent classics in the detective field.... one of the best, not of the year, but of all time".
Dorothy B. Hughes also praised it, saying it is "not only one of the most important mysteries of the year, but of all years of mystery".
This book was voted number one in The Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time list by the UK Crime Writers' Association in 1990.
Winston Churchill stated in his History of the English-Speaking Peoples his belief in Richard's guilt of the murder of the princes, adding, "It will take many ingenious books to raise the issue to the dignity of a historical controversy", probably referring specifically to Josephine Tey's novel, "The Daughter of Time" published seven years earlier. The papers of Sir Alan Lascelles contain a reference to his conversation with Churchill about the book.
In 2012, Peter Hitchens wrote that The Daughter of Time was "one of the most important books ever written".

Did Billy the Kid get justice?  NO!http://briankeithohara.blogspot.com/  

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Richard III should be buried with his wife and son in York!


The Tudors went too far in their desecration of Richard III: when one learns that he governed York well for several years, not in the view of the court but of the people who lived in York, that he enacted bail for the poor, that he was, in fact, known for his honesty and sincere religious faith. His brother treasured him as his most loyal subject and Richard NEVER let Edward IV down.
Many people believe that Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, killed the Princes, as Lord High Constable and Governor of the Tower, he had actual physical control of the Tower of London where the Princes were staying. People forget that the Tower also included a royal residence.
Henry Stafford was in fact of Royal Blood himself,  any chance he had to become King depended on their assassination of Edward V and his brother Richard as well as the overthrow of Richard and the neutralizing of Henry Tudor.

 Henry's father, Humphrey Stafford, Earl of Stafford, supported the House of Lancaster in the initial phase of the Wars of the Roses. He died in 1458 of wounds after First Battle of St Albans, and his paternal grandfather, Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham, another leading Lancastrian, was killed at the Battle of Northampton (10 July 1460). After his grandfather's death, Henry was recognized as Duke of Buckingham. The new Duke eventually became a ward of Queen Elizabeth Woodville, consort of Edward IV of England. Sometime before the time of her coronation in May 1465 he was married to her sister Catherine Woodville, Duchess of Buckingham and Bedford (b.1458). Both parties were children at the time; they were carried on squires' shoulders at the coronation ceremony and were reared in the queen's household together.

Buckingham was the son of Humphrey Stafford, Earl of Stafford and Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Stafford. Four of Buckingham's first and second cousins became King of England, and two of his second cousins became Queen consorts:

•Edward IV and his brother Richard III were Buckingham's first cousins once removed. Buckingham's father Humphrey, Earl Stafford, was son of Lady Anne Neville (c. 1411–1480). Anne's sister Lady Cecily, Duchess of York was the mother of Edward IV and Richard III. Edward's son Edward V was thus Buckingham's second cousin, as was the younger Edward's sister Elizabeth of York, later wife and Queen consort of Henry VII of England.

•Henry Tudor, later King Henry VII was Buckingham's second cousin. Buckingham's mother was Lady Margaret Beaufort (c. 1427–1474), daughter of Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset. Margaret's first cousin, also named Margaret Beaufort (1443–1509) was the mother of Henry VII, the latter Margaret being the daughter of 1st Duke of Somerset.

•Lady Anne Neville, in line to become Queen as the wife of Lancastrian Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales, eventually did become Queen as the wife of Richard III of England. Her paternal grandfather Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury was the brother of Buckingham's paternal grandmother (also named Anne Neville), making Buckingham the Queen's second cousin.
Wikipedia


He certainly had motive. He was also a man, like the Stanleys(who fought for Henry Tudor for money, not for England) of no morals or character. Buckingham would do anything which profited him and not do anything which didn't. Buckingham was in contact with Lancastrian and Tudor Ally Bishop Morton(for which there is evidence that Thomas More's Richard III, was in fact written by the Bishop and copied by More, which would explain why Thomas More never published it). Bishop Morton was in contact with Henry Tudor, though their interests might diverge later, the assassination of Edward V and Richard of York profited both men. What was Richard to do if Buckingham killed the Princes? There was nothing he could do. Regardless of who actually committed the murder, he would be blamed for it.
Read Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time, it asks the questions which were never asked under the Tudors, but must be asked. Why did Henry VII never accuse Richard of their murder or use it as justification for his own rebellion. Why did he wait 20 years to execute the actual assassin?
Richard was the bravest man on the battlefield of Bosworth, all sources are in agreement on this fact. Upon seeing the treachery of the Stanleys, for which they were well paid(by Henry Tudor), Richard personally charged Henry Tudor and his mercenary bodyguard of 200. Cutting an incredible swathe through this phalanx, he was cut down within 8 feet of Henry Tudor. His brother Edward IV was right, he was the bravest man and and among the finest soldiers in England.



Henry Tudor had Richard stripped naked and had his dead body paraded through town. His body was was also subjected to mutilation. No honorable soldier deserves that, certainly none who fought as bravely as Richard did.
It doesn't surprise me that Prime Minister Cameron is looking for a tourist attraction for Liecester. People forget that Henry VIII's desecration of Religious houses, destroyed Richard's resting place, but also desecrated Alfred the Great's grave and body, which is lost to history.
Richard should be buried at York with his wife and his son. Honor demands it.I have one other conundrum which no one has mentioned, from Wikipedia concerning the burial of Mary of York, one of Edward IV's children.
"Mary died at Greenwich on 23 May 1482, and was buried in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. In 1789, workmen carrying out repairs in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, rediscovered and accidentally broke into the vault of Edward IV and Queen Elizabeth Woodville, discovering in the process what appeared to be a small adjoining vault. This vault was found to contain the coffins of two mysterious, unidentified children. However, no inspection or examination was carried out and the tomb was resealed and the tomb was inscribed with the names of two of Edward IV's children George, 1st Duke of Bedford died at the age of 2 & Mary of York died age 14 that had predeceased the King. [16] During the excavation for the royal tomb house for King George III under the Wolsey tomb-house in 1810-1813 two lead coffins clearly labelled as George Plantagenet & Mary Plantagenet were discovered and moved into the adjoining vault of Edward IV's but at the time no effort was made to identify the two lead coffins already in the vault. [17] The coffin of Mary was opened, the beautiful girl of fifteen who had died a year before her father; a shock of her pale gold hair had insinuated itself through the chinks of the coffin; the eyes were pale blue and open, but turned to dust however soon after the admission of air.

Wikipedia

 I once got into a ferocious argument with a British Academic about Julius Caesar and the Gaullic Wars. The argument was whether Caesar acted defensively or were his actions a racist genocide. Rome had been conquered by the Gauls/Celts in 387 BC. They wreaked incredible carnage and slaughter throughout Italy. During the Consulship of Marius, Julius Caesar's Uncle, in 113-101 BC, the Romans fought a horrific war on their northern border with Gaul.  Two tribes, the Teutones and Cimbri, marched towards Rome. They numbered over a half million, including an army of 250,000 ferocious warriors. Even Roman Historians considered the Gauls incredibly ferocious warriors, certainly a match for the Romans and their Legions. Historians now think crop failures in Western and Northern Europe caused this huge migration to southern Europe. Roman General after Roman General was sent to fight the invaders. Each in its turn was defeated by this invading hoard. Finally, the Roman Senate turned to General Marius, who was fighting and winning a war in Africa. It took ten years, with between 150,000-180,000 Roman Dead, before the invasion was crushed but northern Italy was rendered a wasteland.

Roman mothers would frighten their children into being good Romans, by telling them that the Gauls/Celts would come back if they didn't. This is the world that in which Julius Caesar lived and died.

I argued that Oliver Cromwell is regarded in Ireland as the English Hitler. His slaughter of innocent civilians, including children and babies, at Drogheda shows that he believed in situational ethics. Oliver Cromwell was the least Christian General the English ever produced----and a War Criminal too.  He exterminated 1/3 of the Irish population out of pure religious hatred and a desire to persecute, torture and murder. It has struck many people as strange when people call him a believer in Freedom and hero. Ireland was no threat to England, but the English stole it and it was theirs. 

Richard governed well and justly. He was not avaricious and cruel, as both Henry Tudor(VII) and Henry VIII were. I always remember Katherine Howard running and screaming trying to reach Henry and plead her defense, but being prevented by Cromwell and Archbishop Cramner.

Richard's Council of the North, derived from his ducal council, greatly improved conditions for Northern England, as commoners of that region were formerly without any substantial economic activity independent of London. Its descendant position was Secretary of State for the Northern Department.
In December 1483, Richard instituted what later became known as the Court of Requests, a court to which poor people who could not afford legal representation could apply for their grievances to be heard. He also introduced bail in January 1484, to protect suspected felons from imprisonment before trial and to protect their property from seizure during that time.
 
If Richard was responsible for killing the Princes in the Tower, the murders may have caused Buckingham to change sides. On the other hand, Buckingham himself had motivation to kill the Princes, having a claim of his own to the throne equivalent to that of Henry Tudor, depending on one's view of the legitimacy of the Beaufort line. According to a manuscript discovered in the early 1980s in the College of Arms collection, the Princes were murdered "be [by] the vise" of the Duke of Buckingham. There is some argument over whether "vise" means "advice" or "devise"(actions of). According to this perspective, if Buckingham killed the Princes and blamed Richard, he could form a rebellion, putting the throne into play with only Henry Tudor as a rival. Indeed, he was one of the leaders of a rebellion, ostensibly in favour of Henry Tudor, in October 1483. However, the rebellion was quickly crushed and Buckingham executed. Henry Tudor would succeed in defeating Richard III two years later.
Wikipedia

Either way you interpret the word "vise", the word implies that Henry Stafford, The Duke of Buckingham, was involved in the murder; if the first construction as a co-conspirator, the second that it was his act for his own purposes.  Remember that this is a contemporaneous document, written by someone who had intimate knowledge of events. It was discovered in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford University. One can just imagine the chuckle that Josephine Tey(Elizabeth MacIntosh) and her Detective Alan Grant of Scotland Yard would have with that information.

Ask the people of York, they knew Richard and wept when he died.
He should be buried in York, for the people of York, for his wife and for his son. And because it is right: Right for Right, Might For Right!

Rasputin

I remember watching "Nicholas and Alexandra" in 1971 when I was 14. It had a profound effect upon me. I have always thought that I wanted to fall in love the way that Nicholas fell for Alexandra. I wanted everything or nothing at all. Together with Dr. Zhivago, it did more to help me understand the momentous events which occurred in Russia in 1917, far more than any book ever did.
But as great as Michael Jayston(Nicholas II) and Janet Suzman(Alexandra) performances were, the movie's greatest performance was Tom Baker as Rasputin. This was long before he became Dr. Who. I have never seen anyone who was able to communicate compassion while at the same time sounding so ominous and threatening. It was well beyond creepy and if you wonder exactly what the real Rasputin was like, I think Tom must have come very close to the mark.


Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Billy Tate was The Bravest Pony Express Rider, if you had asked Buffalo Bill Cody or Wild Bill Hickok

Billy Tate


The Pony Express



Advertisement for the Pony Express:

“Wanted: Young, skinny, wiry fellows. Not over 18. Must be expert riders. Willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred.”

Oath sworn to by all Pony Express Riders:

While I am the employ of A. Majors, I agree not to use profane language, not to get drunk, not to gamble, not to treat animals cruelly and not to do anything else that is incompatible with the conduct of a gentleman. And I agree, if I violate any of the above conditions, to accept my discharge without any pay for my services.


Surprisingly, though, the 183 riders, aged 11 through the mid-40s, despite the ad, survived pretty well. Only one was killed by Indians, but even his mail was delivered to the next station, when his horse arrived rider less at the next station. It took 10 days for the mail to be delivered from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California.
http://www.bigsiteofamazingfacts.com/how-many-pony-express-riders-were-killed-by-indians-and-outlaws-in-the-american-old-west


Because of the extreme weather and the fact that a great deal of the trail involved riding through the desert alone, a danger which was further amplified by the threat of marauding desperadoes and wronged Indians, and that fact that help could be as far as 10 miles or a couple of hours away(the distance between way stations) the riders were paid $100-150 a month, equivalent to about $2,000.00 in today’s money.


The Pony Express was a mail service delivering messages and mail from St. Joseph, Missouri across the Great Plains, over the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada to Sacramento, California by horseback, using a series of relay stations. During its 18 months of operation, it reduced the time for messages to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to about ten days. From April 3, 1860 to October 1861, it became the West's most direct means of east–west communication before the telegraph was established and was vital for tying the new state of California with the rest of the country. Wikipedia

With the expansion of train service through the west and completion of the last major telegraph line from Omaha, Nebraska to Salt Lake City, Utah on October 18, 1861 the need for the Pony Express evaporated. The Pony Express could not compete with these much less expensive alternatives. So after only 18 months of operation, The Pony Express went out of business.


Frank E. Webner, Pony Express Rider, 1861(Wikipedia)


Pony Express Riders, Wells Fargo Archive, http://www.turbulenciayomelet.com/2012/10/el-pony-express.html


There is some debate whether the first rider of the Pony Express was Billy Richardson(back row, left) or Johnny Fry(next to him). Johnny Fry has another claim to fame. His girlfriend worked at one of the stations on his route. To give him food which he could eat along his route, she took fried bread, which had been very popular in America since Colonial days, and made a hole in it so he could grab it and hold on to it as he rode, effectively inventing the doughnut/donut as we now know it.
http://www.xphomestation.com/jfrey.html

Billy Tate

Billy Tate was a 14-year-old Pony Express rider who rode the post trail in Utah and Nevada through the Ruby Valley. During the Paiute uprising of 1860, he was chased by a band of Paiute Warriors on horseback. At some point Billy was forced to retreat into the hills behind some rocks. Somehow this fourteen-year-old boy was able to hold out against the war party, even taking down seven of his assailants before being killed himself. His body was found riddled with arrows, but he was not scalped, which was a sign that the Paiutes honored their enemy.
Wikipedia







Billy's route was from Egan Canyon Station in Utah to Dry Creek, Nevada and covered about 75 miles through Paiute Indian Territory, which he rode alone. Because of the Paiute Uprising(May-June 1860),  Billy was given this particular route because he was considered among the fastest of the Pony Express Riders.  Billy was riding his route when he was intercepted by 12 Paiute Braves and chased through the Ruby Valley in Nevada. No one realized anything was wrong until Billy's horse showed up at the next station with the mail, but without Billy. Not even the search party could determine exactly what happened to the boy until they saw a flock of circling birds of prey a few days into their search. When they found Billy, his body was riddled with arrows. Littered around Billy's body were the signs of a horrendous battle. Out of the 12 Braves who attacked Billy(from Paiute Sources), seven lay dead and there was evidence that some of those who escaped were wounded as well.  Billy's empty gun was found still clutched in his hand, with spent shells littering the ground around him. Most amazing, Billy carried only one gun, most probably the .36 caliber Model 1851 Colt Navy pistol, which held six bullets and he would have carried an extra cylinder with six more shots. Billy obviously made every shot count. If Billy didn't have his own gun, he would have been issued one by his employer at a cost of $40.00. 





 
Letter stolen during Paiute War(1860), eventually recovered and delivered in early 1862(Wikipedia)

Billy's story is sadder than just about any other pioneer tale. A fellow rider, Bronco(Broncho) Charlie Miller(1850-1955), who began riding as a volunteer fill-in at 11-years-old, himself, wrote about his friend Billy in his  history of the Pony Express. Billy traveled with his Mother and Father as a part of the Baker-Fancher Wagon Train originating in Carroll County Arkansas. The wagon train was ambushed in southern Utah on September 10, 1857. Around 120 pioneers, including women and children, were killed in the massacre, which became known as the Mountain Meadows Massacre. The investigation which followed determined that the massacre had been disguised as an Indian attack, but it was actually planned by settlers in that corner of Utah, who didn't want outsiders passing through or, more importantly, settling in the area.  The Leader of the massacre, John D. Lee, was prosecuted and executed on the site of the massacre.

Leader of the Massacre John D. Lee sitting on his casket before execution for the Mountain Meadows Massacre. The site chosen for his execution was the site of the massacre.(Wikipedia)

Mountain Meadows today.

It is unclear whether Billy was the only survivor among his family, but he was only 10 when the massacre occurred.  The few children who survived the massacre were taken in by settlers in the area and put to work as farm hands. The Territorial Governor ordered that the children be retrieved and sent back to Arkansas to relatives. Billy chose to run away and live on his own, eventually going to work for the Pony Express.

Bronco provides the only description of Billy  "with his yellow hair soft as a child's, and his laughing blue eyes in a round childish face..." "Some time later a Bannock(Indian) told me all about it. He said: "Me no fight in tablelands. Me Hear. Braves no could touch the scalp of boy with hair like sun and eyes like water. He brave. He go happy hunting ground with his horse. He big brave there."
Bronco said that Billy may have been a boy, but "he died the death of a brave man..."

Erskine, Gladys Shaw "Broncho Charlie Miller: A Saga of the Saddle" New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1934


"William Miller did not die at Mountain Meadows. He remained in Utah against his will by a family named Tate. He was 9 years old at the time of the killing. He was injured, however, with a deep cut below his right eye. He remained with the Tates for 3 years until up around late December of 1859. At the age of thirteen, William Miller, who by now went by the name of Billy Tate, joined the Pony Express in December of 1859. He told everyone that he would someday get revenge on the Mormons by killing the same amount of the "saints" that they killed at the meadows in 1857. His ambitions were cut short however, as in 1861(actually 1860) while delivering a saddle bag full of mail from Carson City to Camp Ruby, Nevada he was ambushed by a war party of Pah Ute Indians. His horse was struck from behind by a few arrows and could no longer take Billy any further. Billy jumped off his horse and took refuge behind a huge boulder and prepared to sell his life at a high price. Amazingly, his horse delivered its mail to the next relay station on its own. Alerted by the riderless mustang, station tenders took off in search of Billy Tate (William Miller). His body was discovered with several arrows in it. However, seven dead Indians were also laying around. He was not scalped, for the Indians that survived Billy's defense respected courage, even in the eyes of a foe. Billy Tate (William Miller) is buried somewhere in the Nevada desert between Carson City and the old historic Pony Express relay station that was called Camp Ruby." 

Jeff Trimm on an Ancestry Website in reference to descendants of victims of the Massacre.


If you've ever read Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes story, "A Study In Scarlet", then you  know that it was this massacre which prompted the murder of  Enoch Drebber of Cleveland, Ohio at an empty house located in Lauriston Gardens, London. The only clue was a mysterious message, "RACHE", left at the scene of the crime.  Rache is German for revenge, as Inspector Lestrade soon learned.


Billy's story was an exception. Officials of the Pony Express bragged that only one rider was killed in the line of duty. In fact, the riders main weapon of self-defense was their horse, which were bred for speed and toughness. And maintaining your employment with the Pony Express depended on your speed along your route. Otherwise, you would have been let go. Considering the times and the danger, very few riders faced danger and almost always their horse allowed them to get away.

Billy couldn't get away from the War Party that he ran into in the Ruby Valley

Billy's death was truly extraordinary. It was the result of a ferocious firefight. The Paiute Braves were truly shocked when they found that their relentless, courageous opponent was only a boy of 14. The warriors chose not to scalp, mutilate or castrate Billy out of respect for a fellow brave.  Out of respect for his courage they sent him to the Happy Hunting Ground as he died on the field of battle.  Normally mutilation was done out of fear that a dead warrior would come back as a ghost warrior and be invincible.
The Paiute let Billy's horse go free to go to the next station. Normally, horses were too precious a commodity to pass up, but out of respect for Billy and his courage, his horse was set free and continued on to the next way station, which alerted the company and friends of his fate. The Paiute Warriors wanted Billy to be buried by his compatriots. Following the arrival of his horse, a search party was organized and began looking for him.



Now gone, this is the Ruby Camp Station to which Billy was riding when he was ambushed. It was managed by Charles C. Hawley http://theusgenweb.org/nv/whitepine/ponyexpress/pony_exp.htm

The Paiute War

The Paiute were angry about settlers encroaching on their territory, which was aggravated by a much colder than normal winter, several incredibly severe blizzards and a subsequent crop failure.  The specific event which ignited the war was the rape of two Paiute Indian girls by the Proprietors of the Williams Station.
Williams Station was a combination saloon, general store and stagecoach station located along the Carson River at the modern-day Lahontan Reservoir. On May 6, 1860 Williams Station was raided by the Paiutes.  Three Americans were killed and the station was burned. One victim managed to escape to Virginia City, and his story caused a general panic in the region. A militia was quickly formed from volunteers from Virginia City, Silver City, Carson City and Genoa with the purpose of apprehending the perpetrators. This force consisted of about 105 men and was under the overall command of Major William Ormsby.
This Militia engaged the Paiute Indians at Pyramid Lake along the Truckee River and were defeated on May 12, 1860.  As the war progressed it consisted mostly of raids and revenge attacks, with a great deal of indiscriminate killing, especially centering on isolated Pony Express Way Stations.
Four regiments of Federal Cavalry were called in and joined the remnants of  militia and defeated the Paiute at the Second Battle of Pyramid Lake on June 2, 1860. About 50 Militia, Soldiers and Settlers(including Pony Express Employees) were killed in the war, while the Paiute(and some Bannock Indians) suffered 150 dead. After the battle, soldiers began construction of Fort Churchill.


The remnants of Fort Churchill today(passim, Wikipedia)


Buffalo Bill Cody
Buffalo Bill at 19


Buffalo Bill at the height of his fame

Today the most famous rider for the Pony Express is Buffalo Bill Cody.  He began riding for the Pony Express at age 15. He was given one of the shorter routes, 45 miles. When his relief rider was not available on one occasion, he rode 322 miles in less than 24 hours setting a speed and distance record which was never surpassed.  He is also famous for winning the Congressional Medal of Honor for service as a scout for the 3rd Calvary in the Civil War. His Medal was rescinded in 1917 when it was ruled that civilians could not receive the award(during World War I). In 1989, the Award was restored to him.

World famous because of his Wild West Show, he lies in a magnificent grave overlooking the Great Plains, from Wikipedia:

Cody died of kidney failure on January 10, 1917, surrounded by family and friends at his sister's house in Denver. Cody was baptized into the Catholic Church the day before his death by Father Christopher Walsh of the Denver Cathedral. He received a full masonic funeral. Upon the news of Cody's death, tributes were made by King George V of the United Kingdom, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Imperial Germany, and President Woodrow Wilson.  His funeral was in Denver at the Elks Lodge Hall. The Wyoming governor John B. Kendrick, a friend of Cody's, led the funeral procession.

Cody grave in Golden, CO IMG 5487.JPG

Cody's grave lies atop Lookout Mountain in Golden, Colorado. Though he had at one time been a multi-millionaire, he lost and remade his fortune several times. At the time of his death,  he still remained one of the richest men in the west. Even today, his fame continues.

Annie Oakley Little Miss Sure Shot

Annie Oakley's real name is Phoebe Mosey and she lived in Ohio. Her father died when she was 12-years-old. The family suffered extreme poverty and hardship. She took up his rifle to feed her mother and younger brothers and sisters. She became very, very good because she had to be. By the time she was 15, she was considered the best shot in the county. 

Annie soon became well known throughout the region. On Thanksgiving Day 1875, the Baughman & Butler shooting act was being performed in Cincinnati. Traveling show marksman and former dog trainer Frank E. Butler (1847–1926), an Irish immigrant, placed a $100 bet per side (equivalent to $2,282 in 2018) with Cincinnati hotel owner Jack Frost that Butler could beat any local fancy shooter. The hotelier arranged a shooting match between Butler and the 15-year-old Annie, saying, "The last opponent Butler expected was a five-foot-tall 15-year-old girl named Annie."  After missing on his 25th shot, Butler lost the match and the bet. Another account says that Butler hit on his last shot, but the bird fell dead about two feet beyond the boundary line. He soon began courting Annie and they married. They did not have children. Wikipedia 

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One of the most famous stories about Wild Bill Cody's Wild West Show: Before World War I, Wild Bill took his Wild West Show to Germany in 1891. Annie Oakley was one of it stars(memorialized in "Annie Get Your Gun"), perhaps the greatest female shooter of all time. Kaiser Wilhelm requested that Annie shoot the ashes off his cigarette as he smoked it(though there is some debate whether he was holding in his hands or his mouth) at a 100 paces. During World War I:
"Some uncharitable people later ventured that if Annie had shot Wilhelm and not his cigarette, she could have prevented World War I."  After the outbreak of World War I, however, Oakley did send a letter to the Kaiser, requesting a second shot. The Kaiser did not respond.
Wikipedia
Annie Oakley, you've got to like her and I only wish that she had allowed the bullet to stray that day. As if her skill as a sharpshooter weren't enough Annie had a wonderful personality that charmed ordinary people and royalty alike.




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Frank Butler and the love of his life Annie Oakley.

Wild Bill Hickok, Pony Express Rider, Bear Fighter, Gambler and Marksman

The other most famous Pony Express member was lawman, marksman and gambler Wild Bill Hickok. Buffalo Bill met Wild Bill when he was 18 and Buffalo Bill was 12. They remained friends the rest of their lives. Both served as scouts for the Anti-Slavery Jayhawkers of Kansas. During his service in the Pony Express Company, Wild Bill was attacked by a Bear. He was severely injured, but somehow was able wrestle his hand free from the bear which allowed him to get his gun and shoot the bear to death. For which he became a legend among his fellow Riders. He also had a well earned reputation as perhaps one of the finest shots in the West. Wild Bill is also famous for the way he died. A phenomenal card player, he always sat with his back to the wall at every Casino or Saloon at which he gambled. As he got older his sight started to fail him and he needed extreme vigilance to enhance his speed and accuracy. While gambling in Deadwood, South Dakota, he arrived late and forced to sit with his back to the door of the saloon.  One of the Gamblers, who he had cleaned out earlier, came into the saloon and seeing an opportunity shot and killed Wild Bill on August 2, 1876. Wild Bill was holding a hand of Aces over Eights, all black, which forever after became known as the "Dead Man's Hand".

Unfortunately at over 6 Feet Tall, Wild Bill Hickok was far too tall and weighed far too much to ride a route and was instead hired as a scout and drover. Technically, the Pony Express wanted boys 15 to 18-years-old, but the main qualification came down to the rider's weight, which had to be 125 pounds or less,  and  horsemanship. A few, like Broncho Charlie, were able to enter service at ages as young as 11.  Originally, riders were provided with two 1851 Navy .36 caliber pistols and a rifle, but in the effort to lighten the load this was cut down to one pistol and extra ammunition. The main defense a rider had on the range was his ability to make a fast get-away.


Wild Bill Hickok's Grave in Deadwood in 1876

The grave today with a monument in Wild Bill's memory



Wild Bill Hickok, Texas Jack Omohundro, and Buffalo Bill Cody in 1873


Extract from Bronco(Broncho) Charlie Miller's Memoirs:
http://mountainmeadows.unl.edu/archive/mmm.wa.erskine.1934.html
A Magnificent website telling the complete history of the Pony Express, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
http://www.xphomestation.com/
Wikipedia is a great resource for general and specific aspects of the history of the Pony Express
An interesting footnote, Broncho Charlie apparently served with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, which certainly should add to his Bona Fides. A discussion among his descendants and interested parties is located here, much of the information contained is new and fascinating:

http://boards.ancestry.com/thread.aspx?o=10&m=33.5&p=topics.occupations.ponyxprr
 
Broncho Charlie Miller celebrating his 100th Birthday in New York City(off Tompkins Park, Lutheran Retirement Home 1950)

Most gunfights in the west were accidental, immediate and ferocious like the gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. The fight at the OK Corral, was over in less than 30 seconds, leaving 3 men dead. Town Marshal Virgil Earp, his brother Wyatt and Doc Holiday ran across some local cowboys, the McLauries and the Clantons. In the West, most towns required that you turn in your guns at the Sheriff's Office while you were in town. The McLauries and the Clantons hadn't and Virgil ordered them to turn them in. The cowboys refused and pulled their guns starting the gunfight. They lost.
In case you're curious, Tombstone got its name because of a prospector Ed Schieffelin. Soldiers in the area told Ed that the only thing he would find in harsh desert was his tombstone. They were wrong. When he struck silver, he called his mine The Tombstone Mine. It was one of the largest strikes in the history of the west, it would eventually yield almost 100 million dollars worth of silver.
Wild Bill Hickok was a police officer and gambler. He was also a Yankee from Illinois who had fought in the Civil War and had worked for the Pony Express. He was probably the best shot in the west, with a lightning fast draw. Wild Bill was playing poker in Springfield, Missouri with former Confederate Davis Tutt and his luck wasn't very good that night. He was down $35. He told Tutt that he would go to the bank and get him some money the following Monday. Tutt demanded Hickok's watch as surety. Which Wild Bill gave to him.
If he had just held the watch, there wouldn't have been any trouble. But Tutt then did something, you never did in the west. He pinned Wild Bill's watch to the outside of his coat. Which said that Wild Bill was a welcher, not able to pay his gambling debts. It was done to humiliate the debtor.
Wild Bill warned him several times not to do that. He had the money, he just needed to get it from the bank when it opened. Records showed that Wild Bill had $3,000 in the bank, which was a huge sum at the time.
Well, Tutt didn't listen.

"The next day, Tutt appeared in the square wearing the watch prominently and Hickok tried to negotiate the watch's return. Tutt stated that he would now accept no less than $45 but both agreed that they would not fight over it and went for a drink together. Tutt left the saloon but returned to the square at 6 p.m., while Hickok arrived on the other side and warned him not to approach him while wearing the watch. Tutt refused, leading Wild Bill to challenge Tutt to a gunfight. Both men faced each other and fired almost simultaneously. Tutt's shot missed but Hickok's did not, piercing Tutt through the heart from about 75 yards away. Tutt called out, "Boys, I'm killed" before he collapsed and died." Wikipedia

One thing, showdowns were more like duels, you turned sideways offering as little a target as possible but that was of little help to 6'4" Wild Bill.
Wild Bill was murdered on August 2, 1876. He had been playing poker with some boys in Deadwood South Dakota Territory at Saloon #10. Jack McCall was one of his opponents. McCall lost all his money and left. He came back and snuck up behind Wild Bill and shot him. Wild Bill was holding Aces over Eights, all black, forever after, the Dead Man's Hand.

If you had asked Buffalo Bill Cody or Wild Bill Hickok who the bravest Pony Express Rider was, they would have said Billy Tate.

Billy Tate once road for the Pony Express and now lies buried in an unmarked grave in the Ruby Valley of Nevada. At the time of his death, Billy had one weeks pay of $25 owed to him by his employers. According to sources, no one knows where his grave is and very few people know his story; there are no pictures of Billy. It is certainly a story which deserves to be known and Billy is someone who deserves to be remembered.

He was in the Buffalo Bill Wild West show, and appeared as a bronco buster there, and not sure if he hunted buffalo in his early days or not.

He did spend a bit of time in Glens Falls in his later years, and would put on demonstrations, so perhaps some of this stuff were indeed props that he used, maybe. His last years were spent in the Tompkins Square house in NYC, and he remained active, entertaining large audiences, and he always dressed in his western gear.

He sure was quite the showman."

L* Miller E*

Another fascinating reference:

http://www.historynet.com/pony-express

A former rider and showman with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West (that part is true), Miller was the king of ‘the Last of the Pony Express riders.’ A charming rascal and shameless self-promoter who had Old West written all over his face and attire (and that played best in the East), Miller was a chain-smoking, hard-drinking admitted horse thief. But America forgave him. Pony Express purists and doubters regularly challenged the old boy, but they never laid a glove on him. He refused to even acknowledge that there were purists and doubters of his tales. America loved Broncho Charlie Miller, whether he was telling the truth or not. He was, in the words of The New York Times, ‘the incarnation of the Old West for thousands of delighted youngsters — and some folks not so young.’
When Miller was an old man — 82 if we believe his birth date — he rode an old horse named Polestar from New York City to San Francisco to remind America, lest it forget, that the Pony Express had once brought the mail. People stood in the streets and cheered to see the old man loping along. He took a crazy, circuitous route that did not follow the route of the Pony Express and rode hundreds of miles into the Southwest. Go figure.

Billy the Kid was actually a deputy and served on a posse. His friends actually called him Henry as often as Billy. When his mother met and married Scot William Antrim, Catherine Devine McCarty in Indianapolis when Billy/Henry was 8-years-old. Mom decided to call her son Henry to give him a separate identity from his stepfather. Most people at the time, in Lincoln, New Mexico considered him a hero, not an outlaw.  Sheriff Pat Garrett actually lost re-election after ambushing and killing  Billy/Henry. Years later Garrett went to Billy's hometown of Silver City, New Mexico and ran against McCarty family friend Sheriff Whitehill. Sheriff Whitehill and his wife had actually thought about adopting Billy after his Mom died and always referred to him as a "good boy". Whitehill called Garrett a glorified bounty hunter.  Sheriff Whitehill won in a landslide. Sheriff Garrett always blamed "Billy the Kid" for ruining his career. Garrett later became an inveterate gambler and alcoholic.




A possible Billy from a joint photo of his best friend Dan Dedrick and "unknown second party" and a cleaned up version of the famous Beaver Smith photo. Billy photographed in a group photo of the Regulators, front left.



Read the facts and make up your own mind.  One example, after ambushing an unarmed Billy, Sheriff Pat Garrett ordered the coroner to write a new death certificate. Eyewitnesses, Paulita Maxwell and Dulvina Maxwell, both said the Garrett shot an unarmed Billy in the back. The 2nd  death certificate didn't say that, it says Billy was shot from the front and was armed.







http://briankeithohara.blogspot.com/2015/05/theone-thing-billy-kid-never-got-in.html
http://briankeithohara.blogspot.com/2014/11/billy-kid-was-more-likely-to-kill-off.html