Bodie's Dead: Rosa May

The final grave of my survey of some of the sites is that of another red light district worker. Her name was Rosa May. Here she was about 24:
The gravemarker that is not too far from the morgue shows this:

Now, in the video I have of this, I point out that they think that she is really buried about 150 ft. away. Then I show the site has been really beaten down. I remembered that I had just taken pictures of this about two years back so I was positive I had seen her name there recently. This is what I had:

And, this:

These are not there anymore as you can see from the video. They really think this was the location and not one you see in the second photo above based on some of the pictures going back to the 1920's that have the original wooden fence.

I was not going to add this because of the reflection in the glass, but these items are what the Bodie museum has as being owned by Rosa May. Her red light container, a few letters, and some other items.
I am not going to say too much about Rosa May because there is not THAT much known about her. She does have a Wikipedia article that lists a few of the common stories about her. It is said that she cared for the sick and ended up dying of pneumonia in the winter of 1912.

The George Williams book listed in the article is helpful. It is more about his personal search in finding the story about Rosa May. While he does give you everything he found out, including transcripts of letters to Rosa, it is not a complete biography for the simple reason that there is just too much unknown about her life. Which is not too surprising.

Rosa May Wikipedia Article

As I close up this short series on the cemetery at Bodie I wanted to mention one thing. I mentioned the morgue next to the cemetery and there was a morgue in the town proper. The one near the cemetery actually kept the remains during the winter months when it was too difficult to bury the dead due to the snow.

Bodie's Dead (Youtube Version)

Bodie's Dead: Lottie Johl

Continuing my survey of some of the gravesites...

Lottie was born in Iowa in 1855. She lived on a farm in her early life. She was very beautiful and said to smile all the time. At an early age she married and had a daughter. Unfortunately, something happened in the marriage and she divorced her husband. At some point the daughter was left with either her former husband or her parents. Lottie took off to find work. Eventually she reached Bodie in 1882 at the age of 27. She headed to "Maiden Lane" which you see soon and worked there. While working there she also worked the dancing halls. Lottie loved to dance.
At some point she met Eli Johl. Eli worked as a butcher in town and partly owned the store. The two fell in love and married. Unfortunately, Lottie was never really accepted socially by the people in town because of her former work at "Maiden Lane". At some point she went to a costume ball in the Miner's Union Hall and was disguised in a beautiful white satin dress her husband had purchased for her. Since she was covered up no one knew who she was. When voted the prize winner she took off her mask and the people there were in shock. She could not win such a award due to her status. She ran off crying.

Later on she became sick. A doctor gave her some medicine, but it did not cure her. She died within 24 hours. It turns out she was accidentally given poison. The authorities said this was not done intentionally. This is her grave site.

Eli Johl really had to fight to have her buried in the cemetery. Something to remember is the cemetery was for the respectable people not vagrants, badmen gunfighters, or prostitutes. He was successful so she was buried inside and not on the outide. All that really remains is the gated fence.

Eli would always visit her grave and on Memorial Day he would decorate her grave and sit near by. Something like this:

Finally, I thought I would throw one of my dad's old pictures up. I am not going to do too many of these, but that is Lottie's grave there. Down below to the right is the Scanavino family site. You can see some of that near the end of the video.

You will notice that it says, "Boot Hill," on there. This was one of last pictures my dad was messing around with two years ago. I think "Boot Hill" was where you put the undesirables I mentioned outside of the cemetery fences. It was not inside where the "respectable" people were buried.

One final thing I wanted to mention was that Lottie did paint. One of her paintings is in the museum in Bodie and can also be seen in the Soiled Dove book chapter listed below.

For references on Lottie check the following sources:

Seagraves, Anna. Soiled Doves (Hayden: Wesanne Publications, 1994).

Cain, Ella. The Story of Bodie (Bishop: Chalfont Press, 1956).

Bodie's Dead (Youtube Version)

Bodie's Dead: The Strange Graves and Recent

It is time for a few of the odd graves.

In the following picture you can see a tall marker in the distance (middle right in picture). That is where we end up next. Originally, that was supposed to be the marker for William Bodey's remains in 1879. However, The stonecutter did not get paid. So, it was not used for Bodey.

When President James Garfield was killed the town decided to use this marker in his honor. This marker is very difficult to read even if you were there standing in front of it, but this is what it says: To the memory of James A. Garfield, President of the United States. Died Sept. 19, 1881.
This one is labeled, Pagdin. You will notice there is a big hole in the marker. It is unusually thick and hollow. There is some thought that this was actually used to store bottles of liquor during the prohibition era. There were some investigations and busts in Bodie during that time.
This is one of the more recent grave markers. I did not use this one in the video, but thought I would mention it here. Bob Bell was one of the last to work the mines and the Standard Mill. He worked in helping preserve the buildings and park in the 1960's and 1970's. He is important for helping share the history he knew with the park staff. Some of the Bell relatives are buried next to him: "Honest Old Lester" L. Bell, Louise Bell, and Lester Bell (the son Lester L. and Louise).

Bodie's Dead (Youtube Version)

Bodie's Dead: A County Supervisor and a Miner

James Perry, a native of Ireland, died on June 9, 1863. He was 63 years old. You can see the "all seeing eye" and the odd fellows emblem. He was a Mono County Supervisor and miner.
The fire of 1892 started in his wife's restaurant. Next, we have William Hick of Cornwall, England. He died on Nov. 24, 1901 at 56 years of age.

Hick died of punctured lung sustained in a mining accident. At the time of his death, he was one of the oldest miners.

As usual, click the pictures if you want to see them in a bigger readable size.

Bodie's Dead (Youtube Version)

Bodie's Dead: William S. Bodey

I thought I would visit the most obvious gravesite first. This one is not what it seems though. Let me explain. The following is typical of most books in explaining the Bodey story. I am just doing a quick summary.

Terrence Brodigan, Patrick Garrity, William Doyle, E. S. Taylor, and William S. Bodey (AKA Waterman Bodey) joined forces in Monoville in 1859. Monoville was a settlement just north of Mono Lake. They trying to find places to prospect for gold in the canyons near what would become Aurora, NV and Bodie, CA. The men finally came across dirt that had bits of yellow metal. Convinced they had found gold they set up a cabin at the site.

Seeing how they did not have enough time to fully develop their claim due to the winter conditions setting in they headed back to Monoville. There they decided that Bodey and Taylor would go back to the cabin for the winter. The rest would go to Sonora.

For both parties a massive snowstorm occurred. For the men heading to Sonora via Sonora Pass, they were forced to backtrack and head to Carson Valley then over further north to Sonora. Bodey and Taylor got caught in the snowstorm while trying to reach the cabin. Bodey was exhausted and fell in the snow. Taylor tried to carry him on, but was exhausted too. He went on to the cabin to regroup with warm coffee and a fire to get his strength back. When he went back he could not find Bodey. It was not until the snows melted that Taylor found the remains of Bodey.

What you are about to see is not the actual gravesite of William S. Bodey. It is only marker put up in his memory. It does say his remains are buried here, and as a vague statement, which probably is correct if his remains are truely somewhere on this hillside like many believe. However, his remains are not literally under this marker.

You can read the whole marker if you would like. Double click the picture to make it bigger. A couple of points before I end this one. I say two things on the video you will see that need some clarification. This is part of the problem of trying to explain details in a video that is only a few minutes long.

The first one is a minor point in that I say that Bodey found the "mines" here. While he is credited with this I probably should not have used the word "mines". I think most people will get the idea that I was just saying he and the rest found the ore minerals here. A person might think of a mine as a shaft or a cave, but that did not develop until later. Not a big deal, but I wanted to say something about this.

Second, I say something about them finding this area in 1859, but it was not until the late 1870's that the town fully developed and they were actively mining it. This is true, but again this is the price I pay trying to cover detailed history in just a few seconds on video. There were people that did come back to what would become the town of Bodie to prospect, but it was not one of the hotspots at the time for mining. Both Aurora and Virginia City had the priority over this area. The key was you had to have sponsorship and people investing in mining to get anything going. Keep in mind the elevation of the area and the terrible winters the place has. It is still not uncommon for modern newspapers to show Bodie as the coldest place in California on any given day in the weather section. So, when people started to invest that is when the boom started in the 1870's.

Third, E. S. Taylor did suffer over the loss of his friend. A few years later he too died a tragic death at the hands of Paiutes.

Finally, why is the town called Bodie while named after Bodey? The common story is that the name had different phonetic spellings. Eventually, Bodie was used and it stuck.

Bodie's Dead (Youtube Version)

Bodie's Dead

I want to spend some time on this blog exploring the cemetery at Bodie ghost town. I have covered one grave at the cemetery before here. I wanted to go back and show a few more of the gravesites. I must admit I do not visit many modern cemeteries that much. In fact, I would not be caught dead at one. ;) However, I do enjoy visiting historic cemeteries.

When I get done with this series on Bodie I kind of hope that it will be the last time I revisit this ghost town for the blog. While I do like Bodie I am in a situation where I do not feel I have to go back there anytime soon. You have to remember I do not live that far from here in the summer, and ever since I can remember I have visited Bodie just about every few years or so. There was a time you could go to this place for free and no one would be around. Now you will be charged when you enter. I understand this. It seemed to me they charged per car for a while, but now it is per person. My brother told me he laughed when he said the ranger at the entrance got out and was actually looking into cars to make sure the people had given him the correct count. Part of it for me is the increased fees.

The other part is there is so much on Bodie out there already in books and online. I do not think I am showing you anything that is not already out there in some form. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen pictures of the exact same areas of Bodie in books or online that my dad took over half a century ago. The funny thing is people tend to do the exact same types of shots too. Pictures looking inside the windows or just the outside structures. I was telling one of the people we took with us, sometimes I feel I just go back to these places just to keep up with the technology (ex. pictures or video). In any case, I think you will like what I have in store this time.

In the following picture my back is to the ghost town. This is part of the cemetery. What I am going to do in the following blogs is do a quick survey of some of the graves. Not all of them. We will be heading inside of here.
In the picture below we are looking just to the left of the above picture. That is the morgue next to the cemetery. You can see one gravesite right next to it that we will get to. There is also one gravesite on the hill just to the right of the morgue. I am not going to discuss that one other than to say that it is the gravesite of Warren Loose (Aug. 6, 1848-Aug. 19, 1917). He became a part owner and manager of the Syndicate Mine. He had an issue with Leland Stanford (a former govenor at the time) over a race horse he sold him. Months later the race horse gave birth to a colt. Loose sued Stanford over the issue not knowing at the time of sale he sold a horse that was going to eventually give birth a baby colt. Loose ended up losing on that one. You can double click the picture to see that grave in the distance if you like. BTW, the book you might see in libraries or listed online, Bodie Bonanza, was written by his son.The next picture is not out here at this morgue near the cemetery. It is inside the morgue in town. This is one of those pictures taken through the window in town. Like I said earlier, I have pictures of this taken way back. It is a common picture one might see of this casket. I just thought I would add it here.
In the next few blogs I will cover a few of the gravesites.

Bodie's Dead (Youtube Version)

Bodie Ghost Town Gunfight: Nixon vs. McDonald

Halloweener #1

In Oct. 2006 I spent some time going over some unusual, mysterious, and spooky folklore to celebrate the month of Halloween. I skipped last year, but I wanted to do some blogs for this year. I hope, if everything works out, to get a few more done this month.

In this first one there is nothing really spooky or scary about it at all, but it is the story about a gravesite so I thought this would be a good one to start off on. First off, a special treat. No trick on this one though since it was way before my time. Here is a picture taken around 1956 of Bodie Ghost Town's cemetery from the family archives:
Now to our story. The following is taken from Roger McGrath's Gunfighters, Highwaymen, & Vigilantes (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984), pgs. 218-219:

"The Early morning hours of Thursday, 13 June 1878, found Patrick Gallagher's Shamrock saloon crowded with men. Some stood at the bar drinking Irish whiskey, others were at the chop counter eating fried steaks, while several huddled around the gambling tables playing faro. Alex Nixon, the popular and powerfully built thirty-one-year-old, Irish-born president of the Bodie Miner's Union, treated the men at the bar to a round of drinks. When they had finished, Tom McDonald offered to buy the next round. But he found himself out of pocket change and asked the bartender, T.C. O'Brien, to lend him a dollar. Nixon objected and handed McDonald the dollar himself. The action offended McDonald. Heated words were exchanged, and then, when McDonald said he was the better man, Nixon unleashed a vicious blow that caught McDonald under the right eye and sent him tumbling to the floor.

Terrence Brodigan, a deputy constable and son of one of the discoverers of the Bodie's gold, grabbed Nixon from behind and tried to restrain him. The union president wheeled about and said, 'Do you want any of it? Don't throw your hand behind you, for I am heeled. But I don't want any trouble with you for you are a constable.' By now McDonald had gotten to his feet and was leaning against the bar. He said to Nixon, 'It's pretty hard for a man to be knocked down, get a black eye and cut face for nothing.' 'You're a son of a b---h for letting me do it, even if I do weigh twenty pounds more than you,' replied Nixon.

The dark-complexioned, thirty-five-year-old McDonald was over six feet tall and no small man himself. Nevertheless, he stepped back, drew a revolver, and asked Nixon, 'Will you give me even chances?' 'Yes, by God,' answered Nixon.

O'Brien, now out from behind the bar, seized McDonald by the arm, and officer Brodigan caught hold of Nixon. But Nixon struggled free and drew a revolver from his hip pocket. At the same time McDonald pulled his arm out of O'Brien's grasp. Both men opened fire. Nixon's first shot missed McDonald by inches, but McDonald's hit Nixon in the side. 'My God, boys, I'm shot. Run for a doctor,' exclaimed the big miner as he staggered back and fell to the floor. As he lay there with blood running out of a hole in his side, he fired two more shots at McDonald. They missed. One of the bullets was found the next day embedded in a head of cabbage in the restaurant next door. McDonald returned the fire. The rounds tore holes in the wooden planks of the Shamrock's floor but left Nixon untouched. It hardly mattered. Less than two hours later Nixon died from the effects of McDonald's first shot.

On Friday, hundreds of Bodieites, including John Nixon, the brother of the deceased, viewed Nixon's body as it lay in a coffin in the Miners' Union Hall. Late in the afternoon, a funeral procession, said to be the 'largest turnout ever seen in Bodie,' made its way from the union hall to the cemetery. With F.K. Bechtel, a prominent mine owner and judge, conducting the gravesite service, Alex Nixon was laid to rest, some six thousand miles from his native Country Tyrone. Tom McDonald, meanwhile, was arrested, charged with murder, and lodged in jail. On Thursday afternoon, he appeared before D.V. Goodson, justice of the peace. But the justice decided it was 'impracticable to examine him at this time' and had him transferred to the county jail at Bridgeport for 'safe keeping.' Finally, on 24 June, McDonald appeared in justice court again. This time he was remanded to the custody of the sheriff to await action of the grand jury. His bail was set at $2,500. He remained in jail at Bridgeport another four days before a group of friends raised the money and bailed him out. When the grand jury met two months later, the jurors declined to indict McDonald, and the charge against him was dropped."
You may want to double click the above picture to see the inscription as a bigger picture.
I have something special planned for the ghost town of Bodie in the next few months. There are going to be a bunch of blogs I do on it near the end of the year so stay tuned for that.

A few links:

Bodie.com

Bodie in the California State Park Site