On Saturday, April 17, 1920, the Colorado foothills were hit by a spring blizzard that covered the tracks of the interurban line that ran through Lou Blonger’s cherry orchard, the Bee Hive Ranch, in suburban Lakewood. After the three-car train stalled, it was quickly covered with snow. Luckily the passengers were evacuated to Lou’s place, where they were greeted and… (more…)
Speaking of Sam’s demise in 1914, we have yet another item of interest to share on Lou’s older brother. Correspondent Kenny Vail — who, by the way, says he has a trove of information on numerous Blonger confederates, including Charlie Ronan, Con Caddigan, and Billy Nuttall — recently contacted us with an article he came across in the Rocky Mountain News. It seems… (more…)
You can listen here. A review of her book will be forthcoming in this space.
We’d been looking for Sam for nine years — he was the only Blonger whose final resting place had not been determined. But apparently we weren’t looking nearly hard enough. Turns out this photo has been on the Find-a-Grave web site for the last three years, thanks to researcher Scotti McCarthy. For some reason (that I needn’t bother to figure… (more…)
Amy Reading, whose new book “The Mark Inside” has been the subject of several posts here, will be interviewed on Illinois Public Radio tomorrow (Wednesday, April 25). If you happen to live in central Illinois like we do, you can listen live on WILL, AM 580. Elsewhere, you can listen in almost real time to the stream (click the “LISTEN”… (more…)
Nine years ago today, April 22, 2003, I walked into my office at work with an idea. The previous night I had discovered that my great-great-grandfather’s long-lost brothers had apparently used the surname “Blonger” instead of the family spelling “Belonger”. Using that clue, I’d also been able to find them in census records in several western states, where they appeared… (more…)
It’s curious we have so few advertisements for the various joints owned by the Blonger Bros. Grouping together their saloons, gambling halls, theaters and whorehouses, we count six businesses confirmed before their arrival in Denver (but probably twice that number or more), and at least ten in Denver alone, not counting policy shops, cigar store candy stands and various and sundry other enterprises. And yet, to… (more…)
First of all, I’d like to mention for the record that, although Scott agrees with me that Sam’s second wife Sadie Wilson, and gun-slinging prostitute Kate “Kitty” Blonger, are likely the same person, he cautions, correctly, that this is not the only possible conclusion. But at present it remains the most obvious one. Which brings us to Deputy US Marshal Edwin H.… (more…)
A few new odds and ends: LOST AND FOUND September 1, 1914, Denver Post. This day the Lost and Found column had two curious items in a row. The first concerns a pearl pin, duck-shaped, with diamonds, lost at Tabor’s Grand Opera about 8:00 pm on Saturday night, and belonging to Lou’s old friend, Harry Tammen, co-publisher of the Post. The second… (more…)
We’ve long known that Joe’s only marriage to widow Carrie (Winsor) Viles didn’t last long. A new article from the Albuquerque Daily Citizen, by way of the Las Vegas Optic, colorfully describes just how short it was. UNLUCKY NUMBER Couple Were Married in Room Thirteen of a Hotel. The Pecos Valley Correspondent of the Las Vegas Optic says: Thirteen is a… (more…)