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The Famous Blonger Bros.

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What do you think? A younger Lou?

Spooky I'm trying to picture what these guys looked like in their prime. Any picture of Sam or Joe would be a prize. For Lou, we can get rid of the wrinkles, shrink the nose a bit, tighten up the cheeks, etc.

Then it started looking a bit like a Johnson boy. Not a dead ringer, but the facial features were similar.

The second picture is Lou spruced up a bit. Over the next three, I progressively layer my own face over Lou's. I wouldn't expect to resemble a great-great-great-uncle, and don't think I do, really, but we aren't that different, either.

I'm not gonna look like Lou when I'm seventy, am I?

Maybe this time The NOLA newsletter mentions an author named George Virgines, a veteran badge collector and historian, who helped the Albuquerque Police Department with a new book chronicling their history. Interestingly, the book is not available to the general public, but our connection to the force (1882) may make us eligible to buy it. Maybe this book will have something about Sam and Lou, maybe, and their respective stints as City Marshal.

The Gold Badge of Sam Mr. Virgines may also be able to assist in our quest to locate Sam's badge and pistol, which we are told are in Georgia at the moment, in a private collection. I'm currently trying to get in touch.

Blonger/Maes The family of my sister's husband, David Maes, hails from the Southwest, and we have wondered occasionally if our relatives may have crossed paths before. The new WOLA Journal has an article about Vicente Silva's las Sociedad de Bandidos de Nuevo Mejico, also known as Silva's Forty Thieves. The article mentions the lynching of a gentleman named Patricio Maes in 1892 in Las Vegas, NM. Additionally, one of the "thieves" was named Zenon Maes. I have no idea how common the surname is — and there is no implied connection to the Blongers, but we could be in the ballpark.

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