EXCAVATING THE TRUTH ABOUT A LIFE #PrairieRosePublications #history #ColoradoHistory

I almost missed writing this post. I've been working on a number of projects, one of which is being presented on June 9 with the paper due on July 9. So what is the project and how does it apply to the title?

Our local library district has a History Symposium every year on the second Saturday in June. Each year the subject is different. This year it is: Remarkable Rascals, Despicable Dudes and Hidden Heroes. I put in a proposal on the subject of Joe Ward and it was accepted.

You may be asking, who is Joe Ward? That is the whole point and title of the presentation and paper. Trying to find the real amongst the stories, reports and other Wards who engaged in criminal activity in Colorado, especially along the Front Range has proven to be a real challenge. I know even when I finish the paper, I probably will still try to find the truth of this man and his family. With a background in Criminology and Social Work, his story is one that pulls at my interest and my sympathy.

It was a journey that started some six or seven years ago with a simple piece in the local newspaper dated February 11, 1879. It told of a man who shot a young man who'd knocked on his door late at night with two other men. The victim eventually died from the wounds. The local paper seemed to  become obsessed with the trial and eventual outcome. Joe Ward was found guilty of manslaughter and was sentenced to two years in prison in Canon City, Colorado.

Although I've yet to find original transcripts of the trial, there were pieces to the story that nagged at me. The people involved in the prosecution and defense, the judge and all the witnesses, including Ward's eleven year old daughter. All told a story that did not seem complete, that pieces were left out.

Even after Wards release in 1881, the stories continued about he and his family. Some stories contradict others in the telling. Times and places don't always match. That he killed another man in Northern Colorado is a fact, but the circumstances around that killing are still lost, and what is there is usually speculation on the part of the reporters.

His eventual death in 1885 is also still a mystery. Who killed him and why? What were the circumstances? So far only news reports have survived and those are not always accurate. So my goal is to excavate the life of Joe Ward to the best of my ability and either prove he was a truly despicable dude, a man whose life was the exact opposite or somewhere in between.

The draw of the story brought about my first and only completion of NaNoWriMo in 2009. It was a story my imagination developed from the wife's perspective. There were no stories in the papers telling her side other than she was a  'bad' woman. To me, even those bits and pieces didn't ring true.  I've used parts of that story in other work, but the 50+ thousand word novel is far from a great piece of writing. Still, I had felt compelled to tell a story of this family.

If you are so inclined, the whole symposium will be streamed live. I will be presenting very late in the day. Here is the link for the streaming: 2018 Live Stream and more information can be found here: Symposium Information.

And yes, I've also been working on a short story and short novel that I hope will see the light of publication sometime this year or the beginning of the next. Of course, it will help if I finish writing them. In the meantime, you can always read the stories that I already have out there. (Smile)

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Until then, enjoy the days of June. I know I'll be writing, working and celebrating another year on this planet.

Doris Gardner-McCraw -
Author, Speaker, Historian-specializing in

Colorado and Women's History

Member of National League of American Pen Women,

Women Writing the West,

Pikes Peak Posse of the Westerners,

Western Fictioneers

Angela Raines - author: Where Love & History Meet

For a list of Angela Raines Books: Here 

Photo and Poem: Click Here 

Angela Raines FaceBook: Click Here