unsolved mystery – Texas History Notebook

Lost Padre Mine

Paraphrasing Robert Louis Stevenson, there is something in a treasure that attaches itself to a man’s mind and won’t let it go. One of the persisting legends in West Texas is that of the Lost Padre Mine, or “La Mina del Padre.” Possible locations include southern New Mexico and the area around El Paso, Texas.

Bill Kelley’s Mine

This is a story of a legendary Big Bend area mine. It is sometimes referred to by other names in newspaper accounts, books and articles. Since Bill Kelley figures into the story, more recently it has been called “Bill Kelly’s Mine.” Mrs. Eugenia H. Chandley wrote about it in the March 22, 1939 edition of the Alpine, Texas Sul Ross Skyline. According to the legend, a young man named Bill Kelley was from the Black Seminoles in Coahuila, Mexico and told some of his relatives of finding a treasure on the Texas side of the Rio Grande. Kelley had told his employers, the Reagan brothers, of coming across an outcropping of stone that shined like gold, while he was holding a herd of horses for them. Kelley chipped off some of the rock, put it in his pack and relayed the news of his find to the Reagans.

Joan Robinson Hill

Joan Robinson HIll was thirty-eight years old at the time of her death on March 19, 1969. Her husband, Dr. John Robert Hill, was accused of her death. He was murdered by a masked assailant in 1972.

Did the Real Josey Wales Die in Texas?

Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com) lists the origin of the 1976 film “The Outlaw Josey Wales” to be a screenplay by Phillip Kaufman and Sonia Chernus which was in turn based on a fictional book believed to have been written by Asa Earl Carter under the pen name Forrest Carter. Carter’s book was first published in 1973 as “The Rebel Outlaw: Josey Wales,” republished two years later as “Gone to Texas” and published once more under the name “Josey Wales.” In the film the time period of which is set during the Civil War years, the character Wales’ family is killed and his home is burned by Union irregular troops. Seeking revenge, Wales aligns himself with a Confederate irregular group (Quantrill’s Raiders). After the Confederate surrender and the end of the war, the character Wales continues to seek revenge on those individuals who were responsible. The story continues with Wales eventually finding peace and a relationship with a female rancher, presumably escaping his violent past and living out his days.

Unsolved Mystery: Murders of Dr. and Mrs. Roy Hunt

On the morning of October 26, 1943, Littlefield, Lamb County, Texas awoke to learn of the brutal murders of residents Dr. Roy Elwin and Mrs. Mae Franks Hunt. Dr. Hunt had been killed by a gunshot at close range and Mae had been killed by at least one blow to the head from an object not found at the scene. Their bodies were found by the couple’s five year old daughter. The couple was buried a few days later following their funeral at Littlefield’s First Methodist Church, attended by an overflow crowd.

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