The Death and Life of Strother Purcell
Page 34
5 This chapter (among others) is apparently original to the Sturluson manuscript, and in point-of-view invites obvious comparison to the “Roadhouse Chronicles of Thomas Skiffings” segments. Readers may draw their own conclusions. - Brookmire.
6 As with chapters redacting “The Sorrows of Miz Amanda,” the author (or authors) of the Sturluson manuscript is here drawing upon an existing source. High Crimes of the Outlaw Dillashay is a so-called “true-life novella” concerning Elijah Dillashay’s depredations through the U.S. Southwest in the early 1870s. It was written in 1903 by Harley Carscadden, an ex-journalist and racetrack tout who was living at the time in St. Louis. An avid collector of Frontier lore, as well as a notorious dipsomaniac, Carscadden insisted that the account was “one hundred per cent by-golly certified Bible truth,” being based in part on stories related to him by a man with a direct family connection to Santa Rosita c. 1874: the grand-nephew of Sheriff Bob Lestander. Even allowing for the vagaries of recollection and Harley Carscadden’s own inclination to embellish, the account has served to provide a reliable superstructure for the Sturluson narrative, the author(s) of which in any case had supplementary information. - Brookmire.
7 There is controversy concerning the provenance and authenticity of this remarkable document, which has not elsewhere been published. It turned up at a Salvation Army hostel in Philadelphia in 1933, amongst the personal effects of an elderly indigent known as “Crazy Becky.” A street preacher with an eschatological perspective, she was often sighted on Skid Row street corners, where for several years she prophesied the imminent arrival of the End of Days, whenever the Spirit so moved. The End came at last - or at least, it did for “Crazy Becky” - on December 28, 1932, when the Spirit moved her in front of an oncoming trolley.
The document passed from hand to hand, before coming into the possession of a collector of Frontier memorabilia in Kansas City named Archie Dozier. Private correspondence confirms that Mr. Dozier was contacted in the summer of 1983 by Tilda Sturluson, with whom an exchange of several letters ensued.
We cannot state with certainty that “The Testament of Rebekah” is accurate and reliable, given that it is the accounting of a woman who was by all reports - and not to put too fine a point upon it-crazy. But the existence of a tent revivalist calling himself Brother Jacob Jacobson can in fact be independently documented, and his movements across the U.S. Southwest in 1891 and 1892 correspond remarkably to such specifics as are provided in the “Testament.” - Brookmire.
8 This is unlikely to be the personal statement of “Arabella Skye,” for reasons that will in due course become more clear. In terms of authorship, the chapter should more probably be included in a sub-group with the “Roadhouse Chronicles” segments, and certain other chapters as well, including (but not limited to) those headed “Old Lem” and “The Death of Strother Purcell” - i.e., as imaginative reconstructions by an author (or authors) with independent sources of information and/or a close personal connection to the protagonist. - Brookmire.
9 See note on the authorship of Chapter 22. - Brookmire.
10 See note on the authorship of Chapters 22 and 24. - Brookmire.
11 See note on the authorship of Chapter 22. - Brookmire.
12 As with Chapter 22, this would seem to be an imaginative reconstruction by an author (or authors) with close knowledge of the actress, rather than a statement set down by her own hand. Its veracity thus remains an open question. - Brookmire.
13 Emily Braxton’s birth is verified by County Records, though the date of her death cannot be so clearly ascertained, and her presence on the Ride of Reckoning into Oregon in late summer of 1892 would seem to be unquestioned. On its own internal evidence, this chapter would clearly seem to have been composed by “Em’ly” herself, or at least with her active collaboration. This in turn may be taken as speaking-loudly - to larger questions pertaining to the sourcing and authorship of the Sturluson manuscript. - Brookmire.
14 See note to Chapter 32, as regards probable authorship. It is worth remarking that the rough contours of the journey herein described can be independently documented, with startling precision. And a “Rev. & Missus Mann” do indeed appear in the Guest Register of the Historic Ross House Lodge, as it is now designated, on a date that corresponds exactly. - Brookmire.
15 This climactic sequence is clearly the product of composite authorship. It is not possible to make categorical distinctions, although I have my own opinion; you, the reader, may well have your own.
We may recall that Tilda Sturluson had appended to the manuscript a hand-written note. “To whosoever may be reading this: it’s true. All of it. Every damned word, more or less, except for the bits that maybe aren’t, so much. But the rest you can take to the godalmighty bank.” It hangs on the wall of my study. - Brookmire.
16 The authorship of this final segment cannot be categorically established. But it seems clear to me that we hear Tilda Sturluson, speaking directly to us. I will admit that I wish, very much, that I might speak back to her: as a scholar in the last twilight of a long career - and as an old man who might, had circumstances been otherwise, have become her friend. - Brookmire.