Newspaper Man

Took a few days off, then started in on more research for my book because a few
things bothered me. That thing was, The Broadmoor was put into receivership in 1932 and bought by my dad's foundation, wellll El Pomar Foundation was established in 1936 (it used to be called El Pomar Investment
Co.) but none the less dates don't match. Soooo, I found an interesting thing!
that thing is:

My dad used to own the Colorado Springs Gazette Newspaper, he bought it in
1923, his partners were C.C. Hamlin and C.L. Tutt Jr.. Hamlin was the publisher and ran everything. He passed away in 1940 and El Pomar got all his stuff (they gave his house to Colorado College). This left C.L. Tutt and my dad the owner of the Gazette. By this time ALL of my dad's businesses (and there were A LOT of them) were in the El Pomar Foundation.

Now, Hamlin had a stroke in 1939 so he was not running the newspaper at that time. I know my dad wasn't running it, so that leaves one person and his family running the newspaper. That's right, the Tutt's and isn't that just weird, that this is the time the fake obit of my dad is printed! (Makes me wonder how long they had been planning on murdering him.)

My dad and C.L. Tutt Jr. sold the newspaper in 1946 to the Hoiles family. So, I thought it was a
great gem that I found (by accident, which most of my gems are) that my dad was a newspaper owner. The picture is my dad. Now, back to my manuscript.

They Called Them Enemies

This is a picture of Gladys McMillan aka Countess Cornet de Ways Ruart.
If you see this picture any where else it will say that it is Julie Penrose, that
is not true.


Gladys did not have an easy life, her father, James McMillan (son of a senator) died when she was around 9, her brother died the same year as her father. She inherited most of her father's wealth. Her nickname was Jewel and her grandmother McMillan was a saving grace for her. After her father's death she lived with her grandmother, seeing her mother rarely. A car accident almost claimed her life but she lived.

She went to school in Europe and spoke french. When her mother remarried she told the man that he was not her father and never would be. My father told her he understood and did not expect her to call him father. My father was treated as an outsider in her family but never took it personal.

Gladys married a count from Belgium as many did in those days. What these women did not know, is that during war time the United States government would take thier trust funds and property leaving them with no money. The government took over 21 million dollars from these women and called them enemies. The list is staggering, a few of these women were Gladys Vanderbilt Szechcnyi daughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt, they took 9 million away from her. The widow Baroness Cornelia Roosevelt Zedlitz daughter of Charles Roosevelt, they took 1,200,000 from her. Countess Marguerite Victorine de Setuers Obendorff, related to the Astors and shared in Jacob Astors estate. Then of course there was Gladys, Countess Cornet de Ways Ruart, they took over 5 million from her, all of it was from her father.

I don't believe that our government had the right or even has the right to take away people's money and property in war time. Even worse is to call them enemies. This is a part of American history that is ugly but all countries have an ugly side.

Hope

I cling to the strand of hope so tightly, drops of it run down the strand to fill my cup.

We got a call last nite from my mother in law. My husband's cousin, Josh, who has a rare cancer had been rushed to the hospital. They opened him up for the third time this year and this time they just closed him up and said hospice 2 months.

Tears are streaming down my face as I type this. Here is a young man in his thirtys with a wife and two young children and the doctors say no hope, 2 months to live. The ache in my heart is unbearable, I want to reach out and sending healing to him in that hospital in Missouri. I want to storm the heavens with my fists and shout and cry. This is a good person who is kind and loving, who has lead a good life and done harm to no one.

I feel helpless and all I can do is hold my husband's hand and say there is hope and I believe in miracles.

I cling to the strand of hope and wait.

Mark Twain

Today marks the death of Mark Twain, he was a writer and humorist. He died today at the age of 74 in 1910. In 1909 he predicted his death saying "I came in with Halley's Comet in 1835, it is coming next year and I expect to go out with it." And he did.

He was often referred to as the 'Dean of American Literature' and as we all know he wrote many novels, stories and articles. The most famous was The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. But what endears him to my heart is this story:

In 1897 a newspaper reported that Mark Twain aka Samuel Clemens had passed away. In hearing of this report, Mark Twain sent a telegram to the newspaper. "The report of my death," he wired "Is greatly exaggerated!"

Newspapers are famous for stating an obit when the person is still alive. In the 1930's one of the higher ups in Canada opened his paper and saw his own obit. In 1939 the same thing happened to my father (my father died in 1959) but I have a copy of one 1939 newspaper of my dad's obit with my Uncle Frances' picture. My Uncle Frances died in 1947.

So, to all the newspapers who have printed wrong obit's I say to them The report of these deaths are greatly exaggerated!

Have a good week, everyone. :)

They Walk Among Us

I get really pissed off at the newspaper here sometimes because they don't always print the truth or they don't print it at all.(PBS here and the Pikes Peak Library fall in there too). But once in awhile a rouge reporter will slip in the truth.

So, I have been working on my book and needed to look at some old newspaper clippings I have and found this story which I am going to share with you. No, its not about aliens. :)

On Dec. 7, 1961 a phone call is made to the Sheriffs office that a G.I. was holding a number of civilians at gun point at Petersen Field (Pete field is an Air Force base). The Sheriff, deputies, military police and CID (criminal investgation division) go top speed to the place. It appeared that the Army was engaged in a security operation and no one was informed.

Henry Wood of Kensair Corp who had offices on Petersen Field tried to leave his office and was told at gunpoint to get back in his office or he would be shot. He and his employees (the number goes from 21 to 40) were held for 1 hour and 20 minutes.

The Army operation involved an aircraft which was standing outside Woods office. It had been there since last night. The Army went into the denial thing, then the next day Dec. 8, 1961, the Army apologized for it's gestapo tactics and all was forgotten.

On July 18, 1976 another rougue reporter uncovers what was going on and they printed it! Since 1958 the CIA had been training Tibetains for guerrilla warfare here in good ole Colorado. They would fly them into Pete field, bus them up to a training camp near Leadville, train them, bus them back to Pete field and fly them home. Henry Wood and his employees got caught in the middle of a transfer because the bus hit an icy road and was late.

I have always known that the CIA has been around here in Colo Springs, even long before I was born. They would stay at the lodge, do what they were suppose to do and disappear. My father's second cousin was a CIA operative, he taught at the university in Beruit in the 60's. They walk among us and yes, Virginia you too can grow up to be a spook! :)
Maybe, I should've saved this for my Holloween story. Oh, well I didn't, so here you have it folks another day in Colorado Springs in the year 1961.

Cattle Wars of Wyoming

I do not know much about my Uncle Charles, as a man. I know he followed in my grandfather's footsteps and became a brilliant doctor, he wrote books, did a lot of government medical research especially in fertility, married the daughter of a Austrian banker, had five children of which only two lived past infancy, his best friend was his older brother Boies, who saved his life after a bear attack. He also had a tiff with my father that he regretted and it had nothing to do with not allowing my mother into his house. And I know that he was on trial for murder for the Johnson County Invasion, also called the Cattle Wars Of Wyoming.


In 1890, Charles Bingham Penrose developed tuberculosis, he left his medical practice in Phil., PA and traveled to Florida, Colorado Springs and Wyoming. The Acting Governor of Wyoming, Dr. A.W. Barber, was a friend of his and he suggested that my Uncle stay in Cheyenne for his health. The Governor secured rooms for him at the Cheyenne Club.


Wyoming at this time was in a pickle, beef prices had gone down and a new law had gone into effect, it was called the maverick law. Before the new law, a person could take a stray and make it his own. A LOT of people started cattle ranches this way but when the new law went into effect it put a damper on things. Most of the people were against the new law and they ignored it, if a person was arrested the jury said they did no wrong and they walked free. The Cattle Association was in an uproar, they needed a solution. Montana had the same problem, they handled their problem in one night. Montana hired a group of men, they were given names of cattle rustlers with locations and in one night they went to every cattle rustler (ranches and campsites) and murdered every man. There were some in the gangs who escaped (their names were not on the list),they left the state for good. Montana never had a problem again. Owen Wister (a friend of the Penrose family) wrote an article about it.


This is what the Cattle Association wanted Wyoming to do, 19 men were on the list (only 2 were killed). The hired men were 24 cattlemen, 24 Texans, 2 reporters, teamsters for 3 wagons and my Uncle Charles as surgeon.

They took a train with horses to a destination, from there it would be horseback. The first problem was two men wanted to be the leader, Major Frank Wolcott who was a cattleman, Civil War hero and U.S. marshal and Frank M. Canton who was a cattleman. Wolcott took a step back and let Canton take control until the crap hit the fan, that's when Wolcott had to step in and take command.


The next problem was after getting the horses off the train everyone was to meet 6 miles away. A lot of men got off the horses when they reached the meeting place, something spooked the horses and they stampeded, after 6 hours only 4 horses were left unfound, my uncle's was one of them. On his horse was a lot of his medical supplies but not all of them. The 4 men without horses rode in the wagons till the party ran across Senator Carey's property and found 3 horses. This left only my Uncle riding in the wagon.


The next problem was it snowed the fourth day out and kept snowing with blizzard conditions, they ran across a weak white horse which they took and gave to my Uncle to ride, it didn't last very long. The first destination was to be the Tisdale ranch, the Tisdales were in the party and their place was for everyone to regroup, once again the lack of harmony was in the air. From this ranch they were to go to the final destination, the K C ranch. This is where all 19 men on the list was suppose to be.

At 1 in the morning, they left for the K C ranch leaving behind my uncle and cattleman H.W. Davis. Needless to say, it was a cluster. Only 2 rustlers were at the ranch, Nick Ray and Nate Champion, they were the ones who were killed. The cattlemen had confronted a couple of rustlers on the way but they had escaped unharmed. The cattlemen returned to the Tisdales ranch, before anymore could happen the sheriff and the U.S. Army arrived. Every man surrendered to the Army.

My Uncle had left before the cattlemen returned, he was traveling by buckboard. He threw away all identification, letters from the governor etc. He was trying to get to Cheyenne then take a train back to PA. In Brown Springs he stopped, a road ranch was all that was there, it's also where the mail was delivered, a rancher that my Uncle knew stopped for his mail and totally ignored my Uncle. My Uncle learned that all the cattlemen had been arrested and the surgeon that was with them. My Uncle relaxed, there was also a rumor that poison tablets had been found (a rustler had found my Uncles horse) and that the cattlemen were going to poison the water and food of the settlers and rustlers. This story was carried in the newspapers there.

The pills were bi chloride tablets. The story untrue, my Uncle WAS NOT going to poison anyone. These people were very stupid. So, anyway my Uncle stops at another town, at this town he was arrested. People were wanted all of these guys hung including my Uncle, who had nothing to do with any of it. To make a long story short, my Uncle went to trial, was found not guilty (duh). But, the brother of Nate Champion swore vengeance on my family. Idiots are born every minute. When my Uncle got back to PA after this, he got married. I don't think he ever went back to Wyoming.

But, what he did do was write down what had happened to him, A.W. Barber also wrote down his memories of what happened and they sent it to the Cattlemen's Association in 1914. This was never suppose to be printed, so the Association put it in a file and in 1949 it was made into a book called "The Rustler Business" by Charles Bingham Penrose (my Uncle died in 1925). I have a copy of it and you have to read and re-read parts because they don't keep telling you what is my Uncle's words and what is Barber's words. If you just read it and think it's my Uncle, you think he was there when these people were killed. I had to back up to find where it said it was Barber's words (which most of the book is Barber's words)

So, I'm not to happy about this book because my Uncle had very little to do with the cluster that happened and makes him look like he had more to do with it then he really did but I guess that's a lesson to be learned, if you write down something don't include other peoples writing with it, make it two separate things.

What It Means To Be A Penrose

I had the chance to meet a really nice couple a week ago. They had
purchased a teddy bear that came from my father's estate 10 years ago.
As I talked with them, the gentlemen made a statement about being a
Penrose. I just smiled, thinking to myself they have no idea what it means
to be a Penrose, the pain and suffering.

I do not fault people for their thinking, they see all the postives while I have had to live and remember the negatives along with the postives. Isn't that the way it is in every family.

The Penrose family roots start at a Welsh tribe in Wales, we are also related to King John of England from there we came to Philly (before it was Philly) and were shipbuilders. My ggrandfather became a senator and held many poltically offices.My grandfather was a doctor as was my Uncle Charles, Uncle Boies a senator, Uncle Richard a geoloist, my father and Uncle Spence did great things, my Uncle Francis had a nervous breakdown and was unable to do things.

I, however came at a time when things were not so good. Like my father, I was subjected to tests done on me (it was like electric shock). I witnessed my father and a police officer being murdered by another man. I was beaten almost to death, later on I heard the screams of my next door neighbor and her daughter being murdered because "they" got the wrong house. "they" were looking for me. I was given mass amounts of drugs to make my memory go away. At the age of 11 "they" came dressed as a priest and nun (its the only time "they" had a face but I learned "they" were many people). My parents were always talking about "they". So, at age 11 "they" took a large sickle to my insides (when I was 22 I had surgery, the doctor said it looked like someone had craved me up like a Christmas turkey, I cannot have children because of this).

"They" put me in a foster family and stole my inheritance, name and life but "they" could not steal my memories. "They" tried but did not succeed. So, if you think being a Penrose is easy, its
not but I have the memory of a loving, caring father and deep inside me I have the Welsh blood that only those from Wales can understand. I am proud of my roots but it has cost me a lot.