Good Old Colo. Springs

If anyone has been to the Springs then you know that it is a beautiful place. The mountains, the trees, the air and if you are a mystery lover then this is the place. Beneath the beauty of this city are tons of skeletons (meaning secerts). Writerquake has a beautiful old postcard on her blog of Will Roger's Shrine. In this picture is a house, the house has been remodled, it no longer is three stories and is a visitor center for the shrine. I believe (and I could be wrong) that this is Ashton Potter's summer home. You ask, "Who the bleep is Ashton Potter?"

Well, Ashton was a member of the Springs high society in the early 1900's. As far as I can find he didn't do to much, he and his wife Grace threw big parties, they knew the Palmers and Penroses. He came from New York, his Uncle was a Bishop, Ashton served in the Spanish American war. i don't know where his money came from, Grace had money, she had been married before and had two children, Ganson Depew Jr. and Lucia Depew. They built a house in the Braodmoor area in 1911. This area was so new it didn't even have an address. The phone book lists the address as 3/4 mile west of casino, Broadmoor. This is where they built a house that they named El Pomar (meaning The Orchard). What makes this a mystery is the last days of thier life.

Ashton and Grace decided that they wanted a summer house built in the Cheyenne Mountains, the year is 1914. They had been married five years wanted a get away home, as if the wilderness of the Braodmoor wasn't enough they wanted more wilderness. The day comes, July 12, 1914, the house is almost done, just a few finishing touches by the carpenters. Ashton and Grace decide to journey to the summer home. As far as I can tell from the old newspapers (and newspapers don't always tell the truth espically here in this town), on Aug. 6, 1914 someone finds Ashton and Grace. Ashton is dead, Grace cannot move or talk. Her mother has been living with the couple for awhile, she does not leave her daughters side. Grace is taken down the hill to her home, El Pomar, on Sept. 12 ,1914 where she dies never recovering, never talking.

Graces fortune is in the hands of her lawyers (she left 10 million dollars) which is divided between her two children Ganson 18 years old and Lucia 14 years old. Spencer and Julie Penrose buy the El Pomar house from the lawyers. (Yes this is told because of misinformation that Spencer built the El Pomar house, he did not). So this is how El Pomar came into the Penrose family.

As far as good ole Ashton he was buried, dug up and shipped to be buried in New York all in the same day. I haven't been able to locate any cemetery in New York that has his remains.

No one followed through as to what or who killed them, everything stops at Graces death. Strange isn't it.