A LOOK AT JAMES BEVERLY WARD, AGENT OF THE BEALE PAPERS

[franklin]

What did James Beverly Ward do for income after 1885?
The unsold copies of the pamphlet were burned, and a 2nd edition was never printed.

James Beverly Ward was a road and property surveyor.

By the way I saw a photograph today of the "author" of the Beale Pamphlet. No one would ever guess who it was but R & I has led me to him. I do not think it would be wise to reveal him to the world as next of kin could sue without it being written in his own handwriting.

The story is true and the author did believe it happened.

 

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[ECS]

The "unknown author" was kin to James Beverly Ward or Robert Morris, or both by way of marriage?

"Knowledge of this affair was confined to a very limited circle- to the writer's immediate famiy, and to one old and valued friend"- THE BEALE PAPERS

 

[franklin]

The "unknown author" was kin to James Beverly Ward or Robert Morris, or both by way of marriage?

"Knowledge of this affair was confined to a very limited circle- to the writer's immediate famiy, and to one old and valued friend"- THE BEALE PAPERS

Since, James Beverly Ward and Robert Morriss were kin then I would have to say "Both"

I am still searching through relatives and neighbors for any documented proof. Do not know if any exist but maybe.

 

[ECS]

Could this be the shadow Otey connection?

 

[franklin]

Could this be the shadow Otey connection?

Something like that. Oteys, Harts, Innis', Wards, Morriss', Warwicks, Leftwichs, About every family in Bedford, Campbell, Franklin and Amherst Counties.

 

[ECS]

...
The story is true and the author did believe it happened.

Believing and knowing, as I mentioned to Legrand on another thread, are not quite the same.
One doesn't find gold playing the game till the end of the candle flame.

 

[franklin]

How can one know by word of mouth the truth. Any second hand information will never be information that any author knows for a fact. Everything in life is like that if you are not the one that actually performed the service then everything is left up to the believer. Believe it or not is your choice.

 

[ECS]

... I saw a photograph today of the "author" of the Beale Pamphlet. No one would ever guess who it was but R & I has led me to him. I do not think it would be wise to reveal him to the world as next of kin could sue without it being written in his own handwriting...

"circumstances over which he had no control, pecuniary embarrassments of a pressing character, and duty to a dependent family...force him to abandon a task to which he has devoted the best years of his life...absolute want stared him in the face and forced him to yield to their persuasions"
-THE BEALE PAPERS

This "unknown author" was a family man who neglected his legitimate business forcing his family to be faced with total poverty.
Does your candidate meet these requirements as defined in the Beale Papers?
You mentioned earlier, that he traveled to St Louis looking for the missing "key".

 

[ECS]

How can one know by word of mouth the truth. Any second hand information will never be information that any author knows for a fact. Everything in life is like that if you are not the one that actually performed the service then everything is left up to the believer. Believe it or not is your choice.

That is the reason hearsay is NOT accepted as valid evidence...
...and the entire Beale story is based on the hearsay testimony of this "unknown author"...
...and the existence of the "unknown author" is based on the copyrighted "authentic statements" by James Beverly Ward acting as "agent" for this "unknown author".

 

[franklin]

I was going to answer your first post today. But after your second post I can see it would be a waste of my time.

 

[Rebel - KGC]

Just put ECS on IGNORE, and continue your R & I... I have.

 

[ECS]

I was going to answer your first post today. But after your second post I can see it would be a waste of my time.

Franklin, you take offence when none was made nor intended.
Everything that concerns the Beale treasure since its inception in 1885 is based on "belief".
I would welcome hard evidence that can be directly tied to the perilous adventure of Beale, but all that is ever presented are maybe conjectures to actual recorded expeditions and endless genealogies that prove absolutely nothing connected to Beale or the story in the job print pamphlet.
...and that was the entire basis of my second post concerning "hearsay" evidence.

 

[ECS]

Just put ECS on IGNORE, and continue your R & I... I have.

Was it the Froggy Gremlin videos?

 

[ECS]

"circumstances over which he had no control, pecuniary embarrassments of a pressing character, and duty to a dependent family...force him to abandon a task to which he has devoted the best years of his life...absolute want stared him in the face and forced him to yield to their persuasions"
-THE BEALE PAPERS

This "unknown author" was a family man who neglected his legitimate business forcing his family to be faced with total poverty...

That description could be James Beverly Ward in 1885, further distancing himself from being the "unknown author".

 

[ECS]

One must take into consideration that James Beverly Ward applied for copyright on borrowed stationary from Adams Bros & Paynes Feed Store, a company at which his son in law, William Johns, worked with only the title, not the manuscript.
Was that because the manuscript was not finished being written, as apposed to this "unknown" author presenting Ward with a completed manuscript to act as copyright agent.
...AND, most importantly to notice, is that Ward applied for copyright only after the death of Pascal Buford's wife, Francis, the last person who could confirm or deny Beale's stay at Buford's which is mentioned in the job pamphlet.
Applied for copyright without the manuscript and after the last witness who verify a critical part of the story, is one of many items that make the Beale story suspect.

It is very possible that son-in-law William D Johns and his wife, Anne Morris Ward Johns, knew the truth and the "unknown author" behind the 1885 Beale Papers, and this knowledge was not far from home.

 

[bigscoop]

Look, nobody has a single clue as to who the author might have been. That stationary, there could be endless ways in which Ward ended up with it so assuming it was borrowed is quite a stretch, could be any number of ways he acquired it and he could of even had possession of it long before copyright application. So here again everything about the Beale narration is a hopeless dead end horse without a single piece of directly connecting evidence anywhere.

 

[ECS]

You don't believe that the people around James Beverly Ward, such as his wife, son-in-law, daughters , son, cousins, and friend Max would not have inquired of him who this "author" was?
That is not human nature, unless, of course, they already knew the answer.

 

[franklin]

I have placed bigscoop and ECS on my ignore list. Now Rebel KGC, let us get down to research.

I have found out that Robert Morriss sent a man to St. Louis, MO. in 1861 to search for Thomas J. Beale's letter. After this trip failed, Robert Morriss reluctantly then told the story to the man's brother and placed the ironbox with the letters and the codes into his hands. The man visited after this several times to get more information there was no more. He continued on his own. When he began trying to break these codes his estate was worth over 30 thousand dollars then in 1875 he borrowed $50. to make his own trip to St. Louis to look for the letter. Regrettably he took down sick and died the following year. During his sickness he turned everything over to James Beverly Ward to publish the story in hopes of finding the letter addressed from Thomas J. Beale to Robert Morriss. And the rest is left up to the Job Print Pamphlet and history.

 

[ECS]

If Ward had this manuscript since 1876, why did apply for copyright with only the title claiming "authentic statements" and not a copy of the manuscript, and why did he wait until the last witness's who could confirm or deny a Beale visit to Buford's, had passed away?
...and what became of the man Morriss sent to St Louis to look for Beale's letter? Where did Morriss tell him to look?
It could not have been the Planter's Hotel, for the first mention was made in THE HART PAPERS of this establishment.

As with all things claimed to have a Beale "connection", be it a physical item that always disappears or a person whose "connection" is discovered after they died, there is no way to confirm a claim that is always based only on the word of the one making the claim.
It began with the copyright of those original "authentic statements", and has continued since.

 

[Rebel - KGC]

I have placed bigscoop and ECS on my ignore list. Now Rebel KGC, let us get down to research.

I have found out that Robert Morriss sent a man to St. Louis, MO. in 1861 to search for Thomas J. Beale's letter. After this trip failed, Robert Morriss reluctantly then told the story to the man's brother and placed the ironbox with the letters and the codes into his hands. The man visited after this several times to get more information there was no more. He continued on his own. When he began trying to break these codes his estate was worth over 30 thousand dollars then in 1875 he borrowed $50. to make his own trip to St. Louis to look for the letter. Regrettably he took down sick and died the following year. During his sickness he turned everything over to James Beverly Ward to publish the story in hopes of finding the letter addressed from Thomas J. Beale to Robert Morriss. And the rest is left up to the Job Print Pamphlet and history.

Hmmm... haven't seen that info, before; guy died in 1876...? His estate was worth $ 30,000...? Something from Claudine Fulton Ellis...? I know you two had a "sit-down pow-wow" during the "Gen Fair" in Bedford, years ago...