The mysterious death of Adolph Ruth

[azdave35]

azdave35,

You are absolutely right, Ruth talked too much about his maps and his intentions to the WRONG people.
Also right about the use of a firearm. Had he simply perished from the Sun or fallen off a cliff he may never have made the front page.
Also right on that list of possible suspects but add to that suspect list, George Bashford, the man Erwin Ruth didn't interview because he didn't think he played a role.

Matthew

matthew....do you know if cal morse or hakes descendants still own business's around apache junction?

 

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[deducer]

Maybe others were aware of this story, prior to your 1980 post, but I don't believe I had ever seen it before. Kind of goes against the accepted "facts", but I have no doubts you have the true story.

Good luck,

Joe Ribaudo

Curious, what part of Matthew's story goes against the "accepted facts"? What are the "accepted facts" of the Ruth story?

 

[Matthew Roberts]

Dan Jones explanation for Adolph Ruth and his goat hunt in the Superstition Mountains is not surprising. Both the Cavaness, Rowe and Whittlow's, ranchers in and around the Superstitions all raised goats for milk and meat. Wild goats in the Superstitions were most probably descendants of some of those who slipped away. Goats do very well in an environment like the Superstitions as long as they stay close to water. They can fend for themselves and go places where it is difficult for predators to get near them. They are actually more adapted to the mountains than deer or javalina. I had heard stories of wild goats even in the 70's and 80's but never actually saw one.

The George Bashford who was noted by both Erwin Ruth and Dan Jones was a long time Arizonan who was said to have come to Arizona about 1880 and worked as a cowboy as noted, but whose main occupation seemed to be a prospector and miner having worked in the Globe mines for many years. He was reported to prospect the Superstitions and occasionally haunt the Superstition ranches. I don't know what relation he may have had with Jack Keegan and his wife. It seems curious that Keegans wife told Erwin Ruth he was her brother ? Bashford was said to have been an Army veteran who fought in the war so he would have had experience with a rifle. I'm not certain which war but would assume WWI or possibly the Spanish American war.

Matthew

 

[azdave35]

Dan Jones explanation for Adolph Ruth and his goat hunt in the Superstition Mountains is not surprising. Both the Cavaness, Rowe and Whittlow's, ranchers in and around the Superstitions all raised goats for milk and meat. Wild goats in the Superstitions were most probably descendants of some of those who slipped away. Goats do very well in an environment like the Superstitions as long as they stay close to water. They can fend for themselves and go places where it is difficult for predators to get near them. They are actually more adapted to the mountains than deer or javalina. I had heard stories of wild goats even in the 70's and 80's but never actually saw one.

The George Bashford who was noted by both Erwin Ruth and Dan Jones was a long time Arizonan who was said to have come to Arizona about 1880 and worked as a cowboy as noted, but whose main occupation seemed to be a prospector and miner having worked in the Globe mines for many years. He was reported to prospect the Superstitions and occasionally haunt the Superstition ranches. I don't know what relation he may have had with Jack Keegan and his wife. It seems curious that Keegans wife told Erwin Ruth he was her brother ? Bashford was said to have been an Army veteran who fought in the war so he would have had experience with a rifle. I'm not certain which war but would assume WWI or possibly the Spanish American war.

Matthew

matthew...when i first read the letter it looked like they were trying to spell "bradford" but misspelled it....there doesn't seem to be much info on bashford...was he one of the clan that hung out at the barkley ranch?

 

[Matthew Roberts]

matthew...when i first read the letter it looked like they were trying to spell "bradford" but misspelled it....there doesn't seem to be much info on bashford...was he one of the clan that hung out at the barkley ranch?

azdave35,

I thought that same thing also that Erwin Ruth was trying to say Roy Bradford but both he and Jones used the name Bashford and neither tried to correct the other one. It appeared as if Jones had looked into things and even told Erwin Ruth that Bashford was living in the vicinity. The reason I believe it was George Bashford was because Al Reser knew both men, Roy Bradford and George Bashford and both men were prospectors of the 1930's era and frequented the Superstition Mountains.
All I know of either man came from Al Reser, Clay and another old timer. Al was casually acquainted with Roy Bradford but knew Bashford quite well.
My notes on Bashford I took from Al say he was a former war soldier, cowboy, prospector and miner at the Globe mines, that he was very old and died at Prescott.

If it was indeed Roy Bradford that would be another curious coincidence as Roy Bradford's camp in the Superstitions was in upper Deering Canyon not far from Pistol and Peters Canyon and the cave that Barkley and the others found using Ruth's map/directions. !!! Seems nothing with the Ruth issue is without confusion.

Matthew

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Matthew,

In case you no longer have access to some of your old posts on this subject, here is some of what you wrote in 2008:
_________________________________________________________________

"Aurum
01-18-2008, 08:43 AM
In another thread the topic of Adolph Ruth staying at theMorse ranch while in Arizona was raised. This thread will attempt to give someinformation about that stay and the relationship of Mr. Ruth and Cal Morse. TheMorse connection has been largely overlooked by enthusiasts because the Ruthdeath story evolved into a story that contained a lot of false information andrumors. The facts of the matter just may help researchers here get a stepcloser to unraveling the Adolph Ruth mystery. A mystery that has been confusedand twisted by hundreds of conflicting stories and accounts.

Background of Cal Morse (Collins R. "Cal" Morse).

In 1892, 4 prospectors discovered the rich Goldfield golddeposits on the west side of Superstition Mountain. The Mammoth, Black Queen,Bulldog and Wasp were among the mines that sprang from this discovery.

The 4 prospectors were ; Oren and Orlando Merrill, CollinsHakes and Joseph R. Morse. * Joseph R. Morse was the father of Cal Morse.

All 4 of these prospectors became very rich from thisdiscovery and all 4 continued to live in the Mesa area where they owned homes,ranches, mines and numerous business interests. Joseph R. Morse owned a ranchnearby the location of the Buckhorn Baths (Hot Springs) on the Apache trailjust west of todays Apache Junction. This ranch became the Cal Morse ranch whenhis father died in 1918. Cal Morse's neighbor was the Collins Hakes family, apartner of his father in the Goldfield discovery. The Morse and Hakes were avery close knit group. Collins Hakes had married the sister of Joseph Morse.

263

The above photo is from the family photo's of the CollinsHakes family. Collins is the father in the photo, the mother is Mabel ann Morseand the little boy with his hand on his mothers shoulder is Daniel Hakes.Daniel Hakes will be a prominant figure in the Adolph Ruth mystery in lateryears.

Like his father, Cal Morse was a prospector and miner in hisearly years and a life long enthusiast of the Lost Dutchman Mine which he searchedfor many years unsuccessfully. Later in life Morse became a cattle rancher,planted a large orange orchard along the Apache trail, and operated severalbusiness's in Mesa and what would become Apache Junction.

At least two of his business in the 1930's were servicestations ( gas and auto repair) in east Mesa. Both Leroy Purnell and JackKeenan were in Morse employ at various jobs in the summer of 1931. Purnell andKeenan worked at everything for Cal Morse from ranch hands to auto mechanicsand even fruit pickers in his citrus orchards. Jack Keenan's relationship withMorse was especially close while Purnell seemed to be more a general laborer.Keenan worked as an auto mechanic in Morse's east Mesa gas station which todaywould be inside the city limits of Apache Junction. While both Keenan andPurnell knew Tex Barkley and his family, and may have visited his QuarterCircle U ranch on occasion, neither man was working for Tex as a cowboy in thesummer of 1931 as is commonly believed.

Adolph and Erwin Ruth became acquainted with Cal Morse inthe 1920's when the Ruth's learned of Cal Morse's interest in the Lost Dutchmanmine and his efforts at locating that mine. Morse's searching for the mine waswell known across Arizona and parts of the west and Morse spent a considerableamount of money in that endeavor. The Morse and Hakes were well known aroundArizona and very prominant citizens of the Mesa area. From this mutualinterest, a friendship developed between the Morse and Ruth family. Muchtranspired between the time the two met and Adolph Ruth came to Arizona on hisfatal trip in May 1931. Much of that part of the story is not mine to tell andI cannot talk about some of those things, but I can say the Ruth's visited theMorse's at Cal's ranch before May of 1931.

When Adolph Ruth decided to search for the LDM in Mayof 1931, he came straight to Cal Morse's ranch. Mr. Ruth received his mail atthe Morse ranch while in Arizona and his place of contact was with Morse.

While Mr. Ruth frequented the Tex Barkley ranch during the34 days he was in Arizona before he entered the mountains, he did not"stay" at the Barkley ranch. Ruth "may" have spent a nightor two at the Quarter Circle U which probably led to the rummor's that is wherehe was residing.
It was two of Cal Morse's employees, Leroy Purnell and JackKeenan who took Adolph Ruth into a camp at Willow Spring. They packed Mr. Ruthin through the First Water ranch on the NW side of the Superstitions ( Notthrough the Quarter Circle U ranch). Notice I did not say they packed him inFROM the First Water ranch, I said THROUGH the First Water ranch. The reasonfor the conflicting acounts is because Tex Barkley and others at the barkleyranch did not know until later how Ruth had gotten into the mountains. LeroyPurnell and Jack Keenan were not very forthcoming with authorities in thebeginning themselves on the specifics of how, when, where and why Ruth got intoWillow Springs. Again, this is a part of the story I am not at liberty todivulge or expand on.

When Adolph Ruth came up missing it was Cal Morse, not TexBarkley, who first knew of his disapearance and alerted the authorities (Maricopa Co. Sheriff). It was Cal Morse whom Ruth's wife wired reward money foranyone who might find her husband. It was the Morse ranch where Adolph's son,Erwin, came to stay while searching for his father.

Referring back to the above photo of the Hakes and theiryoung son Daniel.
I met Daniel and his wife Melissa at the very last ArizonaPioneers reunion held in Phoenix in 1960. Daniel was in his 80's then and ahistorian of the Hakes and Morse families. Daniel passed away a few years laterbut his wife lived on into the mid 1970's passing on at the age of 95. Whilevisiting with Beatrice Lewis of Mesa ( wife of Al Lewis of the Goldfield mines)and Mrs. Daniel Hakes, I had the occasion to listen to the story of Adolph Ruthand the Hakes and Morse involvement, parts of which I have related here in thispost.

Hopefully this information might be used to pursue a new andmore authentic angle in furthering research on the mystery of Adolph Ruth.

Aurum"
____________________________________________________

Maybe others were aware of this story, prior to your 1980 post, but I don't believe I had ever seen it before. Kind of goes against the accepted "facts", but I have no doubts you have the true story.

Good luck,

Joe Ribaudo

Catusjumper, if your going to quote a member then include a link to the quote other wise do not quote them.

Sent from my P008 using Tapatalk

 

[Matthew Roberts]

azdave35,

Found Roy Bradford and George Bashford,
Bradford died in Phoenix in 1951 and Bashford died at the Pioneers Home in Prescott in 1962.

This is interesting, I still think Bashford is who Erwin Ruth and Dan Jones were talking about.
But what if they confused the two men ?
Everything Al ever told me about Bradford was that he was a heavy drinker but generally mild mannered. Al actually took over Bradfords camp in Deering after Bradford died.
Bashford was in the Army and the war and could shoot a rifle. That and the fact he was close to Keenan opens the door to more questions.

Matthew

 

[cactusjumper]

Catusjumper, if your going to quote a member then include a link to the quote other wise do not quote them.

Sent from my P008 using Tapatalk

TH,

There is no longer a link to that quote. Beyond the fact that Matthew has deleted many, and in some cases all, of his posts on other forums, is the problem that this quote came from a site that no longer exists. When you say I should provide a link, I was under the impression that it was against the rules here to provide a link to other sites that discuss the same subjects that are on TN. Would you have me break the rules?

The only reason that Matthew's earlier posts were not deleted here, is that the moderators were warned ahead of his last......time out.

I was unsure if Matthew kept a copy of that post when he deleted it, so thought he might like a copy. It does relate to what we have been discussing. If you think I should remove it, I will be happy to do so.

Respectfully,

Joe Ribaudo (Cactusjumper)

 

[Matthew Roberts]

I received a request to mark on a topographic map the location of Roy Bradford's old camp in Deering Canyon, and to mark the site of the cave that Tex Barkley, Jeff Adams, Robles and Cline went to following Ruth's map/directions.
Al Reser took over Roy Bradford's camp in Deering Canyon after Bradford died in 1951.

The only map I have at this time is very old and dark and I apologize for that but it should be good enough to show the location.

The Red X is Bradford/Reser's camp in Deering Canyon.

The Red check mark is the (Approximate) area of the cave Barkley and the others went to.
This cave is in extremely rough and difficult terrain and there are some real dangers up there. Not a hike for the timid or the unprepared !

Matthew

 

[jeff of pa]

TH,

There is no longer a link to that quote. Beyond the fact that Matthew has deleted many, and in some cases all, of his posts on other forums, is the problem that this quote came from a site that no longer exists. When you say I should provide a link, I was under the impression that it was against the rules here to provide a link to other sites that discuss the same subjects that are on TN. Would you have me break the rules?

The only reason that Matthew's earlier posts were not deleted here, is that the moderators were warned ahead of his last......time out.

I was unsure if Matthew kept a copy of that post when he deleted it, so thought he might like a copy. It does relate to what we have been discussing. If you think I should remove it, I will be happy to do so.

Respectfully,

Joe Ribaudo (Cactusjumper)

Joe, in the future only post Quotes from TreasureNet and Preferably only from the thread in Question.
I believe this is an unwritten rule, that we feel we should enforce.
So technically I can't say you broke a rule but it's a gray area.

if someone says something on another forum that contradicts what they say here.
your allowed to contact them via pm, and question them.
but if they get defensive , back down. don't give them ammo to report the post as
an attack
I'm going to leave the posts, & step back since TreasureHunter already moderated here.

 

[deducer]

View attachment 1459651

I received a request to mark on a topographic map the location of Roy Bradford's old camp in Deering Canyon, and to mark the site of the cave that Tex Barkley, Jeff Adams, Robles and Cline went to following Ruth's map/directions.
Al Reser took over Roy Bradford's camp in Deering Canyon after Bradford died in 1951.

The only map I have at this time is very old and dark and I apologize for that but it should be good enough to show the location.

The Red X is Bradford/Reser's camp in Deering Canyon.

The Red check mark is the (Approximate) area of the cave Barkley and the others went to.
This cave is in extremely rough and difficult terrain and there are some real dangers up there. Not a hike for the timid or the unprepared !

Matthew

Very interesting and thanks for sharing.

Definitely not a day hike- too much bushwhacking involved. No way you can get down from Peter's Mesa into Pistol Canyon to that area, from the Tortilla trailhead, have a look around, and be back by dark.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Catusjumper, do not post quotes that cannot be verified with a hot link to quote, there is no way to verify that is matthew's quote and not a made up or edited quote.

If quote is from another site why are you posting here to begin with and especially with out Matthew's permission other than to start trouble.

Sent from my P008 using Tapatalk

 

[azdave35]

Very interesting and thanks for sharing.

Definitely not a day hike- too much bushwhacking involved. No way you can get down from Peter's Mesa into Pistol Canyon to that area, from the Tortilla trailhead, have a look around, and be back by dark.

can you still drive from highway 88 all the way to the tortilla trailhead?....years ago you could with 4wd but there were some stairsteps you had to deal with...did they ever fix those?

 

[cactusjumper]

TH,

I understand what you are saying. My source was one of his best friends, Greg Davis. He provided copies of posts to many of us, years ago. It's possible that someone faked that entire post, just to discredit Matthew. Does Matthew deny writing it? I assume someone must have complained. If he denies it's a post he wrote and requests that I remove it, it will be done. The entire post simply reflects what he is writing today, except there us more detail in the 1980 post.

I still have Mr. Davis' email telling us how to get the copies of the posts from the defunct site. Many others have that email as well.

I will abide by whatever you say.

Respectfully,

Joe Ribaudo (Cactusjumper)

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Joe, I believe both Jeff and I were clear. Only quotes from TreasureNet forums, no quotes without hot link to the quote in question. When I see a quote with out a hotlink it is a red flag.

Sent from my P008 using Tapatalk

 

[cactusjumper]

Curious, what part of Matthew's story goes against the "accepted facts"? What are the "accepted facts" of the Ruth story?

deducer,

You may be correct. It could be that there are no "facts" despite every writer on the story has repeated what Sims Ely first wrote. There is no guarantee that what has been written by every researcher in the last 64 years is fact. Since there is no evidence, I have seen, I will wait to see if their is verifiable documentation for what has been presented.

The fact is, there has been manufactured "historical" evidence provided by people who make it up as they go along. That should give us all pause. At least a short pause.

In this case, I happen to believe what Matthew has posted.

Good luck,

Joe

 

[deducer]

can you still drive from highway 88 all the way to the tortilla trailhead?....years ago you could with 4wd but there were some stairsteps you had to deal with...did they ever fix those?

UTV and 4 wheelers with high ground clearances are still able to get all the way to the trailhead. Saw a jeep last time I was out there. I did see a big rock stained with transmission oil though, so I guess it's not guaranteed.

 

[deducer]

deducer,

You may be correct. It could be that there are no "facts" despite every writer on the story has repeated what Sims Ely first wrote. There is no guarantee that what has been written by every researcher in the last 64 years is fact. Since there is no evidence, I have seen, I will wait to see if their is verifiable documentation for what has been presented.

The fact is, there has been manufactured "historical" evidence provided by people who make it up as they go along. That should give us all pause. At least a short pause.

In this case, I happen to believe what Matthew has posted.

Good luck,

Joe

You are speaking in very general terms, so it's hard to see what you're getting at.

But if you're questioning the Ruth-Morse connection, there does appear to be hard evidence of that.

If anyone can get their hands on the Phoenix Gazette from July 10, 1931, on page 5 there is a blurb mentioning that a certain Mr. Adolph Ruth was staying at the Morse Ranch.

 

[cactusjumper]

You are speaking in very general terms, so it's hard to see what you're getting at.

But if you're questioning the Ruth-Morse connection, there does appear to be hard evidence of that.

If anyone can get their hands on the Phoenix Gazette from July 10, 1931, on page 5 there is a blurb mentioning that a certain Mr. Adolph Ruth was staying at the Morse Ranch.

deducer,

How else can you speak, other than in general terms when there is so little hard factual evidence? I have said, more than once, that I happen to believe Matthew's story. One newspaper article stating that Ruth stayed at the Morse Ranch once in 1931, is hardly overwhelming evidence for the rest of the story. Wouldn't you agree?

Circumstantially, the fact that the true story was covered up, makes one wonder if someone was being protected. You have Ruth coming to the Morse Ranch, being taken into the mountains by Morse employees, and Morse being an avid Dutch Hunter. That should, at the least, make for quite an investigation into those connected dots.

Good luck,

Joe

 

[cw0909]

You are speaking in very general terms, so it's hard to see what you're getting at.

But if you're questioning the Ruth-Morse connection, there does appear to be hard evidence of that.

If anyone can get their hands on the Phoenix Gazette from July 10, 1931, on page 5 there is a blurb mentioning that a certain Mr. Adolph Ruth was staying at the Morse Ranch.

says Adolph Ruth, received mail there, i have Q about that, how close is
the c. r. morse ranch to the u ranch.
weird to me c.r. morse didnt know the driver
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb...Newspaper, Arizona Republic - Summer 1931.pdf

Dr. Vincent Ruth, son stayed @ c.r. morse ranch
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.../Newspaper, Phoenix Gazette - Summer 1931.pdf

one other thing cant find now, but read in the link that i think a sheriff
said Adolph Ruth, died where they found his remains,as the depression
impression was still visible (not verbatim), i find that hard to believe
mt winds/summer/fall/winter, and only skeleton remains
The Adolph Ruth Story