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David Emery's Urban Legends Blog

By David Emery, About.com Guide to Urban Legends since 1997

The Real Truth About Harry Reid's Horse-Thieving Uncle

Monday January 12, 2009
Historical photo of the hanging of Black Jack Ketchum (circulating via email)
"Remus Reid, horse thief, sent to Montana Territorial Prison 1885, escaped 1887, robbed the Montana Flyer six times. Caught by Pinkerton detectives, convicted and hanged in 1889."

So reads the inscription allegedly found on the back of a vintage photo currently making the rounds showing a man about to be executed on the gallows. A public statement attributed to Sen. Harry Reid's staff acknowledges that his great-great uncle Remus "passed away during an important civic function held in his honor when the platform upon which he was standing collapsed."

Which, though amusing, is more than a little perplexing considering that another text circulating on the Internet claims that Hillary Rodham Clinton had a train-robbing, horse-thieving uncle named Remus, too — and he met exactly the same fate!

Read more...

Comments

January 12, 2009 at 3:31 pm
(1) James A. Landau says:

The photograph you show is of the hanging of a Wild West outlaw known as “Black Jack” Ketchum.
The photograph appears in, among other places, Horan and Sann _A Pictorial History of the Wild West_.
Ketchum was a minor member of the Wild Bunch, the Wild West gang whose most famous members were Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Ketchum’s hanging was unusual. Rather than breaking his neck as in the usual hanging, the noose managed to decapitate Ketchum. I have seen a photograph of Ketchum’s headless body that was taken immediately after the execution. (This photo may have appeared in Horan _Desperate Men 2nd edition_)

January 13, 2009 at 6:52 am
(2) Barack says:

The liberals fell down by not claiming this was a photo of Sarah Palin’s relative. They falsely accused her of everything else, why not this, too!

January 13, 2009 at 8:58 am
(3) Kevin says:

is it irony or hypocrisy or both with the author of this article claiming the Republicans are the ones doing the most spin in D.C.

I love how all these articles on this site are so pro-liberal and then they have the balls to say someone else is using spin.

January 13, 2009 at 3:36 pm
(4) urbanlegends says:

Kevin, methinks thou dost protest too much… and couldst benefit from reading a bit more carefully.

January 21, 2009 at 9:32 am
(5) Guinness says:

I am forever getting these convoluted stories from my Republican buddies. What’s really amusing is the audit trail of addresses and how many times it’s been circulated amongst their bretheren. I suppose some consider this to be the equivalent of comfort food – they know it’s quality is of questionable value – but it sure is satisfying.

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