deducer,
You are on the right trail.
There are those who will say the account Walter Gassler gave of Tex Barkley finding Ruth on Peters Mesa and moving his body is not true. That either Tex or Walter lied, or both.
But consider this. When Tex told this story to Walter he not only implicated himself, he implicated the man who helped him move Ruth's body (Tom Dickens).
And consider that Tom Dickens was alive and well and available to Gassler when Tex told the story to Walter.
Had the story not been true, Barkley might have implicated himself, but surely not another person who was still alive.
Best,
Matthew
Matthew
If Tex moved the body , then there could be another twist of the Ruth's death .
Let's look on what happened from the day one of Ruth's quest in that summer :
- June 13 , 1931 Purnell and Keenan leaded Ruth at his camp at Williw Spring in West Boulder Canyon
- After few days , Purnell and Keenan , on a sheduled visit to Ruth's camp , realized how Ruth is missed few days from his camp , maybe one or two days after his arriving .
- Purnell and Keenan went to Cal Morse ranch and told the bad news .
- Cal Morse called the Maricopa sheriff , maybe because believed ( could Ruth told him what he would do ) Ruth followed the conyons floor ( to avoid a tedious hike ) from West Boulder Canyon into Needle Canyon .
- Also Cal Morse contacted Ruth family for the bad news .
- Ruth family gave a recompense for those who would find Ruth in any condition , so there could been more parties which would search for Ruth . In one of these parties was Tex with other ranchers and the Maricopa sheriff's right hand .
- Ruth's skull was found in December 11 ,1931 , at the north side and close to the junction of Dutcman's trail with Bull Pass trail .
- Ruth's remains were found in January 8 , 1932 , in a Black Top Mesa south eastern side arroyo , close to the Needle Canyon .
Now , i will use the logic to write my opinion . And the questions which arise are :
- When found the time Tex and Tom to go alone in the mountains and to find so quicly the Ruth's body ?
- How they took the risk to move the body ( which should have started a decomposition ) to an area about 2 miles afar on very frequent traveled trails ? There could been people who would been looking for Ruth .
- Why they didn't leave the body on the trail to be easy find , and left it more than 100 feet afar from the trail in a brushy place ? Was this an act to perform a more decomposition of Ruth's body which would result the lost of evidence of body's moving to another place ?
After these questions , some conclusions arise too :
- If Tex told the truth to Gassler , then is more possible Tex or Tom to have killed Ruth before Ruth's missing was announced ,because after the announcment all the eyes would been on all who played a role in Ruth's saga .
- The motivation how they moved the body to keep the cows grazing area afar from treasure hunters , is a cheap one IMO . They could hide/bury the body in a crevace and nobody would find Ruth forever . But if they were so humanists and wanted Ruth's body to be found even in another place , this would stand up if Tex would moved the body and after that he would claimed Ruth's body finding in the last place . So he could take the reward and the fame . Why did they keep the Ruth's body location secret ? Maybe because was too soon to claim it , in the time frame when all believed/knew Ruth was still alive and searching ?
Have a good Sunday
