Originally Posted by TEGlover View Post
Gentlemen,
As there has been some discussion as to just where Adolph Ruth stayed I thought the below might be of intrest.
I've been doing some filing waiting for a delivery and I came across the six page document that Jim Bark wrote in 1931 about what he had discovered about Adolph Ruth from a trip(s) to Arizona. Jim was living in Southern California at the time. The start of the letter is below. I have posted it as it has new tid-bit or two, and it sheds light on just where Ruth was headed, and where it seems he stayed.
"Oct. 1931
This is the story of Ruth as far as I have dug the facts to date.
Ruth came to the Half Circle-U ranch situated on the south side of the Superstition Mts. in Pinal County, Arizona. On may 10th 1931. A man by the name of Mc Knight had driven the car with he and Ruth in it from Washington D. C. to the Cal Morris filling station at the junction of the Florence and Superior highways, about twenty miles south of the U Ranch. McKnight said that he could not go any further, as he did not know where the Superstition Mountains were. Much less where there was any camping place, or any roads leading from the main highway . Morris said he knew where the U ranch house was, and he thought Ruth could camp there. As all trails leading over into the Superstitions Mts. started from the Ranch. Ruth asked Morris if he would drive him to the house. Morris said he would and McKnight continued on his way to the state of Washington wither he was bound. It appeared that while Ruth owned the car, he could not drive it. ...."
TE Glover
Matthew,
This Jim Bark document from 1931 seems to be at direct odds with your account concerning the Ruth/Cal Morris connection. If the letter is authentic, and I believe it is, it marks Jim Bark as lying about what took place. It's hard to imagine that he just forgot what happened. What's your opinion on this matter?
Thanks,
Joe Ribaudo
cactusjumper,
I don't believe Jim Bark lied and his letter does not mark him as lying about what took place. I don't know why you would jump to that conclusion.
Bark does not say he was there and witness to the events and we know he wasn't. He states he dug into the matter and this is what he learned. Learned from who ? A reliable source, someone who was there or someone else who was not there and just heard the account from someone else? We don't know, Bark doesn't say who provided the story.
I don't believe Bark lied, I believe he told the account exactly the way it was told to him.
If I told you I had learned from someone that a space ship landed in Apache Junction and Abraham Lincoln got out and gave a speech you would call me a liar. But I'm not lying, I'm telling the story exactly as it was told to me. There's a difference and a distinction between the two things, the event and the account as told to me. That is what happened with Bark. He asked about what went on and someone who did not know the story, gave him the information. You cannot assume that the person Bark heard the account from was present and an eye witness to the events and in this case that person certainly was not.
So many things are wrong about the account Bark gives. Things that appear in the newspapers and Sheriff's investigation.
1.---- Ruth didn't arrive on the 10th of May he arrived on the 13th.
2.---- a man named "McKnight" didn't drive Ruth from Washington D.C. .... McKnight was Tex Barkleys nephew (Barkley's mother was living with her family in Mesa, her maiden name was McKnight).
3.---- The name of the man who owned the filling station was not Cal Morris, it was Collins Morse.
4.---- Bark stated "Morris" said all trails into the Superstitions started from the Half Circle U ranch. Not true, First Water, Tortilla Ranch and a trail just east of the U ranch were well known trails into the mountains.
5.---- Morris (actually Collins Morse) did not drive Ruth to the U ranch.
6.---- Bark said, "Ruth owned the car, he could not drive it ...... Not true, Ruth was able to drive the car.
Jim Bark did not lie or forget, he just was a victim of some very bad information.
Matthew
