Oklahoma and Arkansas have interesting, sometimes violent histories. History isn’t dead or dull; it is part of where we are today and how we came to be this way, and it’s fun to go exploring, backward, into the lives and times of those who lived and died before us.
Just across the state line in Oklahoma is an old courthouse, a beautiful spring house, lovely grounds, and a lonely graveyard. The cemetery is a small plot, surrounded by a zig-zag wood fence like the ones my grandfather built at Etta Bend. But, those headstones tell a story. One such story is a sad one about a man named A. J. Colvard. He died a violent and useless death at the hands of two outlaws. On his stone is carved his poignant last request, Take Care of My Children. I hope that plea, that wish, was honored and his children were well cared for after he passed on.
Photo by Missy Day Albrecht
True stories like this are the raw material from which fictional mysteries are spun. A writer takes a kernel of historical fact and builds a story that exists only in her own mind. I don’t know if the men who murdered Mr. Colvard were caught and punished in this life; I don’t know what kind of person he was nor what he looked like, but I can add some “what ifs” and there’s a cozy mystery!
Uncle Javin had a last request too, in Moonlight Can Be Murder. It was a strange plea, and Ned didn’t know what it meant. “Rose. Find it, Nettie. Important.”
It made no sense to Ned then, but by the end of the story, she understood. And, nearly lost her life.
History, mystery, fascinating facts and fantastic fabrications. They are worth exploring.
Manos Mysteries
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