Baby Marian - 1931

[Space Cowboy]

I’ve been reading back issues of Desert Magazine, and I just woke up from a most vivid dream of reading Jack and Choral Pepper’s first-hand account of the assassination of President Kennedy along the Colorado River, just north of Yuma, western side, by mortar fire. He was using a Doodlebug at the time.

Working past the excess eggnog, sugar cookies and gingerbread, in the December 1962 issue of Desert Magazine, page 28, Oren Arnold writes about the miracle of Baby Marian, found in a hat box just off Highway 60 between Superior and Mesa, Arizona, at roughly 8pm, December 24th, 1931. If this couple hadn't had a flat, she would have never been found. Oren contends it was front page news around the world. Baby Marian would be 78 today, if she celebrates her birthday on the day she was found. Anybody got anything on this? The article ends: "Now in the 1960s I checked-up on Marian. She was well and happy, a fine young woman leading a normal life. But again her mother asked, "Please never tell where she is or who she is."
I'll never tell."

Well, damn it, I wanna know. I googled and got nothing. Work with me, people. Where is Baby Marian, did anyone come up with an explanation for how she got out there? If she's dead, where is she buried?

Merry Christmas

[SteveS]

First-off, I can’t help you one bit. Wish I could. I’d never heard of that incident or Baby Marian, but I going to be looking at the Dec 1962 issue very soon.

I can’t recall the number of times I read and old magazine article and wondered about the outcome. I also can’t recall the number of times I found info about a past curiosity, while doing research about another subject.

A side note; I recall stopping at a Hot Spring between Gabbs and Rawhide NV, with lot’s of past work done, most of it looked to 50 plus years old. Since I didn’t have a name for the place (USGS maps labeled it ‘Hot Springs’), doing research didn’t go very far. Some time later while read thru a 1947 copy of Desert Magazine I found a write up about the about the place.

I don’t have a way to post attachments here, but if anyone is interested I can email them the pdf attachment, they can post the old Desert Magazine article about the Hot Springs. I don’t completely know all the legal stuff about posting someone else’s writings, so I guess it’s up to the Ramrod here at DesUSA.

[Space Cowboy]

Steves,

Just post the volume, year and page. While going through back issues, I came across two articles on the road we bought some land on. Great resource.

[Space Cowboy]

AHAHAHAH!

The Facts (Newspaper), Clute, Texas, January 4th 1989: Woman learns she was 'Hatbox Baby':

My mother didn't want me to find out. It was such a shock after all these years — I couldn't
believe that during all that time It had been kept from me...

Sharon Elliot

Spent most of her life in California, for some reason she decides to move to Mesa Arizona, and her mom was afraid someone there would know the truth and would tell her. She was something like 55 when her mom told her.

[Space Cowboy]

She was supposed to have been interviewed in the Mesa Tribune, which might be the East Valley Tribune today. They don't have an archive on-line, and the Mesa library system is back-logged for two months. Anybody in the Phoenix area that could fill in some blanks, I'd be appreciative.

[Space Cowboy]

Okay, the wonderful folks at the Arizona History and Archives Division Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records, got back to me in record time, and there is no obit record of anyone named Sharon Elliot in the appropriate age range that has died in the state of Arizona in the last ten years. This could mean she moved out of the state, that she died some time before 1990, the year range I selected, or she's not dead. Without the Mesa Tribune article on her in 1989, I may have hit an Internet Wall.

[SteveS]

Steves, Just post the volume, year and page.

It’s the Dec 1947 issue of Desert Magazine Pg 16

If go to these springs you will mainly find the left over remnants of trailers and some trash. If you walk around some you will find a lot of concrete work for pools and ditches, and lots of water. The one thing that has not changed since this article was written is the isolation of the area.

[Space Cowboy]

We should probably start another thread, but aren't you curious what happened to Mrs. M.R. Wedell? Did a quick search. No joy. Did you happen to look for the spot where the picture of the homestead was? The sides of the springs is cut so sharp, surely man-made. I imagine that's all caved in after 63 years. Did Shep greet you? Did you take pix?

[SteveS]

We should probably start another thread..

That may be a good idea.

but aren't you curious what happened to Mrs. M.R. Wedell?

Sure, but I still haven’t dug out the original article yet.

[Space Cowboy]

For some reason, that issue is online:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/2295476/19471 ... 7-December