Very little information has been given to the general public about Chub Anderson’s death. After a gravesite service attended by several dozen friends from his past Chub was quietly buried in a small cemetery. Many believe that he took the truth about who really killed E.C. Mullendore to the grave with him. The following story which ran in the Bartlesville Examiner Enterprise on May 4, 2011 includes a few details about his final resting place.
Down The Road with the Original Buffalo Dale
Welcome back. Those of you who have been following my column for the past six years will have read about trips to far off places, great fundraisers and dozens of interesting people. Stars like Tom Selleck and Ernest Bourgnine and local leaders like Bill Creel and Virgil Gaede have been equally interesting to me and I hope to my readers. I’ve also covered the unusual in my investigation of mutilated calves in New Mexico and interviews with a team of paranormal investigators from Salt Lake City.
With all that said, this week’s interview with professional C.S.I. investigator Gerry (for security I have to withhold his last name) who was in town on business last week, may top them all.
This “Cemetery Search Investigator” is for real. From the famous to family members, Gerry has performed searches for them all, helped with data provided by his wife Connie. Over the years, Gerry has carved a name for himself in this specific and little known field. As with all investigators, confidentiality is important in this man’s business and so the name of who he was working locally will have to remain a secret for now, sorry!
He did tell me that the famous outlaw Henry Starr is buried in the Dewey cemetery and also mentioned that he had been once been requested to locate the grave of Frank Phillips who is buried on the grounds of his beloved Woolaroc.
Another more recent case involved finding the final resting place of the outlaw Queen Belle Starr. It has been documented that Belle was born on February 5, 1845 and that she married for the first time at eighteen. Soon after she began a lawless life, running with the Jesse James and Cole Younger gangs. She died on February 3, 1889 and Gerry found out that she was killed by a shotgun blast to her back. Her murder remains unsolved but his client wanted to know where she was buried.
Dozens of interviews and miles of hiking chasing blind leads eventually brought him to Eufaula Dam. Gerry found Belle’s cabin located on what was known in those days as “Younger’s Bend” on the Canadian River. This was a well known hangout of the Younger gang in the 1880s and is near the present day town of Porum, Oklahoma.
It was difficult to find the cabin in the heavily wooded area about a mile below the dam but once he did, the rest was easy. Just 40 feet in front of the still standing rock foundation lies a small marker where Belle was shot and then buried, ending the life of one of the most colorful figures in Oklahoma history.
Jerry also told me about Arthur “Pretty Boy” Floyd who he located in Akins Cemetary near Sallisaw, Oklahoma. Pretty Boy, who was listed on the FBI’s Most Wanted list, was a bank robber and was eventually gunned down in a shootout with federal agents near Liverpool, Oklahoma.
Chub Anderson is another person whose grave he has been asked to identify and he stated that he is buried in a small cemetary west of Coffeyville, Kansas.
People have various reasons for hiring Gerry to seek out these final resting places and his record book of names and places is a document that I think should be preserved for future historians.
Till next time, I’ll see ya down the road….