Presenting for February 12, 2012 THE NEW! DROMGOOLE’S

P.Y.M.™ PUZZLER REMATCH of the MILLENIUM

READ THE FINE PRINT

WHAT’S HIDING IN THIS PICTURE – SUPPORTED BY R.E.D. ALERTTM ??

But First .. !!!!®

IN THE NEWS !!

AN UNPRECEDENTED EVENT OF HISTORIC PROPORTIONS marking a probable shift in the (otherwise) evolutionary trajectory of mankind, has occurred –appropriately enough -- in the course of running our recent (last week’s) MATCH OF THE MILLENIUM Puzzler: but is it a forward evolutionary movement? Tremors were felt across the Galaxy – seismo-galactic tremors ! — as the Puzzler vs. Gargle head-to-head got underway… If you were already a regular subscriber, you may have caught Last Week’s match-up: if you didn’t you experienced the reverberations in the depths of your being, but were clueless, as the P.Y.M. TM Puzzler, engaged the universal data spit-sink Gargle !!! (February 5, 2011: >>>)

And we won!!!

Or so we thought. However, alas, as you may have seen: little did we know, our hard-fought victory was wrenched from our grasp even before the ink was dry on last week’s issue: in particular, AN ERROR WAS DETECTED in that P.Y.M. Puzzler by the software referenced & downloaded last week: indeed, unbeknownst to us. when we relayed last week’s Puzzler from our interim outpost at Puzzler S.F. back to the Globe offices in New York, for final processing, some clerk -- inadvertently it appears -- activated the free trial download of the R.E.D. Alert software, which immediately began scanning last week’s issue, even before it was released. Good grief … However, the issue was printed before the R.E.D. Alert had finished running and generated and output the correct answer, which was – much to our chagrin and distress – the conventional “616,000 hits in .23 seconds” answer regurgitated by Gargle -- namely that the painter of the subject oil, THE TRAPPER’S LAST SHOT was, indeed, William Tylee Ranney. Crazy, no?

An error at the Puzzler? Following publication of last week’s issue with a first-ever ERROR, thanks to error-detecting, error-correcting support by R.E.D. Alert, E.G.S. LaRue Al-Harouche was on suicide watch a Bethesda Naval Hospital during Monday and Tuesday – let’s face it, he has a number of things to deal with lately. This new distraction appears to have discouraged him from his OCD thing about replacing me. The other reason appears to be my own unique relationship with Ass. Dr. of Cryptobiology Stephanie Beckon --whom Al-Rahouche has been trying to contact on her cell, since being released from the ward Tuesday evening, as ( in view of this latest development) not only the only likely candidate for perpetuating the P.Y.M. (as the re-nominated S.Y.M.) but also as already a de facto CONTRIBUTING EDITOR to the Puzzler, and as the personage destined by proven unique competence, to lead the Youngster Membership (Y.M.) – leaderless since the deadly murder of P. So I am hearing anyway. And, indeed, who else?

Stephie: please stay out of the hills and within cell-phone range !!!

Yet so far without success …. I’m sure I gave him the right number, but as you Players may recall, Ass. Dr. Beckon has been driving her little red Porsche hither and yon through the Oregon Coast range, up to Mapleton, from Alsea to Philomath, from Scappoose to Pittsburg: much of it in territory not accessible by cellular signal. See her letter in Where is the Lost Legend of the Lost Frenchman’s Lost Ledge? ( January 8, 2012).

MEANWHILE, as to our answer that THE TRAPPER”S LAST SHOT is the work of John Mix Stanley, who encountered Joe Meek early in the year 1849, as Meek – messenger from the Republic of Oregon to the Congress of the United States in Washington City – made his way east past Henry’s Lake to the headwaters of the Missouri, near the Idaho-Montana border: well, this answer has failed the error- detecting, error- correcting scrutiny of the R.E.D. Alert program. I ginned it up !! The evidences I adduced are only circumstantial !!

In addition, we received a letter from a reader – and now a Player – who further substantiated Dr. Beckon’s conclusions, and did so with such irrefutable proof that I can only accept the defeat in the equanimity requisite of any professional. That letter follows:

WHAT’S HIDING IN THIS PICTURE – SUPPORTED BY R.E.D. ALERTTM??

FROM THE MAILBAG

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY !

PROVEN SOFTWARE! GENIUS

Ass. Dr. Beckon … VINDICATED !! Dear P.Y.M. Puzzler and Mr. Dromgoole:

I found a copy of your latest thing … what is it exactly? a newspaper? .. it was hidden in a rack of gnarly old magazines in the W.C. at the stables where I was on a call to treat a mare for prolapsed uterus …

I could not help but notice in the images you printed, of The Trapper’s Last Shot a critical detail or two that unequivocally commends the identification of Ass. Dr. Stephanie Beckon while destroying your own position -- and let me say it: totally.

Dr. Beckon, had stated in her letter to you – which I commend you for printing, seemingly in its entirety, that “(1) The missing caption to the "The Trapper's Last Shot" reads: "What the ____?!" AND (2) The horse is transfixed by watching fresh water carp milling about its feet, [sic]”. Given that these statements are made by an expert whose credentials are in Cryptobiology: a struggling and nascent science, but not a strict veterinary science: and by this I mean she is probably palpating

jackalopes and doing autopsies on dead Sasqautch, in her dreams -- it was nevertheless correct in calling attention to the eye of the Trapper’s horse. Likewise in identifying the subtitle of the image as “What the ___?!” -- although it has to be understood that this is the unspoken reaction of the horse, and not the sentiment of the rider, that is so captioned.

To put a point on it, the EYE OF THE HORSE holds the critical key to identification of the painter of the original painting, and vindicates Dr. Beckon: NOTE that the expothalmos on the horse is dramatic (I claim veterinary credentials) and this protrusion, while obvious in the original oil painting, is more pronounced or at least obvious in the engraving by T. Dwight Hunt – as seen from these enlargements of images from my copy of the Puzzler:

While Beckon was correct in calling attention to the eye of the horse, I am unable to concur, that the horse was actually looking at carp in the water. See below. However, what I can say, Dr. Beckon also correctly highlighted the cause of this enlargement in her letter to you: under the heading … ““BUT, BUT”, where she stated:

“Critics of Ranney's "The Trapper's Last Shot" have raised concern about the two "rump views." The horse's rear and the trapper's netherside are both prominently displayed front and center in this image. Those who take a kinder view of Ranney's art are quick to point out that the rear-end elements momentarily divert the viewer from the crazed look in the trapper's eye….” And this is A KEY POINT!!! from Horses Ass. Dr. Beckon, because …

“THE CRITICAL FACT IS, that the enlargement of the expothalmus is attributable to the crupper which has just lifted the tail and cinched down on the tender perineal area, by the turning of the rider in his saddle! In other words …

As the Trapper turns to take aim at the pursuing Blackfeet Indians, he shifts his weight – predominantly carried in his posterior or “netherside” as Beckon states, which is thrust out to “starboard,” causing a sideways slip and some torqueing movement in the saddle, bringing the functionality of the crupper into play – pulling it, and causing a certain amount of alarm or surprise for the Trapper’s mount:

The horse, aka “Black Beauty” turns it head around, ears forward, showing the now significantly enlarged eye. However, here, Prof. Beckon was not entirely correct: for the horse is not looking at carp, but at the Trapper’s rump. Now, taking the horse’s cue, and examining the crupper strap, or backstrap, following it along the rump of the horse, the viewer is now encouraged to examine the “vanishing point” of the strap, under the trapper’s bedroll which is noticeably monogrammed with the letter “R” – somewhat hidden under a shadow cast by his left arm -- suggesting “RANNEY.” Not Stanley. Who says Ranney didn’t know his American west?!

At this point the viewer is inclined to examine more carefully, other components of tack, and in so doing his own eye will soon find the painter’s name worked into the leather of the back of the trapper’s saddle: W. RANNEY – not RAMMEY – a detail which thus definitively answers your Puzzler for January 27, which you erroneously answered last week, Feb 5. The painting was evidently executed in 1850, as the number “50” follows the artist’s name:

William Tylee Ranney ‘50 However, despite this error, nevertheless, as a vet and a horse lover, please accept my subscription to the P.Y.M. Puzzler. Check enclosed to you at pympuzzler@rocketmail.com

(signed) Bathsheba Clue, D.V.M Pirouette, Montana

Gargle WINS: THE PUZZLER’S UNPRECEDENTED RETRACTION

IT CANNOT BE HELPED and it cannot be avoided. And there’s little to be gained by stalling. And yet, for us – for me personally, still your Editor, despite the activation of the Riddle R.E.D. Alert software which has bested me, Dr. Beckon’s confident judgment, and the proof positive offered by Dr. Bathsheba Clue -- to admit a published ERROR at the P.Y.M. Puzzler, is like the ground dissolving beneath my very feet – and that, following so closely upon the kidnapping and death of P.: the stars falling from the sky. Because:

1847-1848: John Mix Stanley had been in Oregon City that same year, and left town for the inland territory in late 1847, witnessing the immediate aftermath of Whitman massacre at Waiilatpu in November of that year; encountered Meek who was on his way to Washington, etc.etc. during serious skirmishes with Blackfeet Indians: and executed at least two known (but lost) paintings of Meek while on this overland exploration. as outlined in his own Smithsonian catalogue for 1852, Portraits of North American Indians, with Sketches of Scenery (1852) [Gargle Book]. Stanley listed three paintings under “BLACKFOOT” in his catalogue, the first one, No. 59, he writes “THE FLIGHT OF THE MOUNTAIN TRAPPER from a Band of Black-Foot Indians depicts an incident in the life of Capt. Joe Meek … Then, No. 60 THE TRAPPER’S ESCAPE, “Joe is seen in the middle ground of the picture, waving his gun in exultation at his lucky escape.” Finally, THE TRAPPER’S LAST SHOT, attributed to Stanley by Francis Fuller Victor, in Eleven Years in the Rocky Mountains [Gargle Book] so closely to ties in with these pieces from the (former) Stanley corpus (much of it consumed by the flames in the Smithsonian fire of 1865), and her story seemed .. so plausible!!!! See pp. 228-231.

“Just before getting clear of this entanglement, Meek became the subject of another picture, by Stanley, who was viewing the battle from the heights above the valley. The picture which is well known as “The Trapper’s Last Shot,” represents him as he turned upon his horse, a fine spirited animal, to discharge his last shot at an Indian pursuing, while in the bottom, at a little distance away, to other Indians are seen skulking in the tall, reedy grass.” p. 231.

NOT SO: This is hard … I’m used to having P. to blame for these things. But let’s get it over with! Gargle wins. THE TRAPPER’S LAST SHOT is Just a Romanticized Image of a Generic Mountain-man atop a Generic Horse

Standing in High Water of a Generic River in Flood – Somewhere -- Preparing to Take Aim at Generic Indians

R.E.D. ALERT TM Software. We’ve got your back.

THE TRAPPER’S LAST SHOT: R.E.D. ALERT William Tylee Ranney

Eaux Que …. WHAT’S HIDDEN IN THIS PICTURE?

Oregon City, Oregon, 1848 John Mix Stanley

LAST WEEK the Puzzler presented this painting by J.M. Stanley, rendering of Oregon City on the Willamette River. The painting shows the City from the bluffs overlooking the river valley, looking south, with the Willamette Falls upriver, in the distance. It’s the first week of August, 1848. By the angle of the shadows, it’s probably about 10:00 o’clock a.m.

The Puzzler observed that, “From this distance, you can barely hear the sound of someone hollering in downtown Oregon City – cries, repeated cries, that rise into the windy silence of the August morning, breaking the total tranquility. But, strain your ears as you might, you can’t quite make out what they’re saying …”

But, perhaps if you could get closer ….

Images courtesy the Museum of the Oregon Territory (MOOT)

Incidentally, from here, you can see the Cayuse Indian dwellings – wickiups – on Moore’s Island in the background of the detail above (preceding page), << and also at the extreme left of the island, beetling into the falls, captured with just a few of Stanley’s brush-strokes, the rickety-looking scaffolding – fishing platforms -- from which they took their catch: a timeless tradition still persisting in 1848, though Oregon City was laid out and incorporated in 1843. But with the press of American immigration, and the insatiable greed of the whites -- how long would it persist?

But the detail and the event that last week’s Puzzler asked you to locate, was the presence of an oceangoing vessel tied up at the docks just downriver from McLaughlin’s mill, with its masts and sails overtopping the roofs of the houses of Oregon City, next to a boom crane for unloading cargo: this is the Ship of Mystery.

What did it bring to Oregon City in August of 1848 ? And what did it take away…. Much of it, forever?

THAT’S NEXT WEEK!!! We’re out of room in this issue.

A SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

As part of the ongoing investigation into P’s death, the F.B.I. has asked, and the O.M.I.G.O.d. has authorized the dispatch of one of our senior research staffers (name withheld at this time) to the National Archives (NARA) both in downtown D.C. and at the College Park campus, with a pit-stop in legislative/textual, to look into documentation from the Oregon G.L.O. during the tenures of the first two Oregon Surveyors General, Charles King Gardiner and Jonathan B. Preston, (Drawer No. 49), as well correspondence of and cartographical work performed by the G.L.O.-Worm himself: Charles S. Frailey,

Our P.Y.M. Puzzler researcher – and YOURS TOO – leaves this week!!

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