Just passing through some of the threads out of curiosity and found this one in which our quintessant master of exotica, Vandoo, posted this fascinating entry and I entirely missed it!
It is always amazing how some threads seem to take on a life of thier own, and digressions and deviations, very much like conversations in groups, sedgeway into many topics.
While worlds away and having seemingly little direct relation to gunfighters notching guns, Vandoo has nicely added this completely intriguing example of 'tallying' and its very pertinant application in this often inherent human trait in certain circumstances.
In reading this and the mention of the mystery of the Rockefeller disappearance, I remember this well from the times, and this was a key topic for media as it was centered in a curious fascination with exotic ethnography that had become popular.
The area of Papua, or West New Guinea, a province in the Indonesian archipelago, also known as Dutch New Guinea, had been the location for a French-Dutch expedition in 1958-59 studying some the tribal peoples there.
The expedition had produced a documentary titled "The Sky Above, the Mud Below", which had won an academy award in 1961, further fueling the public's interest in native tribal art. It seems the title of this documentary became almost a cliche' in following years as the words always come to mind in that parlance.
November 17,1961 was the date that Michael Rockefeller disappeared, as he and several others had separated from the Peabody expedition that had been there focused on the Dani tribe. Rockefeller had sought to go more into the Asmat region, as noted the tribes here known for fantastic woodcarving and art, and the subject of the documentary. These people were still in these times known for headhunting and cannabalism, and apparantly a Dutch patrol had killed several tribesmen in 1958, just three years before. This was near the Otsjanep village where Michael would probably have come ashore when thier dugout overturned.
The rest is as described by Vandoo, and it is known that Rockefellers mother commissioned investigations with substantial rewards to find closure in the mysterious case. It is believed several skulls were brought back, which it is speculated might have belonged to the unfortunate Michael and party, but these details have never been disclosed.
At least my curiosity is satisfied and as always, Vandoo, thanks for the great adventure!!! His writings are like the wonderful classic adventure movies which travelled through the intriguing and exciting exotica in those high times of the 20's and 30's...very much like the early Tarzan movies!!
Outstanding,
All best regards,
Jim
PS . regarding the notching back in America's wild west, in researching for another thread, found notes on a relatively little known figure about a curious 'wanna be' gunfighter called Russian Bill (William Tannenbaum). This mysterious person had carved 4 notches in his peacemaker, apparantly for effect, and made an 'entrance' into Tombstone about 1880. His ambitious and somewhat theatrical impersonation of the Wild West as perceived in his native Russia, ended up with him at the end of a very real rope November 9, 1881 in Shakespeare, New Mexico. His claims to be of Russian noble birth remain a mystery.
The illustration is of the local 'restaurant' where his charade ended in Shakespeare, New Mexico. Rather poignant for this apparantly well versed in literature and classics person.