Identified! ID - Dubois, WhtMale Skeletal UP13310, Buffalo Cave, Aug 1979 - 1870-1916 Joseph Henry Loveless

[JovanSrna]

This is quite a humbling experience in a way.
The man was older than the state of Utah.
He lived and died in a world that is no longer contained in living memory except perhaps in glimpses in the minds of supercentenarians.
His first set of remains was discovered before DNA became part of criminal investigations.
The case was solved in the digital age, an age that would have been the stuff of science fiction literature for his contemporaries.
All the people he knew are long gone, including the law enforcement of his time. Amazingly enough, he has a living grandson to witness the conclusion of this century long saga. What a story!

 

[Reasonable & Just]

This is quite a humbling experience in a way.
The man was older than the state of Utah.
He lived and died in a world that is no longer contained in living memory except perhaps in glimpses in the minds of supercentenarians.
His first set of remains was discovered before DNA became part of criminal investigations.
The case was solved in the digital age, an age that would have been the stuff of science fiction literature for his contemporaries.
All the people he knew are long gone, including the law enforcement of his time. Amazingly enough, he has a living grandson to witness the conclusion of this century long saga. What a story!

Very well said, and very much in keeping with the signature phrase at the bottom of your post!

 

[ReadySet]

Great summary.

Ironic that the place the person who killed Joseph thought would keep his secret forever, ended up preserving the secret to span the generations.

I can visualize the movie, called "Buffalo Caves." The 87 year old grandson discovers a part of his family history as the story is told with the caves as the consistent "character."

This is quite a humbling experience in a way.
The man was older than the state of Utah.
He lived and died in a world that is no longer contained in living memory except perhaps in glimpses in the minds of supercentenarians.
His first set of remains was discovered before DNA became part of criminal investigations.
The case was solved in the digital age, an age that would have been the stuff of science fiction literature for his contemporaries.
All the people he knew are long gone, including the law enforcement of his time. Amazingly enough, he has a living grandson to witness the conclusion of this century long saga. What a story!

 

[GJKJR]

It makes you appreciate just HOW well preserved the body was, going from a presumed PM of 6 months to 5 years to 60+ years...just WOW.

Oh, definitely. The fact that the body was so well-preserved that the PMI was undershot by about 12x at the upper limit is crazy, guess it had the perfect conditions for it.

 

[Liv27]

Can’t help but think that Agnes’ family got justice their own way. Does anyone know how old their children were when she was killed?

I think their son, Claude, was around 8-9.

 

[ReadySet]

Oh, he was bootlegger and a counterfeiter.

Dismembered body in Idaho cave is bootlegger, murderer slain in 1916

 

[Blurgle]

He was born a year after DNA was discovered, and died decades before anyone knew what DNA was.

 

[TmmEye]

This is heartbreaking. I actually found out today Henry’s ex-wife, Harriet, was my 10th cousin 4 times removed. I found Henry’s obituary with it.

 

[TmmEye]

This is heartbreaking. I actually found out today Henry’s ex-wife, Harriet, was my 10th cousin 4 times removed. I found Henry’s obituary with it.View attachment 223030

It also listed his presumed killer, Walter Calrins.

 

[crazyrabbitlady]

I think its ironic that several places list Walter Calrins had his murderer yet it was one of his aliases.

It also listed his presumed killer, Walter Calrins.

 

[crazyrabbitlady]

Did Agnes have any siblings? I feel this as a retaliation murder, taking away his "ID" at the time, aka head.

 

[Reasonable & Just]

Did Agnes have any siblings? I feel this as a retaliation murder, taking away his "ID" at the time, aka head.

Morbid, but I wonder if an ax was used as it was on her. I know they said the cuts were clean and precise, and I suppose someone with strong and steady arms could do that with an immobilized victim.

 

[ReadySet]

Headless torso found in Idaho cave identified as bootlegger

Loveless's second wife, Agnes Octavia Caldwell Loveless, had been murdered on May 5, 1916, by a man named Walt Cairns, according to news articles and a wanted poster created by local law enforcement at the time.

But according to another local news article on Agnes' funeral, one of her children said that it was his father in jail for the murder, not Walt Cairns. The child also remarked that his dad would be escaping soon because he never stayed in jail long.

 

[TmmEye]

According to this, Joseph was dragged to death under his horses. I guess someone dismembered his body to avoid them identifying him. That’s disgusting.

 

[inmyhumbleopinion]

Did Agnes have any siblings? I feel this as a retaliation murder, taking away his "ID" at the time, aka head.

According to “Find A Grave,” her parents had 10 children (six of them are listed on the linked page); her mother also had two children from her first marriage. It appears that both her parents were still alive at the time of her murder : Agnes Caldwell Loveless (1880-1916) - Find A...

 

[Blurgle]

View attachment 223041
According to this, Joseph was dragged to death under his horses. I guess someone dismembered his body to avoid them identifying him. That’s disgusting.

I think that story might have been a red herring meant to stop people from asking where he was.

 

[TmmEye]

According to the known dates, Joseph committed the following crimes:
*Stopping a train to avoid jail time
*1st or 2nd degree murder
*Bootlegging

 

[Gardener1850]

This is so fascinating!

There is a different family story on FamilySearch that was added by a genealogist in 2013:

"Agnes Octavia Caldwell died 8 May 1916 at Idaho Falls, Idaho. Her husband, Henry, is said to have died at the same time. Both were killed by a deranged Indian looking for gold. Henry's body was never found. They were living on a ranch at Dubois, Idaho at that time, near Idaho Falls.*"

Life Sketch of Bernice Loveless

But then it has an * that says "Other sources verify that this wasn't how it happened."

 

[Gardener1850]

View attachment 223041
According to this, Joseph was dragged to death under his horses. I guess someone dismembered his body to avoid them identifying him. That’s disgusting.

I'm pretty sure that article is NOT about Joseph Henry Loveless. The initials are wrong (JJ), the location is wrong (Payson, Utah is over 300 miles away from Dubois, ID), the age of the dragging victim isn't quite right, and the date of that article is 1915-- a year before Agnes was killed. That clipping is linked to a different man in family trees: FamilySearch

MOO.

 

[Al Ka]

For non English speakers, what's bootlegging? Never heard that term.