Harry's Uncle Remus

[jmp45]

Got this from a friend, this can't be true...

Judy Wallman, a professional genealogy researcher in southern California, was doing some personal work on her own family tree. She discovered that Congressman Harry Reid's great-great uncle, Remus Reid, was hanged for horse stealing and train robbery in Montana in 1889. Both Judy and Harry Reid share this common ancestor.

The only known photograph of Remus shows him standing on the gallows in Montana territory.

http://4thst8.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/hang-reid-too1.jpg

On the back of the picture Judy obtained during her research is this inscription: 'Remus Reid, horse thief, sent to Montana Territorial Prison 1885, escaped 1887, robbed the Montana Flyer six times. Caught by Pinkerton detectives, convicted and hanged in 1889.'

So Judy recently e-mailed Congressman Harry Reid for information about their great-great uncle. Harry Reid.


Believe it or not, Harry Reid's staff sent back the following biographical sketch for her genealogy research:

"Remus Reid was a famous cowboy in the Montana Territory. His business empire grew to include acquisition of valuable equestrian assets and intimate dealings with the Montana railroad. Beginning in 1883, he devoted several years of his life to government service, finally taking leave to resume his dealings with the railroad. In 1887, he was a key player in a vital investigation run by the renowned Pinkerton Detective Agency. In 1889, Remus passed away during an important civic function held in his honor when the platform upon which he was standing collapsed."

[Adam_s]

The usual caveat applies. "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is."

http://www.snopes.com/politics/humor/horsethief.asp

Just sayin'
-Adam

[jmp45]

Humorous never the less..

[m4fun]

Is this being published in his local paper - this just posted:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/30/publisher-accuses-reid-bullying-nevada-newspaper/


Publisher Accuses Reid of 'Bullying' Nevada Newspaper
The publisher of the Las Vegas Review-Journal says Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told his advertising director he wants the newspaper "out of business."

The publisher of the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Sunday accused Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, of "bullying" his newspaper by telling an employee he wants the Review-Journal shut down.

Sherman Frederick alleged in a column in his newspaper that the "full-on threat" was made during a brief exchange between Reid and the newspaper's advertising director Wednesday at a luncheon for the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce.

Frederick said that as Reid shook the employee's hand, he said, "I hope you go out of business."

While acknowledging that his newspaper does not always see "eye to eye with him on matters of politics," Frederick noted that ad director Bob Brown has "nothing to do with news coverage" or opinion pages.

It's unclear whether Reid's comment was meant in jest. A representative for Reid could not be reached for a response.

But Frederick apparently did not take it lightly.

"Such behavior cannot go unchallenged. You could call Reid's remark ugly and be right. It certainly was boorish. Asinine? That goes without saying," he wrote. "But to fully capture the magnitude of Reid's remark (and to stop him from doing the same thing to others) it must be called what it was -- a full-on threat perpetrated by a bully who has forgotten that he was elected to office to protect Nevadans, not sound like he's shaking them down."

In excoriating him, Frederick referenced Reid's upcoming 2010 election -- which a recent poll published by the Review-Journal shows is a tough race for the powerful incumbent senator.

"No citizen should expect this kind of behavior from a U.S. senator. It is certainly not becoming of a man who is the majority leader in the U.S. Senate. And it absolutely is not what anyone would expect from a man who now asks Nevadans to send him back to the Senate for a fifth term," he wrote. "So today, we serve notice on Sen. Reid that this creepy tactic will not be tolerated."

[Rider79]

I met him once at a fundraising event at work. He was nice and polite, but gave me the impression of a grandfather who wasn't really all there anymore.