They say the dead tell no tales but Hailey residents have long memories.
The mystery of the identity of one enigmatic character known only as "Long-haired George," may have been solved. But in solving that riddle, cemetery Clerk Steve Tompkins may have found another.
The Hailey Cemetery began providing a final resting place for townsfolk in 1873. A mining boom in the late 1800s drew prospectors from far and wide. Many of them were buried in Hailey.
Wood and paper markers that once marked the graves of Chinese workers and shopkeepers were destroyed in a brush fire in the 1930s. Another fire later swept portions of the town, destroying many of the cemetery's burial records.
It is hoped that ground-penetrating radar readings gathered by a Boise State University crew this summer will determine the precise location and number of unmarked gravesites in the cemetery.
Cemetery Clerk Steve Tomkins is curious about cemetery plot No. 39 in particular, which his records list as occupied by "Long-haired George." But as of last week, Tompkins is no longer sure who, if anyone, lies there.
What is known is that Long-haired George was a friend of John E. Bolliger, a craftsman and gunsmith who immigrated to Idaho from Switzerland in the mid-1800s. George spent time at Bolliger's tin shop and second-hand store on River Street in Hailey.
"He was a friend of my grandfather's," says John Bolliger, the third-generation Bolliger to live in Hailey. He has one of the only known photographs of Long-haired George.
"My Uncle Rudolph once pulled a bit of mischief on George, putting gun powder in his pipe. When he tried to light it, it caught his beard on fire," Bolliger says. "He got in a lot of trouble for that."
George's namesake beard distinguished him from other frontier characters who came to Hailey during the 1880s mining boom. It may have also provided cemetery Clerk Steve Tomkins with his true identity.
Several cemetery plots away from No. 39, the one supposedly occupied by "Long-Haired George," is plot No. 33, marked by a marble headstone on a lichen-covered base belonging to George W. Sutton, born in 1847 and died in 1917.
An obituary in the Wood River Times dated Feb. 26, 1917, mentions the passing of George W. Sutton, "aka Long-Haired George," who was found dead in his cabin, between River and Main streets in Hailey.
"If 'Long-haired George' is George W. Sutton, as the obituary states," says Tompkins, "who is buried in the other plot?"
George's obituary reports that he had $200 in $20 gold coins in his cabin. About $100 in bills was also found stuffed in a "lady's kid glove."
George Sutton was further described as having come from Ohio to Leadville (later known as Ketchum) and was noted as "one of 15 Republicans of Blaine County who voted for McKinley for president."
William McKinley was a progressive Republican who defeated populist candidate William Jennings Bryan in 1896. Bryan would have been popular in silver-mining Blaine County, since his campaign was based on the free coinage of silver as a national currency along with gold.
The McKinley victory marked a final defeat for silver miners in the Wood River Valley and elsewhere in the west. "Long-haired George's" stash of gold coins may be proof that he banked on the right candidate.
Tomkins is eagerly awaiting the radar test results to solve his new mystery.
Tony Evans: tevans@mtexpress.com
Standing in front of John E. Bolliger’s tin shop on River Street in Hailey around 1900: (from left) John E. Bolliger, Rudolph Bolliger, Nellie Bolliger John Bolliger ll, his big sister Ada Bolliger, and George W. Sutton aka “Long-haired George.”
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