A Jawdropping Travesty = A "Pardon" For Ben Cravens.

The heart of this story which belongs in the "Mandela File," has almost been lost, except for a casual mention in a newspaper from 1911. Charles Maust, convicted of Grand larceny (horse theft) in Missouri, claimed that new accusations of his actually being a wanted killer in Oklahoma were being pressed as a result of the lawsuit he had filed against the state of Missouri. In the third year of a four year sentence, his alleged connection to outlaw Ben Cravens had been allegedly created to intimidate him, and force him to withdraw his lawsuit. Now Maust intended to demand reparations from the state. What followed was what happens when a corrupt establishment squares off with an uncompromising idealist. And it will blow your mind.

All of my attention to identification of these Old West characters may seem like an obsession, but of course these new, never before seen or published tintypes of mine being presented here on this blog would be worth far less without the accompaniment of careful inspection and consideration. And along with preparing for that presentation, I have encountered some dumbfounding misidentifications in the historical past. None is more intriguing and baffling to me than the case of Ben Cravens, an Oklahombre who probably made more fame while someone else wore his shoes, than he did as an active outlaw. I know, I have to explain that. ****************************************************************************************************** Cravens was a 2-bit Oklahoma rustler and bootlegger who worked his way up to bank robbing. He was a “member” of the infamous Doolin gang for a short while until his reckless behavior became a liability, even to them. After splitting with the Doolin gang, he wandered into several illegal and unprofitable ventures, and was finally apprehended and sentenced to twenty years in the Lansing Penitentiary. One might think he would have disappeared into the prison sunset, but not ol' Ben. He may have been reckless, but he was equally as crafty. ******************************************************************************************************* After a few years in prison, Cravens managed to get assigned to do prison labor in the coal mines, and in 1900, along with two other killers, made an escape after carving pistols out of wood and covering them with foil. Caught "off-guard," the prison guard gave up his real gun when confronted with them and soon bullets were flying. A guard and one of the escapees was killed quickly, and Cravens was wounded in the affair, but he still ran off and escaped, and he went straight to the “Nations”... the Osage Reservation where he had friends and trusty hideouts. The first thing he did was have a friend carve an embedded slug from his head. Cravens was not just reckless and crafty, he was Ford tough. ********************************************************************************************************* After the trail grew cold, Ben returned to his crime spree, worse than before. Committing a string of robberies, he then treacherously shot Bert Welty, his accomplice who had been wearing a dress and posing as a woman. A shotgun in the face was Welty's thanks and reward for his assistance, not to mention life imprisonment for the death of a storekeeper during one of their robberies. Legends conflict whether Ben Cravens escaped with all of their loot, or that he dropped it and left it in the field, to slow down his pursuers. Not long after that, Cravens killed a lawman to avoid capture and once again, evaporated into thin air. Cravens was supposedly captured a couple more times, and managed to escape each time. Authorities offered a $10,000 reward for his capture. That was A LOT OF MONEY in those days, but this was the last we know for sure about Ben Cravens. Unfortunately, that was not the last word on his bizarre story.

Almost a dozen years later, authorities got a curious break in his case. Here is my theory of what actually hapened. In a belated and twisted crime investigation, (I believe) lawmen had a frustrating Missouri suspect whom they knew to be guilty, but had insufficient evidence. So they conspired to force a change in his identity, whereby he would be sent to prison for the rest of his life. Craven's unused prison sentences and untried murders were a perfect fit. So a convicted horse thief named Charles Maust was suddenly identified by another inmate (the barber) as Ben Cravens while serving his four year sentence in the Jefferson City Penitentiary. This was just the beginning of Maust's lifelong misery. The obscure farm worker found himself trapped in a devilish frame up, and facing a stacked deck. ***************************************************************************************************** J. H. Livingston, the Bertillon expert, using the Bertillon identification system, (considered a reliable method for documenting a person's permanent facial characteristics) positively identified Charles Maust as Cravens. Maust's face was supposedly compared to Bertillon data from Cravens and was supposedly found to be a dead ringer for the wanted robber and killer. Since the two men did not resemble one another, it is obvious to us today that this was a runaway steamroller, where the pursuasiveness of scientific evidence and the long arm of the the law collaberated to achieve a desired result, and justice in this case was blinded and corrupted by absolute power. And it got worse. Several prison administrators, and several persons who knew Cravens during his outlaw days testified that he was in fact the wanted outlaw, long sought after for so many years.

One was Congressman Bird McGuire, popular advocate for Oklahoma statehood. Another was former Deputy United States Marshal A. O. Lund, who had served on a posse when Cravens had been seriously wounded during his capture, and had guarded him for weeks. Another was Frank Canton, then the Oklahoma Adjutant General, a famous lawman who had pursued the robber as well. The FIX was in, and in deep. *****************************************************************************************************

Frank Canton: outlaw, range detective, assassin, soldier and all-around hatchet man. ****************************************************************************************************** To put things into better perspective, Frank Canton, Maust's most prominent and powerful accuser, was a gunslinger named Josiah Horner who made a name for himself as a rustler and bank robber in Texas in his early years, but who escaped prosecution by going to Nebraska and changing his name to Frank Canton. He was the mastermind behind the Johnson County War debacle in Wyoming. Like Tom Horn, he had made a name for himself as a paid assassin, hired by big Wyoming ranchers to eliminate small ranchers which they called "cattle rustlers." When he left the Rockies as a pariah, he was recruited to clean up Oklahoma, with prejudice. And Charles Maust's dilemma was proof that he did just that. The question was, prejudiced towards whom? Perhaps in Maust's past life was a score for Frank Canton to settle. ****************************************************************************************************** In this case, for some reason, Charles Maust, horse thief, was the target. Maust had been sent up on questionable circumstances in the first place, insisting that witnesses who could clear him of the crimes he was accused of had never been included in the investigation. Now caught in the vise of a bizarre conspiracy, he found himself on trial as a famous outlaw with numerous Old West personalities in the courtroom, ready to participate in the last chapter in western history. The event had attracted so many western old timers, it was dubbed an "outlaw reunion" by the Media; lawmen and outlaws, there to witness the trial of the "last outlaw," and old scar-faced Bert Welty, Ben Cravens' old partner in crime, whom he allegedly shot rather than divide the spoils, pointing his vengeful finger at him. His testimony was considered the coup de gras for the prosecution. ********************************************************************************************************* Someone very powerful arranged this incredible kangaroo court on steroids, and "Frank Canton" had to have had a hand in it. Someone of authority with complete access to the records was able to collect and indoctrinate the witnesses, falsify the Bertillon data, switch the thumb prints, and hypnotize the Oklahoma Media into submission. And this is what they did. To insure success, they sabotaged Maust's chances by luring attorney Al Jennings into the fray. Jennings, a "reformed" outlaw cum movie actor, never saw publicity that he didn't like. ********************************************************************************************************* Hiring Jennings as the defense attorney was a stroke of genius, grouping hapless Maust with a known former outlaw, a convicted bank robber, a controversial criminal whose family had been in a shooting war with Temple Houston, and lost... now pleading for Maust's innocence, in, as Jennings pleaded, a simple case of mistaken identity. After the trial Jennings admitted that he actually knew the real Ben Cravens, because the outlaw had tried to recruit him for a robbery. If the truth be known, they had probably ridden together on bank jobs, but that was more than the reformed outlaw, now the defense attorney in a sensational trial, was likely to confess before the Jury produced a verdict. But his transparency aside, the aggregate of credibility between the two men was too thin to measure.

Maust claimed that there were people who could speak on his behalf... but nowhere to be seen. His ex-wife might be coming from Colorado, and she could clear him. Former employers... but nobody seemed inclined to help his defense. Towards the end of the trial, as Maust understood that he was about to be sentenced.. and possibly to hang until dead, he made a statement, explaining that his real name was Charles Maust MCDONALD; that he had been born in Texas, his father had been killed by cattlemen (accused of rustling?) and he had lived in the Dakota Territory before he came to Missouri; That he had been married and had two children, and his name was now Charles Maust, and he was innocent of any wrong-doing. For some reason, these and other facts were never revealed during the trial. ************************************************************************************************************* The jury must have been thoroughly un-convinced after Jenning's inept defense, and Maust's lame explanations, because after 50 hours of deliberation, he was convicted for the murders which Cravens had committed, with great fanfare. Now he was said by the state to be Ben Cravens, convicted of Cravens' crimes, and sent to complete all of Ben Cravens' prison sentences. This, as it turned out, meant LIFE imprisonment. Maust was said to speak indifference when he was sentenced, fully expecting to be hanged. An innocent man sentenced to life in prison, with no friends to speak up on his behalf, might rather be dead. ************************************************************************************************************** The ironies surrounding this true event are heart-stabbing, for anyone concerned about American justice. A feisty, indignant man, perhaps innocent of any crime, or at least of those he was accused, and considering himself the victim of a corrupt judicial system, applies the Law to the very system which has imprisoned him. He is consequently thrown to the wolves of that system, falsely accused, prosecuted and even defended by former outlaws, men who have done far worse things, and sent to prison for life, while the wolves lick their teeth. **************************************************************************************************************** In 1915 several articles appeared in midwest newspapers assailing Oklahoma authorities for convicting an innocent man with highly questionable evidence. The November 4th issue of The Leon Reporter ran an expos'e, citing other Bertillon experts who insisted that Maust was not and could not be Cravens. They introduced Dr. J. B. Alley, an old childhood friend of Cravens' who visited Maust in prison, but did not recognize him as Cravens, and could not find any common ground with him. Alley proclaimed to the Reporter and other Media outlets that the wrong man had been convicted. Later, Bert Welty, the former accomplice of Cravens, confessed that he had been afforded a visit with his mother and promised ultimate freedom instead of his life sentence; basically bribed with a "get a hug and a get out of jail card" to identify Maust as Ben Cravens. Still in prison however, Welty had gotten to hug his crying mother at least. Now he vindictively spilled the beans on the whole sorry mess. But Oklahoma authorities never flinched. "Cravens" had been the catch and the story of the decade. Reputations had been made or fortified. The "last of the bad outlaws" had been rounded up. Oklahoma was safe. The famous outlaw, whom "no jail could hold," was finally put where the sun don't shine. There was no looking back.

My study, using my own ID system, proves that the Bertillon system, which was simplistic and easily abused, could easily have conflated the two men's identities, because they shared several key facial similarities. But only from a frontal view and only mathematically. Their heads were shaped very differently, and they were by no means "doppelgangers," or even similar. Maust's tiny, beady eyes were wider apart, but his irises were the same distance apart as Cravens'. The ears and the nostrils all measured correctly, to make one man appear to theoretically resemble the other. But even though the “science” was satisfied to amateur eyes, any person who compared the two men would see that they could not be the same person. Their profiles were especially dissimilar, and Cravens' chin was decidedly larger. Maust's cranium was especially small, and his face was triangular, with noticeable width between the cheekbones, and a sloping jaw, whereas Cravens had a more straight face, and rectangular in shape. But Maust supposedly had most of the seven, telltale Cravens scars, and in the right places, more or less. ************************************************************************************************************** THE REST OF THE STORY... ************************************************************************************************************** Right BEFORE THE TRIAL, as authorities and the Media became concerned about the possibility of a misidentification, Maust turned up in the prison infirmary with serious burns on his face. Prison administrators attributed it to his own use of a hot pepper solution to intentionally disfigure himself, to prevent any further comparison of his face to Cravens'. Chronic redness and swelling thus clouded further Bertillon comparisons, and prevented objective inquiry until after the trial. Looking back on this obstacle to justice, it is easy to imagine that prison guards applied the solution by force, themselves to obscure the anatomical differences, and prevent Maust's acquittal. ************************************************************************************************************** After Maust was safely tucked away at Leavenworth, he presented scars on his wrists, and claimed that he had been tortured twelve hours a day for ninety days, in attempts to get him to confess that he was indeed Cravens. Maust refused, but his stubbornness and faith in the judicial system failed to gain him his freedom. For many observers, his brutal handling and egregious conviction became a black mark on the state of Oklahoma.

It had to have been a vast conspiracy, one that would have impressed even Hilary Clinton, from the identification by an inmate barber who claimed he recognized the outlaw, to the prosecutors who ignored the obvious differences between the men, to the judges who let it all unfold without opposition. The circus atmosphere, enhanced by Maust's defense attorney, none other than Oklahoma's Al Jennings, a former bank robber himself, now performing as himself in movies depicting his crimes, and futilely trying to produce justice in this obvious fix, made the trial a near farce. He knew the real Cravens but could not, or would not produce him. ************************************************************************************************************* Whether it was intentional or not, the conviction of Maust certainly removed the threat of arrest for the real Ben Cravens, wherever he was, and was the effective equivalent of a full pardon. Might that have been the goal all along? Certainly there were many Old West personalities who watched and cheered during the proceedings. Some of them had to have known the truth, and watched silently as Maust went down. Meanwhile the newspapers tried to illustrate the possible miscarriage of justice being birthed in plain sight, but the blind trust of criminal science, the excitement over discovering the alleged Old West outlaw, and the completion of a long-standing murder case, where most significantly, a fine lawman had been killed in the line of duty, carried the day.

In the end, the sad and unprepossessing Charles Maust BECAME Ben Cravens. And we have to wonder, what had he done to draw such a vast conspiracy of legal persecution? Whatever it was, those who controlled or overlooked Oklahoma jurisprudence deliberately used the system to condemn an apparently innocent man. At least innocent of Ben Cravens' crimes... And Maust contended this until the day he died. *********************************************************************************************************** There are clues, perhaps way too obscure and degraded now to provide any comfort. Again, here is an example of what I believe happened: As I mentioned earlier, I believe Oklahoma lawmen, in concert with Misouri lawmen had identified a criminal whom they knew was guilty, but did not have the evidence necessary to put the perpetrator away. So they changed his identity. What had he done? Think of a crime which would have most infuriated the average American male in those days. Rape, molestation of children... take your pick. But in those days, and for a long time afterwards, to step forward and make accusations of such horrible crimes was enough to ruin your own life, with the chance that the accused might still beat the rap. Many victims just let it go, and suffered in silence. The clue, if it is true, as to what might have happened, is one report that I have read that the Maust children were in an orphanage in South Dakota. Charles Maust's ex was supposedly in Colorado. This was a messed up family at best. And perhaps an abusive one if this scenario is true. It was rare in those days for the courts to take children away from BOTH PARENTS. Maust's family never stood up for him because, even though he was obviously NOT Ben Cravens, he was a bad person, and his family hated him. They figured the system had done them and him justice, even if they had to borrow somebody else's crime and punishment to do it. That spineless theory might make you feel a little better about what happened to poor Charles Maust McDonald. ************************************************************************************************************** LOOK at these photo comparisons. You tell me! Maust was innocent of Cravens' crimes... Although he does not look like a clever, ruthless highwayman, he could easily pass for a child abuser... I'm jus' sayin'... Anyway, my tintype (below) looks a WHOLE LOT more like Ben Cravens than the poor guy who did his time.

I have purchased hundreds of tintypes of Victorian newsmakers over the years, and share many of them here in Hidetown. My technique of ID I call "Quintangulation"... where at least five critical spots on a famous face are digitally superimposed on one of my doppelgangers... sometimes with astounding results. Read on and see studies of Doc Holliday, Billy the Kid and others.

By the way, according to my own test, this fellow is not Ben Cravens... but could have easily been incarcerated for impersonating a bad outlaw. And in Oklahoma that could have gotten you LIFE! ************************************************************************************************************** Post Script: In 1947 Maust was paroled out of prison as an old man and in poor health. Even though he had served the time for the crimes, and lying would do him no good, he went to his grave claiming that he was just plain old Charles Maust, and not even guilty of horse stealing. He passed away, the most celebrated escape artist, and the most despised Oklahoma outlaw, in 1950.