Monday, May 01, 2006
Day Six: Club-Foot George
John, our host at the Stonehouse Inn, entertained us with some fantastic stories about Virginia City, but the best was the tale of how George Lane’s club foot ended up on a shelf at the local museum. Lane was among the “road agents” who terrorized Virginia City in the winter months of 1863 and 1864, and who were consequently hanged by a group of vigilantes with ties to the local Masonic Lodge. In the 1930s, as John said the story goes, some fellas down at the local bar got in an argument over where in fact Lane was buried. The original grave markers had been made of wood and over the years they had deteriorated and fallen over, making it difficult to determine who was buried where. As the drink-infused discussion continued down at the saloon, some of the men decided they were going to find out once in for all which grave belonged to Club Foot George. They headed up to Boot Hill and started digging until they found a skeleton that resembled him. They took the foot back to the bar “to show the rest of ‘em,” and that’s where it stayed until it was finally moved to the museum. John said they are planning to make a plaster cast of the foot for their exhibit and rebury the actual appendage under George Lane’s marker.
