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In the 19th Century, I became famous for stealing something. One organization was so pleased by my actions that they made me and my helpers the first to receive an award which is still being given today. Another organization was so angry with me that I was executed by them, but not for being a thief.
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Need more clues, I guess. Two thoughts. Somebody who stole a slave, and was executed later by the KKK. Or somebody who went behind enemy lines, stole something of military value.
Back to the Alamo, Jim Bowie was a horse thief, but it was Crockett who was sort of executed.
The Alamo is unrelated except in a cinematic sense. The incident which got this man both awarded and executed, has been depicted on film, first as a fictional comedy classic with the names of the actual people changed but the name of the stolen object intact, and second as a drama, albeit one geared for young viewers.
Still not enough? Okay, this should give it away.....the actor who portrayed this man in one of the versions, also portrayed Davy Crockett in another vehicle.
I feel like I'm trying to remember a dream. I know it's in my head somewhere. I've followed the movie actor thread through John Wayne, but I know it's not Rooster Cogburn or Genghis Khan.
The mystery man is James J. Andrews, he of the Great Locomotive Chase, and played by Fess Parker in the Disney feature of the same name. The Great Locomotive Chase (1956)
In April, 1862, Andrews and 22 army volunteers, donned civillian clothing and engaged in a daring plan to board and steal a northbound Confederate train in Big Shanty, Georgia, and drive it North, destroying the tracks, tunnels, and burning the bridges as they went. They managed to steal a train, but were pursued with incredible fury and determination by the train's conductor, William Fuller, who used handcars and commandeered locomotives to sustain the chase. Because Fuller kept so much pressure on them, they were unable to stop and do the damage that they had planned. Confederate soldiers and cavalry also began closing in, so they made a desperate attempt to fire the bridge over the Chattanooga River by seeting a boxcar ablaze and leaving it on the bridge. Then they scattered. Fuller cooly had his pursuit locomotive roll onto the bridge and shove the burning car away.
The raiders were all captured. Eight of them, Andrews included, were hung as spies. Another eight managed to escape and make a harrowing trip back to Union lines. These eight were the the first men in the nation to be decorated by a new military award recently established by Congress....The Medal of Honor. (The ones who were executed were given posthumous awards.)
Long before the Disney production, there was the Buster Keaton silent classic "The General" where Keaton is playing the William Fuller part, albeit with a different name. It of course was a fictional comedy, but all of the basic elements of the chase are intact.
I remember seeing that name as I scrolled down through the Parker credits.
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I had one ready, in case I got that one. Here i t is:
I had my 15 minutes of fame (more or les) but didn't know about until much later. And the dispute about the legitimacy of that keeps my name known. Other clues to my name (but not to me) could be a famous aviatrix, and also a link between capitals of two western states. Five of my college classmates went on to become US Senators, but Count Dracula was not one of them. I was also a classmate there of a future president of another country.
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