Mystery at the Mansion

In October, St. Joseph Museums, Inc. holds an annual mystery program involving actual people from St. Joseph's past. This year's was based on the life of Hugh Glass, a frontiersman in the midwest during the 1820s. His adventures included being forced into piracy, escaping capture by the Pawnee Indians, being mauled by a grizzly bear, and crawling over 200 miles to a fort on the Missouri River after his companions left him to die of wounds suffered in the bear attack. After Glass recovered, he set out to find the two men who had abandoned him and get revenge. The mystery involved finding a possession of Hugh's that was of great value to him.

Before dinner, we guests were taken on a tour of the Wyeth-Tootle where we met characters who told us about Hugh's real life adventures and gave us clues to help us solve the mystery. Among the characters were Hugh's wife and his father, a female pirate captain in Jean Lafitte's crew, a companion who helped him escape from the pirates, a daughter of the Pawnee chief who captured and eventually adopted Hugh, the leader of a fur trapping expedition in South Dakota, and the fur trappers who left Hugh to die in the wilderness.

During our meal (mine was salmon), each table of guests went over the clues. My table quickly came up with the answer by eliminating the clues we knew didn't apply. One table next to us struggled all through dinner and dessert and finally had to be given hints.

Pictured are Hugh Glass, Mrs. John Jacob Astor (the hostess of the dinner party), Jean Lafitte's female pirate captain and one of the fur trappers who abandoned Hugh.

The drawing is the actual Hugh Glass.