Old stories never die; they just get updated every few years.

Case in point is the story I mentioned a few posts back that the late Senator Everett Dirksen liked to tell. A man was asked on an application for life insurance how his father had died. Rather than admit that his father had been hanged as a horse thief, he wrote, “My father was cut off in his 43rd year, when the platform gave way beneath him while participating in a public function.”

My friend an fellow-blogger Eugene Finerman (http://finermanworks.com/your_rda_of_irony) sent me an updated version of that story that he received from a friend of his. I presume the friend found it on the Internet. It goes like this:

Judy Wallman, a professional genealogical researcher, discovered that Hillary Clinton's great-great uncle, Remus Rodham, was hanged for horse stealing and train robbery in Montana in 1889.

“Remus Rodham was a famous cowboy in the Montana Territory. His business empire grew to include acquisition of valuable equestrian assets and intimate dealings with the Montana railroad. Beginning in 1883, he devoted several years of his life to service at a government facility, finally taking leave to resume his dealings with the railroad. In 1887, he was a key player in a vital investigation run by the renowned Pinkerton Detective Agency. In 1889, Remus passed away during an important civic function held in his honor when the platform upon which he was standing collapsed.”

Eugene referred the friend who sent him the above item to my post on Everett Dirksen. I wonder where Dirksen found it.