By Randy Gonzales<\/p>\n
HAYS, Kan. — As a former football coach, John Vincent puts together a game plan when he does historical research. Vincent, who is deep into the research of a local legend, gave a presentation Saturday at the 10th annual Smoky Hill Trail Association\u2019s conference, this year in Hays.<\/p>\n
Vincent, who was the head coach at Fort Hays State University from 1985-89, said there is a correlation between preparing for an opponent and organizing a research topic.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you are developing a game plan you try to prepare contingencies for unexpected things that might come up,\u201d Vincent said.<\/p>\n
That preparation has helped Vincent and his team in the research of Elizabeth Polly, the famed \u201cBlue Light Lady.\u201d As the story goes, Polly assisted her husband, Ephraim Polly, who was a hospital steward at Fort Hays, during a cholera outbreak at the Army post in 1867. Mrs. Polly died during the outbreak, and is believed to have been buried atop or at the base of Sentinel Hill, about a mile from now Historic Fort Hays. There are accounts that Polly visited that hill in the evenings after working at the fort during the day and she requested to be buried there.<\/p>\n
There have since been sightings of a ghostly figure dressed in blue walking the fields in the surrounding area of the hill. That spectral image is thought by some to be Polly. Vincent finds four accounts credible of Polly sightings, accounts that put together a time, place, date and name of the person who saw the apparition.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe legend of Elizabeth Polly was popularized in the 1970s by a fellow by the name of Bob Maxwell,\u201d Vincent told those assembled at FHSU\u2019s Black and Gold Room in the Memorial Union. \u201cHe was a folklorist.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maxwell, who had a career in law enforcement that included stints as Ellis County Sheriff and Hays Chief of Police, graduated from Fort Hays State and later served as Dean of Students in 1966 at the university. He also was an assistant professor in the English Department. A noted local historian, Maxwell researched Elizabeth Polly.<\/p>\n
Vincent, however, is focusing on the life of Elizabeth Polly and not as much on her ghostly encounters with the public.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not here to state whether she\u2019s a ghost or she\u2019s not,\u201d Vincent said. \u201cMy team and I are not ghost hunters. However, the legend of Elizabeth Polly gives rise to a tremendous amount of history.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lacking definitive proof that Elizabeth Polly was at the fort in 1867, or even of her existence, Vincent detailed circumstantial evidence to make his case. Vincent showed copies of newspaper articles through the years that mentioned Polly, and he presented evidence of why those articles should be believed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re not all making this stuff up,\u201d Vincent said. \u201cDoes it prove she existed? I think it probably helps.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you had to ask me to (draw) a conclusion, there probably was a woman here,\u201d he added. \u201cI don\u2019t know if her first name was Elizabeth. I\u2019m not exactly sure her last name was Polly. But there was some woman (who) filled that role (during the cholera epidemic), and she was more than likely associated with Ephraim Polly in some way.\u201d<\/p>\n
One article described Polly as \u201ca curious mixture of superstition and fanciful religion in her mental structure.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWas there a woman who filled the role of Elizabeth Polly? That\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to determine,\u201d Vincent said.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s even a tale of the outlaw Jesse James coming to Hays in the 1870s to visit Polly\u2019s grave on Sentinel Hill. Vincent\u2019s team of researchers want to tackle that thread of the Elizabeth Polly story next.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to continue to try to chase down the people in these stories and add as much detail as possible,\u201d Vincent said.<\/p>\n
Also part of the presentation was Ethel Taylor, of Hays, who provided genealogy expertise, and Rob Wasinger, also of Hays, whose grandparents first saw the ghostly image of a lady in a blue dress and bonnet in a field back in 1917.<\/p>\n
Vincent has been researching the Polly story since the 1970s. He hopes to put enough material together to publish a book.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not ready to do that yet,\u201d Vincent said.<\/p>\n
Vincent, 70, has been active in retirement. He has gone on about a half-dozen paleontology digs and around another half-dozen archeological surveys. Vincent even has a find named after him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like a variety of things, but I don\u2019t like to be haphazard,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
After serving in Vietnam, Vincent earned his bachelor\u2019s degree in zoology with a minor in chemistry and physics at Fort Hays State and later completed two master\u2019s degrees at the university. He taught for 48 years and coached football in high school and community college as well as Fort Hays State in his career. He still follows the Tigers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe try to go to as many games as we possibly can,\u201d Vincent said. \u201cI read everything in the paper about them. They\u2019re doing really well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other presentations at the conference were:
\n\u2022 A talk about \u201cBuffalo Bill\u201d Cody by Dr. Juti Winchester, assistant professor of history at FHSU.
\n\u2022 Dr. Ken Neuhauser, professor of geosciences at FHSU, revealed his findings of a magnetometer survey done at Lookout Station southwest of Hays this summer. In 1867 Indians raided the station and killed three men, who were said to have been buried there. His findings were inconclusive.
\n\u2022 James Drees, who earned bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees at Fort Hays State, gave a talk on Cody\u2019s buffalo shooting contest with Bill Comstock.
\n\u2022 James Leiker, who earned bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees at Fort Hays State, gave a lecture on buffalo soldiers at Fort Hays.
\n\u2022 Dr. Elton Beougher, who taught math at FHSU for 32 years, gave a lecture on galvanized Yankees.
\n\u2022 Ken Weidner gave a presentation on Cheyenne culture.
\n\u2022 Rod Beemer talked about George Armstrong Custer and the Smoky Hill Trail.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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