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Media contacts: Kim Schuette: 614.297.2314 or kschuette@ohiohistory.org
For Immediate Release
"Spies, Scoundrels, And Rogues" Featured At The Campus Martius Museum On Statehood Day, March 1
Guest Speaker Gary Williams Tells Tales from Ohio's "Wild West" Days
(MARIETTA, Ohio) – The Friends of the Museum welcome "Spies, Scoundrels, and Rogues" to the Ohio Historical Society's Campus Martius Museum March 1. Local historian and author Gary S. Williams will give a special presentation about the infamous characters of Ohio past based on his book "Spies, Scoundrels, and Rogues of the Ohio Frontier."
As Williams writes, "though thoroughly American today, the region between the Great Lakes and the states bordering the Ohio River was once rife with international intrigue." The book chronicles that intrigue through biographies of some of the most notorious characters in America's "wild west"—the Ohio Country—between 1754 and 1814. The characters Williams examines include: Simon Girty, a notorious frontier renegade who was widely reviled; and Lewis Wetzel, a pioneer hero or psychotic serial killer, depending on one's viewpoint, as well as the most notorious organized crime figure of the frontier and an Indian agent who betrayed Indians and whites alike in both times of peace and war, yet died a hero's death.
Gary S. Williams is a lifelong resident of Ohio. A native of Tuscarawas County, his first job was on the archaeological excavation of Fort Laurens, Ohio's only Revolutionary War fort. He has a B.A. in history from Marietta College, a Masters of Library Science from Kent State University and 25 years experience as a librarian.
The presentation begins at 2 p.m. at Campus Martius, 601 Second St., Marietta (corner of Second and Washington streets). Admission is $8 for adults, $7 for senior citizens and $4 for children aged 6 – 17 years. Members of the Friends of the Museum and the Ohio Historical Society, and children under 5 year are admitted free of charge. The museum will open at 1 p.m. for the presentation and remain open until 4 p.m.
Copies of "Spies, Scoundrels, and Rogues of the Ohio Frontier" are available for sale and will be autographed by the author. Also available are Williams' three other books, "Historic Tours of Ohio," "Gliding to a Better Place: Profiles from Ohio's Territorial Era," and "The Forts of Ohio: A Guide to Military Stockades," all published by Buckeye Book Press.
"Spies, Scoundrels, and Rogues of the Ohio Frontier" is sponsored by the Friends of the Museum, a nonprofit group that supports and promotes the work of the Campus Martius and Ohio River Museums. All current Friends are invited to the talk and new "Friends" are welcome to join, too, Friends joining the day of the program receive free admission.
For more information, call the Campus Martius Museum at 740.373.3750 or 800.860.0145 or e-mail averhoff@ohiohistory.org
The Campus Martius and Ohio River Museums are two of 58 sites administered by the Ohio Historical Society. The Ohio Historical Society is a nonprofit organization that serves as the state's partner in preserving and interpreting Ohio's history, archaeology and natural history. Visit us at: www.ohiohistory.org
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