Piltdown
Man--Cardiff
Giant--Plate
of
Brasse--Fallon's
Journal
California Cavalier: the Journal of
Captain Thomas Fallon
Edited by Thomas McEnery
Inishfallon [sic] Industries, San Jose,
1978
This book is magnificently printed and bound
in the best tradition of Bay Area fine press
printers, but The Fallon Journal does not
exist. It is pure invention by the self-styled
editor.
http://openlibrary.org/works/OL6586252W/California_cavalier
(A later printing,
which I have not seen, and have not been able
to locate, is said to carry a
disclaimer)
 Reminiscent
of the infamous Drake's Plate of Brass, a
hoax perpetrated by E. Clampus Vitus upon Herbert
E. Bolton, Professor of American History and
Director of the Bancroft Library of the University
of California (a fellow Clamper) in 1937,
the Fallon journal was carefully crafted hoax by
Thomas
McEnery, then mayor of San Jose, CA. The
fictitious journal was based on many
accounts, including Frémont's 1845
government Report and the 1958 translation of the
diary of Charles Preuss.
Charles Preuss, "August 10, 1843:
Shooting buffalo with the howitzer is a cruel
but amusing sport."
McEnery's Thomas Fallon, "3rd December
1843: I am sorry I was unable to see them
hunting buffalo with the little cannon. It is
no doubt cruel but very amusing."
 An
example of what would seem to be a very important
relation by Fallon is:
13 February, 1844: Carson spends a
long time carving on a tree today. I hope it is
not for a headstone.
This would seem to be evidence relating to the
Carson Tree, cut down in 1888, and currently
in a State Parks & Recreation storage facility
in West Sacramento. But the tree was not on
Frémont's
route of February 1844, but rather at the top
of today's Carson Pass on the route first opened by
the exiting Mormon Battalion of 1848. This became
the route of the '49ers.
What was Carson doing there? What was McEnry's
Fallon doing there observing? All efforts of
the  expedition
were then in building a nearly 20-miles long road
across deep snow from near Markleeville at 5,700'
to the Pass at near 9,000' elevation.
But don't be fooled: McEnery's Journal of Thomas
Fallon is fiction.
The most likely origin of the blazed tree, if it
was indeed carved by Carson, is that it was done in
1853, when Carson drove a flock of 6,500 head of
sheep from New Mexico to California, crossing by
the then established emigrant wagon route.
Based on this created history of Thomas Fallon,
Mayor Thomas McEnery had the city of San Jose
commission a bronze equestrian statue of Fallon at
a public cost of $80,0000.00.
Then McEnery's daughter Erin made a film based on
it!
Yes, McEnery left a few clues that the journal
was fiction (see p. 106 for the most obvious). But,
like the many clues provided in the 1937 E. Clampus
Vitus publication Ye Preposterous Booke of
Brasse, which was intended to undeceive
Professor Bolton, the clues are too obscure to
undeceive the unwary or those who want to
believe.
From the March 16-22, 2005
issue of Metro,
Silicon Valley's Weekly Newspaper.
http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/03.16.05/fly-0511.html
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Refilming
History
Some people told ERIN McENERY she
was too biased to make a movie about her
father's pet project, a book TOM McENERY
wrote about the bronze statue of Cpt.
THOMAS FALLON, San Jose mayor in 1859 and
controversial Mexican-American War hero.
They were right--if McEnery's one-sided
documentary is any indication. The
Cinequest release featured many city
officials defending Erin's father's effort
to bring history to life, but neglected to
include one of the most damning arguments
of the opposition. JAVIER SALAZAR, the
leader of the Fallon protesters, contends
that much of the "history" attributed to
Fallon is clouded with inaccuracy,
 and
that Tom McEnery's infatuation with the
character is proof of this. Before he
became San Jose mayor, Tom McEnery edited
a book called California Cavalier: The
Journal of Captain Thomas Fallon, which
some people thought was a factual account
obtained from Fallon's authentic journal.
The San Jose library placed its copy on
the nonfiction shelves for nearly 10
years. Then in 1987, the same year Tom
McEnery commissioned the Fallon statue,
Salazar questioned the accuracy of the
book and asked to see the journal. McEnery
couldn't produce it. Instead, History San
Jose republished McEnery's book with a
disclaimer that reads, "Although as firmly
based on an exploration of Thomas Fallon's
life and personal letters as possible,
this Journal is a work of fiction."
KRISTIN McCAMAN, who oversees History San
Jose's Fallon House, confirms, "There are
no journals or diaries in existence that
we know of. Unfortunately, a lot of people
got the wrong the idea." Erin McEnery
responds, "For 15 years, their whole
argument is about a book?
[as in, what's the matter
you guys--can't take a
joke?]
This doesn't seem that important to
me." She says she doesn't think she knew
about the book or Salazar's role in
debunking it. "Anyway, how would I if
Javier never returned my phone
calls?"
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In a comment posted on the San
Jose Inside website on Public Art
Controversies, posted by Jack Van Zandt
on Thursday, July 13, 2006, Tom McEnery
responded:
 Mon,
Jul 17, 2006 - 7:04 am
As always the serious look at our
history gets complicated by a lot of
nonsense. Just view the documentary on
Channel 54, the panel, and the Aztlan
Academy web site, and I believe that
you will have more of your questions
answered. Oh, and you can get my book,
"California Cavalier", if you want a
bit of fun...
[the joke
again]
...and a feeling of the time of
Captain Fallon.
TMcE
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Editor McEnery has his
Thomas Fallon begin his journal with
the death of Xervier.
 July
4, 1843: Fort Lancaster: Xervier nearly
turned completely around by the bullet as
it tore into his back. He was lifted off
the ground and crashed into a chair
smashing it into several pieces. As he lay
flat staring up at me I felt a strange
exhilaration--I was breathing heavily and
my heart pounded against my chest. I know
it was right to kill him and I had killed
before but never at so close a range. The
shirt he wore was steaming [sic]
with powder burns. Two men carried him to
the blacksmith's shop. I guess it an odd
thing to begin my journal with his
shooting, but after it was done I knew
that I had begun a new time in my
life--things that should be recorded.
Things I could never return from.
Rufus Sage, Rocky Mountain Life;
or Startling Scenes and Perilous
Adventures in the Far West,
1846.
July 11, 1843: Witnessed the death
of an old mountaineer [Xervier] at
Fort Lancaster, who came to his end from
the effects of a pistol wound, received in
a drunken frolic on the 4th. The ball
entered the back about two inches below
the heart, severely fracturing the
vertebrae and nearly severing the spinal
marrow. He lived one week succeeding the
occurrence, and meanwhile suffering the
agonies of death. His body below the would
was entirely devoid of feeling or use from
the first, and as death preyed upon him by
piecemeal, he would often Emailer us with
most piteous and heart-melting appeals
kindly to end his miseries by hastening
his end. The
murderer
[Thomas Fallon] was left at large,
and in two or three weeks subsequent
accompanied Captain Frémont to
Oregon.
The Journals of Theodore Talbot;
1843 and 1849-52.
He [Colonel Dodge] brought
news of the death of Xervier, one of his
men, who had been shot in a frolic, or
rather a brawl, on the 4th of July by
Thomas Fallon, a hand belonging to St.
Vrain's fort.
John Charles Frémont, Report
of The Exploring Expedition to the Rocky
Mountains in the Year 1842, and to Oregon
and North California in the Years
1843-'44
July 28, 1843: A French
engagé, at Lupton's fort, had been
shot in the back on the 4th of July, and
died during our absence to the Arkansas.
The wife of the murdered man, an Indian
woman of the Snake nation, desirous, like
Naomi of old, to return to her people,
requested and obtained permission to
travel with my party to the neighborhood
of Bear river, where she expected to meet
with some of their villages. Happier than
the Jewish widow, she carried with her two
children, pretty little half-breeds, who
added much to the liveliness of the camp.
Her baggage was carried on five or six
pack-horses; and I gave her a small tent,
for which I no longer had any use, as I
had procured a lodge at the fort.
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