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Shane, Mary Owen

Widow of Shane, living in White Rock, Texas in 1872.[1] (July 12, 1843 – who-knows-when)[2]

Born in the American South[2] and married to Shane[1] on November 15, 1861.[2]

In the spring of 1871, Mary's husband robbed a train of a pouch of U. S. Mail[2] and $60,000 of Wells Fargo treasure. Before he was captured, he gave the Wells Fargo treasure box to Mary for safe keeping and had her hide out in White Rock, Texas. Imprisoned[1] in the Montana Territorial Prison,[2] Shane promised he would serve his full sentence and return to Mary as a free man, after which they could live on the money he had stolen.[1]

Mary moved into Mrs. Clemmer's boarding house White Rock in the summer of 1871. She removed $600 from the Wells Fargo money to live on and buried the treasure box in a small canyon west of town. She met and fell in love with White Rock's undertaker, Bert Nicholson, but remained loyal to her husband, awaiting the day he would return to her.[1]

In the spring of 1872, she read in the newspaper that her husband had escaped from prison with a man named Felton. From the report, she believed Shane had been killed shortly after the escape and feared that Felton would travel alone White Rock and take the Wells Fargo money from her. Assuming Shane was dead, Mary accepted Nicholson's proposal of marriage. The two of them then conspired to fake her death on June 3, 1872, so if Felton appeared in White Rock, he would hear that she had died and move on. She and Nicholson went to dig up the buried money, but found a rock slide had covered over the site, making it nearly impossible to recover.[1]

On June 12, Bret Maverick came to White Rock. Nicholson saw him in town and believed him to be Felton. Since Felton was wanted dead or alive, Nicholson had Mary lure Bret outside of town in the dark of night where he planned to kill him. During a buggy ride, Mary walked ahead to check the safety of the path but disappeared into the shadows. Nicholson failed to kill Bret that night, since the Kid had been killed in town and as undertaker, Nicholson was obliged to take custody of the body and prepare it for burial.[1]

When Bret returned to town looking for Mary, he heard that she had been dead for nine days and became the laughing stock of White Rock. The next day, Nicholson tried to kill Bret as he rode through town. Later that day, Felton arrived in White Rock and killed Nicholson while trying to find Mary while she hid in the next room.[1]

Still believing Bret was Felton, Mary quickly packed her belongings and rushed out to the rock slide to recover the stolen money. Bret managed to capture Felton, found Mary digging in the rock slide, and convinced her he was just an innocent bystander in the whole affair. The next morning, he returned to White Rock with her, and turned Felton and the Wells Fargo money in to the sheriff.[1]

Mary was not held for her involvement with the stolen money, but her faked death was revealed, vindicating Bret and earning him the reward for recovering the Wells Fargo treasure box.[1]

See: Ghost Rider