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Mizpah: The Bobby Dunbar Kidnapping Legend
While passing through southern Mississippi in 1913, "itinerant tinker" William Cantwell Walters was drawn into a maelstrom involving a missing child, a case of mistaken identity, state and local politics, and deep prejudice toward the "lower" classes.
420 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 8, 2014
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November 8, 2024
I will admit to having a vested interest in this story. For anyone who pays attention to my reviews, you will know that I've also read A Case for Solomon and reviewed it highly, mostly because of the story itself. There is something so very compelling about the story of Bobby Dunbar, the lost boy who was never really found, and Bruce Anderson, the boy who was taken because of grief, wealth, power, and privilege. And then there's the personal connection. My stepfather is a grandson of Julia Anderson Rawls, by her daughter Virginia Rawls Johnson. Those who know me know that Joe Johnson is one of the finest men who has ever lived.
Allison Rawls Bullock opens and closes her book by referencing A Case for Solomon, specifically by describing the unfair use of her research in the other book. She also takes issue with the portrayal of William Cantwell Walters and Julia Anderson is the book and podcast. I will admit that at first I didn't understand her frustration, but reading this book made it much more clear why she was angry and frustrated by the use of her research and documentation without appropriate credit, and the way with which these people - whose only crime was poverty and lack of status - were portrayed.
I appreciate Bullock's meticulous research and rendering of her file in this text. It is excellent scholarship and shows a degree of dedication to the truth that is perhaps missing in A Case for Solomon. The authors of that book had a definite narrative they wanted to tell: painting the Dunbars as well-intentioned but mistaken people. Mizpah shows that while there is certainly a deep grief within the Dunbar family, there is also an imbalance of power that allowed prestige and money to steal a child. What emerges is a portrait of a man baffled that so many people are clearly lying (and willing to believe a lie), when so many witnesses can clearly controvert the lies. There is also the portrait of a woman who believes until the very end that her son will be returned to her, because would could keep a mother from her child? And finally, two very dedicated attorneys who sacrificed because they wanted justice.
This is a heart-breaking story. I left A Case for Solomon feeling that there were no villains. I can honestly say I STILL feel this. I don't see villains, except maybe the societal structure that continues to allow a ruling class that has wealth, power, and name recognition the ability to exert its will over those who are looked upon as "less than" because of circumstance and financial status. We are over a century removed from this trial. The players are long since dead. And yet, the story still speaks, because we still live this, over and over. Until the day that justice comes.
The title for the book is so fitting. Mizpah sits and awaits justice - judge between us. Thanks to Allison Rawls Bullock - and thanks to the meticulous work of the attorneys who represented William Cantwell Walters, the unseen players of this drama have their voice back. While there are no villains, there are certainly victims, and it is high time that they receive justice in the court of the public memory.
Bobby Dunbar's death was tragic.
But so was the theft of the life of Bruce Anderson.
Bruce Anderson mattered as much as Bobby Dunbar.
When we as a nation and a world-community can say that loudly with authority, then perhaps we will have given Walters his justice. However his life ended, I hope he found peace. We can never know who Bruce Anderson - that loving little boy who delighted in the company of his doting uncle, who was constantly reminded of the love of his mother - might have been... Although knowing Joe Johnson, I think have some idea.
Mizpah, indeed.
Allison Rawls Bullock opens and closes her book by referencing A Case for Solomon, specifically by describing the unfair use of her research in the other book. She also takes issue with the portrayal of William Cantwell Walters and Julia Anderson is the book and podcast. I will admit that at first I didn't understand her frustration, but reading this book made it much more clear why she was angry and frustrated by the use of her research and documentation without appropriate credit, and the way with which these people - whose only crime was poverty and lack of status - were portrayed.
I appreciate Bullock's meticulous research and rendering of her file in this text. It is excellent scholarship and shows a degree of dedication to the truth that is perhaps missing in A Case for Solomon. The authors of that book had a definite narrative they wanted to tell: painting the Dunbars as well-intentioned but mistaken people. Mizpah shows that while there is certainly a deep grief within the Dunbar family, there is also an imbalance of power that allowed prestige and money to steal a child. What emerges is a portrait of a man baffled that so many people are clearly lying (and willing to believe a lie), when so many witnesses can clearly controvert the lies. There is also the portrait of a woman who believes until the very end that her son will be returned to her, because would could keep a mother from her child? And finally, two very dedicated attorneys who sacrificed because they wanted justice.
This is a heart-breaking story. I left A Case for Solomon feeling that there were no villains. I can honestly say I STILL feel this. I don't see villains, except maybe the societal structure that continues to allow a ruling class that has wealth, power, and name recognition the ability to exert its will over those who are looked upon as "less than" because of circumstance and financial status. We are over a century removed from this trial. The players are long since dead. And yet, the story still speaks, because we still live this, over and over. Until the day that justice comes.
The title for the book is so fitting. Mizpah sits and awaits justice - judge between us. Thanks to Allison Rawls Bullock - and thanks to the meticulous work of the attorneys who represented William Cantwell Walters, the unseen players of this drama have their voice back. While there are no villains, there are certainly victims, and it is high time that they receive justice in the court of the public memory.
Bobby Dunbar's death was tragic.
But so was the theft of the life of Bruce Anderson.
Bruce Anderson mattered as much as Bobby Dunbar.
When we as a nation and a world-community can say that loudly with authority, then perhaps we will have given Walters his justice. However his life ended, I hope he found peace. We can never know who Bruce Anderson - that loving little boy who delighted in the company of his doting uncle, who was constantly reminded of the love of his mother - might have been... Although knowing Joe Johnson, I think have some idea.
Mizpah, indeed.
Displaying 1 of 1 review