Moving On - Children of the Children of God

I had the name "Horace Alderman" pop into my head this morning after a chat with a close friend that I grew up with in TF. You remember him…that wonderful kids story we had crammed down our throats about the smuggler with the girlfriend who his thugs try to kidnap and he gets caught when he tries to kill the police chief and then finds salvation in jail and gets sent to the gallows singing a hymn or something before finally entering the pearly white gates, a saved soul. Ad nasuem.

With all the horse-shit we had piled onto us as kids, I wondered if any of that story was true, so I did some research. As it turns out, quite a lot of it was in fact more-or-less correct. He was indeed a Miami smuggler, he was indeed hanged, and he did convert to Evangelical Christianity while on death row (although I couldn't find any public record of who converted him). The details of his capture as presented to us, however, was a fabrication. He was actually captured on a boat during a smuggling operation when the coast-guard accidentally came across his vessel in open seas. He maintained his innocence to the end, claiming justifiable homicide, which throws a little bit of cold water on the story we were told of a hardened killer. We weren’t told that he was married during his fling with the floosie, we also weren't told about the 12 minutes it took him to die…not *quite* the same angelical ascension into the kingdom of heaven as portrayed in the Kidz Komics.

I won't go into all the details here, but if anyone's interested then there are seven pages about the incident here:

http://www.newtimesbpb.com/issues/1997-12-04/news/feature.html

Does anyone else have details about specific incidents we were taught as kids? The Snopes urban myth site (www.snopes.com) contains a wealth of information discrediting the kind of stories that made up the better part of the Good Thot’s books, I wish now that I hadn’t thrown mine away. Like it or not, these stories formed a pivotal role in our brainwashing. I believe that learning which elements were distorted, and why, can play an important role in our recovery.

Reader's comments on this article
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from allstar43
Monday, November 05, 2007 - 16:52
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thats interesting cause Horace alderman happens to be my g grandad
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from WitterMan1
Sunday, December 03, 2006 - 11:41
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I know it has been a long time since anyone has posted about this topic but James Horace Alderman is my great, great, grand-pa. I Have his journal which tells in detail his entire life from 18 years old till his execution. If you want to know the real story behind his capture, death, family, illegal practices, or his beleives. Let me know. I have some pretty good information.

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from anovagrrl
Monday, April 17, 2006 - 08:28
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This isn't a response to your article--it was the only place I could find to comment on your poll this week on miracles. From a methodological standpoint, it's one of the best polls I've seen on this site. I do research for a living, so I can appreciate a well-designed question & response set.
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from Hansel
Tuesday, January 03, 2006 - 22:38
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This is possibly the best discussion I've read on this site--Floods back memories that I have not thot of in 20 years.
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from irritant
Monday, January 02, 2006 - 14:36
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Actually, the guy who tried to kidnap his girlfriend was tom the gangster. Anyone know more about him?
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from steam
Monday, January 02, 2006 - 14:28
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He was running.. running from the law what will be the fate of horace Alderman. Today is my coronation day Fred I am going to see Jesus before you do.
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from Fish
Monday, January 02, 2006 - 08:50
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Well actually your memory of the LWG story is wrong. The family's version is that he got caught while smugling and got icepicked (!) to the deck of some boat, then broke free and shot 3 'Feds'.
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From Ken Maret
Monday, January 02, 2006, 15:50
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I stand corrected. I think I've gotten this story confused with the other one where the ganster is in a car and surrounded by police and he reaches for his gun and fires off a shot which grazes one of the police across the head. Actually now that I think about it, he was a bad guy and they take him out. Who was that guy?

Another historical event that is well known is the Miami hurricane that Berg spoke about living through. That would have to be "Big Blow" in 1926:

http://tinyurl.com/a2ust

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From irritant
Monday, January 02, 2006, 16:14
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That guy was Tom the Ganster...whoever he was. His gf was supposedly in the custody of Virginia Brandt when the atempted kidnapping took place.(reply to this comment)
from mugthebug
Sunday, January 01, 2006 - 18:22
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here is the original inditement against james horace alderman http://www.archives.gov/southeast/exhibit/popups.php?p=9.4.1
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from cheeks
Sunday, January 01, 2006 - 15:57
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Well it took me a while to research where the story is. The best telling is in the Book of Rememberance vol 1. There are other places in the gns where he is mentioned, but the whole story is not told. Acording to the story Berg told he was let to the Lord by brother Hass who brought his wife's soup to him. The LWG does mention his wife and children and Berg mentions them several times in the articles I read. If you want the refrences here they are. Gn1817:55 1365, 1421:15-21, 1425. For the most part it seems brother Hass was the one who really had anything to do with him. I am supposing Berg's mother didn't want to get her hands dirty.

So far in everything I read Berg is of the opinion that Alderman died happy and rejoicing.
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From Ken Maret
Sunday, January 01, 2006, 20:42
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Huh, interesting. He did die "happy and rejoicing" in the fact that sang a hymn on his way to the gallows, but the link I posted states:

"Alderman's neck was not, in fact, broken by the noose. The execution was botched. Alderman kicked and strangled for a full twelve minutes before being pronounced dead by a local doctor."

I guess the Lord's protection wasn't with him that day, maybe he shouldn't have eaten that bacon with his last meal...

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from ESJ
Sunday, January 01, 2006 - 13:46
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Thats an interesting hypothesis - the fact that re-reading thru the indoctrination materials you were continually fed as children, (ie: the Kidz Konix, Good Thots, Heaven's Girl, Heaven's Children, Life With Grandpa, etc, etc), may help you to come to a more accurate understanding of just how you were enculterated and entrained into TF's bizzarre mindworld, and aid in reclaiming a more authentic perpspective on the world, history and real life.

I did some in depth reserch and study of some of the Kids pubs several years ago and have been planning to upload my findings onto the xFamily site when I get time. There's one particular paper of interest that I put together which I'll post here on Moving On when I get home from my holiday. I'm sure you would find it very interesting.
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