How To Steal A Billion

We have all heard stories about someone having a rich relative who died and left an heir their fortune. For me, my rich relative was a man named Pelham Humphries. According to a federal judge, Pelham was born in 1782 in Virginia and died in Louisiana in May of 1849.

Pelham was the "black sheep" member of my family. The old folk pronounced his name as PELLUM, and those who could write, wrote it that way. They spoke of him in whispers of having had bad blood and that we needed to be more careful than most people because of that. The older folk also spoke quietly about blood money and that we did not need to have any part of it.

As an adult, I am now beginning to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Phrases that the old folk used are making sense. A much bigger picture is coming into focus as to who my rich relative actually was and as to why he received his Texas land in his nickname, or alias, as opposed to his given name. Pelham's story has all the ingredients of human nature... sex, rape, adultery, murder, slavery, smuggling, counterfeiting, greed, politics, and religion.