C. D.,

I researched this recently for a writing project. Murder Rocks is on Pine Mountain south of present-day Kirbyville.

You would ask where his body is buried. After his body was presented to Union authorities for reward in Forsyth, they had it buried beside the road just outside of town. Except the body had deteriorated by the time Bolen's killer got it that far and the head came off. Union authorities placed Alf's head on a pole in Forsyth, I suppose as a warning to any other aspiring "Alf Bolens." The skull was later passed around from collector to collector in southwest Missouri and may yet be someone's keepsake even today.

Sources include:
--Elmo Ingenthron, "Borderland Rebellion," Branson: The Ozarks Mountaineer, 1980, 285-89;
--Dr. Charles H. Lothrop, "A History of the First Regiment Iowa Cavalry Veteran Volunteers," Lyons, Iowa: Beers and Eakon, 101;
--Western Historical Company, "History of Greene County, Missouri," St. Louis: Western Historical Company, 1883, 459;
--Douglas Mahnkey, "Alf Bolen's Buried Treasure," "White River Valley Historical Quarterly," vol. 5, no. 6, 1-4.

Bruce Nichols