1:06 PM 9/1/00 When Leonard was 16 years old, he set out to make his fortune. After trying in vain to get a job in the mines at Pioche, Nevada, he wandered around the hills just looking to see what he could find. He stumbled upon an old abandoned mine shaft. It was only a few feet deep and partially filled with sand and debris. Leonard cleared it out and got a few rock samples in the pot hole--such as it was. It looked quite rich so he went to Pioche to have it assayed. Lo and behold! It was rich in gold. News traveled fast, and in no time, the shysters came and talked Leonard into selling his mine for $1,200.00. To a 16year old, that looked like alot of money, so he sold his mine. In no time, he hurriedly bought himself a car. When he came home and told his parents what he had done, they were heartsick. His dad investigated and found that the mine was resold for $50,000.00. He tried to break the sale, as Leonard was a minor, but Leonard already spent most of the money, and besides, it would have cost alot for an attorney, so they had to let it go. Once again, news travels fast--especially when a young lad falls into a little money. An old outlaw named Lyshon came to Leonard and told him about a cache of gold bullion in Arizona. He talked Leonard into furnishing his car and expenses for part of the loot, if they found it. Somehow another man became involved. Leonard wanted to tell his parents where he was going so they came to his parents home. His parents tried to talk Leonard out of going on this wild excursion, but he had already promised and he wasn't about to change his mind. In desperation, his mother went to this man Lyshon, and made him promise that he would take care of her son. They reached the apparent destination, and since his car was boiling in the hot desert sun, Leonard got out to pour some water in the radiator. While out there, he heard a gun shot. When he came around to see what had happened, he saw that Lyshon had shot the other man, and then he was going to shoot Leonard, but then he said; "I promised your mother that I would take care of you, or else I would kill you to." Lyshon then held the gun on Leonard while Leonard dug a shallow grave and buried the dead man. Lyshon figured to kill both men so he could have all the gold for himself, as he thought they were close to finding it. After a couple of days of wandering around in the desert, they gave up and came back to Saint George, Utah. Lyshon rented some kind of room and kept Leonard locked up in it, as he was afraid Leonard would tell on him. One night, Lyshon came to the room really drunk, and when he fell asleep, Leonard took the key from him and escaped. Leonard went directly to the sheriff and told him what had happened. They immediately arrested Lyshon while he was still asleep, and put him in Jail. Leonard then took the sheriff and a deputy out to retrieve the body. He said that when they dug the body up, they noticed that his beard had grown quite a bit. Whey returned to Saint George, they had a trial. Naturally, Leonard was a suspect along with Lyshon, but at the trial, they asked Leonard if he has ever killed anyone. Leonard told them that the only thing he had ever killed was his pet kitten. It was sick so he gave it some medcine, but the medicine turned out to be strychnine; and the cat died. The judge said that anyone that tender hearted could never kill anyone. Lyshon was found guilty and was taken to prison. As they took him away, he shook his fist at Leonard and told him he would get even some day. Leonard then went to California where he got as a short order cook in a small cafe. His brother Frank went down to Los Angeles a couple of years later to get a job, which he did. It was working with Leonard in this short order cafe. Frank said everyone loved Leonard, and they called him "Benny." This was probably a spin off from Leonard, as some people called him "Lenny." Leonard never wrote an order down. They said he could keep 25 or more orders in his head, and without fail, he got the right order to the right man. These men would come in to eat breakfast on their way to work, as they wanted fast service. Leonard married Verda Wiley, a lovely girl from Lyndyll, Utah. They had a son named Raymond. They went back to California some time after their marriage. On one occasion, Leonard and Verda came home to visit. Early that morning, he domed a pair of his dad's bib overalls. Of course his dad was several inches taller than Leonard, so he had to roll up the pant legs 3 or 4 rolls. When he put on of his dad's coats, it nearly drowned him so to say. They went out and did the chores together, and came in as two human beings could possibly be. After breakfast, Leonard got his dad's violin and tried to play a tune on it. After their return to California, Leonard was working as a carpenter on a scaffold two stories high. Somehow he fell off, and lit on some steel beams lying on the ground. He suffered a bad concussion and was unconcious for 3 days. When he woke up for a split second, he said; "Who pushed me?" He dided on July 28, 1928 just two months before his 26th birthday, and it so happened that he died on his father's birthday. They shipped his body to Milford, Utah, where they had his funeral, and he was buried in Greenville Cemetary along side his parents. His parents learned a few days later that this man Lyshon had been paroled and let out of prison, and they often wondered if he got his revenge on Leonard as he had promised at the trial in Saint George. Leonard's wife Verda always stayed close to his family. When she married John Smith, all three of them would come down from Delta, Utah to visit and decorate Leonard's grave. Since Verda's death, their son Raymond still comes from Delta to decorate his father's grave, every year, without fail.