The details of the death of Festus Can be found in the California Supreme Court Case McCormick v. Woodmen of the World (1921). The full document is 144 pages long and is held by the California State Archives. I scanned a copy to PDF but it is 44 MB. It is a wonderful document with all of the testimony from the original case. Festus (or Fasty as he went by) disappeared 26 miles from San Francisco in 1913. He was never seen again by his family. The case centers around that fact that if a person has not been seen for 7 years they can be declared legally dead. The insurance company had a clause that stated their would be no death benefits without evidence of death. The court decided the company could not impose that provision and must therefore pay the claim.
