Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Polly Bartlett

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The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was keep‎ . The rough consensus seems to be that even if this is a hoax, it's a notable one. – Joe (talk) 05:11, 26 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Polly Bartlett[edit]

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Polly Bartlett (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) – (View log | edits since nomination)
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This article is filled with unreliable sources. References one & five are tabloids, reference six is a YouTube video, & reference seven is a blog. The only reliables ones seem to be Buckrail (2 & 4) & "Only in your state (3)." It's also suspicious that there are no newspaper articles of this individual from 1868, when she was arrested. I've looked on Newspapers.com, Newspaperarchive.com, & the Times digital archive, & I've found nothing. The only sources are from 100+ years after her alleged capture. It seems like a hoax. Silent-Rains (talk) 19:45, 3 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  • Note: This discussion has been included in the deletion sorting lists for the following topics: Women, Crime, and Wyoming. Shellwood (talk) 19:53, 3 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  • Keep. It's not a WP:HOAX but it may be a WP:NHOAX. I see lots of references to Polly Bartlett on GBooks. The article may need to be pruned back considerably, though. pburka (talk) 20:30, 3 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]
    I'm having trouble finding "lots of references" on GBooks. I've found three mentions on GBooks. Number one is The writer Volume 94, where less than a sentence is dedicated to her; number two is America's Historic Places: An Illustrated Guide to Our Country's Past, Volume 2, which also contains only a brief mention; and last is Crime Buff's Guide to the Outlaw Rockies, where less than a page is dedicated to her. None of this is significant coverage, only brief, trivial mentions. Silent-Rains (talk) 20:46, 3 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]
    A full page in the Crime Buff's Guide is certainly sigcov, and she seems to be discussed in Peter Vronsky's Female Serial Killers, too, but the full text isn't available on line. I also found a story in The Wyoming Tribune Eagle. While many of the sources currently in the article are poor, some are acceptable, such as the KWYY story and probably the Buckrail one. pburka (talk) 21:43, 3 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]
    half a page, not an entire page, in the Crime Buff's Guide mentions her. I have checked Peter Vronsky's Female Serial Killers too, and she is not mentioned in it. For some reason, that book pops up when you look up nearly any female serial killer, even if they are not mentioned in the book. I find it odd. Silent-Rains (talk) 23:47, 3 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  • Creator of the page here. Bartlett's extremely difficult to find resources on because she's essentially a highly unrecognized outlaw figure from the Rockies. It's easier to find her on serial killer lists than Wyoming history. But she's an important part of more macabre and sinister state history, and local Wyoming communities still remember her. "Slaughterhouse Gulch" is only a semi-obscure tourist attraction today, but records are still present as far back as Bartlett's Inn. The only caveat is she's the inspiration for crime show murderers, and I can't prove it for sure. ContributingHelperOnTheSide (talk) 23:17, 3 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Do you have any insight as to why no newspapers referenced her when she was arrested, & why information about her was only supposedly discovered about 100 years after her death, and why the first newspaper that mentioned her cites no sources as to where it got its information from? Silent-Rains (talk) 23:52, 3 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]
My apologies for replying late. Honestly, I'm sure it must've been a hot report back then, but a crime that atrocious? An outlaw who was an early serial killer in a territory that wasn't a state. My conjecture is it was willingly disregarded and forgotten so people would move on, not be scared or ashamed of such history. Records must be getting more recognition to archive them, and with serial killer fanbases and outlaw fiction cultures, of course Bartlett would get attention. ContributingHelperOnTheSide (talk) 04:28, 6 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]
I think it's far more likely that she was invented in 1963 to sell copies of Real West magazine. Regardless, the story has been repeated enough to become notable. pburka (talk) 00:06, 8 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Well, thank you for that, but there's plenty of real photos to show she was real. Thanks for the vote regardless, I already lost one article, I'm glad to keep this one since it's important for information and education. Even if she's spoken of like a sultry outlaw throughout history. ContributingHelperOnTheSide (talk) 23:39, 9 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Star Mississippi 02:40, 11 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Star Mississippi 14:25, 18 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.
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