R.J. Ellis (University of Chichester)
The way in which Joan Vollmer died in September 1951 has been the subject of much investigation and speculation, a lot of it contradicting other accounts. (Vide, for example, https://realitystudio.org/bibliographic-bunker/william-burroughs-and-the-william-tell-legend/). Accounts differ constantly. What seems to be agreed upon is that Vollmer was shot in the head, and that Burroughs was jailed for two weeks in connection with the shooting. It also seems to be pretty much agreed that a lot of alcohol had been consumed by (almost?) everyone in the room at the time – which seems to have been a party. After this, contradictions abound: about who was in the room; about what type of gun was used; about what was on Joan Vollmer’s head (if anything); about whether Burroughs took aim, and if he did, was it at an object on her head, or lower; about whether he was even holding the gun (did he drop it or throw it down, triggering the gun’s discharge) … this list could go on. Enough. Personally, as a literary critic, I find this story, or should I say “mythologised event” not particularly of compelling interest.
Yet here I am writing about it. This is because, whilst working on a small exhibition on the Beats, I stumbled across some further information, which seemed to add further to the blurred picture, though arguably its eventual debunking just makes the story more fractious, and perhaps therefore (hopefully) even less compelling, except to the prurient.
So: apologies, but as a researcher I feel obliged to pass this tale on. I have only very recently acquired this information. And I do not intend to follow it up. It anyway seems to be a dead end. Once upon a time …
At the same time that I was organising a small exhibition (with others) on the Beats in a small gallery in Chichester during the late Winter of 2023 and the early Spring of 2024, another section of the gallery was arranging to exhibit photographs by a local photographer, Christopher Newberry. He heard about this exhibition, and contacted the gallery director, asking to be linked up with us.
He explained that his father and mother knew Burroughs, who, he says, they called “‘Wild Bill’ William Burroughs”. This association arose, according to Newberry, because, as he went on to explain, though Burroughs and his father were not “good friends”, they “both attended Mexico City College – now Universidad de las Américas.”
Despite this, Newberry explained, his father and mother, according to family legend, were present at the party where “Burroughs shot his wife.” (1)
At this point it is best to hand over to Christopher Newberry:
I have to say that although my dad knew William Burroughs, they weren’t good friends. They both attended Mexico City College –now Universidad de las Américas –, however he and my mother were present at the party where he shot his wife. I confirmed that story with my mother … . She tells me that Joan Volmer [sic] had gone to bed with a man while the party was taking place. My mum says that he [Burroughs] didn’t particularly seem to mind, but when she came out of the bedroom, she was in a rage and threw an empty CocaCola bottle at him. At this point my mother said, “let’s get outta here” (or words to that effect, but in Spanish), so they weren’t witnesses to the actual shooting. My dad knew Burroughs as “Wild Bill”. My father was not into literature, preferring a good Zane Grey paperback, which he usually carried in his back pocket. My mum is now 95 years old.
I didn’t know how accurate these memories were. But anyway, a complication could be identified: if Newberry’s parent were at the party where Vollmer was shot, then Newberry’s mother would have seven months pregnant at the time. Pressing this point with Newberry received this reply:
My dad told me many times about the time he was at a party where “Wild Bill” shot his wife, but my mum [only] says they were at a party where Burroughs’ wife threw a Coke bottle at him and when that happened they left the party. Maybe they’re talking about two different parties, but my dad died in 1998, so I can’t confirm anything and my mum is 95 and might not remember! The question as to whether or not she was pregnant would definitely answer the question.
And so I asked Newberry to check with his nonagenarian mother concerning her condition, as he thought she would recall that. She did. And the outcome was, perhaps, predictable, given the sorry state of this saga. The story simply unravelled:
“I spoke with my mum yesterday. She wasn’t pregnant. In fact, she had to ask her parents’ permission to go to the party, because she wasn’t yet married to my father. Which means that the party where she saw a “woman writer” hurl a Coke bottle at “a well known male writer” was not the one in September 1951 (my guess is that the party she went to was in late 1948). I’ve sent her a picture of Joan Vollmer. She says it rings a bell, but can’t be definite. The only other possibility is that my dad went to the notorious party on his own. He was working for the “Aftosa” (Foot and mouth disease) vaccinating [of] cattle in the hills of Michoacán, but came to Mexico City regularly [at that time].”
Anyway, Vollmer’s death, however it happened, was a sad, sad, ending. And then a sad beginning to the voyeuristic “William Tell” cabaret that has developed. Maybe I shouldn’t have written this piece. Call in the Nova Police.
(1) Newberry’s father, William, had married Magdalena Rotana in Mexico City in 1948.
Sources:
Email communication, 17/012024 from the Oxmarket Contemporary gallery manager.
Email communication,17/01/2024 from Christopher Newberry, forwarded to me 19/01/2024.
Email communication, 27/02/2024 from Christopher Newberry to R J Ellis.
Email communication, 28/02/2024 from Christioper /Newberry to R J Ellis.
Meeting with Christopher Newberry, Chichester, 7 February 2024.