Margaret Langley works as librarian. It’s probably not too often, therefore, she gets to provide a “smoking gun” to a mystery, as if she were a detective. And yet, that’s what a historian calls the obituary she furnished regarding the case of William Evans.

Evans, buried in Linn Grove Cemetery, is a Congressional Medal of Honor winner and deserves a marker on his grave. But if you visit the grave, you won’t see one. That marker is on the grave of another Williams Evans buried in St. Louis.

“I think it’s undeniable, actually,” said Douglas Ellison, who uncovered the wrong and is trying to get it corrected, in a phone interview. “The winner is down there in Linn Grove.”

Ellison writes and researches, and he thought it would be nice to write a story on Evans and two other Army soldiers and the brave ride that won them the 1876 Medal of Honor. Ellison felt a special connection to Evans because he served a second term with the U.S. Army Badlands Cantonment in Dakota Territory just west of present-day Medora, N.D., where Ellison lives.

Evans and the other two, James Bell and Benjamin Franklin Stewart, volunteered to carry a message from Gen. Terry to Gen. Crook to join forces after Custer’s defeat at Little Big Horn. The terrain was covered with Native Americans, and scouts who were promised up to $700 per day called the mission suicidal and refused it. As a last resort, Evans, Bell and Stewart, all making 50-cents-per-day pay, volunteered. Comrades thought they would never see them again. But Evans was wily, Ellison said, as he and Bell already made a dangerous trip months prior down the Yellowstone River to establish contact between the armies of Terry and Col. Gibbons. They rode into Crook’s camp three days later, to the amazement of everyone, and as a result, Terry’s and Crook’s armies united and continued the war against the Sioux Indians. They were awarded the medal soon after.

Ellison suspected the wrong Evans had the designation after more research, and he called Langley. Langley, who works at Centennial Library in Greeley, is known for her genealogy expertise, but in this case, the smoking gun, if you’ll pardon the cliché, was pretty easy to find: It was his obituary that appeared in the 1893 issue of The Greeley Tribune.

“A Dead Hero,” the obit is titled, and it discusses how he won the medal. He was a resident of Greeley for three years, trying to become a farmer. He died of pneumonia.

The wrong is apparently more of a careless mistake than a nefarious one, Ellison said. A researcher — Ellison doesn’t know who — tried to recognize the Medal of Honor winners, and that person noted Evans had first enlisted at St. Louis, and Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis contained the grave of a man named William Evans, a 30-year-old who died in 1881. The researcher made an assumption and applied to the Veterans Administration for a new grave marker.

Ellison contacted the administrators of both cemeteries, and they’re both in agreement with his research. When he contacted the VA about it, he was first told that a family member must make the request. Evans’ family died several decades ago, he said, so it’s up to Ellison to champion his cause. He got a message that the VA was forwarding his request up the chain and that it would take some time to resolve. That was two months ago.

“We’re on a wait-and-see basis,” Ellison said.

That’s really all the city can do, as well, Langley said, since Ellison already applied for the change. She is hoping for a ceremony once the mistake is corrected. Ellison would like to make it out here for that, or to see Evans’ grave at some point, though he also owns a bookstore that specializes in Western history, so it’s hard to get away.

Everyone so far is confident Evans will get the Medal of Honor marker, but it also may take more time. Ellison for now will be patient. But he’s also of the mind that Evans has waited long enough.

Staff writer Dan England is The Tribune’s Features Editor. His column runs on Tuesday. If you have an idea for a column, call (970) 392-4418 or e-mail dengland@greeleytribune.com. Follow him on Twitter @ DanEngland.