He was pretty drunk when he rode up to the ranch last night. McCurdy was killed by a single gunshot wound to the chest which he sustained while lying down. Post-mortem commercialization McCurdy's body was taken to the undertaker in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, where it went unclaimed. Joseph L. Johnson, the owner and undertaker, embalmed the body with an arsenic-based preservative typically used in embalming in that era to preserve a body for a long period when no next of kin were known. He then shaved the face, dressed the body in a suit and stored it in the back of the funeral home. As McCurdy lay unclaimed, Johnson refused to bury or release the body until he was paid for his services. Johnson then decided to exhibit McCurdy to make money. He dressed the corpse in street clothes, placed a rifle in the hands and stood it up in the corner of the funeral home. For a nickel, Johnson allowed visitors to see "The Bandit Who Wouldn't Give Up" (at various times, McCurdy was also called "The Mystery Man of Many Aliases", "The Oklahoma Outlaw", and "The Embalmed Bandit"). "The Bandit" became a popular attraction at the funeral home and drew the attention of carnival promoters. Johnson received numerous offers to sell McCurdy's corpse but refused. On October 6, 1916, a man calling himself Aver contacted Joseph Johnson claiming to be Elmer McCurdy's long lost brother from California. Aver had already contacted the Osage County, Oklahoma sheriff and a local attorney to get permission to take custody of the body and ship it to San Francisco for proper burial. The following day, Aver arrived at the Johnson Funeral Home with another man calling himself Wayne, who also claimed to be McCurdy's brother. Johnson released the body to the men who then put it on a train, ostensibly to San Francisco. It was instead shipped to Arkansas City, Kansas. The men who claimed to be McCurdy's long lost brothers were in fact James and Charles Patterson. James Patterson was the owner of the Great Patterson Carnival Shows, a traveling carnival. After learning from his brother Charles about the popular "Embalmed Bandit" exhibit, the two concocted a scheme to take possession of the body in order to feature it in Patterson's carnival. McCurdy's corpse would be featured in Patterson's traveling carnival as "The Outlaw Who Would Never Be Captured Alive", until 1922