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The "poisoned sake" story is not true, it is a complete fabrication and makes no sense. Multiple versions of the story of Powell's death circulated suggesting his poisoning was not the fault of those who drank with him, however, the truth is the drink that killed him came from a homemade still constructed by some of his friends who apparently had no idea what they were doing or used unsafe ingredients which is why the end product created by it was not suitable for consumption. The irony is that the bad liquor was drunk after a successful battle against the Japanese in the Pacific which the men with him had lived through and after which they were celebrating. Others with him were sickened by the stuff also but Powell succumbed to its deadly qualities. This information was not discussed publicly or released to the press because Powell was considered an admirable hero by many at the time, including children (he had, after all, played the Lone Ranger) and no one wanted to sully his reputation with such an unheroic-sounding story (by letting it be known to kids that The Lone Ranger had died drinking bad "bootleg hooch"), however, sometimes accidents happen and that is all there is to it. Doesn't mean he wasn't still a war hero because this unfortunate incident happened.

You can decide to include the truth here, or go on with the tradition that "preserves his reputation" if you like. I'm beyond trying to fight in favor of the truth on this website tho as so often it's deleted in favor of erroneous information that comes from a book or TV show written by people who had no involvement with a situation instead of an original source, which, in this case, is Bill Thomas, a former manager of cowboy actors (such as Sunset Carson) who knew Powell and his fellow B-movie actor friends who had worked with him in films personally, and where I got the information. No one ever published this information or would have at the time and I've stated why. And some things are true whether they're ever written down in books and footnoted or not. If you want a footnote, add "Interview with manager of Western film actors Bill Thomas for the Serial Squadron, 2010." How's that? Not good enough, I suppose. — Preceding unsigned comment added by ClarkSavageJr ( talk • contribs) 01:30, 16 November 2013 (UTC) reply