This Article Appeared In The Times
But Was Not Actually Titled Cal’s Column
Transcribed
by M. Carter
May
23, 1946
About 75 years ago there lived in the locality now known as he
Winkler’s community in Macon County, a couple named Holland. They had a son known far and wide as “The
Holland Child.” The boy who was
mentally subnormal had powers bordering on the psychic which are denied people
of common intelligence. these received
only passing notice; it was his ability as a mathematician that won him
fame. He had the amazing faculty of
being able to solve any mathematical
problem instantly, without any apparent effort , except too pass his thumb over
the fingers of one hand. The Hollands
left their native home long before their son reached maturity to join a show
where the lad had been engaged to give demonstrations of his calculating
ability.
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Another circus attraction of local origin was Levi (“Scaley”)
Crosslyn the aquatic performer, who, if we are correctly informed, was a native
of White Oak section of Macon County.
Except that his body was entirely covered with a natural growth of
scales which were invariably described as being “!!just like those on a fish,”
our knowledge of Mr. Crosslyn is so meager that we cannot speak with authority
concerning him and perhaps it would be better not to speak at all. It seems that his circus career began in the
late seventies. Those who saw him in a
large tank of water as he played his much ballyhooed role as “half man and half
fish” report that he had blood-red eyes, coal black hair of great length, wore
an awful expression on his face and uttered strange incoherent sounds. Of course the sounds and expression were
just part of the show and there are good biological reasons for believing that
red eyes and black hair could not go together.
The hair may have been dyed but if it was naturally black the red eyed
effect must have been produced by carefully made lenses painted red and
inserted beneath the eye lids.
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After fighting in behalf of the colonies during the
Revolution, William Wakefield migrated within the present limits of Macon
County and settled near Gibbs’ Cross Roads.
One day while hunting near his home he was attracted by sounds closely
resembling the call of a wild turkey.
He approached from behind a tree and being suspicious, placed his hat on
a stick and stuck it out to give the impression that he was peeping, presently
a bullet crashed through it. His
assailant never lived to tell the story of his treachery as Mr. Wakefield
immediately charged on and killed him.
It was an Indian who had climbed a tree and concealed himself in the
branches. It is probable that the poor
fellow was one of Cauthawley’s men, as a Cherokee Chief of that name is said to
have had a settlement of his tribesmen at Red Boiling when the white man first made his advent into that locality. We believe it may interest Mr. Wakefield’s
numerous descendants who may read these lines to know that he was an ardent
advocate of the adoption of the Constitution of the United States when that
question was receiving political consideration.
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Fresh in the minds of many
of our more elderly people is the memory of Tully Brickhouse, an itinerant
herbalist and trader in small articles who included Macon County in the rambles
that took him over parts of Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, and perhaps other
state when they were children.
He was said to be a native of Williamson County, Illinois, a
bachelor, above the average in intelligence, fairly well educated for a man of
his day, a rough but interesting conversationalist who was particularly well
informed on matters of current interest.
In his youth he was an up-to-date self-respecting young man and it was
rumored that disappointment in a love affair was the cause of his assuming his
eccentric way of life. He rarely if ever
bought any new wearing apparel, using old cast-off garments he would find here
and there. When he found a garment he
liked he would tie or sew pieces of cloth on it at places of greatest wear. His shoes were always re-inforced with
pieces of leather attached to the outside, especially in wet weather when, it
is stated, several pairs of old shoe soles would be tied beneath his feet. Mr. Brickhouse kept himself reasonably
clean.
Many and varied are the stories of those, who judging from his
shabby appearance that he was feeble minded, tried to take advantage of the
supposed weakness--to their sorrow. We
are indebted to the late Fount Patterson for this one: Approached by a ruffian who obtained
possession of his gun by pretending to want to buy it, drew the loaded weapon
on Mr. Brickhouse and commanded him to dance, which he did for a time,
concealing his anger. When the gun was
restored to its owner, Mr. Brickhouse started away. Out of reach of his tormentor he turned on him and compelled the
scoundrel to dance until he was completely exhausted, all the while heaping
such torrents of abuse on him as only “Old Tull” could utter.
We do not believe that the income from the sale of his herbal
remedies could have been large, yet he became a man of wealth. Since his living expenses were nil the
probabilities are that his fortune was built by shrewdly investing a small
income over a long period of time.
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More stories are told about
the late Iredell Roark than any other Macon Countian that ever lived. We got this one from one of our oldest and
best loved ministers who requests his name be withheld because he did not
verify the story and cannot recall the source from which he obtained it. We pass it along because it illustrates the
resourcefulness and fearlessness of the man and the reader can “believe it, or
not.”
After reading law for a brief time he was admitted to the
Lafayette bar and waited long and anxiously for clients. At last he was employed by a man under
indictment for a serious offense and who was certain of conviction as he was
sure of a trial. Mr. Roark accepted the
case and when it was called for trial the defendant, acting under his counsel’s
instructions, told the court that he did not have any lawyer. Presently Roark arose and explained that he
was a member of the bar and had never had a case and asked that he be appointed
to defend the accused. After some
hesitation the judge, with the consent of the prisoner, who, as you understand
already had Roark employed, gave him the appointment.
“I can’t present this case until I have had an opportunity to
consult my client and I suggest that you proceed with the next trial while we
talk it over,” the happy young lawyer told the court. This was agreed and as the pair filed out of the little one-room
court house on their way to a secluded place for the consultation something was
said about watching the defendant, “There is no need of that, I’ll watch him,”
returned Mr. Roark.
When the pair was well out of sight and hearing the attorney
collected his fee and pointed to a dead tree far to the north, “Run as fast as
you can until you get to that tree and then double your speed and don’t stop
until you are in Kentucky,” advised Mr. Roark.
The client lost no time in following this advise, but his counsel
remained in seclusion until the judicial patience was exhausted and an officer
was sent to bring the truants in.
When the judge learned that the prisoner had escaped his anger
was unbounded, “I thought you said you would watch him?”
“I did, your honor,” snapped the keen young lawyer, “I watched
him until he was out of sight going towards Kentucky.”
We do not know if Mr. Roark was fined for contempt of court or
punished for aiding and abetting a criminal, but it is said that the incident
centered attention on him and immediately brought him one of the largest and
most remunerative clienteles ever enjoyed by a Macon County lawyer, a practice
he held until his great powers abated with age.
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We doubt if any little incident ever happened in Macon County
that created more merriment than one that occurred at the home of the late A.
J. Ferguson, near Bethany, early in the present century.
Twice during the evening Mr. Ferguson investigated sounds on
his premises reported by his son, Oscar.
Less than an hour later the family was disturbed by the boy calling “Halt!
Halt!” to someone at the barn; following quickly by a blast from his shot
gun. When the father reached the scene,
Oscar was returning from a chase in which he had been outrun. He carried a large meal sack, branded with
the letter “P,” which had been knocked from the shoulder of a fleeing man by
the force of the many shot that penetrated it.
Public opinion pointed to only one man as the possible owner, but good
citizens for miles around who had a “P” in their initials were subjected, by
their associates, to the most searching inquiries concerning their whereabouts
on that night, the condition of their backs and other forms of hilarious
insinuations. This continued until
Potter Palmore pretended to identify the sack, claimed it as his own and
alleged that he had loaned it to one of his friends, a most exemplary man, who
was getting far more than his share of the fun, teasing Mr. Palmore and other
good people whose name began with that much discussed letter “P.”
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A congregation assembled for the evening prayer service at
Smith’s Chapel about 35 years ago was startled by a brilliant light and loud
roar. Those near the windows saw a
large meteor, followed by a long tail of flame passing near by. It seemed to be traveling parallel to the
surface of the earth and was just above the trees. Where it struck the ground or if it burned up before striking the
earth this writer never knew. Estimates
of the size of the meteor by those who saw it were interesting. Most people thought it was about the size of
a barrel, a few thought it was as large as a tobacco hogs head while one
observer expressed the opinion that it was smaller than a bushel measure.
Another celestial visitation of a kind that is very rare and
of some interest to astronomers, attracted so little attention in the
localities visited that it has probably been forgotten by many who saw the
spectacle. It was a shower of meteors
that was robbed of most of its splendor by coming at the twilight period one
summer evening about 15 years ago.
While we would not attempt to name the outer limits of the shower it is
certain that quite a number of these “shooting stars” were seen at the same
time from Sun Rise to Bugtussle to within a mile of Walnut Shade and in
between. One man reported that one of
these missiles struck the ground within a few feet of where he was walking
along the road near Bugtussle. If you
will pardon the digression, we will say that meteors are meteors only while
passing through the air. When they
strike the earth they are called meteorites or one may call them Aerolites of
satellites and be correct.
Astronomers have advanced various theories to explain these
meteoric showers. The most plausible
one, it seems to us, is that a large meteor bursts far above the earth and comes
in pieces.
The U.S. Weather Bureau maintained an Observation Station at
Lafayette during a 10 year period beginning January 1898 and ending March,
1909. We did not learn the name of the
observer. Another nearby station was at
Riddleton from 1893 to 1897 with a party name Ferguson in charge.
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For many years during the first and second decades of the 20th
century there lived in the northeast section of the county, Ethel Howard, an
intelligent negress of jovial disposition, a native of Freetown community of
Monroe County, Kentucky. Thousands of
people could not be shaken in their belief that she had the power of the Witch
of Endor, being able to delve into the past and bring to light the most hidden
secrets of the human mind or peer into the future and see an accurate vision of
coming events. They are not without
good reason for their belief as the following true stories illustrate. Before
telling them we give the reader permission to say, “I don’t believe it,” for
that is what we would do if we had not verified these and many others equally
unreasonable.
Called to the telephone by a part at Rough Point, Tenn., who
sought aid in locating a woman of sound mind whose absence was the cause of
alarm, Ethel inverted a cup in a saucer of coffee and grounds, turned it )the
client always turned the cup when present) removed the cup and gazed into the
coffee. Then she seemed to go under the
influence of a spell or trance which lasted only a few seconds. Upon recovery she described a tree and its
surroundings and alleged that at that time the missing woman was sitting at the
foot of the tree. Suddenly she became
excited, “Hurry! Hurry! she said, “She’s planning to commit suicide and if you
don’t hurry you will be too late.” A
few days later a grief stricken man arrived at Ethel’s home and stated that the
woman was his wife and from the description given him on the phone they knew
the tree and its location and rushed with all possible speed to it. The found where she had been scratching
among the roots of the tree and in a nearby stream they found her body from
which life had just ebbed.
“You will not find your cow today,” Ethel told the late Nelson
Crowe of Beautiful Home, Ky., “Tomorrow you will see a man who will stand with
one foot upon something and give you some information about her,” “Then you
will find the home I have described and a woman will come to the door with her
hair down and a baby in her arms and tell you where she is.” Mr. Crowe, who did not believe in fortune
telling, had abandoned all hop of finding the cow, which had been gone for many
weeks. He had appealed to Miss Ethel
only to satisfy a curiosity aroused by the insistence of many friends and was
astonished beyond words when these and other minute details which she had
predicted were fulfilled to the letter.
Ethel moved from this county to Glasgow, Ky., where she
married and did a large business in soothsaying until her death about eight
years ago.
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At the suggestion of one who read part of this article, before
it was submitted for publication, we relate a frivolous, yet perhaps the most
mysterious experience, that ever
happened in the life of the late J. M. Sutton, who for about 42 years was a
leading member of the Macon County Court.
At the time of occurrence, about 33 years ago, he was owner and operator
of Sutton’s Mill which has been a landmark on Little Salt Lick Creek since
pioneer days.
Working at the mill until about midnight, he stood at the meal
bin with his back to the door, about as busy as a man could be. He was probably unmindful of the roar of the
stream--swollen by heavy rains which
had scarcely ceased--as it plunged over the high dam, or the grinding sounds of
the heavy stones as they ground the white corn into meal of a quality seldom
equaled and never excelled. Suddenly,
as if a sixth sense had warned him of danger, he looked around and only a few
feet away an old man and an old woman, both shabbily dressed, were walking
stealthily toward him. They turned
instantly and ran out of the building into the blackness of the night. The Squire, who had a large acquaintance in
Macon and surrounding counties, had never met either of the pair before.
Of course the unorthodox call was prompted by evil motives or
the couple would not have fled when discovered. But to seek the motive only deepens the mystery as the Suttons
did not keep valuables at the mill and the good Squire was not known to have
carried sizable sums of money on his person.
The trail the mysterious callers made as they hurried away could be
easily seen, but the tracks they made as they approached could not be found,
indicating that they came through the old field overgrown with bushes and
briers.
The above mentioned Squire J. M. Sutton had the most retentive
memory of any one we ever knew. Many
years ago an infant was the victim of a tragic accident which was the subject
of much conversation over the county.
Fourteen years later, in conversation with this reporter, Squire Sutton mentioned
the accident and the date it occurred.
At the first opportunity we talked with the parents of the unfortunate
baby and found that the date was correct even to the day of the week. A business man upon learning that he had
given the correct date of marriage in his own (the business man’s) family
reflected on the matter and decided that no human mind was capable of retaining
a knowledge of so many incidents in which the possessor only had a passing
interest. That the answers Squire
Sutton was so often giving people about events in their lives, which eluded
their own recollections, were not facts of memory but good guesses, and out of
the many guesses now and then one would be correct. So he decided to catch the Squire in his own trap. Years later he asked him the date of the
above mentioned marriage and was instantly given the correct answer. We could go on and on, mentioning incidents
which tend to prove that J. M. Sutton’s memory was most unusual and that rarely
if ever failed its remarkable owner.
Friends will recall that he died as a result of being struck by a truck
in Nashville some years ago.
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In the early pioneer days, there is good reason for believing
it was 1832, settlers from a wide expanse of territory erected near the center
of the present 6th District, a combined school and church house. The log structure was built with the
understanding that all religious groups of the Protestant faith could use it as
a place of worship. The Methodists were
quick to organize a church there and called the place “Hall’s Chapel.” For some years this center of educational
and religious instruction had no other name.
In September, 1851 a congregation met at the home of Jesse Springer
in the Walnut Shade community (the A. D. West place) and with the aid of Daniel
Smith and E. B. Haynie, “then and there,” according to the old minutes
“constituted a church after the model church at Jerusalem.”
In October, 1852, or perhaps earlier the newly organized
Missionary Baptist Church began holding their meetings at Hall’s Chapel which
they called “Bethany.” For some years
the two denominations met in the same house.
It was easy to tell which church the person favored by the place name he
used; if a Baptist he said, “Bethany,” and of course the Methodists invariably
called it “Hall’s Chapel.”
When the M. E. Church at Smith’s Chapel was organized the
Methodist influence at Hall’s Chapel began to wane and it seems that the younger
church soon absorbed!! the membership at Hall’s Chapel. The Methodist meetings were discontinued and
the place gradually became known to all by its present name--Bethany.
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At the outbreak of the Civil War two Macon County boys without
family prestige or political pull joined the Union army. Each was commissioned Major and neither
assumed the title, exercised the authority or received the pay due a soldier of
this rank. They were the late Dr. John
Smith, of Red Boiling Springs, and the late Goldman Green Meador of Sarcoxie,
Mo.
Dr. Smith who was 19 at the time of his entry into the service
was a member of the 9th Kentucky
Infantry and fought in every engagement in which this heroic organization
participated up to and including the battles around Chattanooga. During this strenuous service he earned a
number of promotions. With the defeat
of the Confederates in these battles he was detailed to Macon and Smith
Counties to raise and train recruits.
With headquarters at Lafayette he trained many soldiers there. At this work he showed such remarkable
ability that it attracted the admiration of his superiors. This ability coupled with his general
excellence as a soldier caused him to be recommended for and to actually receive
his major’s commission.
Captain Meador, if we are correctly informed, served in every
capacity from private up to and including the rank of Captain. He was a native of the White Oak Creek
section.
According to our information their majors commissions were
signed by President Lincoln almost simultaneously with the surrender of Lee at
Appomattox. Hence their failure to
become majors in fact.
Paradoxical as it may seem, Dr. Smith was in the fore front of
the fighting at the battle of Franklin and was not really a soldier of either
of the contending armies. The time of
his first enlistment had just expired and he desired to visit his parents at
Bethany before re-enlisting. But when
the call came he refused to take advantage of his civilian status, and plunged
into this, one of the bloodiest conflicts of the Civil War, with those comrades
with whom he had fought so bravely and effectively on other fields.
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Nearly forty years ago a
Macon Countian of great mechanical ability but without knowledge of the natural
sciences spent much time in the twilight of his long life, designing and
building a perpetual motion machine.
When the machine was completed and set in action it ran. What a wonderful thing it was, running, ever
running on power that seemed to have been generated in its ingeniously designed
and skillfully constructed mechanism!
When it became apparent to those present that the motion would continue
until worn out, the conversation of the inventor and others present turned to
securing a patent on his novelty. After
the elapse of considerable time the contraption was observed to be losing
momentum and it finally ceased to run.
And so must these “memories” cease.