Sequachee Valley news. (Sequachee [Sequatchie], Tenn.) 1896-1952, 1898-01-27
TOWN WITH MANY NAMES.

COgnomen Changed Every Year
for 81 Quarter of a Century--At
Last a Name Stays for a
Awhile.
The old saying about giving a
dog bad name doesn't apply to
Bailey's Mistake, Me down on the
eastern point Of Washington coune
ty. They tried to give this village
a name that was commensurate
with its reputation, tried for more
than fifty years-tried and failed,
becanse there was no word or com,
blnation of words in the language
TINT would describe the forsaken
appearance and utter loneliness Of
It's environment. A century ago
it was called "Skunk's Misery" a
term which implied that skunk
couldn't get a comfortable living
in the whole zion. Later the
terms "Paducah,' "Hardscrabble,"
"Mink Hole" and Suckervile"
were applied Ia turn and then
dropped because they didn't beN
gin to convey the prevailing idea.
There was a new name every year
for quarter Of century or SO
and the nominee was ready to give
it another when Baily came along
and shut off further debate.
Bailev's mistake was named for
Sam Bailey, coasting trader, who
use to sail into Quebec harbur as
often us once a month, the mistake
part beihg added at the time of
Bailey's last voyage, so that future
navigators and geographers would
know whose mistake it was. There
are two waterways that lead up to
Lubec from the Atlantic Ocean,
one a wide and navigable ship
channel, and the other a wide and
rocky shoal, that affords excellent
pasturage for founders and other
fish of light draught. About ten
years ago Bailey was beating his
sloop up to Lubec anchorage and
took the wrong way. He knew all
about the shoal water and the
rocks, and had become so familiar
with the course that he paid no
heed, presuming that his sloop
could find her way without help.
There is where the mistake came
in, for, trusting too much TO the
, the intelligence of the sloop. the
craft went aground on the rocks
and was chewed into toothpicks
before morning.
AS nobody ever saw anything of
Bailey or what crew. it is inferred
that the fishes took what there
was left of them after the waves
had doue their work From that
, date the term "Bailey's Mistake
was attached to the reached Oi
water, and the lands on both side:
of it. now the coast survey charts
} have recognized the claims sc
that Bailey's Mistake has become
geographical fixture. The first
settler who ever put up house on
the shore of Bailey's Mistake wal
( Nick Curren a fisherman who hac
< to work very hard for a poor living
When he wasn't working
he was making complaints
= about his lot in life saying
that not only Bailey but every
man who came that way made thu
biggest mistake of his life. HI
= continued to work and find fauH
9 until somebody discovered that
= the youthful herrings Of LubeC
4 pay when embalmed in cottoI
seed oil aud put into cases, were
n Just as good as the French and 1t.
e allan sardiues. Curran, the chron
n ic growler, bought nets, and, sci
'e ting them in the shoal waters c
Bailey's Mistake, caught million
in herring season. Owning land o
g both sides of the water. he claim
q ed the right Of eminent domsi
i. over the Mistake, and defended
ID so we'll with a shotgun that tt
c. other fishermen were compelled I
respect him. He is rich nov