The Green Forest tribune., 1914-04-10
WHITFIELD WITH BILLIE KIRK.
Tribune Hot Air Dispenser Listens to
 Exciting Stories of War Times.

The Tribune editor had an hour ol two surplus time to while away 1T Alpena last Friday afternoon, and we spent it very pleasantly if not profit ably, in sort of whiting contest in the store of the Alpena Hardware Go. q, with "Billie Kirk" the champion shaving producer of this part of the state.
 In order to show that he believes in toting fair, Billie volunteered to put an edge upon both blades of our barlow before the set-to opened, and giving us an equal show at~a generous supply of soft, pine boards, the way we made the shavings fly, it was some caution.
 Billie dropped at once into remi- nscent mood, and began to relate stores of war times of the hair-straight- ening variety, that occasionally caused us to drop our whiting stick and listen with both our eyes and mouth.
 At the outbreak of the civil war, Billie was a mere kid, but he shoulder ed the responsibility of man, and more. His father went to the war, leaving him to protect and care for the family and home in the most trying times that have ever been known.
 Among the many incidents related, the one about how he killed wild hog was the most exciting. The family and he especially having grown desper- ate for meat, Billie set out one day with his butcher knife and dog alone into the fastnesses of the Long creek woods, determided to kill one of the numerous wild razor-backs that were then to be found in the country. Locating a big long-legged SOW roofing in the leaves, after slipping through the woods for some distance, he sicked old Ring and soon the big mastiff had a death grip on the jaw of the long, tusk- ed swine and the fight that followed between dog and hog for some time was extremely interesting to the ten year old boy, who with his trusty butcher knife drawn carefully kept his distance, planning on the final fray. Screwing up his courage, Billie made dive and landed upon the sharp back of the big swine, and proceeded to reach the animals throat, and severing an artery, the hog soon reeled and fell, to be skinned after beef fashion, and was carried home in pieces, where the hungry family was generously pro- vided with hog to go with their homlny for some weeks to come.
 On another occasion Billie was walk ing along the Long creek bluff, not far northea ast of the place where Alpena is now located, and with bow and arrow laid out big red fox. The stories of the deer, turkeys, and wolves he bag ged in the early days was enough to make sportsmen of today look like ciphers with the rims rubbed out. In Long creek he used to shoot suckers and trout with his bow and arrow rang. ing up to two feet long.
 MT. Kirkpatrick is genuine native. His father Bennett Kirkpatrick came from North Carolina to this country by the tar pole wagon route in 1850 and settled on what is now known as the Carrie Nation farm out southeast of Alpena, where Billie first saw the light of day, and history does not re- cord that he has been idle a minute during his waking hours, since and only a comparatively small amount of his time has been devoted to whiting, this avocation being employed in fact only to fill in with, and although the calendar shows him to be upwards of the time allotted to man, one might easily figure him down on the sunly- side, notwithstanding the fact that a surplus amount of energy has compell- ed him to devote so much time to the art of producing handmade shavings.
 MT. Kirkpatrick took very great deal of pains in showing us his father s clock which he has op exhibition in his store. The oldtime piece is of the Seth Thomas make, and was purchased from a peddler, according to the date on the inside of the door, July 20, 1S45. Price $15." The striking hammer has been worn one-sided by recording the passing of the hours during nearly three quarters of century, yet the mechanism is in good shape and it still keeps good time. It is needless to say that MT. Kirkpatrick values this old heirloom very highly. He would not exchange it for whole car load of the best whiting stocks that was ever cut out.