The Harrison times., 1920-05-01
HARRISON THIRTY YEARS AGO
Bv IOHN d. DEWITT


a hard thing to keep me in school so
] vert to Sea when was sixteen
years OF age. After roaming around
this old globe for a couple OF years
] found my way back home, but not
for long for the life was too slow for
me. One day my brother said to me,
"Say, John, have a friend OF mine
out in a little town in Arkansas called
Harrison He has gone out there TO
make his fortune. and says 1t is
great country" | said alright broth
er, you stake me TO carfare and | will
go out and look Duncan over That
is where my story begins.
On Saturday night, August 20, 1887
a freight wagon numbered down the
Bear Creek road heading for Harrison,
and on the seat with the driver was
]. Through some error | was dumped
off at Chadwick, Mo, with five dollars
in my jeans, and in those days Chad
wick did not have up-to-date hotels
and taxi-cabs. All | could see was a
log cabin opposite the station with a
hotel sign nailed to it, and after look,
ing around made up my mind that
that was all there was in town, so I
went over and blew a quarter for
meal. This gave me courage so ven
tured to ask how far it was to Har-
rison. Twenty miles to Taneyville,
twelve miles to Kirbyville and then
forty-five miles to Harrison. Ne Gods
and little fishes and me with $4.75.
1t looked blue to me, but | had to
get out of the woods, There was a
lumberman going over to Taneyyille
empty, so | told him the fix | was in
and he agreed to give me a lift for
two dollars.
Everybody grinned at the tender
foot with the billed shirt and his city
clothes. was mad clean through
and wanted to beat up the whole
bunch, but thought | had better not.
The lumberman was a good sport
though and took my part On our
way up to Taneyville a party of gen
tlemen held us up, and they wanted
to know who | was and were not over
polite After looking through my
grip they let us proceed, and when
we were up the road | asked my COM
Wash Middleton's gang" he replied,
That was Greek to me at the time
but | found out later When we got
to Taneyvlle my friend bid me good
bye and directed me to the mail stage
for Kirbyville.
While waiting for the mail stage a
clerical looking man stepped up to
me and inquired if | was a stranger
in those parts. After | assured him
such was the case he introduced him
self Nas Mr.-fiunter from St Louis,
Baptist minister on his way to Yell
vile to take charge of church down
there We soon made friends, and
when the stage for Kirksville pulled
in we swung aboard 1t was a beau
tiful moonlight night and we rocked
along over the hills at a good clip
uneil we neared Kirkville, when at
shapt turn in the road the stage
struck a big boulder and over we
went Fortunately we cleared the
stage and.J found myself rolling down
the hillside mixed up with trunks and
other baggage Nobody was aurt and
the horses did not bolt, so when we
righted the bus we resumed our jour
ney, reaching our destination about
eleven o'clock at night. The town
mad gone To Nsleep and we had troub,
lie in finding sleeping Accommodations,
but finally a kind hearted citizen gave
the Dominic and | a bed, In the
after | paid for my lodging
I was fat broke and still forty-fye
miles from Harrison put 1t up to
my host, and told him the fix was
in and assured him that if he would
drive me through to Harrison that
had a friend there that would pay the
bill. "
The Dominic was going through to
Harrison too, so we made a deal, and
off we started. We pulled into Har
rison the same night, drove up to
Morris Garvins house where my
friend Duncan was stopping. He was
to see me and still more sur
prised to know that ! had landed in
Harrison dead broke, but he was game
and staked me without word Then
he instructed me to go to the Allen
Hotel where | spent Sunday Early
morning Duncan appeared
with rig and we headed for Cass
Garyin's ranch west of town CaSs