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I. The Tale of Two Cousins caught somewhere between Testament, Manumission, and Emancipation
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Greater love hath no man than this,
that a man lay down his life for
his friends.
Rest in Peace, Noble Burrel…
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This story comes from the words of Reginald (Rex) Andrew Neal, my maternal grandfather. It was given concurrence by Mamie Chism Neal, Granpa Rex's wife, and my maternal grandmother. We should point out that this story was told neither with frequency nor neglect, but with all certainty and frequently enough to remain fresh. The story did not change over time, because my mother declared that her parents always told it the same way, no matter the audience.
During the ante bellum period of the South, there was an issue with the fact that a lot of people in the South had black African ancestry. The ante bellum (before the War) period was before April, 1861. During that time, the South almost in its totality had perhaps the most culturally complicated social and cultural order ever foisted upon a culture.
The Negro had three general positions. (1) Slaves, who were owned by a person, usually a white "Massah (Master)" but in many cases by another Negro or Mulatto who was a Freeman…and then (2) a Manumitted person of Black African ancestry…meaning that the "coloured person" in question had been judged by Freemen, but more especially by their "Massahs" or the heirs of the "Massahs" to be people worthy of independence and to hold the title of Freeman, a position that had to be deliberated, judged, and ordered, gavelled, stamped, and sealed (3) which meant, in reality that that person could own a firearm, could ostensibly vote if he / she could demonstrate proof of property ownership, and generally occupy an independent, self-supporting life path. That "she" could vote would come fifty years or so later.
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This man was in the same reformed
Cavalry unit as my GGG-Grandfather
Capt. Asa Grant - 2nd Tennessee Cavalry
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Normally these actions took place with the theatre being a plantation, a large farm, or a processing business usually associated with cropping, harvesting, and production of agricultural goods. However, a Freeman who had a trade or skill in a blue collar sense might well be found within the confines of a town or city, where he / she could practice the trade or skill for profit, be it blacksmithing, lace and curtain-quilting-and-comforter production and repair, livery owner, or even a babysitter or eldercare assistant.
All of this seems more or less understandable, except for two things. One is that we are doing these things in the South at or before April, 1861. And Two, there would be a War, a war between the several States, that would wind up killing or seriously wounding about 10 per cent of the entire population of the North and the South. It was…in spite of the effort to put romance and heroism and cause at the forefront…it was, madness.
So, at the end of the War Between the States, there was considerable social and cultural collapse, upheaval, and disorder, especially in the South. When governments plan precisely how to accomplish some goal, there is certainty that everything will not work like a Swiss watch.
One day, two uncles of my grandfather Reginald (Rex) Andrew Neal who were working on a large tract, trying to prepare said bottom land for a planting. Suddenly, they had two Black Men come out to the field and engage them.
After basic salutations, the older Black men informed these uncles that they were Mr. So and So's Negroes, and that they had been manumitted by Mr. So and So, who was an Uncle of the two White boys. Mr. So and So had died, leaving a manumission order in his final testament. He died in 1865, early.
They went on to say that Mr. So and So's daughter had determined that due to the settlement of the War in favour of the Union, the two older Black men had actually been Emancipated. They were freed by an act of War, and therefore, were on their own. She had no duty to endow them or care for them.
The "old Slaves" were converted to "ranch engineers", and paid little, because little was all there was. But they added more to the pile than they took out, and they more than justified their presence on what would become "Neal Property". The Neals had a cemetery on the land being worked that adjoined the property they were working on for the future. There were probably 40 interments in that facility. Down a ways there was another private cemetery known as the Limbaugh Cemetery. In those two cemeteries "Coloured and Indians" could be buried, but another one, also close by there was included another private family cemetery that permitted only white folks.
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This Confederate Hero wore these trinkets
and "medals'' that were gifts from soldiers
who had been killed or wounded in action
and who had said, "Give this to Napoleon"
or who had delivered the "trinkets" at the
end of the lamentable War Between the
States 1861 - 1865. Napoleon had saved
numerous wounded during the several
battles in which he had participated.
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All of this came rushing back when one of the "ghost hunter" shows happened to engage a house and property with considerable adjacency to all of the afore-described legal and social comings and goings. It was as if someone was ordering me from "the Beyond" to flesh out this matter. I determined to make this vignette, of which we made mention on this blog a couple of other times, but not to this degree.
Tennessee was the last State to declare for the Confederacy. Franklin County was among the last to vote on the approval or disapproval of the Tennessee Articles of Secession. The County voted substantially against The Secession from the American Union. However, they attached a stipulation to their vote which declared that the armed, military penetration into any area of the previously seceded sovereign States by the forces of the Union, would result in an immediate approval of Secession by Franklin Counties electors. The previous vote would be voided and the citizens thereof would support the Southern Cause.
That last clause, placed by Franklin and a few other Counties mainly in eastern Tennessee, was quickly put into play when Union troops crossed the Potomac River, supposedly on their way to an easy occupation of the Confederate Capital in Richmond, Virginia. Confederate forces destroyed the offensive and routed the Union Armies, causing a panicked rout by the blue-clad troops. One can imagine the surprise as numerous civilians and Congressmen and Senators who had ventured out to catch the view of the Yankees destroying what they thought would be an ignorant Hillbilly rabble had to high-tail it back to Washington D.C.
Some of the Hillbilly Rabble were from Franklin County, Tennessee.
But, to shorten this missive, it is best to put the cake in the oven and cook it. All occurred as is was supposed to occur, with the two Neal Brothers working off their obligation as a form of payment for the acreage. They still had the two Old Black Men, who had been a positive factor for them during that time. They seemed to never age, and perhaps that was what was happening.
Before it was all over, both of the Old Men had made it into the triple digits ( I believe 103 and 105 years of age) and into the 20th Century. The Neal brothers made it all the way into into the Roaring 1920s, had families, and carried on the line. To the best of my knowledge some kind of Neals still own some or all of that property.
To be sure, I never met more than two or three of my mother's Estill Springs - Winchester people…such as her Aunt Maggie who bridled and yoked her two fine horses to the buggy one dark and early morning…to help her brother and sister-in-law and their children to take the luggage and other belongings on to the train to Memphis, and then down to Texas, in 1922. My mother would have been 7 at that time, and Uncle Don (whom I never truly met nor knew) would have been 5, and Uncle Rex (my favourite) would come along later, arriving in Texas just before his first birthday.
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Veterans up 'til the last, This photo was taken
around 1932, so the OROG can figure how
old these men were at the time of the taking
of this picture. |
Almost all of the "Confederate Veterans' Reunions", especially in the"Old South" would have "real live Negroes" who were actually veterans of service in combat or close combat support. They were uniformly treated as something between dolls, toys, Saints, Heroes, and gentlemen…soldiers, and brethren. It was always terribly sad, very noble, and joyful in the sense that it could only be understood by the bugle call of "Taps" and the ditty of "Dixie".
Now, the reader of the first order, and the OROGs, and all others who have been called forward to read these heavy words. El Gringo Viejo is that cross-bridge for having been born in 1947 and therefore having been instilled with the Truth (as spake my eldest brother - General Bobbie Lee had agreed afore-hand to allow Ulysses Simpson Grant, the losing General, to put on an act that he was taking Lee's sword as Lee surrendered it. Many photographs were taken of that event, which was repeated three or four times for the photographers' sake and for the sake of history. Many people are still under the delusion that Lee surrendered to Grant, but those of us with inside knowledge know it was visa - versa. My eldest brother, Milton Birchard Newton, Jr. BA, MA, Ph.D assured me of the accuracy of that supposition. Until I was about 11 years old. But remember, I still believe in Santa Clause, (for real).
Please understand that these words…some written in profound sadness…some with a sense of jest…and others with the intent that they be seen and considered as "just the facts, ma'am", are words that still, to this day, bounce around inside El Gringo Viejo's skull. The OROG can rest certain that all of the statements made without the modification of humour are actual facts and/or facts as best can be determined. All of the photographs are real, true, and unembellished.
We finish this section of our account with the lamentable observation that, while there has been some confirmation of these facts by people in the Franklin County, Winchester city, and Estill Springs area…the people with or without blood relationship, have been cold, snooty, and only very grudgingly interested in my questions and concerns. I place this disclaimer because it will help you all, when you are doing your own genealogies and family tales to just keep pushing.
I further regret to inform that much of my lead information and other evidence from the "familial past" came from a Yankee who was the niece of my Grandfather Newton's brother Sewell Leonard Newton…who became an accomplished microscope builder, a renowned regional maker of fine violins, and a rebuilder of various water-powered gristmills in Western Connecticut.
Thus ends an episode…the First Entry in the Trilogy of a Southern Cultural History.
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II. A Lynching in the Normally Sleepy village of Estill Springs, Tennessee in 1918:
Preface: Estill Springs is quite near Winchester, Tennessee. My mother was born in Winchester and lived in that city as well as in Estill Springs for the first nine years of her life, before moving to deep South Texas in the mid-1920s. She was born on a frosty morn in January of 1915…
The lead paragraph of this Wiki-sourced material indicates that Tullahoma is the big brother community to Estill Springs, but in those times under consideration, Estill Springs was definitively within the cultural orbit of Winchester. My mother and her people were decidedly of the certain knowledge that they were of the "Eastern Tennessee" portion of the State. When one regards the flag of Tennessee, it will be noted that there are three stars on the banner. That is for the three regions of the State; Eastern, Central, and Western. Eastern had the "capitals" of Knoxville and Chattanooga and the backside of the Smokies and Appalachia. Central had Nashville. The Western's capital is Memphis and its Mississippi River ghosts and lore.
DCN
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The European-American town dates from circa 1840, when the Frank Estill family, which owned considerable property in the area, donated a right-of-way for railroad construction. The combination of mineral waters, which were much in vogue as a health remedy at the time, and convenient rail access caused the settlement to develop as a small-scale spa town, which took its name from the springs. Oscar Meyer was appointed the first mayor of Estill.
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(el Gringo Viejo's words follow)
Civil War era
During the Civil War, the town was generally known as "Allisonia", for another family which had settled in the area. It was the site of a Confederate training camp, Camp Harris, named for Isham G. Harris, the Confederate governor of Tennessee, who was a native of the county. Southern forces retreated through the town during the 1863 Tullahoma Campaign, named for the nearby community which served as Confederate headquarters.
The truth begins here, the misinformation begins below: Estill Springs and Winchester, Tennessee actually had noteworthy good relations between the Indians, the Negroes, and the Caucasian group. A considerable number of the Negro element in the county of Franklin…numbering about 12% of the County's population, were actually quite "comfortable" in their circumstances. In the lynching matter which follows this entry into the record, the family of the victim of the lynching was known to be quite prosperous. The McIlherrons were substantially Black African of ancestry, and not at all troubled by it. The family was respected all about Winchester and Estill Springs. They had counter credit at any store from Estill Springs to Winchester to Tullahoma and to Chattanooga. Few Whites could say that.
The event that occurred during the early days of February of 1918 found the known and recognised bully, criminally convicted, with black people bringing and pressing the charges against the person of Jim McIlherron, once again involved in another legal (and criminal) problem. He had served time for an unjustifiable physical assault. After release, he skulked away to Indianapolis, Indiana of all places, where he worked, made good money, and then was involved in another "little problem". He fled back to his family's hearth.
Once things seemed to be stabilised, Jim moved around in Estill Springs pretty much unimpeded. But one day, after about two months back in Tennessee, Jim was walking down the main thoroughfare. Some snotty young white boys began to throw stones at the Negro Jim, that being a favourite thing to do among the white-trash who lived out north of town. The Negro Jim warned the White boys that he had a way of getting back at them and that they needed to stop. Finally, after being pelted with real live stones, bouncing off'n his body, he drew his six-shooter pistol…gave them one more warning, and finally fired six shots…the three boys stood up to the crazy Jim, while he delivered six shots from his six-shooter.
Each boy was hit twice, quite an accomplishment for a shooter of a pistol from 50 foot's distance. Two of the boys died at the scene. A third was taken to medical facility where the last boy was saved from Death's door. Jim decided to take flight, and apparently went up towards Tullahoma. The White Folks in the community went to the Franklin County Sheriff and demanded that Jim be sought and carried back to face justice.
It was commonly assumed that the Sheriff of Franklin County was afraid of Jim, based on previous contacts with him. Due to this, about 200 people decided to take matters into their own hands, and they boarded the next train to the north and went to the town where Jim had friends…including a White preacher by the name of G.W. Lych (pronounced 'like'). The mob was informed that Jim had been with the Preacher man, so they went to the parsonage and attempted to extract information from the preacher…but that only resulted in the Preacher's death.
Jim was found, then brutalised by the huge mob…and after shooting Jim in the eye, the leg, and the abdomen, and beating him unmercifully, they all returned to Estill Springs, where Jim, being still alive, was given another round of merciless beating and hacking…even in the indiscreet zones…and then ending in being burnt to death…except he did not die. Another man, sick of the treatment, ordered the mob to desist and realising that Jim would not ever recover, poured coal oil all over him and set him to a final almost totally consuming fire.
Some days later, about 2,000 people, mostly Negro, but many highly placed White politicians, clergy, and regular business and trades folks were among the marchers. It was very quiet, and over with in 30 minutes…and then things returned to "normal". The McIlherron family was glad that it was over. The Mrs. informed her various White friends that Jim had always been like a boy born under the Rule of Saturday, but the ladies also deferred and declared that Jim deserved at least a hearing before the bench with a good attorney. The provocateurs of the rock throwing event were not what one might consider wholly innocent of the matters that brought the even to pass.
Concerning this and other lynchings…before the War Between the States there were somewhat fewer lynchings and most normally concerned themselves with White miscreants. During the time between 1830 through 1930, I believe that 400 or so people were "lynched" in Tennessee, landing in 2nd place behind Alabama. Of that number, before the War Between the States, 90% were Caucasians of one kind or another. Afterwards, during the 1870s through the 1930s…80% were Negroes.
Indians, for lack of numbers, and because they would normally go to sleep when they were drunk, did not fare so poorly. There was an abiding sense that the Indians who had managed to avoid being forced to go to Oklahoma during the Trail of Tears episode brought on by the cad Andrew Jackson and his New York City banker friends, needed to be protected. About 20% of the Indians who were forced into going to Oklahoma made their ways back to Tennessee, surreptitiously. Even to-day, there are large aggregations of Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Creek Indians who managed to return and "re-establish" in their ancient homeland.
We leave this last Wiki-bit for the OROG and the visitor to A Gringo in Rural Mexico pretty much intact. Remember this is where my mother forced the pretty little blond Jewess to come out of her shell and play the hoop and stick, and baseball, and even football. The "pretty little Jewess" had had a bout with the dreaded poliomyelitis, leaving her with one weakened leg. The Shores and the Neals were friends and competitors with emporiums and millinery stores almost on the same block, but on different sides of the street. Though competitors, they were also good friends. It was a classic case of bonding across religious lines (Jews and Methodist, Baptist, and Episcopalian…what a mix!) and many other lines. But my Godmother Lucille Hendricks and my Grandmother Mamie Chisum Neal (all Tennessee) would declared, "He who offends against the Jew will lose and lose all. No nation that offends against the Jew will ever live in peace."
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The fad for bathing in and drinking spring waters eventually passed in Estill Springs. Local lore has it that the long-awaited construction of U.S. Route 41A through the town in 1940 caused the springs to dry up. The spa era passed by mid-century, and the hotels were razed. The new highway connected the town to sources of employment in neighboring communities, and gave it a strategic position on the main artery between Nashville and Chattanooga. The development of local lakes through dam construction by the Tennessee Valley Authority generated recreational business as well.[5]
During the time of Prohibition, Estill Springs was home to prominent local mobster and bootlegger Parker Jones. Parker and his gang took advantage of the heavily wooded terrain to distill their bootleg booze. Parker and his men also used Estill as their primary logistics hub to traffic the booze through Middle Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia. Jones remained in Estill for several years, "owning" mayors, city councilmen, and police officers. The government dispatched dozens of revenue agents to arrest him and his men. However, when they finally arrived at his hideout, they found nothing and Parker was never seen in Estill again.
This ends the 2nd part of the Tennessee Trilogy.
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The Great Train Wreck of the Summer of 1918:
This event is fairly well covered by Nashville and Chattanooga reporters, although their work was impeded by the utter destruction and devastating loss of life. One can imagine if the man who was bereft as he reported the explosion and pyrrhic end of so many people when the Hindenburg crashed and burned twenty or so years later, what it must have been when the "body count" finally seemed to end just shy of 120 passengers and crew of trains that were a peculiar combination of rustic and de luxe.
Dull, but necessary details:
We leave this essentially widely reported and heavily covered story for the reader. I have found that it is a respectable accounting of the events on that Mid-Summer's Morn. Therefore, draw your substantially accurate information from that which is posted below.
Date July 9, 1918
Time7:20am
Location Nashville, Tennessee
Country United States
Operator Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway
Type of incident Collision Caused by Human error.
123 dead - 53 injured
The two trains involved were the No. 4, scheduled to depart Nashville for Memphis, Tennessee at 7:00 a.m., and the No. 1 from Memphis, about a half-hour late for a scheduled arrival in Nashville at 7:10 a.m. At about 7:20 a.m., the two trains collided while traversing a section of single track line known as "Dutchman's Curve" west of downtown, in the present-day neighborhood of Belle Meade. The trains were each traveling at an estimated 50 to 60 miles per hour; the impact derailed them both, and destroyed several wooden cars.
An investigation by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) attributed the cause of the accident to several factors, notably serious errors by the crew of train No. 4 and tower operators, all of whom failed to properly account for the presence of the train No. 1 on the line. The ICC also pointed to a lack of a proper system for the accurate determination of train positions and noted that the wooden construction of the cars greatly increased the number of fatalities
Departures
At 7:07 a.m. on the day of the accident, the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis ("NC&StL") train No. 4 departed Union Station in Nashville, bound for Memphis. The train, pulled by locomotive No. 282, a G8A class 4-6-0 ten-wheeler built by Baldwin, consisted of two mail and baggage cars and six wooden coaches.
Meanwhile, train No. 1, pulled by locomotive No. 281, also a G8A class 4-6-0 ten-wheeler built by Baldwin, was heading into Nashville from Memphis. Containing one baggage car, six wooden coaches, and two Pullman sleeping cars of steel construction, train No. 1 had departed McKenzie four hours earlier, and passed Bellevue at 7:09 a.m., thirty-five minutes behind schedule.
Approach
Both trains required the use of a single-track section approximately 10 miles (16 km) long in the western portion of Nashville. According to contemporary practices, the inbound train (No. 1) retained the right-of-way. Thus, the railroad dispatch informed the crew of the opposing (No. 4) train that they were to stop in the double-track section if they did not visually identify the passing No. 1 before they reached the interlocking tower known as "Shops Junction", where the single-track section began. The term "Shops" referred to the railroad's massive repair and refueling shops including its largest roundhouse. This was not a passenger stop but rather the junction where the railroad's mainline track to Memphis narrowed down to just one track.
While train No. 4 traversed the double-track section, the conductor delegated the responsibility of identifying No. 1 to the remainder of the crew. While collecting tickets, the conductor mistook the sound of a passing switch engine with empty passenger cars as No. 1. The crew either made the same error or were negligent in properly identifying the train.
As No. 4 approached the interlocking tower at Shops Junction, tower operator J. S. Johnson showed a clear signal from the tower's train order signals, indicating all was clear. As he stopped to record the train in his logs, he noticed that there was no entry showing that the opposing train No. 1 had passed. Johnson reported to the dispatcher who telegraphed back, "He meets No. 1 there, can you stop him?" Johnson sounded the emergency whistle, but there was no one at the rear of No. 4 to hear it. The train passed on the assumption that the clear train order board indicated that the line ahead was clear. Also, the engineman and conductor failed to visually inspect the train register at Shops Junction to ascertain as to whether No. 1 had yet arrived. That was required by operating instructions issued by the railroad's management prior to the wreck.
Collision
Shortly after 7:20 a.m. the two trains collided at Dutchman's Grade near White Bridge Road. It is estimated that the westbound train was traveling at about 50 mph while the Nashville-bound train was running at 60 mph. Many of the wooden cars were crushed or hurled sideways. The sound of the collision could be heard two miles (3 km) away.
This was to have been the last trip before retirement of the engineer of the Nashville-bound train.
Aftermath
The Interstate Commerce Commission listed the dead at 101, though some reports listed the death toll as high as 121.[2] At least 171 people were injured. Many of the victims were African American laborers from Arkansas and Memphis who were coming to work at the gunpowder plant in Old Hickory outside of Nashville. As many as 50,000 people came to the track that day to help rescue survivors, search for loved ones, or simply witness the tragic scene.
In its official report, the Interstate Commerce Commission was harsh on the railroad. A combination of operating practices, human error and lax enforcement of operating rules led to this worst passenger train wreck in U.S. history. Had the signal tower operator properly left his signal at danger, the conductor monitored his train's progress rather than entrusting it to a subordinate, and had the crew inspected the train register at Shops Junction as required, the accident would not have happened.
This wreck provided the impetus for most railroads to switch to all-steel passenger cars versus wood and steel.[citation needed]
The locomotives involved in the wreck, #281 and #282, were later rebuilt in 1919 and continued service until their retirement in 1947 and 1948 respectively and sold for scrap.
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What is missing here is the back-story. There was a troupe from New York City, returning from somewhere (probably Atlanta) and going somewhere else (possibly Chicago)…and the troupe was actually a downtown New York Theatrical concern that specialised in the classic Broadway plays and Shakespeare. None were badly injured, although all were emotionally scarred and injured physically to some degree or another.
There were so many dead…especially up in front. By the luck of the draw, because this troupe was apparently famous and accomplished, they had the special Pullman sleeper cars in the rear of the convoy. Their luggage contained much of the costumerie they used in stage presentations.
There was no way to go that way or come this way, due to the fact that the wreckage was so bad, and there were so many dead entangled in the mess. The people of Estill Springs and Winchester helped where they could, and upon finding out about these effete and delicate actors and actresses, it was determined that they should be put up in homes where they could have privacy and running water, etc. It was approximately 18 people, playing about thirty roles.
After gaining comfort, the charge'd'affairs came forward and spake with the Tennessee people, saying that the troupe was "temporarily financially embarrassed" and is there any way we can repay you…etc. etc?"
It seemed as though these folks were going to be in for the duration. In fairly quick order, a group of men returned to bother the "Theatrical Stars", and by suggesting that the people of Winchester and Estill Springs would like to see a presentation of Romeo and Juliet or Julius Cesar, as written by Shakespeare.
So it was done. The central part of the main downtown park was prepared so as to served as a stage. Chairs were brought from every church in town. Then on their third night in this far and distant land, known as "The South", the troupe put forth a great version of Julius Cesar and on the second night a presentation of Romeo y Julieta. When all was said and done, and accounts squared, etc. some of the people with the troupe asked, ''Do these people have a connection with people who teach elocution or history in your schools here?
The answer was no…We take only our parents show us in terms of talking and speaking. The people from the troupe were all but incredulous. The chief of the group declared that they had much experience with Shakespeare and the classic Theatre, but they had never had people laughing at obscure points in the script, etc. The chief declared that the folks in downtown New York did not have the understanding that these Tennessee people had in terms the ancient English and the social matters that were presented.
One of the "elders" of the local folks stated then," Well, you have to understand…what you all were saying is pretty much the way we talk and think. Maybe we should all go up to New York and London and make us a decent living." And to this point, all laughed and joined in the shaking of hands and slapping of backs, etc.
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The trilogy is complete…although there is so very much more to say. But, brevity is the soul of wit and to-morrow, we shall be on our way down to our little adobe hut at the base of the mountains in Nowhere, Mexico. To-day is the anniversary of our 47th year as a married couple. I have no idea why my Boss hasn't put me on an iceberg to float off into the distant horizon. But we are both still here.
More later.
El Gringo Viejo
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