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H
I S T O R Y O F H E R E
P a r t 185
Lookin'
at a Valuable Neighbor - Continues
By:
James F "Jim" Barrett
Matt Shearer and his lovely daughter
Gracie lived in a log cabin on the
shoulder of Dewey Bald Mountain. For those
of you who don't know about it, Dewey Bald
is the undeveloped, very large (by Ozark
standards), mountain that lies in the
center of the Henning State Park along 76
Highway, just west of "The Strip" in
Branson. In Wright's wonderful book, The
Shepherd of the Hills, they became Jim
Lane and Sammy Lane, colorful characters
who personified the Ozarks of that day and
time. Jim Lane (Matt Shearer) was a big,
quiet, often mysterious hill man, while
Grace was a young, beautiful girl, given
to sitting on a rock ledge high up on
Dewey Bald, dreamily staring off at the
distant mountains and valleys. The place
became known as Sammy's Lookout, and it's
up there on Dewey Bald to this day - while
the historic Jim Lane cabin has, sadly,
vanished into the unknown.
But
the Bald Knobbers were very real and over
the years became quite dangerous. Perhaps
you'd like to meet a real Law and Order
League member? One who stayed a true and
terrible Knobber until the end. George
Washington Middleton became Wash Gibbs in
Wright's book. Middleton, the real Bald
Knobber was much like the character Wright
told of. Wash Gibbs became a member and
soon rose to the top of the Bald Knobber
heap. He became Captain Nat Kinney's
adjutant. When punishment was to be handed
out or Knobber laws enforced, Kinney gave
the nod to Wash, and then Gibbs
(Middleton) loosed the dogs of Hell.
"Wash,"
Kinney snarled, "quite soon we're going to
take over the politics here in Taney
County. And before long we'll have Barton,
Christian and Greene County in our control
as well. But Joe Philibert and his
damnable son, Charles Edward Philibert,
have personally threatened me with death,
or worse, if I try to take the Bald
Knobbers into Stone County and expand our
organization there."
"So,
Cap'n, what's our plan? You want me to go
over to Philibert's Riverfork Ranch and
gun down young Charles Edward?" Wash
asked, while nonchalantly keeping his eye
on the especially vicious club he was
whittling with his dagger.
"No,
Wash, that would bring adverse attention
to our Law and Order League. The
Philiberts are a power in Stone County and
highly thought of throughout the Ozarks.
No, I think something more subtle, cunning
and just as effective is called for."
Wash
briefly looked up from his work, his black
eyes glittering in anticipation, "Fur
instance?" he asked, grinning maliciously.
"Like
waiting until Charles Edward is away
visiting his old Civil War captain,
Senator Bobby Baker, up in Jeff City. Then
we'll hold a bonfire rally on Joe's Bald,
down on James River Road."
Wash
squinted thoughtfully and looked off into
the distance in contemplation, "Then Joe
would see the fires up on his mountain an'
come a rushin' up there to see what was
happenin', wouldn't he, Cap'n Kinney?"
"The fires of Hell couldn't keep that old
man away from an obvious Bald Knobber
gathering on his mountain. Then and there,
you and I will deal with Mr. Joe
Philibert, in a quiet and permanent way.
No one, including Charles Edward, will
ever be able to prove what actually
happened to the old warrior."
Both
men chuckled heartily and then went back
to their respective tasks.
Much
later in the Bald Knobber's episode in the
Ozarks, Wash Gibbs (Middleton) knew that
his captain, Nat Kinney, high chieftain of
the infamous Bald Knobbers, had gunned
down Andrew Cogburn, a beloved friend of a
powerful local man, Sam Snapp. The Snapp
family owned the bald knob on top of which
the Bald Knobbers had first been formed,
and upon which a lot of the dark and
dangerous meetings were held. Wash Gibbs
(Middleton) believed that Sam Snapp would
soon try to have revenge for Cogburn and
kill Nat Kinney. He was, therefore,
constantly on the lookout for trouble and
always on the offensive when it came to
anything to do with the Bald Knobber clan.
May
9th, 1886, found Snapp and Middleton (Wash
Gibbs) sitting on the front porch of the
General Store in Kirbyville. Snapp made a
derogatory remark about Wash, calling him
a thieving Bush Whacker. An argument
ensued and Wash used it as an excuse to
gun down Sam Snapp, eliminating the threat
to Kinney. Oddly enough for that lawless
time in the Ozarks, he was tried, found
guilty and put in the Forsyth jail. The
very next night someone, probably
Knobbers, came to the jail, tore open the
door, gave Wash a carbine and a horse and
turned him loose. The Snapp family put out
a $500 reward notice, dead or alive. Wash
was gunned down about a year later in
Parthenon Arkansas, probably by a Snapp
bounty hunter.
Though
the Bald Knobbers were an important part
of Harold Bell Wright's book, peaceful and
simple Ozark folk were also a very
important part. The elder Rosses, Young
Matt, Sammy Lane, Uncle Ike, Ollie
Stewart, Fiddlin' Jake, Zeke Wheeler, the
woods-colt Little Pete, Howard and Maggie,
Doc, and of course, The Shepherd himself -
all these people were gentle, but potent
people in the Ozarks and in Wright's
story.
The
story of love, of young lovers dying, of a
woods-colt lost child, of confusion, of
lust, finally of boiling hatreds left over
from the Civil War and the lawless Reign
of Terror that followed - these elements
all converge upon the people of
Inspiration Point and their neighbors -
and finally they fall crushingly upon the
Shepherd's shoulders to sort out and
resolve. And this, my friends, is the
intricate, bold, beautiful and sorrowful
tale Wright penned that was read by more
people around the world than had ever been
read in any other story book in history
before then. The Shepherd of the
Hills became the 4th most
published book in the world. All of
Wright's books, in first or early
editions, are highly collectible today,
but his To My Sons, is now
worth thousands of dollars. This is true
because it is reputed that Wright's
children bought up all the copies of that
family derogatory book they could find and
burned them, making them very scarce
today.
But
there is much, much more to the story of
the "Farm and Theater" than the Bald
Knobbers and Wright's books. Late in the
1800's, on one of his earlier trips to the
Ross farm, Harold Bell Wright was
introduced to Marble Cave. This now world
famous place was once a place of deep
mystery, feared by the Osage Indians, who
called it The Devil's Den, because of the
strange sounds they could hear coming from
the hole in the ground, which fell away
for more than two hundred feet into total
and unfathomable darkness below. There are
tons of fables, myths and fascinating true
stories connected to Marble Cave (now
Marvel Cave), but at this time we will
tell only those connected to Wright and to
the history of the Shepherd of the Hills
Farm and Theater.
Marble
Cave, the Shepherd of the Hills Homestead,
Marmaros (Greek for "marble"), and many
other locations, family names, explorers,
adventures and incidents are all
historically intertwined. I suggest that
you dig out the six issues I did for the
Gazette on Silver Dollar City for more
detailed information. Also, the book The
History, Those Who Walked with Wright, By
Jerry S. Madsen, is a fine source of
information and good fun reading. You can
buy it on most grocery store magazine
racks. I keep a copy in my personal
library and refer to it quite often when
writing. As we go along through this
series of articles, telling our tale, I'll
give you other fine references and great
Ozarks books to acquire, check out or
borrow to read.
But,
back to Marble (Marvel) Cave: Wright
visited the cave several times. In those
days you climbed down a two hundred foot
tall cedar pole ladder to reach the bottom
of the first and principal cavern -
carrying candles or a lantern. Early on,
you also wore hip boots, for the floor of
the cave was knee deep in bat droppings
(guano). On one of his visits, using a
candle for light, Wright climbed up to a
ledge with a double fistful of wet clay
and, in a spirit of fun, fashioned a
devil's head on an outcropping. It remains
up there today, viewed by countless
thousands of Marvel Cave visitors. A
replica (perhaps even part of the
original) of Wright's temporary "cabin"
writing shelter from up on Inspiration
Point was put together down in Marble
(Marvel) Cave for his fans to view on the
guided tours. Some say that parts of it
may still be seen today down there.
In
a letter to Miss Miriam Lynch, one of the
cave's early and illustrious owners,
Wright tells her that Marble (Marvel) Cave
was the very cave he had in mind for
"Little Pete's Cave" when he wrote The
Shepherd of the Hills book. Well, dear
reader friends, we've once again run out
of space for our story telling. We'll see
you in the next issue of The Message Tree
with more of the Shepherd Farm tales and
adventures. Also, we hope to see you at
our Wilderness Road Historical Dinner
Theater, down in Kimberling City, at my
son's fine family restaurant. We have lots
of fun, music, sing alongs and tell lots
of good tales.
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