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Artifact looter, or artifact collector?
Edna Lynn Simms’ original photo caption accompanying her portrait of him reads simply: “George D. Barnes, collector of Indian relics, Dayton, Tenn.” Sounds straightforward enough. But it leaves out the...
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Put the corpse in the barn till spring
Prior to the funeral industry’s rise and its use of embalming, a practice that gained legitimacy during the War Between the States, the interior of a corpse was generally not accessible to prying eyes,...
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The Mad Gasser of Botetourt County, part 1
Whether or not gas will be employed in future wars is a matter of conjecture, but the effect is so deadly to the unprepared that we can never afford to neglect the question. General John Pershing, 1919...
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The Mad Gasser of Botetourt County, part 2
(…continued from yesterday) The “Anesthetic Prowler” or “The Phantom Anesthetist,” he was supposedly a dark, mysterious figure responsible for dozens of Virginia victims falling ill from mysterious...
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They would put up a quilt
“The ladies would cook dinner, and maybe five or six of them would quilt. They would put up a quilt. I can’t remember doing any of that, but I’ve heard, you know, my family talk about it, and then,...
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We shook hands with them all, including two held for murder
“The administration of justice in the isolated areas still surprises the visitor with its differences from the ways of the town. Despite a few modern touches, a cuspidor or two missing, or the presence...
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It’s winter. Engineers, to the dog house!
During the early decades of the 20th century, hundreds of short-line railroad existed across the nation, and most all were regarded by the local people as their railroad. There was something appealing...
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Dedicating the Arrowhead Monument at Old Fort
Old Fort: the name says it. It is indeed one of the oldest towns in western North Carolina, and it was originally a fort, built by the colonial militia before the Declaration of Independence. Once...
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We cannot believe Christ would use tobacco in any form
“A discourse on The Use of Tobacco was delivered by evangelist M.S. Lemons and discussed by others. After due consideration this assembly agrees to stand, with one accord, in opposition to the use of...
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Sixty years of change in Ironton Ohio
Los Angeles, February 6, 1934 Editor Tribune: Sixty years have passed since the writer answered an advertisement in the columns of The Tribune’s honored predecessor, The Ironton Register, resulting in...
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Liza Jane
When I go a-courtin’, I’ll go on the train. When I go to marry, I’ll marry Liza Jane. Chorus: O Law’, Liza, po’ gal, O Law’, Liza Jane, O Law’, Liza, po’ gal, She died on the train. The hardest work I...
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A racy book, full of the thrill of mountain adventure
In winter one must draw the little hickory split chair close to the hearth, for most of the heat from the great glowing fire goes up the chimney. The house may have a small window-sash immovably built...
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Time for a skate!
Ice skaters glide on the frozen Jackson River at Covington [VA] in 1897 No wonder these skaters look so carefree! The 1890’s brought economic boom to Covington, VA. Population jumped from 704 in 1890...
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The accidental town
There is a town in Maryland’s westernmost county of Garrett that got its name from a happy accident. In 1750, Maryland settler George Deakins was granted 600 acres of land as a payment of a debt from...
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He treed the coons in the cliff
Back in nineteen and thirteen me and my brother coon hunted lots [in the] Smokies. We had a dog named Track. He was a good one. We went to Flat Creek one evening, built up a camp fire, and stayed till...
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The CCC boys has been giving away the buildings
In May of 1926, President Calvin Coolidge signed a bill authorizing the establishment of a 521,000-acre Shenandoah National Park. The bill stipulated that no federal funds could be used to acquire the...
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A better race of men?
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That whenever the Superintendent of the Western State Hospital, or of the Eastern State Hospital, or of the Southwestern State Hospital, or of the...
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Worst industrial tragedy in WV history
The Fayette Journal (WV) reported on February 24, 1933 that 130 of the 3,000 men working on the Hawks Nest Tunnel at Alloy had already died from silicosis, caused from inhalation of silica rock...
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Every woman in my place is bound to feel blue too
Any Woman’s Blues My man ain’t acting right He stays out late at night But still he says he loves no one but me But if I find the gal That’s trying to steal my pal I’ll get her told, just you wait...
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The true pork pie hat
The Kingsport Times Kingsport, TN Sunday, March 24, 1935 “Pork Pie” is the Newest Style Note in Hats The fabled phoenix, that marvelous bird endowed with the power to rise from its own ashes, finds a...
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