Thursday, September 29, 1949
Weston – Top winner in the State 4-H Sheep Shearing contest was Moffet McNeel, Jr., of Pocahontas County. He will represent the State in National competition at the Livestock International at Chicago later in the year. The runner up in this class was Robert Gay, of Marlinton.
In Future Farmers of America Division, Joel Hannah, of Greenbank, placed second.
Rainelle – Ronnie Small, five month old son of Mr. and Mrs. Small, of Beard, Pocahontas county, is a victim of polio. He has been taken to the hospital at Milton for treatment. The family was at Rainelle visiting relatives when the little boy was stricken.
Big John’s Team
Lance McCurley, Sports Editor, writes in the Philad-elphia Daily News that “Eagle Line by Kellison Makes Team.”
The secret of the Philadelphia Eagles’ success when you come down to basic reasons is that great line that Greasy Neale has been given by good old Silent John Kellison. Maybe you don’t hear too much about Silent John, but he is a rugged soul with rugged ideas and a system that he doesn’t change because it is a system that produces as surely as iron and steel are molded by press. He has given the Eagles the line around which all else revolves, all else pivots, every play is dependent upon, every defense is patterned from.
They are all old and experienced men because Kellison has kept the men steady at their jobs. …
All these fellows were once just college kids with the fire of ambition, but little else; Kellison hardened them; Kellison made them into human battering rams; Kellison put some of the iron into them that was in his own heart and body in the days when he struck tacklers and broke up interferences.
The stuff old pros had when they played three times a week. Kellison, if you remember, was an iron man.
He played every minute of every game that the Canton Bulldogs played in 1916 and 1917…
Note: Big John Snowdon Kellison is from Hillsboro, W. Va.
MORE HISTORY
Dear Cal;
…You recall the fort at Millpoint was at one time called Keckleys Fort, and later Cackley Town.
A letter from Giles McKeever, of Spring Creek, states that Hugh’s wife and child were at Millpoint after supplies, and so escaped when Hugh was killed on Stamping Creek. A McKeever girl married a McNeel of the Levels.
Dear Douglas;
Without anything tangible to tie to, I have always thought the raid on the Thomas Drinnon home at Edray, when his wife was murdered on Elk Mountain, and his brother, Charles, carried way captive to Ohio and his home broken up, was several years prior to the raid on Lawrence Drinnon’s at the fairgrounds.
With nothing tangible to tie to, I have always thought the Indians on their 1784 Bridger raid had come up Gauley and Williams and down Stony Creek. They would reach Edray first. On their way back, I was always of the opinion they went by the Gauley route, down Cranberry. My father records in his account of the slaying of John and James Bridger that the whoops of the Indians were heard near the Notch, answered from Gillilan Mountain and more whoops from near the head of Stamping Creek, as if they were signaling that the settlers were on the move.
It was Rachel McKeever who became the wife of Isaac McNeel. One of their sons was Colonel Paul McNeel.
Fox Fights Dog
The other morning, Fred Sharp and George Gay were coming toward town. At Riverside, their attention was drawn to a grey fox and hound affair. The dog would bay the fox and the fox would run at the dog, screaming and snapping. The dog would not stand his ground. Fred took a hand in the affair to encourage the hound to go in and clean up on the fox. The result was the dog went off in one direction and the fox started up the steep hillside, toward some rock cliffs. Then the fox came pitching and tumbling down toward the men, to faint dead away. Of course, Fred knew the signs – running fits. …
In these parts, foxes have not been nearly so plentiful as they were last Spring. It looked then like they would overrun the country for sure. However, this is the first report of running fits raging among them.
BIRTHS
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Dennis James Hill, a daughter, Elsie Louise.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Snowden Glen Galford, a son, Rodney Andrew.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Gordon Nelson, a daughter.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Carl Marion Galford, a daughter, Ivy Louise.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Friel, a daughter.
DEATH
Cass – Russell G. Arbogast, of Arbovale, died in the Veterans Hospital at Martinsburg Saturday morning, September 24, 1949. Funeral service from the Arbovale church and interment in Arbovale cemetery Wednesday afternoon.