Thursday, November 10, 1949
ANOTHER SCORPION
Dear Editor;
Reading your article in the November 3, issues of The Pocahontas Times, in regard to Lloyd Payne, of Hillsboro, finding a black scorpion on a banana stem, reminds me of the following incident:
A few weeks ago, Mrs. Ed Baldwin, of Dunmore, bought a “hand” of bananas at Pritchard’s store. They were put in a paper bag and carried home; on taking them out of the bag, she ran onto one of these black wicked creatures. It was ready to put up a fight, too, but Mrs. Baldwin managed to get it into an Alka-Seltzer bottle. She wanted to send it to someone to find out about it, but when her father, Robert Hiner, came in, it looked so vicious that he took the thing and destroyed it, “before somebody got hurt,” he said. The main reason being his fear that his little granddaughter, Jean Baldwin, would in some way get it.
STOCK SALE
It was another $30,000 day at the Cooperative Stock Sale at the Marlinton yards on Tuesday. Lambs and sheep numbered around 1,200. The price remained high. Around 7,000 head of lambs and sheep have been sold in this market the past month.
ANOTHER BREAK
At the head of the editorial column of this issue is a history item, saying the wife of the late Major William Poage, early proprietor of the Marlin’s Bottom Plantation was Nancy Warwick Gatewood, widow of Andrew Gatewood. Sure. I knew better, though something like a century and a half of time has elapsed. Great-grandmother Nancy’s first husband was Thomas Gate- wood. Their son was Andrew Gatewood.
A VISIT
Charles McIntyre, of Adena, Ohio, with the Ohio State Conservation Service Division of Land Reclamation, spent a few days last week on the Monongahela National Forest…
As usual, when in these parts, Cousin Charley stopped in for a cordial greeting. This time he be-thought himself to leave with me a West Virginia toast he had carried in his mind since it was taught him by his mother, the late Mrs. Olive Modisette McIntyre:
“Here’s to the land of laurel and pine,
Where men are brave and women divine,
Where crystal stream and mountain peak
Reflect tint in many a cheek,
Where honor, truth and love make great
Fair West Virginia, the Mountain State.”
FIELD NOTES
The tale comes from the Black Forest that at a farm home on the edge of the woods, the cream for the weekly batch of butter was out on the back porch. It was in the churn, a small top, big bottom, five-gallon affair. One night, the family was wakened by sounds of snorts and sups and such. Then there was a disturbance rife with grunts and growls and a big animal plunging into the wire fence. A light showed a chunk of a bear with his head fast in the churn, pitching around every which way. One rifle gun was brought into play and a well-placed bullet stopped the rough housing
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Benton Smith, of Millpoint, caught a five-pound walleye pike in the Greenbrier one day last week. The fish had eaten a spring frog and a mouse.
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So far, the passing flights of wild geese going south this fall have been larger and more numerous than usual. It looks like wild fowl conservation measures are paying out dividends in increased numbers.
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Talking about record breaking numbers, this applies to hunters in Pocahontas County woods this year. No doubt idleness in adjoining counties by reason of strikes accounts for the presence of many of the visitors. Then, too, the number of hunters coming in these parts does increase annually.
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Even if the snow is flying when this item is read, nevertheless it is unusual to pick and eat green lima beans in Marlinton gardens the first week of November. Those of us who took a shot to plant snapbeans, turnips and lettuce the latter half of August hit it just right this season.
BIRTHS
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Edward Nelson, of Cass, a daughter, Mildred Elaine.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Chester McLaughlin, of Marlinton, a son, Douglas William.
DEATHS
Mrs. Bertha Beatrice Sharp, aged 61 years, wife of George W. Sharp. Funeral was held from the home, with burial in Mountain View Cemetery. Mrs. and Mrs. Sharp spent their married life in Marlinton and Charleston, where he served two terms as Secretary of State with Governors Gore and Conley. Then for a few years, they were on their farm at Frost…
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George Clendenen Rorke, the younger son of John D. and Nancy Kennison Rorke, died at the home of his daughter, at Green Sulphur Springs, aged 74 years. He was reared in Pocahontas County and spent the early part of his life here. Funeral service was conducted from the St. Patrick’s Church at Hinton, with the body laid to rest in St. Coleman’s Cemetery.
