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Ya know, if you were raised in Dothan, you have in incredible "inheritance."
You might not EVER be aware of it but it's just as REAL as the laughs John Boy and Billy get with they use "Dothan" as a punchline.
What I'm calling an inheritance is DOTHAN'S STORY, a story that's not very long.
One of the most intriguing characters in THE DOTHAN STORY is 4-time Dothan Mayor Buck Baker.
In the words of Rodney Dangerfield, "Buck Baker don't get no respect." He is supposedly depicted on a mural.
What a JOKE!
Anyway, I'm proposing a BUCK BAKER DINNER somewhere in town next March and all we'll do is get acquainted, talk all things BUCK (this cat is an anti-hero in the same class as Randall P. McMurphy or Cool Hand Luke) and maybe set up a little portable TV studio and interview folks who have some "BAKER FAMILY MEMORIES" along with all the family heirlooms we can put together.
Maybe we'll even meet that weekend @ First Methodist and listen to Buck's chimes once more.(might even find out if we can play "DIXIE" on them...)
DEVIL MAKE A THIRD was written by Douglas Fields Bailey and published in 1948. It is a book of fiction based upon the author's family's story in Dothan, Alabama.http://www.southern-style.com/Southeast%20Alabama%20Heritage%20Association/Baker.htm
The book describes the rise to power of Buck Bannon in the southeast Alabama town of Aven from circa 1890-1915.
In an earlier post I examined each character in the book, the locations for all the action and all the antiquated terms and colloquialisms used by the author. This information may be found at the following link: http://privatepropertynotrespass.blogspot.com/2017/07/antiquated-terms-and-expressions-from.html
This post will begin the process of footnoting the book based upon my PERSONAL OPINION.
DEVIL MAKE A THIRD
1. A quote by Shakespeare from his play KING HENRY VI, PART 2 ~ Act 3, Scene 2
QUEEN MARGARET https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_of_Anjou#Depictions_in_fiction :
"Mischance and sorrow go along with you!
Heart's discontent and sour affliction
Be playfellows to keep you company!
There's two of you; the devil make a third!
And threefold vengeance tend upon your steps."
"All the characters, all of the events and all of the places in this book are fictional."
2. Throughout his life, Dougie Bailey maintained that his book was a work of complete fiction.
"Essentially this novel is historical fiction. A reader well backgrounded in Dothan history cannot put aside the temptation to see Aven as Dothan." (from the September 9, 1948 DOTHAN EAGLE)
page 11: "Buck left the farm when he was eighteen."
3. from the May 23, 1908 DOTHAN EAGLE, "It was some eighteen years ago that the Bakers saw Dothan was about to be the Mecca of the wire-grass and began to put their money here, and they've stood by the town ever since."
In 1890, Buck Baker would have been approximately 21 years old.
In his December 6, 1954 Dothan Eagle obituary, it is stated that Dan Baker arrived in Dothan in 1887. The Baker family was still living in Bakerville in 1887 and Dan was only 8 years old and Buck was 18 but Dan may have accompanied Buck when he moved to Dothan. In fact, the Baker family saw their 14th child born while they were still in Bakerville in September of 1890. (link to a BAKER FAMILY TIMELINE) https://reclaimalabama.blogspot.com/2020/06/1869-buck-baker-is-born.html
page 11: "She was wearing the shapeless dress she always wore when she was going to have another baby."
4. The last of Joe and Jane Baker's 14 children was born in September of 1890. (from the October 2, 1890 COLUMBIA RECORDER)
page 11: "Buck felt a sudden lurch under his ribs as he remembered that he was the first of twelve children. He could call back to mind the births of the last eight."
5. from the August 26, 1928 MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER
The Baker Family
Front Row: Minnie, Eugenia, Mrs. Jane (Sanders) Baker, with Vera, Joe Baker, Sr., holding Willie, Nannie, Ghastie and Coley
Second Row: Dan, Robert, James, Maggie, and Doug.
Back: Joe, Jr. "Buck" and George
image courtesy of Sharman Burson Ramsey's SOUTHERN STYLE web site http://www.southern-style.com/Southeast%20Alabama%20Heritage%20Association/Baker.htm
page 11: "His mother was leaning forward now and Buck could see the sun glinting on the jar of Maccaboy snuff at her feet and picking out the first solid streaks in her hair."
6. Buck Baker's mother, Jane Sanders Baker, would have been 41 years old in 1890.
image courtesy of https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/31762168
image from the April 24, 1884 TROY MESSENGER
"Maccaboy" may also be spelled MACCOBOY . "Maccoboy, a moist and highly scented snuff"
image from the May 11, 1894 CLAY COUNTY ADVOCATE (Ashland, AL)
page 12: "His plow point curled out of soft dirt and began to labor in the hard-caked clay and he took his eyes off his mother for the first time."
7. PLOWING WITH A MULE
page 12: "He jerked hard on one line and drew his mule into a tight circle around the sanded yard, and the fullness in his chest began to choke up into his throat."
8. SWEEPING A SANDED YARD
page 12: "The sense of power swelling up made him feel reckless all over and swingy in the hips like a dirt-road sport."
9. From the PREFACE of THE DIRT ROAD SPORT: Growing Up In Old Florida's Cow Country by Ed Thomas:
"What is a dirt road sport?"
"This old Southern phrase came from the poor families, homesteaders, cattle growers, farm hands, laborers and poachers of old rural Florida. There were all at the lower end of the social and economic ladder, always working hard for very little in return. Many were from way back in the woods where there were no paved roads. Most of them were content with a subsistence life just barely getting by and living off the land.
There were a few however, that had bigger ideas and dreams, combine this with the ambition and willingness to work hard and lay everything on the line are the few that achieved those dreams. These few faced life head on, took its blows, and kept going. Even though they didn't have money, support or higher education, they made up for it with a keen, creative mind, and good gift of gab, and a lot of hard work. They didn't bow down to, or take crap from anyone. They would give you the shirt off their back, just don't try to take it from them!
That is a dirt road sport."
page 12: "There was something like a gay release from pressure working up inside and the feeling was like a young bull feels when he goes in the pasture and plunges again and again into a springy sapling, testing his strength."
10. A male elk is also called a "bull." The following quote comes from https://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/sports/outdoors/2016/11/19/heres-rub-buck-rubs/93743328/
"rubs result when male elk, moose and white-tailed deer basically shadow-box with small- to medium-size trees in autumn. We assume they rub trees to work off mounting aggression as their testosterone builds for their species’ breeding seasons."
This reference to a "young bull" may also be an allusion to the main character's first name, BUCK.
page 12: "The circles were getting smaller and Buck was having to swing the plow stocks wide, stepping loose-ankled on slabs of baked earth the plow had turned, and it was hard to kick up his heels."
11. from the March 26, 1903 ELBA CLIPPER
page 12: "His face was pokeberry red when the mule balked, stuttering four clumsy feet in a turn too short to make, and he was standing on the rim of the smallest circle, facing his mother."
12. pokeberry plant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytolacca_americana
page 13: "He stopped yelling and tried to swallow past the burn in his throat and watched carefully while a dun-colored bantam hen walked with tight legs out from under the house and curiously tested the new softness of the dirt."
13. Dun-colored bantam hens are buckskin color and their feathers are used in fly-tying.
page 13: "She leaned forward in her hide-bottomed rocker and spat delicately into the syrup bucket flowerpot at her feet."
14. a link to an illustration of a hide-bottomed rocker https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/raw-hide-bottom-rocker/GAElkWdQjzp8YQ
Empty one gallon cane syrup buckets were used as flowerpots, spittoons, chamber pots, lunch pails, musical instruments, ice cream freezers, milk cans, bird houses, toys, coffee maker, bait can, berry picking can, storage container, etc.
page 13: "He straightened up, quickly, and jerked the plow point out of the dirt. He tossed the handles slightly higher in point the plowshare straight down and drove it deep into the last unplowed spot."
Components of a simple drawn plow: 1) frame; 2) three point attach; 3) height regulator; 4) knife (or coulter) 5) chisel 6) plowshare 7) moldboard
15. Wikipedia link to PLOWSHARE https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plowshare
page 13: "I got twenty dollars and I'm headin' to town."
16. In 1890, a $20 gold coin contained an ounce of gold. Today's ounce of gold goes for about $1200.
page 13 "The eyes looked out at him like he was still a back-porch yearling"
17. A yearling cow or horse needs special attention to its diet and especially during a dry summer with parched grass in the pasture, they may have been tied to the back porch so that its diet could be supplemented. https://thehorse.com/14600/feeding-yearlings/
page 13 "She shook her head at him, full of gentle warning. "Them pickpockets'll fight over you," she said.
18. from the November 11, 1914 SOUTHERN STAR
page 13 "Coke was big enough to hang onto Buck and it looked like he wouldn't turn him loose."
19. Coke Bannon (Colie Baker, 1886-1937 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/31762159/colie-baker )
page 13 "For God's sake, Coke," Buck suddenly said, "let go o' my leg and do somethin' else. Suck a meat skin."
20. A meat skin was the outside of the smoked ham or shoulder that was often cut off and eaten raw, broiled or fried. I suppose parents often used a meat skin as a kind of pacifier for toddlers.
from the March 16, 1921 CHOCTAW ADVOCATE (Butler, Alabama)
SAL'S GOT A MEAT SKIN was a popular Alabama fiddle tune.https://www.loc.gov/resource/afc9999005.35174.0
page 14 "She was sitting on the hand-hewn bench that had been soaped and scrubbed until little soft splinters stuck up now and then, even against the grain."
21. Just as Jeanie Bannon maintained a swept yard to keep insects out of her house,as a good housewife, she also periodically soaped and scubbed her furniture down to insure there were no unwanted infestations.
1939 DOROTHEA LANGE photo
page 14. "I say you ain't to use the Lord's name while you're in this house, Buck."
22. Mrs. Bannon does not repeat the 3rd Commandment that you should "not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain". She simply says "you ain't to use the Lord's name while you're in this house" with the assumption that anyone casually and irreverently invoking the deity's name during the course of daily activities will not be doing it with the proper respect and reverence such a name should receive from a true Christian.
page 14. "He was a tall man, with red hair that curled a little and a full red beard that he had chopped off straight across at his neck line."
23. Joe Bannon's character is modeled after Buck Baker's father, Joe Baker, Sr. Dothan's "Hidden Mural" located inside the Opera House has a portrait of a person purported to be "Buck Baker."
The person painted is not Buck but his father, the bearded Joe Baker, Sr. In my humble opinion, of all the mistakes in Dothan's murals, this is by far THE WORST.
The beard became linked in this period with notions of masculinity and male courage.[38] The resulting popularity has contributed to the stereotypical Victorian male figure in the popular mind, the stern figure clothed in black whose gravitas is added to by a heavy beard."
By the time Buck had reached maturity the clean shaven look had returned to style.
page 14. " 'I ain't goin' to do nothin', Mother," he said.
24. Because her husband immediately stood up after she scolded her oldest son, Mrs. Bannon assumed that Joe, Sr. was about to show 18 year old Buck that he "wasn't too big for a whipping ".
page 14. "He turned away from her and walked, shambling a little, over to help his son twist a baling wire around a small wooden box full of clothes."
25. Around a farm, baling wire was used to fix just about everything. In this case, it became the fastener on Bucks "suitcase."
page 14. "Don't you go sparkin' in them jeans o' mine, son. Them Aven folks'll think it's me."
26. "Sparkin' " was a country term for wooing, courtship or dating. https://blindpigandtheacorn.com/sparking-courtingwhich-s-dating/
from the July 13, 1905 ELBA CLIPPER
AVEN is the name of the fictional Alabama boom town in Dougie Bailey's DEVIL MAKE A THIRD which he modeled after DOTHAN. The literal meaning of an AVEN is "a vertical or highly inclined shaft in limestone, extending upward from a cave passage, generally to the surface"; in other words, the opening of a sink hole. Virtually ALL of the land in Dothan is part of the Lime Sinks region of Alabama. This is a common physiographic region in Georgia and Florida, however, only about 1000 square miles of Alabama are in the Lime Sinks. (Of course, Houston County also has a little town located slap dab in the middle of it called AVON. By changing the "O" to an "E", Dougie Bailey reminds us that old Dothan had a spelling controversy when its post office was misspelled DOTHEN from 1871 until 1897) http://cartweb.geography.ua.edu/lizardtech/iserv/calcrgn?cat=North%20America%20and%20United%20States&item=States/Alabama/Counties/houston//Houston1977a.sid&wid=1000&hei=900&props=item(Name,Description),cat(Name,Description)&style=simple/view-dhtml.xsl
The Killebrew family of Newton had a large woolen mill where they made jeans which were in high demand in the Tri-State area. (the Killebrew Mill in Newton may have been Bailey's inspiration to name the two thieving brothers JONAS and ARBIE KILLIBREW. They are the ones who murder Tobe Parody in Chapter 23.0
from the December 25, 1913 ANDALUSIA STAR
from the September 15, 1888 NEWTON MESSENGER
page 14 "You kin see the McPherson stock ashinin' from fetlock to forelock."
27. McPherson is the maiden name of Jeanie Bannon. Sanders was the maiden name of Jane Baker.
The expression "from fetlock to forelock" was a common 19th expression to describe horses. It is found as early as 1879 in the newspaper THE NASHVILLE TENNESSEAN. The poet William Rose Benet, brother of Stephen Vincent Benet, used the expression in his poem WILD HORSES published in the May 1915 issue of THE CENTURY.
page 15 "That comes o' rootin' for vittles in this here sorry clay," he said...
28. VITTLES: from https://culinarylore.com/food-history:vittles-origin/
Vittles is an old-time word for food which we tend to associate with the rural South, cowboys, pioneers, mountain men, and the like. It actually comes from Middle English, by way of French.
It is sometimes suggested that victuals is the proper way of saying vittles and that vittles is simply a vulgar misspelling of a more refined word. The history of the word in English and in French tells a different story.
Vittles is actually a shortened and simplified spelling of the Middle English word vitailles, which arrived via the Old French word of the same spelling. It has been used in English since at least the early 1300’s.
The word vitailles was in use when it was discovered that the original origin of the word was the Latin word victualia. This caused some to imagine a ‘proper’ course of action would be to respell vitailles as victailles, which became the curious word victuals, supposed to be the proper spelling of vittles.
Vittles actually remained the most common use of the term, but the confused etymology caused many to think that vittles, all along, had been a misspelling and mispronunciation of victuals, which is pronounced without the ‘C’ as VIH-tuhl."
page 15 "They were all laughing as they crowded around the flat-bed wagon in the yard, and Buck felt the excitement rise up to choke him again.
29. a flat-bed wagon
page 15. "When I was twelve I went to mill and back and made the trade."page 15 "They were all laughing as they crowded around the flat-bed wagon in the yard, and Buck felt the excitement rise up to choke him again.
29. a flat-bed wagon
30. According to this link, Joe Baker, Sr. owned a water mill near Headland in 1886.
http://genealogytrails.com/ala/henry/history1.html
from the August 5, 1910 GOODWATER ENTERPRISE (Goodwater, Alabama)
page 16. "He didn't look at the little knot of mother and father and sisters and brothers when Jeff flicked the lines and pulled the mule sharply around to avoid a peach tree."
31. To "flick the lines" was a cue for the mule to pull the wagon forward. The driver would hold the reins over the mules backside and gently pop the mule's behind with them.
page 16. "He didn't look back, but his throat hurt a little from tightness and he listened carefully to the smooth whispering grind of the iron-rimmed wheels on hard sand."
32.
The Joe Baker, Sr. homestead where Buck Baker was raised was located on Sandy Creek in southern Henry County. https://alabama.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,1,fid,153324,n,sandy%20creek.cfm
page 16. "He remembered the small room with the bed pushed over in the corner and the cotton quilt with the funny frocking on the edges."
33.
"funny frocking on the edges" probably refers to an unusual fabric used to trim the quilt.
page 16. "The steady crunch of the wagon wheels lulled him the picture of the schoolroom was a jumble of his first day and his last day-that time when he was eleven and had to quit school to help in the fields-his Blue Back speller that cost a quarter bushel of meal- pitch pine popping and sparking and scorching some while others froze- swapping seats and wishing spring would come- sudden bursts of temper from being too close together- and the Peters boy that got somebody else's lunch bucket and they had to open it to prove it wasn't his- little Doshie Evans crying and ashamed to claim it when they saw that all she had was fatback, syrup and corn bread- and all the rest of them being real quiet because they didn't want anybody to see what they had."
34. Webster's Elementary Spelling Book, often compared to the Bible in terms of the number of copies printed in America, cost anywhere from 10 to 25 cents a copy and a quarter bushel of corn meal which was 12 pounds went anywhere from 10 to 25 cents per quarter bushel or peck.
Not only did Joe Baker, Sr., sell almanacs at his store in Bakerville but also probably sold BLUE BACK SPELLERS. Joe also owned a mill nearby so it would be simple for him to barter a quarter bushel of meal for a book.
from the June 17, 1884 THE TIMES AND NEWS (Eufaula)
35."pitch pine popping and sparking and scorching some while others froze"
Slash pine (Pinus Elliottii) was the common tree growing on sandy, third-rate land in the Wiregrass. Filled with pitch, this was the species of pine that was often tapped for resin in the turpentine industry.
36. LUNCH BUCKET
37."fatback, syrup and corn bread"
Fatback was the cheapest meat available and "fatback, syrup and corn bread" was considered the diet of the poor.
from the March 10, 1938 DAILY TIMES NEWS (Burlington, N.C.)
38. "grabbed the lines to his chest"
Grabbing the reins of the mule and pulling them to the chest was a way to stop the animal.
from the December 17, 1994 PITTSBURG DAILY HEADLIGHT (Pittsburg, Kansas)
39. "mules unshod feet"
At the turn of the century, shoeing of mules and horses was a controversial subject. Many small towns had ordinances against unshod animals because it was believed to be inhumane and contributed to lameness. Others argued that the animal's hoof grew thicker without shoes and reduced the chances of lameness produced by walking on pavement or stones. In sandy Southeast Alabama, many farmers chose not to shoe their mules.
from the April 4, 1918 SHREVEPORT TIMES
from the February 4, 1908 LAWRENCE (Kansas) DAILY JOURNAL
from the November 13, 1919 BUFFALO (N.Y.) TIMES
40. "keep him from rattling the lines"
"lines" is another word for "reins"; "rattling the reins" is a more common expression. It's done by the rider to encourage the mule to move forward or done by the mule to show his rebellion.
41. "a frog thumped a tub"
This is probably the only time someone described a frog croak as "a frog thumped a tub." Generally "thumped a tub" refers to a politician enthusiastically advocating an issue and it was a fairly common term in the 1940s and 1950s but not in the 1890s, the time when this action took place. The earliest use of this term that I can find comes from a 1913 GUARDIAN, a newspaper published in London. ("banging a drum for" is a more common expression but generally describes the same activity)
42. "a chill in the air that came out of a wet bottom"
A "wet bottom" generally refers to low land which has standing water most of the time. https://books.google.com/books?id=4kkgAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA6&lpg=PA6&dq=%22a+wet+bottom%22&source=bl&ots=m6uTgOZ1hD&sig=ACfU3U0p3Bec5fUeymNil3RlxRVdsZ56dA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjDo9fhk_ziAhXFUt8KHRmEC2M4FBDoATABegQICRAB#v=onepage&q=%22a%20wet%20bottom%22&f=false
43. "wrapped the lines around his wrist"
Again reins are described as "lines". There were "harness lines", "check lines", "plow lines", "jack lines" and the terms varied depending upon which region of the country you were in.
44. "he reached out with a foot and tested his weight on the shaft. He placed his left hand on the mule's rump and began to walk out the shaft, sliding his hand along the rough sweaty ridge of backbone until he felt the up-curved end of the shaft with his foot. He pushed off, dividing his shove between his hand on the mule's collar and his foot on the shaft, and jumped clear of creek water."
The shaft would run along the lower side of the mule so Buck would step off of the wagon body, leaning over the back of the mule as he slid his feet from side to side along the shaft as he moved toward the mule's head. The mule's front feet were probably at the edge of the creek. When he arrived at the mule's neck, he was able to steady himself by grabbing onto the collar and holding it as he pushed off the shaft for his jump across the creek.
45. "Don't let Papa make you plow the big mule, boy," he said, "Big John'll pure pull yore arms out at the sockets. But you got to quit sleepin' in the cotton rows when you ought to be choppin'."
"Chopping cotton is the first hoeing that occurs after the young cotton plants become sturdy enough to withstand the process. It involves thinning out excess plants, leaving groups of two or three spaced apart by about the width of the hoe blade. The crusty soil is then tilled with the hoe and gathered to reinforce the remaining plants while removing various weeds, such as Johnson grass, coffee weeds, and thorns." https://romans11v33.com/2016/05/20/chopping-cotton/comment-page-1/
46. "some of his mother's cush he could take and eat out of the palm of his hand like it was a bowl. He'd nuzzle into that Thanksgiving cush like a hound."
Ironically, Dan Baker is the model for the character of JEFF BANNON. (from the July 23, 1933 DOTHAN EAGLE)
47. "fill up on cush before they got to turkey. Corn meal and onions with meat stock were cheaper than turkey."
from a 1933 MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER: "Dan Baker (model for JEFF BANNON) raised the subjeck of cush and he made me hungry about it. Course Dan had to have a leetle joke about cush cause he sed they used to feed it to him when he was a leetle boy jest 'fore dinner so's he an the other chillun wouldn't eat up all the chicken and other fancy stuff."
from the July 23, 1933 MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER
from the September 21, 1951 MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER
from the September 27, 1951 MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER
48. "the first shining finger of railroad glinted suddenly ahead of him and his feet began to crunch on the new roadbed. Cinders."
from the March 12, 1891 TROY MESSENGER
49. "smell of fresh-cut fat pine ties and tar and oil and smoke that coughed shudderingly out of the belled stack of a small switch engine whose firebox glowed line a woodsfire."
from the March 15, 1936 DOTHAN EAGLE
50. "a small corner of Alabama wasn't lying fallow any longer, but was heavy with the germ of a town."
from the July 10, 1909 DOTHAN EAGLE
51. "Aven's first row of tin-roofed shacks with a swing to his copper-toed shoes."
from the March 23, 1933 WIREGRASS FARMER (Headland)
52. "A brakeman in the new ACL yards"
from December 18, 1946 DOTHAN EAGLE
CHAPTER 2
53. "pioneered with his shoulder blades"
54. "baggage truck"
55. "It's better'n wakin' up with Hearn rootin' from one side and Jeff from the other till they prize me up off the pallet"
56. "the one curious older girls took behind the privy after school"
57. "already his eyes would glide over one girl without quickening, to suddenly narrow sleepily at the first sight of her sister."
58. "sitting on the front porch pleating and unpleating her skirt"
59. "shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves"
60. "we got rid o' downright hard shirt sleeves"
61. "a live creek meandering the year round through the bottom"
62. "lifting the lid off a mess of greens and fatback"
63. "the rifle at Chicamauga Gap and slippery ellum bark for dressing"
64. "ease out of bed so the rustling of shucks wouldn't wake Joe"
65. "hot smells of side meat and chicory coffee bellied out of the chimney's draught"
66. "He'd cut a step or two"
67. "tinka-bell reflections"
68. "what the sand was for. Floorin'. Floorin' to cover the clay and drain off the bath water."
69. "creek-bottom sand"
70. "God's bottom. A hobo on a baggage truck I never thought to see."
71. "if you're any kind o' hand with a pick"
72. "but I ain't aimin' to dig in no more dirt"
73. "He felt the excitement yeasting inside at sight of a small neat buggy with new harness"
INTERLUDE
74. "long billed railroad man's striped cap"
CHAPTER THREE
posted by robertoreg at 5:15 AM
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