Ghost stories. Did you ever spend time telling ghost stories under the stars on a warm summer night? I remember all of us kids playing outdoors while the adults were in the house watching wrestling matches, playing cards, and enjoying shared company. One particular older cousin loved to tell us scary stories. In the dark of night, huddled on a blanket with our eyes as round as the moon, we listened to the spookiest ghost stories ever. Or so our young minds thought.
The Ozarks are known for legends, folklore, and magical stories of things that haunt us. It's best to avoid the hills and hollows, especially at night. This ghost story comes from my paternal side of the family.
In an earlier post, I wrote about Mary Jane (Russell) Utter, who was migrating to Missouri with her husband, Elijah Burton Utter, and the Russell family. When they stopped for a few days in southeastern Arkansas, she and a few others drank tainted water and died tragically. Those who died are buried in a cemetery there. Eventually, the wagon train continued and settled around Flat Creek near Cassville.
One reason for their migration was to obtain free land for new settlers. Land has always been highly regarded, and if you own any amount, you are considered "well to do." The Russell family claimed their land and founded the Russell Family Cemetery.
Old-timers believe you can hear a fiddler on certain nights in the cemetery. Elijah B. Utter, Mary Jane's husband, died in 1902 and is buried at Russell Cemetery. Here's a photo of his gravestone.
This ghost story starts with Nancy Ellen Utter, fondly
called "Nannie." She was the daughter of Mary Elizabeth (Hunt) and
James Franklin Utter. Mary Hunt was my great-grandmother's sister. James and
Mary Elizabeth were on Elijah's wagon train to
Southwest Missouri. She was my first cousin, 3x removed.
Nannie was the fourth of ten children, born December 2, 1863, in Indiana. When she and her parents migrated, she was thirteen years old. In the 1880 U.S. Federal Census for Cassville, Barry County, Nannie was found living with a neighboring family. She is listed as working as a servant. She was sixteen years old.
Two years later, in December 1882, there was a murder committed at a country dance at Russell's. Nannie was there when it happened. In fact, she was the cause of a fight that broke out. Newspaper accounts and other historical resources gave an account of the murder.
It relates that Thomas Brattin was killed at a dance at
Russell's three miles from Cassville by James Roberts. Roberts was defended by
W.W. McConnel, who won his acquittal. The quarrel resulting in the murder arose
entirely from jealousy because both men loved the same girl.
The March 27, 1884, Neosho (Missouri) Times newspaper also ran an article about the Roberts Trial. It stated that Roberts shot and killed Brattin at a country dance in December 1882. Brattin had been called by his brother, who was a constable, to aid in the suppression of a disturbance out of doors. From the version of the constable and other witnesses, the case seemed a remarkably strong one against the defendant, who was pictured by them as a rioter resisting a peace officer and killing one of his posse. That would have been murder in the first degree. But Roberts was found not guilty after a long, hotly contested trial; the prosecution was vigorous and able. The deceased had long been furiously jealous of Roberts' attention to his sweetheart, Miss Nannie Utter. He threatened to kill Roberts if he found them together again. At the dance, the girl and Roberts were seated together, talking, when Brattin came in. He showed jealousy and anger, and the girl cautioned Roberts, reminding him of previous threats. Brattin contrived to get Roberts out through another man who began the fuss that Roberts was trying to stop when Brattin assaulted him, the deceased first striking him with a pair of metal knucks in the face and saying he would kill him. The case went to trial, and the jury acquitted Roberts.
The fiddler in the Russell Cemetery would be Thomas Haywood Brattin. He was 25 years old when he was killed, and he is buried in the Packwood Cemetery in Barry County, Missouri.
Nannie Utter went on with her life. She married Walter
Duffy in 1906, and they had one daughter, Mary Elizabeth, named after Nannie's
mother. After Walter died, Nannie went to Webb City, Missouri, to live with
Mary and her husband. She never married again, and she died in 1945 at 81.
She's buried in the Carterville Cemetery in Jasper County, Missouri.
Here's a picture of the gate at the cemetery.
The general public has discussed the story of the ghost fiddler haunting the cemetery for years. It has also been written about in local genealogies, Find A Grave Memorials online and local history books. However, the accounts contain a lot of misinformation.
I visited Russell Cemetery a few years ago. It is located on a remote stretch of paved road; no homes were nearby then. Large old Oak and other trees dot the manicured cemetery. Standing there among the headstones, some incredibly old, I imagined those long-ago summer nights when my cousins and I were out in the backyard telling and listening to ghost stories. Even if the ghost fiddler story is only folklore, I'm not brave enough to find out if I can hear the ghostly strain of that fiddle. I'll visit the cemetery during daylight hours only.
Sources used in my research include:
https://sites.rootsweb.com/~mobarry/index.html
Barry County, Missouri Genealogy • FamilySearch
Thomas Haywood Brattin (1857-1882) - Find a Grave Memorial
No comments:
Post a Comment