Odey Cassell Part of interview. 1976
CASSELL: Up over the hiss and just under the top of the mountain just then
there was a flash of white lighting—just a crack of thunder and white lighting.
It was so dark you couldn’t see the path to go down to the railroad. The
railroad was turned up and had a big ditch on each side and water was 4 or 5
feet deep and Jesse said to me, “Let me go first because you can’t swim to
good”. It struck him right around the neck and I was just a little bit taller
than he was. I waded right on through. Got up on the railroad track and the
lighting was jumping from one track to the other and the fire was flying. I told
him, “Let’s get in the middle and stand here and we ran on down into Camp 12”.
We what we had was Jesse a great big man with his pants rolled up above his
knees. We were wading water 18 inches deep in the cook room all the men upstairs
and you could hear the horses squealing. You never heard such a noise in your
life. They were scared to death and we couldn’t get to them to get them out of
there. In one place they had 80 head of hogs drown.
ALEX: What year was that do you remember?
CASSELL: Indeed, I don’t. Well I dug seng you could sell it. I came in to
eat. You know they use to turn the plates upside down on the table. Maybe, that
was before your time. Well, I raised mine up and there was a 20 dollar bill. I
said, “I don’t know momma, Well she said that what they gave me for your seng.
Boy, I commence digging then, yes sir, I made over 4 dollars a day every day.
There was a lot of woods. Used to be this fellow – he’d take a hundred pound
salt sack. He’d take two. He’d get one full. He wouldn’t let me dig then. I was
5 or 6 years old. He’d get one full, he says, “Sit down with one and I’ll dig
another”. We’d come out of there with two sacks full. Didn’t get very much for
it in them days you know. There was a place down the river there where it was
really thick—great day in the morning, I don’t know how much he dug there. I bet
he had more 60 pounds every time he would go up there. So, he came here two
years after we went up in there and bye George, the rattlesnakes ran him out. He
was afraid to go any further.
I was telling D. Smith over here about it. He was a good “senger”. It’s in
that Laurel and underbrush and thick as can be, but there is seng in there.
I remember shoe’in horses one day we shoe’d 25 head of horses. I held every
leg and we were all day at it. But, my uncle Charles, he’s the best blacksmith
that ever hit this country. Yes sir, he was given to be the best blacksmith to
ever hit this country. He learned me a lot of tricks about it, that I didn’t
know. So, you take a horse when your shoe’in him if you’re shoe’in the hind
leg, you just get his head and tie it to a high cross piece and he can’t kick
up., He can swing it sideways, but he can’t kick up, and if you go to shoe his
front foot—then tie his head down to the manger and they can’t raise it up
unless they raise their head up. You understand it?
ALEX: Yes, sir.
CASSELL: I was just telling a fellow here yesterday about a fellow named
Cramer. He’s first cousin to my mother. He had a pony couldn’t anybody ride. He
had a store a grocery and feed store up at Durbin and sometimes I would go up
there to help him do something, so John Cramer had a big old horse that had
heart trouble, that’s what they’d call it in that day. They didn’t call it heart
trouble, they called it the thumps. You could hear the heart beat ever so far.
Finally they were going to take her to the top of the mountain to a friend to
trade her off. So, he wanted me to go along. So, John wanted to have some fun
out of me. So, we went over and got that pony out of the livery stable for me to
ride. Now, there’d been no one to ever ride him. He’d throwed off everybody that
ever tried to ride him. Now, he said, “he throw you off.” I said, “I’ll try
him”. So, I reigned him up tight and I got on him and that thing bucked. I had a
stick about two foot long. Kinda of a flat stick and I had him up so tight that
he couldn’t kick up behind him. He’d jump up in front, and when he jumped up in
front I didn’t started to hit him over the crazy bone. I’d hit right down over
the ear. I’d hit him down over the ear just as hard as I could hit. Then, I hit
him on the shoulder and back on the rump and doggone if he didn’t get me off. I
was the only one to ride him for a short time. You couldn’t get him to stand
still at all. He just bucked up all the time, never, but he was running with
sweat, but I stood right there. He never did get me off, so we started on a
little piece further. A couple of minutes later that old mare fell dead and
rolled over the hill. Yes, sir, she scared that mare. She’d weighed 1700 pounds
and in good shape but she dropped dead and rolled over the hill. Well, I had to
ride back into Durbin on old road, ain’t like it is now. I went back into Durbin
and fellow said, “See if you can ride that pony up to Bartow and back”. I said,
“Well yes, I can ride him up to Bartow and back”. I made him up to Bartow and
back. I got off of him and that was the last time I was on him. Don’t you know
the next day I was so doggone sore that I couldn’t walk. I’ll tell you I was. I
didn’t have any fun out of that at all.
I’ll tell you that Craig Ashford was a skinner. He’d beat his mother, but
he—I always liked him. He’d loaned you money. He loaned me a many a dollar. One
day he came in leading a horse. The prettiest horse you ever looked at. He said
he was going to take him to Tennessee—lead him to ---- only seven years old.
That’s all the old he was. He was a pretty horse, but he said he would sell him.
He said, “You can’t ride him”. I left and was leading him. Craig had brought him.
I don’t what he paid for him, but he told me to take him up to the barn. I took
him up to the barn—put him in the barn. Oh, I looked him all over. I couldn’t
see a thing wrong with that horse. I looked him all over and I felt him all
over. Well, I had to lead him out to water, as far as from here as out to the
road. I let him get the water that evening. Then, I thought there was something
a wrong with that horse. So, I just run away ahead of him and had him to trot
behind me. Instead of him trotting that way he was throwing his hind legs
around. I knew right then that he was crippled in the back. I put him in the
barn. I told Craig, “If I owned that horse, I say there’s something a matter
with that horse”.
Craig said, “Oh I knew you’d find out something”. He said, “You always find
something”. Well, I said, “There’s something a matter with him. He don’t handle
in the hind legs right”. I said, “I don’t see why in the devil you didn’t trot
him before you brought him”. I said, “He is crippled in the back”. So, I put him
in the barn and I got up the next morning—went down to feed him. There he was
laying. He nickered at me. He wouldn’t eat he wasn’t hungry—wasn’t sick. He just
couldn’t get up. So, I go back in and I say, “Hey, Craig”—he made more noise
getting up that man did than four men would make. He was sleeping upstairs. I
said, “Your old big horse is down. He can’t get up. He ain’t sick, but he can’t
get up”.
Boy, you never heard such a coming down the stairs in your whole life. He
said, “I’ll be dam. Here, I’ll tell you what to do now. You get John Fleming,
John Williams and Sam Williams and we’ll lift him. We’ll get him up”. I said,
“I’ll go get them.” “Now don’t tell it, no.. I’ll get shut of him.”
He wasn’t nothing to lift. Just put that rope around and got to each
side…one fellow pulled on the bridle rein…another fellow helped with his tail.
Well the four of us lifted him right up on his feet.
So, Craig said, “I never lost a horse”. He was working up there at Thornwood
going down the creek the next morning and met a fellow who said, “Craig, do you
know where I can buy a horse. Says, I lost one last night”. Craig says, “Well I
got one right here, I just brought him. Says he’s a good looking horse. Come
down and look at him. You can have him. I’ll sell him to you. So, Bill, came
down there and got that horse. Took him up there. The next morning he calls
Craig upon the telephone, said, “Hey, Craig”. Craig, says, “what, what, what,
what do you want.” “Send up the rest of that horse. I didn’t get him all. You
forgot to send the block and tackle with him”. Now, that the God’s truth if I
ever told it.
Once, I was on a visit with Craig and we went to Anderson …… He just had a
big old seven year old mare. A pretty mare, but he couldn’t work her. She was
too fast for him. He had chin whiskers way down here, you know. He says—he says
to me—“Odey, there will be a man here to trade horses with me this evening, will
you trade for me?” “Why, yes, I said, “I’ll trade for you. If you know what I’m
getting”. He says, “Well, I know what I’m getting. I’m getting a little bay
mare. Not as big as this one, but it’s a dandy. She’s only six years old”. Says,
“I know her”.
I said, “Well if you know what you’re getting”. So, he gave me 15 dollars.
Said, “now you give 15 dollars to boot”. He asked me if I have any money. I
said, “Yes, I got a little bit”. “Well” he said, “If it takes a little bit more,
you trade with him”.
So, he come here for the trade. So, he give me the privilege. So, I ask him
how much—how he wanted to trade me. He said, I want 10 dollars to boot.” So, I
says, “Well my God man. Well, I know that fellows name. He was from Pendleton
County. Can’t think—Thompson and I says Thompson, “you’re a hard old horse
trader. In olden times I was a horse trader myself, but there’s 25 dollars
difference in them. That gray mare—well anybody tradin with you, would give 25
dollars to boot”
“Well”, I said, “If you’ll give me 25 dollars to boot – you can trade”.
“Well”, he says, --open up his pocketbook and looked—felt his pocket and he had
18 dollars. He says, “ I’ve only got 18 dollars”. And he says, “Positively going
to have to have 3 dollars fore I can stay all night anyplace. I’d give it to you
if I had it”. Well, I hem and hawd. I took him up. I said, “I take the 15
dollars to boot”, and I got the 15 dollars to boot. And, Anderson came out and
says, “How’d you trade it”? I says, “Yes I traded. I had to give him an awful
lot of boot”. So, he was sitting like you’re sitting. I counted out 15 dollars
that he had given me and then I counted out the other 15 dollars and, I said,
“There tis”. I handed it over to him. I said, “I just got 15 dollars to boot”.
And, he says, “You did”. Boy, it just tickled him to death. So he called Ace
Barlow, his brother Ace was an awful good fellow and he told him what I had
done. And he says, “You just can’t beat that man—Odey Cassell”.
Well, sir, Anderson told me about that every time I saw him.
He had some poles and I wanted to see if she’d work. Had a little girl about
12 years old. I know her name—I can’t think of it now. If you will go show me
where those poles is I’ll skidin to something and see if she’ll work. I
harnessed her up—the collar was a little too big for her. I didn’t pull heavy.
She worked to a “t”, just as nice and gentle as could be. I hauled in 6 or 8
poles for wood—up to Anderson’s place. Oh! Man that man was just tickled to
death. He said he have given 25 dollars to boot.