Unusual events in local history

By Don Cosby

Recently while flipping through my scrapbook of old newspaper articles, I was reminded of the fact that there were a number of “wacky local events” which occurred throughout the years that did not individually justify writing an article about but, collectively they certainly fell into the “honorable mention category” for they were not everyday occurrences.

In the beginning, an item of clarification needs to be made. All these short stories I have collected and gleaned from previously printed newspaper articles and I make no claims personally as to their validity. It is those stories which lack specific names or dates and pictures which I personally find more questionable and set aside as simply interesting and leave it up to you to make your own judgments. During the 1950’s, nationally there were countless stories about unidentified flying objects, snake and animal stories might fall into these categories. Nearly all the local stories listed here however, were accompanied with pictures. Since however I am limited as to how much newsprint I’ve been allocated, I will not be able to include some of the pictures with the related story.

10-year-old drives car to Evansville

I cannot recall where it happened but less than a year ago, there was a story on ABC news of an 8-year-old boy taking his father’s pickup and driving 75 miles and being picked up by the police. I thought in the back of my mind that I had heard that story before. Searching through files, a similar incident occurred here locally.

On Sunday, Sept. 13, 1959, with a tattered black and white barnyard cat as his companion and sole advisor, 10-year-old Donald Shanks, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Clifford Shanks Jr., decided to take his grandpa’s big old 1954 Desoto for a drive after his father had scolded him and insisted he not ride the combine since he was suffering from a cold. Neither of Donald’s parents had seen the boy for an hour or two, but during the afternoon the boy’s father said he did notice grandpa’s car was gone but knew the grandparents were planning to go to the movies and thought Donald had gone with them.

“My parents drove my car since the Desoto had low pressure in one tire.”

When the grandparents returned, panic set in for they had no knowledge of Donald’s whereabouts. They immediately notified the authorities, thinking that whoever had the car also had the boy.

About 6 p.m. a call was received from the Evansville Police Department that a police officer answered a call for a minor accident and that their son Donald was at the police station in Evansville. While barely able to see over the steering wheel, it seems that the 4-foot 5-inch boy had driven the car to Evansville and was on Virginia Avenue and attempted to turn left on Heidelbach Avenue, apparently changing his mind, Donald stopped, then put the car in reverse and backed into another car. The estimate of damage was $15 to the other car and $30 to Donald’s.

Upon being questioned, he said it was the first time he had ever driven a car. He went on to tell that he did on one occasion, drive a tractor, sitting in his Dad’s lap. As to how fast he drove he said “about 50 most of the time, until he had a flat tire about half way to Evansville.” He said he stopped at a house near the highway and a man helped him fix the flat tire. The man apparently didn’t attempt to delay the boy and he started the car and drove on to Evansville.

The grandparents, the parents and cat all headed back to Washington about 9:30 p.m. about seven hours after the boy started his escapade.

Was Nat Chandler buried alive?

A Washington Gazette article told of Nat Chandler being frozen to death near Alfordsville. The body was prepared for burial and viewed the next day before the burial by the grief stricken wife, small daughter and a local physician who thought he had discovered some slight trace of life in the body and that the body did not possess the usual appearance of a dead man. The young physician, fearing he might make a mistake of a lifetime and bring reproach on himself and create a local scene, he kept the matter to himself, not mentioning his concerns to anyone until a number of persons who had attended the funeral were discussing the untimely sad death. Someone in the crowd stated that Nat looked more like a healthy person in a deep sleep than a corpse. That started a discussion and several others commented basically the same.

The barber who shaved the deceased and preparing him for the funeral commented that it was strange for when rubbing and removing a small scab from Nat’s ear, a little stream of blood ran out profusely, which was very unnatural in a corpse. His nose was not sunken as common and the body was not swollen, not withstanding that it had lain in state for more than 24 hours. There was no unpleasant odor. When the body was found, it was face down and when turned over, the chest was found to be still warm in spite of lying on the cold ground. As the corpse was lifted into the wagon, steam rose from the body.

Upon seeing no further signs of life during the preparation, it seemed everyone had assumed no life existed. Now that several involved had voiced items of concern and Nat was buried, several now question, “Was Nat buried alive?”

There was some talk of exhuming the body to determine, if possible by the position the body lays, whether there really was life there when he was buried. Questioning a family member, he said, “at this point the family does not want to know. In fact they are afraid to pursue the matter, “lest they would be horrified at the facts.”

Dr. Kime delivered more than 4,000 babies

On Sunday, Nov. 2, 1952, the Indianapolis Times did a feature on the “1952 General Practitioner of the Year,” Dr. John Kime of Petersburg.

The 86-year-old family doctor who practices in Pike County, when asked how he achieved such an honor, replied that when he comes home at night, “I lunch on limburger cheese, toast and beer, go to bed and sleep like a Christian gentleman.” Dr. Kime is in his office from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week unless he is required to make house calls.

Dr. Kime’s medical career started at 10 years of age.

“I used to work in my father’s office,” he said. “When he prescribed something for a patient, I’d mix up the tinctures, extracts, powders and salves from crude drugs. My brother Rufus, was a doctor practicing in Union, about 10 miles from Petersburg. I was in his office one day when he had to go on an obstetrical case. He had five more baby calls waiting. One of the fathers was nearly frantic. ‘Doc, you come, wait on my poor wife, she is suffering so.’ So I went and delivered the baby.”

During that 24 hour period, Kime’s brother delivered 12 babies.

When asked about how many times he had officiated at the beginning of a new life, Dr. Kime said, “I’m not sure for a cleaning lady threw my diploma, medical license, and my obstetrical records in the stove by mistake. Up to that time, I had delivered 2,865 babies.”

Conservative by nature, the fatherly, snowy haired physician would not admit he had probably delivered more than 5,000 babies by now.

“No sir,” he protested, “you can say that if you want but I’ll only say it’s more than 4,000 for sure.”

Among all those thousands, surprisingly there were never triplets. Twins, yes many times.

His first delivery was memorable since he recalled riding horseback more than six miles of muddy roads. After delivering the baby, he then stopped off at a country store and sent them $5 or $6 worth of groceries, because they needed it. He never got a cent for the delivery.

Hervey Tomey killed in fall from ambulance

An unheard of tragic accident occurred in March of 1941 when Hervey Tomey, age 66, a highly respected funeral director from Elnora was killed by falling from the back of an ambulance en route to Daviess County Hospital.

The accident occurred approximately a mile north of Washington on Highway 57. In years past, ambulance service was provided locally by funeral homes. Mr. Tomey received a call from the family of Joseph Ketchem of Elnora to transport Mr. Ketchem to the hospital for treatments. Mr. Tomey was riding in the back of the ambulance with the patient. Clay Summerville, an assistant, was also in the front seat. The ambulance had a side door and Summerville commented when the door was closed upon leaving Elnora, it didn’t sound like it was shut. Tomey pushed on the door and it seemed ok. When approaching Washington, the road was in bad shape. Summerville and Hardin both commented that they heard a noise and felt the ambulance swerve. Thinking it to be tire trouble but glancing back, saw the side door swinging open and that Mr. Tomey had disappeared. The ambulance was quickly stopped and Mr. Tomey was found unconscious lying at the driveway entrance to Ollie Leister Residence. Gill Funeral Home Ambulance was called and the patient Mr. Ketchem and Mr. Tomey were taken to the hospital. Mr. Tomey was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital. The coroner’s inquest revealed Mr. Tomey had received massive injuries to the back of his head along with arm and knee injuries.

No one will know for sure as to exactly what happened but it was speculated that Mr. Tomey had possibly stood up in the ambulance and due to the rough pavement, the ambulance swerved and Mr. Tomey lost his balance and fell against the door and when reaching to close the door, he fell from the vehicle.

Local doctor and patient die at same instant

At 1:45 a.m., March 7, 1937, Dr. E.E. Long was called to the home of Lenny Boyd, 1-1/2 miles southeast of Shoals to assist Dr. Charles F. Hope in the delivery of a child to Mrs. Earl Boyd, who was only 18 years of age. Mrs. Boyd had been in labor for several hours and was having difficulty in the delivery of her first child. Dr. Hope was delivering anesthesia on one side of the bed and Dr. Long stated that they first tried to deliver the baby with forceps but the baby could not be delivered that way so they decided to attempt to turn the baby and deliver it feet first. The mother was extremely weak but they had succeeded in part when suddenly Dr. Hope, who was on the opposite side of the bed, collapsed, falling to the floor. Dr. Long hurried to him, finding him unconscious and unresponsive with no sign of a pulse.

He then hurried back to his patient Mrs. Boyd, finding that she had also died and as a result the baby too had died. Dr. Long said that both had died of heart attacks. The Doctor had been treated for a heart ailment for four years and Mrs. Boyd died a heart attack brought on by labor and shock.

Unseen forces haunt boy

A strange incident reported in an Indianapolis newspaper article in August 1949 describing the case of a 14-year-old Washington boy who has been harassed by unseen forces and has been referred to scientists who specialize in psychic phenomena.

The boy’s trouble was revealed by Richard Darnell, president of the Society for Parapsychology laboratory, who considers the case “one of the most impressive that has come to his attention.”

Here is the story relayed to Darnell by the clergyman. The boy’s family resides in Washington and are members of his congregation. They came to him as the pastor explaining that the son was extremely troubled by scratching on the walls and ceilings which seem to follow the boy about. They said that at night his bed had been shaking so violently that at times he has been unable to get to sleep until 3 a.m. or 4 a.m.

Incredulous as it all sounded at first, the clergyman urged the family to allow the boy to spend the night at his parsonage so that he could observe the phenomena first hand. The family agreed. When the boy first retired in the minister’s home, sure enough, the bed shook so violently that he was unable to sleep. The lad then got up and sat in a large, heavy arm chair with his knees drawn up under his chin. As the clergyman watched, the chair tilted over at a sharp angle, throwing the boy to the floor. The minister assumed the same position in the chair and try as he might, he could not budge the chair.

The boy attempted once again to sleep in the bed but vibrations of the bed prevented him from doing so. The clergyman then decided to place blankets on the floor and a pillow for him to sleep there. As soon as the boy dozed off, both bedding and the boy slid across the floor and under the bed. The boy rolled out and the minister returned the blankets to their former position. The boy once again attempted to go to sleep. This time the boy and blankets slid in a half circle and slid for the second time under the bed.

Darnell said the clergyman swears that each time the bedding moved, there was absolutely no wrinkling or wadding up of the blankets as would be the case if the boy were moving or pushing it himself. The boy’s hands remained in full view and his legs remained straight.

Darnell said that he is withholding the names of the boy and the minister at their request.

I was in hope that there would be a follow up article but there was no further mention of this incident that I was able to find.

Healthy black horse drops dead

Saving obituaries in order to establish historical facts and family lineage is not out of the ordinary, but I normally don’t save newspaper clippings when someone’s family horse dies.

Did you ever read something then suddenly your brain seems to click in and you say to yourself, “Wait a minute, where did I see those names before?” Was that not the name of one of the people mentioned in the recent article I wrote regarding the “Strange magnetic point found in Oak Grove Cemetery in 1907?”

By this time for those who can’t figure what in the world I am talking about, let me refresh your memory which started with an old 1938 newspaper article describing a letter which was received by the Washington Postmaster asking him to see if a marker set in Oak Grove Cemetery by the U. S. Geodetic survey crew was still there.

Prior to 1900, the federal government was in the process of establishing coastal points of interest along the Eastern Seaboard which was extremely important in establishing the true location of coastal ports. Then a few years later, had started to survey the internal United States, by sending survey crews out, recording land elevations and grid lines which were to be used for determining individual property lines. In 1908, such a crew was working their way west through Martin County when suddenly their compasses began to malfunction, a situation they had never encountered before. After several days they finally determined that there was a local magnetic force present which affected compass deviating from true north. Finally it was disclosed that point was in Oak Grove Cemetery. They finally located the magnetic point and identified the point by drawing a diagonal line from W.Q. Williams tombstone to the tombstone of W. W. Barnett. They said the point was in the middle of the road. Upon digging down some two or three feet, buried a stone marking the point for possible future use. Early last fall, myself, along with three local surveyors, Ed Barnett, Dennis Helms and brother Darin Helms, dug down and found the stone marker still intact.

Several months after writing this story, I happened to read an old newspaper article which I am reprinting as it first appeared, and made the connection that it was a continuation of the story and seems to add additional mystery and further adds another question that has no answer. Since the horse dropped dead apparently on the very spot of the magnetic point, was the magnetic point a contributing factor in the death of the horse or was it a billion to one coincident of no relevance? Sorry to burden you with making a judgment but while true and factual you will have to make this determination. This is another chapter to an already strange story. Here is the small article just as it was previously printed:

“Peculiar Death of “Black Frank” in Oak Grove Cemetery

During life, Mrs. W. W. Barnett, who died recently, nearly always drove “Black Frank” when she went driving.

Tuesday, Mr. Barnett and his daughter, Miss Stella, started for Oak Grove Cemetery to visit Mrs. Barnett’s grave. The buggy in which they were seated was drawn by the handsome horse.

“Black Frank” appeared to be in the best of health and traveled along at an easy gait. Mr. Barnett drove into the cemetery and upon reaching Mrs. Barnett’s grave he and his daughter started to get out of the buggy. As they did so the horse sank to the ground and died instantly.

The horse’s death was due to enlargement of the heart.”

Comments can be made to:

Don Cosby

1201 N. E. Third St.

Washington, IN 47501

E-mail: doncosby@att.net

Text Only