Transcribed For Online by Geraldine [email protected]
Records Contributed by Vicki Bell-Reynolds [email protected]

as you lay there on the ground. I remember Uncle Thornt telling about one time he rode the fence until after dark and he was so tired when he retired for the night, he spread out his blanket and went to bed, when he awoke next morning the sun was about one hour high, he stretched up his arms and body, he saw a great big diamond rattle snake laying in the saddle seat right within inches of his head, he just relaxed himself and easily settled back down on his blanket until the snake woke up and crawled off, than he got up and went on his way.

The cow boys that day in time slept more on the ground and in their saddles and blankets out on the open range than they did in their tents or on cots.

The young men and boys in and around Woodville formed a base ball team that consisted mostly farm boys like myself and I was one of the players, my place was short stop, that place was between 2nd and 3rd base, the pitcher was a left handed Indian, our catcher who played behind the batters was also left handed and the first base man also was left handed.  You let this pitcher get about half drunk and half mad together he was certainly very hard to handle, he would take his signal from the catcher as to the ball that he wanted him to throw, he would then turn and face the 2nd base make his wind up and turn to throw the ball he would have all his weight and strength together behind the ball, you could almost see smoke coming from the old cowhide as it crossed over  home plate.  The catcher would have a rag wrapped around his right hand and the big heavy mitton on too, when the inning was over the catchers hand would look like that he had put his hand in real hot water it was so red.  As time went on and about 40 years latter on, one of my sons was a traveling salesman for a firm in north Texas, he called on a firm in Trenton, Texas, interduced himself as Tommy Bell, the party of the firm told him that he used to know and played base ball with a Jim Bell back in the early 1900 at Woodville, Okla., and just wondered if he was related to him or knew anything about or his where abouts.  Tommy told him, that this Jim Bell was his father, the man told him to ask me if I remembered a Dean Matthew at Woodville, Okla., that played base ball together, this man was the left handed first base man that I mentioned in the first part of this story.  Not bargging at all but, the ball team that defeated the Woodville players would certainly reach back and say boys, we have certainly done something we were hard to handle.

This man, Dean Matthews that I refer too, was in Ada, Okla. attending a rodeo a few years later and he was in the grand stand and there was cloud coming up that consisted of heavy rain and wind, Dean run out fast as he could to his car to put up the door glasses and when he arrived to the car he got into the car and just slumped over the steering wheel of the car and was dead at once.

My father was twice married, he had two boys and one girl by his first wife, and two boys and three girls by his second wife of which I was one of the boys.

My father farmed part of the old homeplace for a number of years and he got tired of farming, he moved to town accepting a job as book keeper and post master of a firm in Woodville.  He was post master for a number of years and knew everyone in the country by name.  There was a man come to Woodville he called his name Brown and received his mail as Sam Brown for a number of years and after so many years there was several families moved there by the name of Howard and as time went on this Sam Brown married a girl by the name of Taylor, after so many years Brown begin to received mail for Sam Howard.  One Mrs Howard came to the post office to get the mail for Howards and Browns and my father has a letter there for Sam Howard so Mrs. Howard told my father that Sam Howard and Sam Brown was the same man that while he was back in tennesse he was at dance and got into a fight with aman and Sam killed this man and left the country and changed his name to Brown but, after Sam left Tennesse his

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