Appendix Article 3 …..a Hall family story GRANDMA'S TURKEYS: + …it took the common sense of a country Squire to save her flock!......... by Carrol C. Hall Grandma looked out her kitchen window. For a moment she couldn't believe it. Her turkeys weren't gathering around the old crab-apple tree at the edge of the orchard! All summer in late afternoon, the birds had gathered around the tree to do their last-minute feeding and as dusk approached, one by one they would fly up into the tree to roost for the night - the whole flock of them. Grandma hastened to the orchard. No birds. She gave the call she used when she had feed for them. She scanned the area as far as she could see. Still no turkeys … something was wrong. "Jim," she called …. knowing that Grandpa was down at the barn… "Jim - Jim," …then she remembered the yard bell, it was used to call the men from the fields. "Clang - Clang,' she banged the bell hard. Grandpa came out of the barn and started toward the house. The boys came a-running across the fields. "What is it?" "What's wrong?" Questions poured out. "The turkeys … they haven't come up….something has happened to them…" Grandpa now became the general of his little army. He began to give orders …. "Ed, you cut across the pasture and look along the branch. "Will, you look on the other side of the cornfield…then cut through the timber… "Carl, ++ look along the town road and check the old rail fence.. "Myrtle, run over to Hopwood's and ask if they've seen 'em." Those turkeys were mighty important to Grandma, they represented a whole year's work - setting the eggs, watching them hatch - and making sure they'd be ready for market. She was proud of them and those birds meant cash, and cash bought overalls, shoes and yard goods - maybe the Christmas treats. The turkeys had been allowed to run the farm, feed in the pasture and timber and along the fence rows, there was plenty of safe water for them and the dry summer had kept them healthy. "I've found them!...I've found them!", it was the voice of Carl, who had been searching along the road to town. Breathless, he arrived. The family gathered around him. They're at Goodmans'… in a shed!" "Good…we'll go get them…..come along, it'll take all of us to herd them home," Grandpa commanded. Off they went, following Carl in the glow of the early sunset. He showed them how he had discovered the flock's tracks in the dust of the road and how the trail led to Goodman's farm --- better to be called their 'place'. Goodman's couldn't really be called a farm. There wasn't anything to farm. To be exact, the Goodman bunch were squatters on the old, abandoned Winters' place… they'd pulled up there late Spring and were making do with the ramshackle house that was surrounded by a few dilapidated outbuildings. Folks in the neighborhood had been wondering about them. As the turkey hunters approached the place, old man Goodman came out on the stoop. In his hand was a shot gun and hovering beside him was a couple of his older boys holding back a pair of lean hounds. "What's goin' on here!" "We've come to get our turkeys…" "The hell you say!" "Yeah, you've got 'em in that shed over there…" "Them's our birds…raised 'em where we lived before…stand back…I won't have no trespassing…" Threatening gestures accompanied the rough words. The Hall clan huddled around Grandpa. "What are we going to do?...What's the next move?... Grandpa did a lot of thinking. Finally, he said, "In the morning, I'll go to town and swear out a warrant…we'll get them into court….have 'em arrested!..." "What if they cut out with them during the night?" "I don't think they can, they haven't the coops to hold them, nor a big enough wagon…" "Just to play it safe, we'll watch them during the night…you older boys can pair up and I'll take my turn.." "You can count on your mother and sister to keep the coffee pot hot…" Early next morning Grandpa saddled 'Old Billy' and headed for town, about five miles away. The night watch became the day watch and the turkeys stayed as guests of their newly acquired owners. About noon Grandpa got back from the village. "Squire Francis will be out as soon as he can make it, it's court day and he's gotta lot of business before it…" +++ Mid-afternoon Squire Francis' buggy could be seen coming over the hill on the town road. The Squire wasn't too young any more and neither was his horse. It was an anxious family group that waited at the junction of the town road and the house lane, to confer with this representative of law and order in the township. Patiently, the Squire listened as the events of the past twenty-four houses were reviewed; how the turkeys were missed when they didn't come to roost; and how Goodman defied their claims. "Let's get over to the Goodmans'," was the Squire's only comment. The family trailed the Squire and his buggy and halted with him at the Goodman gate. "Goodman," the Squire called out, "You in there?" Goodman came out of his house, no gun this time! "I've got a warrant for you, it about those turkeys.." "Them birds belong to us'ns …raised 'em ourselves." "The Halls say they are theirs…" "How ya gonna prove it?" Squire Francis, unswayed by Goodman's challenge, turned to Grandpa and said "I'm in charge of those turkeys now… "You and the boys get your wagon and all your coops, put the birds in them, load up and follow me into town with them. "Goodman," he ordered, "These folks are to handle the turkeys as I said … I want no buttin' in from you…" The afternoon was well spent when the turkeys were finally loaded…grandpa and the two older boys were to ride with them to town. Just as the little caravan was to start, Squire Francis motioned to Goodman and said, "Get in the buggy with me." The group swung out on the town road and headed for the seat of justice. About half-way between the two farms there was a small open pasture just off the town road. When the buggy reached it, the Squire halted and motioned for the wagon to come on up. "Drive over into that pasture," he said, "take those coops out of the wagon and open them up." His orders were followd. "It's just about roosting time," the Squire observed. "Those turkeys will know where they belong." As the shadows lengthened, the turkeys huddled, stretching and shaking themselves from their recent confinement. They milled around, did a little pecking, sorta like they were getting organized. Finally, the old cock --- the grandpa of the turkeys - stretched out his neck, arched his feathers, gobbled a bit and then headed across the pasture with the flock following behind him. The turkeys were on their way to the orchard and grandma's crab-apple tree! The silence that witnessed the scene was broken by the voice of Squire Francis: "Goodman, - I'll see you at the Town Hall before noon tomorrow!" That is the story of Grandma's Turkeys. ++++ Notes: The reader is reminded that the author merely took the substance of the incident and wove the above story around it. The basic facts of which are recorded in the case. The 'flock' consisted of 13 young turkeys and one 'old one' on which a value of $25.00 was placed. Lot's of money in 1897. The incident didn't satisfy the Goodmans". A few days later, they went to court saying that the Halls' had stolen the turkeys and co-operated with the constable in taking them from their premises. They demanded return of the turkeys, damages, etc. They only placed a value of $15.00 on the birds. Believe it or not, the appeal went to the county court at Petersburg, in as much as the constable and J.P. at the village of Athens were involved in the complaint. A jury was impaneled and over two days consumed in the trial, with the adjournants, etc. Here's the jury's decision: 'We the jury find the issues for the defendant" ---that was grandpa, James Newton Hall. The Goodmans were to have no claims on the Turkeys and to pay the court costs. It is likely that the Turkeys got out on the open road and were commandeered by the Goodmans with the idea of either keeping them or making the Halls in some manner pay for their return. Turkeys are birds with some interesting behavior patterns and the roosting habits are among them. +A fictionalized version of a Menard Co., Ill., court record; E. Goodman vs. James Hall, et. al., August 7, 1897. ++Grandpa could never say Carlyle --- it was always Carl +++Calvin Francis, long-time J.P. at Athens, Illinois. A Hall kin. ++++Grandma was Emeline (Pestel) Hall, 1850-1937; wife of James Newton Hall, 1849 - 1928.