Mami T-- Part 10

Daddy always told us this next story with great pride and tremendous admiration; for her courage! And sometimes he laughed such deep belly laughs; and it would take two or three tries before he got the story told.

An Oil Lamp

One moonlight night she had just blown out the lamp and crawled into bed. She heard the sound of a wagon coming down the wagon trail that passed by her house. Mules pulling a wagon make a lot of noise while it is moving and there is no mistaking the sound.

Her house and barn was not out by the wagon trail, but was set back in a bit. As she listened she heard the wagon stop, and then she realized it was backing into her place. She figured they were headed to the barn to steal something.

Very quickly she arose and grabbed her double-barrel shot gun. She slipped out to the barn and inside without them seeing her, she hid in the dark and was in position when they stopped completely.

A Double Barrel Shotgun

They had backed the wagon into the barn and stopped in front of the corn crib. There were two men in the wagon, and she recognized one of the men. As he swung his leg over one side to step down out of the wagon, she stepped out of the dark and into the moonlight streaming into the barn; so that they could see that she had a gun pointed at them.

She called the man by name and said, “Ye sorry sonamabitch if ye step down off that wagon it’ll be the last damn step ye’ll ever take in this world, cause I’m gonna blow ye to hell, now ye git outta here, and don’t ye come back if ye want to stay alive!”

They were happy to oblige her, and they got out of there as quickly as they could, and they never came back! I am very sure the word was passed around that she was a woman to be reckoned with if you tried to steal from her.

A wagon load of corn back in those days compared to today’s monetary value would be worth enough that this amount now would probably be considered grand larceny.

But even more than the money it would have been worth; it was a life-line to her till next year’s crop came in; it was food for her and her children, and food for the livestock. And it was also the seed for next year’s crop.

She had great courage, true grit, and backbone! She was a strong woman, a fierce protector of what belonged to her! The stories daddy told us about her made such an impact on my life, and I felt my life would not be complete if I didn’t at least attempt to tell her story. My descendents will have the story of her life as best I know it!