Two weeks ago I reported on a search mounted in 1889 by the Arkansas Gazette for the largest family in Arkansas. After sorting through about 50 applications, the Gazette selected the W.D. Green family of near Murfreesboro in Pike County. Green, who was illiterate, used his mark to sign an affidavit before the Pike County clerk, claiming that he and his wife had 23 children, 18 of whom were still living.
As it turns out, the Gazette was deceived; Green hid the fact that his numerous children were actually born to two wives rather than one as required by the contest.
I am indebted to Judge Phillip Green of Star City for ferreting out the deception. Judge Green suspected that W.D. Green might have been an ancestor, so he undertook genealogical research on W.D. Green and his wife, Delinda Hamilton Green. It turns out that Green had 12 children by Delinda, but she died shortly after giving birth to the final baby. After only 10 months the 45-year-old widower married 18-year-old Sarah Jane Reed, with whom he proceeded to have another 11 children--for a total of 23.
How could a man get away with claiming that his 52-year-old second wife was actually his 72-year-old first and only spouse? Perhaps having 11 children prematurely aged her.
Successfully pulling off this ruse in order to win a $75 prize should not surprise us. In 1889 one could not easily and quickly locate vital statistics. Marriage and death records, when kept at all, were maintained by local jurisdictions. Census records could not be accessed. Also, Green spent most of his career as a blacksmith in Hempstead County, having moved to Pike County as an older man--so most likely he was not known to the authorities in Murfreesboro. And, after all, $75 was no small amount of money in 1889.
Great shouts of happiness have been heard throughout the state with the recent ruling that the tiny town of Damascus on the Faulkner-Van Buren county line has been deemed a speed trap. Whether this finding will ultimately result in the permanent disarming of that trap is not readily apparent, and one should not get one's hopes up if history is an indicator. State Attorney General and Governor-elect Carl Bailey learned this painful lesson in 1936.
The governor-elect, his wife, and Democratic nominee for secretary of state C.G. "Crip" Hall were on their way to Fayetteville on the late afternoon of Sept. 26, 1936--and they were late. These were the days before governors were chauffeured around like potentates, so Bailey was at the wheel. He admitted to going about 50 miles per hour as he passed through the village of Greenland, about 10 miles south of Fayetteville. Suddenly Mrs. Bailey noticed a motorcycle policeman, and soon the unmarked vehicle was pulled over.
Accused of breaking Greenland's speed limit of 35 mph, Bailey stood his ground--denying that he even knew he was going through a town. When told to accompany the policeman back to city hall, Bailey refused and drove his car to Fayetteville, followed by the begoggled Greenland officer on his motorcycle. Upon arriving in Fayetteville, the officer tried to get the local police to arrest the attorney general/governor-elect but was rebuffed.
Bailey, who could be combative, set about to end the Greenland speed trap. He railed against the unfair nature of speed traps, and he thought they "gave the state a bad name." According to the Arkansas Democrat, Bailey "threatened to evoke legislative wrath upon officials of the community of Greenland ..." Bailey also called upon local officials for support, and within hours Prosecuting Attorney J.W. Trimble secured an injunction which removed from office the Greenland mayor as well as the city marshal and his deputy.
When Greenland Mayor E.O. Rouse and the two officers appeared before Circuit Judge John B. Combs they learned that the prosecuting attorney had been busy. It turned out that the mayor had not paid his poll tax and thus was not qualified to hold his office. And the marshal and his deputy were also deemed to be unqualified electors, though reasons were not given. It was not long before the 35 mph speed limit signs were removed from Greenland.
Carl Bailey must have been furious when two months after the circuit court action the Greenland city council re-appointed Mayor Rouse--and the old speed limit signs were taken out of storage.
Arkansas did not get meaningful legislation outlawing speed traps until 1995 when the late State Senator Jerry Bookout of Jonesboro secured passage of a law limiting to 30 percent the amount of speeding ticket revenue a city budget may contain. The Bookout legislation has had some impact, but it has not been successful in eliminating the scourge of speed traps in the Natural State.
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Tom Dillard is a historian and retired archivist living near Glen Rose in Hot Spring County. Email him at Arktopia.td@gmail.com.
Editorial on 03/05/2017