Part 4

"I heard every word of the plan and prepared to meet it. Far into the night I prayed for strength to meet the ordeal. Then I fell asleep and did not awake until called for breakfast.

"The brothers were waiting for me when I reached the dining room. When I took a place at the table, the one I decided was Frank sat down beside me. Immediately I felt the pressure of steel against my ribs. Jesse sat across the table in front of me. He asked me to say grace.

"Never before did such a fervent prayer fall from my lips. I thanked the Lord for the food, for guidance on the journey, for the welfare of my old parish, for the people of my new pastorate, and, lastly, for the companionship of the two men who were with me. I concluded by asking that richest blessings reward them all through life.

"All through the prayer I could feel the gun pressing against my side and could sense the piercing eyes of the bandit leader from across the table. When I concluded the prayer, we ate the food set before us and conversed in a congenial manner. At the conclusion of the meal, Jesse called me aside.

"'You're all right, parson,' he said. 'Luck to you in your new parish. If you travel this way again you may depend upon our protection.'

"I continued my journey and took up the pastorate at Pierce City. But I never saw the James brothers again."[18]

XIII HIGHLIGHTS OF HISTORY AND FOLKLORE

Judge Saunders of Berryville completed a cabin near the Basin Spring on or about July 4, 1879. A grocery store with a $200 stock was opened by O. D. Thornton on July 6th. By the end of July there were twelve crude dwellings perched on the hillsides near the Basin Spring. The population increased slowly during the first few weeks after the naming of the town. A count was made on August 10 and it totaled 180 permanent residents. People began coming in large numbers during the late summer and this immigration increased during the fall and winter. By July 4, 1880, an estimated 5,000 people were living in the community and the sound of hammering could be heard day and night as new buildings were put up.

During the first few weeks, the Basin Spring was the center of attraction, but it was not long until the other springs in the vicinity were discovered and used. Streets had to be laid out and the first project was Main Street. H. S. Montgomery, with the help of twenty men, opened up the valley in August, 1879. Business openings during the first year included: Van Winkle, lumber yard; A. D. Mize, hardware; Dr. Hogue, drug store; Jefferson, saloon; Walquist, tailor shop, William Conant, livery stable. Dr. McCarthy was the first resident physician and lived on the site now occupied by the Rock Cabin Courts. The first manufacturing business was a cane factory operated by a fellow named Cook. The first postmaster was T. M. Johnson. Hugo and Herman Seidel owned and operated the first produce house which stood at the mouth of Mill Hollow.

1880 and 1881 were boom years for the new town. Cora Pinkley Call in her Pioneer Days in Eureka Springs says that in 1881 there were fifty-seven boarding houses and hotels, one bank, thirty-three groceries, twelve saloons, twenty-two doctors, one undertaker, and twelve real estate agents. Earl Newport, whose father, J. W. Newport, was one of the early business men of the city, showed me a picture of about fifty boys who were "boot blacks" in the early days of the town. Earl was one of the boys who carried a portable outfit and gave a shine for a nickel. Mrs. Annie House, the oldest newspaper woman in Arkansas, was a small girl when she came to Eureka Springs in 1879. She has been a resident of the town during the entire seventy-five years and spent forty years working on local newspapers. Charley Stehm, artist in wood and stone, came to the town as a boy in the early eighties and lived here until his death, Sept. 22, 1954.

Transportation was a problem in the early days. Pierce City, Missouri, eighty-four miles to the north, was the nearest railroad point. In 1880, the Eureka Springs liverymen established a stage line that connected with the Butterfield stage at Garfield.

Eureka Springs was incorporated February 14, 1880. Elisha Rosson was the first mayor, but he did not remain in office but a few months. The second mayor, Mr. Carroll, took a census in May, 1881, and the population to said to have exceeded 8,000. In 1882, Eureka Springs was declared a city of the first class and ranked as one of the six largest cities of the state. Goodspeed, writing of this "Crazy Quilt" town about 1885, said:

"Everywhere that an abode can be constructed, houses of every description, tents and shelters, sprang up all over the mountain tops, hanging by corners on the steep sides, perched upon jutting boulders, spanning gulches, or nestling under crags in the grottoes. It is a most peculiar looking place, presenting an apparent disregard to anything like order and arrangement."

The town had two disastrous fires in the eighties. The first one came early in the morning of November 3, 1883, destroying the business section on Mountain and Eureka streets. A fine drug store was located in the V-junction of Mountain and Eureka, a livery stable where the Christian Science church now stands, and a bakery across the street. The second big fire came in 1888 and burned the business section along Spring Street from Calip Spring to the Presbyterian Church. 480 houses were destroyed. Only four frame houses were left standing in the area.

According to Goodspeed, T. J. Hadley brought a printing press from Olathe, Kansas in November, 1879 and established the first newspaper. The date of the first issue of the Echo is given as February 21, 1880. Within two or three years, the town had two additional newspapers, the Dispatch and the Herald.

Eureka Springs has had its full share of legend and folklore and some of the fabulous tales are told with tongue in cheek. Take the marital swap of "Uncle" Adam and "Uncle" Dick. A couple called "Adam and Eve" lived in a rock shelter across the road from Johnson Spring. Dick and his wife occupied an adjoining shelter to the south. One day Adam traded Eve to Dick for his wife and got a horse and buggy and a dog to boot. Dick and his newly acquired wife left the country soon after the swap, but it is reported that the woman came back later and lived with Adam. This happened, according to the old timers, about the turn of the century.

Vance Randolph, in Who Blowed Up the Church House?,[19] gives a different version of the wife-trading story. He heard the anecdote from an old timer in Eureka Springs about 1950. Here is his version:

"One time there was two old men lived up Magnetic Holler, right close to a little branch they call Mystic Spring nowadays. One of these fellows was Uncle Adam, and he had a wife. The other one was knowed as Uncle Dick, and he didn't have no wife, but he had two cows. They got to trading jackknives and shotguns, and finally Uncle Adam swapped his wife for one of Uncle Dick's cows. Folks used to trade wives pretty free in them days, and nobody said much about it. Lots of them wasn't really married anyhow, so there wasn't no great harm done.

"But it wasn't long 'till word got around that Uncle Adam's woman had up and left him, and moved her stuff over to Uncle Dick's cabin. The next time Uncle Adam came into town, somebody asked him if Uncle Dick had stole his wife. 'Hell no,' says Uncle Adam, 'it was a fair swap, all open and above board. Dick give me his best cow for the old woman, and two dollars to boot.'

"Folks got to laughing about it, and one day the sheriff stopped Uncle Adam in the street. 'This here trading wives is against the law nowadays,' says he, 'And everybody knows a woman is worth more than a cow, anyhow.' Uncle Adam laughed right in the sheriff's face. 'Don't you believe it, Sheriff,' he says, 'Don't you believe it! Why, that there cow of mine is three-fourths Jersey!'"

XIV THE CAPTURE OF BILL DOOLIN

It was during the winter of 1895-96. Bill Doolin, the Oklahoma outlaw was spending his "vacation" in Eureka Springs, taking the baths and hiding out from the law. He had allegedly killed three marshals at Ingalls, Okla., a short time before and committed other crimes over a period of several years of outlawry, and the law was hot on his trail when he disappeared at the first of the year, 1896.

Bill Tilghman, United States marshal, knew Doolin personally and set out to capture him. At a boarding house in Ingalls he learned that the outlaw had gone to some resort in Arkansas for his health and safety. The marshal selected Eureka Springs as the most likely place for Doolin's hideout.

Tilghman arrived in Eureka Springs disguised as a preacher, wearing a Prince Albert coat and a derby hat. He registered at a hotel and left his baggage. He then walked to a little park in the center of town. A man was stooped over the spring, filling a jug with water. When he raised up the marshal saw that it was Doolin.

Tilghman knew the outlaw was quick on the draw and did not attempt to arrest him. Instead, he dropped into a nearby shop and watched him through the window. Doolin walked across the park, crossed a bridge that spanned a little stream, and ascended a flight of steps leading to a hotel.

Tilghman went back to the park, sat down and began thinking. He had left a shotgun at his hotel and his first thought was to get the gun, hide behind a tree and get his man as he came down the steps. But he wanted to take him alive. Then he devised what he thought was a better plan. He went to a nearby carpenter shop and ordered a box made long enough to hold his shotgun. It was to be hinged and easy to open. With this contraption he could sit in the park without attracting attention and get Doolin as he approached. The carpenter promised to have the box ready by late evening. He would polish it and make it look like a musical instrument case. That would mean another day in Eureka Springs. He would lay for Doolin early in the morning as he came from his hotel.

Tilghman ate lunch at a cafe and then having time to kill, decided to take one of the famous Eureka Springs baths. He noticed the Basin Spring Bath House across the bridge from the Basin Circle. He walked into the hallway and opened a door at the left to enter the lobby. His eye took in everything in the room at a glance. There was a desk in the corner with a man sitting behind it. Several men were in the room, playing checkers or reading. One of them sat behind a pot-bellied stove at the east end of the lobby, his face behind a newspaper.

When Bill entered the room this man lowered his paper for an instant. The marshal saw that it was Doolin.

"I want a bath," said Tilghman and stepped quickly into the hall, walking in the direction of the room marked "Baths." Half way down the hall he stopped in front of a door that opened directly into the east end of the lobby; Doolin was sitting within a few feet of that door.

What if he had recognized him and was awaiting his entrance? He must take a chance. He pulled his .45 from its holster and opened the door. There sat Doolin still reading.

"Put up your hands, I've got you covered," said the marshal as he stepped around the stove.

The outlaw's eyes opened wide in surprise as he recognized Tilghman. He reached for his gun but Tilghman grabbed for his wrist, missed and caught his coat sleeve. The sleeve ripped, but he held on.

"Doolin, I don't want to kill you, but I will if you don't get your hands up."

Doolin saw that he was trapped and obeyed. Tilghman asked the clerk to get the outlaw's gun, but the man was so nervous that he made several attempts before he succeeded in getting it out of the holster. The other men in the lobby had run like quail when the trouble started.

Tilghman put handcuffs on Doolin and took him to his hotel to get his belongings. Among the items on the dresser was a silver cup the outlaw had bought for his baby boy. Tilghman put it in the suitcase along with other things and they were on their way to the depot to catch the 4 o'clock train. A boy was sent to the carpenter to tell him the box would not be needed.

When they got on the train, Doolin promised to make no attempt to escape and the handcuffs were removed. They arrived in Guthrie, Okla., at 10 p. m., and Doolin was placed in the federal jail to await trial. But that trial never came. He made a jail break in July, hid out on a Texas ranch for several months, and was killed by officers when he attempted to return to Oklahoma to get his wife and baby.

(Credit for source material on the capture of Bill Doolin goes to the late Charley Stehm, an article in the Eureka Springs Times-Echo by Annie House, "Eureka Springs: Stair-Step Town" by Cora Pinkley Call, and "Marshall of the Frontier--Life and Stories of William Matthew (Bill) Tilghman", written by his wife, Zoe Tilghman and published by Arthur H. Clark and Company, Cleveland in 1949. The incidents of the capture are somewhat similar in all these accounts but Mrs. Tilghman goes into greater detail in reporting the story.)

XV STORIES IN STONE

According to the information on the pictorial sign board in the Basin Circle Park, Eureka Springs has fifty-six miles of retaining walls. Several years ago an old-timer told me he figured that the walls of this town, if put end to end, would reach a distance of forty miles. No one has taken the trouble to measure these walls so one guess is as good as another. In addition to the walls, a large amount of stone has been used in the construction of hotels, homes and business buildings. 60,000 cubic yards of stone in the walls and buildings of the city is a conservative estimate. In comparison with the Great Pyramid of Cheops in Egypt, the only survivor of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, this mass of stone-work is comparatively small, but it is a lot of stone to go into the make-up of one small town. It would make a single wall four feet high, one foot thick, and approximately sixty-six miles long.

The great Egyptian Pyramid consists of 3,150,000 cubic yards of stone or about fifty times as much material as used in the building of Eureka Springs. The pyramid is about 450 feet high and covers 13½ acres of land. It is made of 2,300,000 limestone blocks each weighing 2½ tons. According to ancient historians, it took 100,000 men twenty years to build it. At Eureka Springs, workmen in Powell Clayton's time, "the roaring eighties," put up most of the walls and buildings in a period of eight or ten years. The Crescent Hotel was built in the mid-eighties and several business buildings were constructed of stone after the big fire of 1888.

The stone work of Eureka Springs may be only 1/50th of that of the great pyramid, but the labor involved was immense. The weight of 60,000 cubic yards of limestone is approximately 132,000 tons. The stone was quarried near Beaver six miles away. It had to be transported in wagons or on railroad flat cars to the townsite. If brought by rail it was handled three or four times before it reached its destination. The mere lifting of the stone required at least three hundred million foot-pounds of work. If we knew how many foot-pounds a man can do in a day, we could figure the labor potential. The stone had to be cut and laid by skilled workmen. Most of this stone, laid seventy years ago, is in excellent condition today.

Both limestone and sandstone are used for building material in northwest Arkansas, but the sandstone must be of the harder varieties to be useful for this purpose. Limestone is preferred, either of the Boone variety or marble. Marble limestone is found in Carroll County, but it is not as plentiful as other grades. The block of marble sent from Arkansas to be placed in the national Washington monument, was quarried near the corner of Carroll and Newton counties.

Onyx marble is found in this section and at one time Eureka Springs had an onyx factory which used the stone in manufacturing jewelry. Great slabs of it were taken from the caves in the vicinity. It is a stone of many colors--white, cream, dull red, and yellowish brown, with the colors usually in alternate stripes. It takes a brilliant polish.

The agate, found in our hills, is a crystal formation, but the particles are so minute that they are discernable only under the microscope. It is shaped by the cavity in which it is formed. The colors depend upon the mineral matter it contains; iron producing reds, saponite the greens, chalcedony the grays, and caladonite the blues. The agate is classed as a gem but it is also used in the manufacture of bowls, vases, signet rings, and for rollers in the textile industry.

William Cullen Bryant in his poem "Thanatopsis" spoke of the earth as "rock ribbed and ancient as the sun." Perhaps he was wrong in his conjecture that the earth is as old as the sun, but we leave that to the astronomers. It is true that the rock-ribbed earth is very old and each of the "ribs" gives testimony of antiquity. One of the interesting fossilized remnants found in our Ozark country is the crinoid, commonly referred to as a sea lily stem.

Had old Father Neptune decided to pick a bouquet of sea lilies for his wife, the lovely Amphitrite, he could have found them in abundance--on the floor of the sea where Eureka Springs now stands. According to the geologists, there were two periods, each millions of years long, and separated by millions of years, when this region was the bottom of the sea. The Ozark Mountains are the oldest range on the North American continent and were at one time higher than they are now. They rose from the sea, grew old and weathered to a mere plain, and then sank for a second inundation. During the millions of years that followed, which geologists call the Mississippian Period, a class of sea lilies, called Crinoids, lived in the warm waters of this vast sea.

These Crinoids were fixed to the bottom of the sea, preferring a depth of about 150 fathoms. They were attached permanently, or temporarily, mouth upward, with a jointed stalk. At the top of the stem there was a muscular body that had both motor and sensory qualities. It lived upon minute protozoa and other animalcules, which it absorbed from the sea water.

When the sea receded from the North American continent these Crinoids were preserved by nature's chemistry. They were fossilized into the Boone Limestone. These fossils are found in abundance in the Ozarks, especially at Eureka Springs, and in Benton county near Sulphur Springs, Arkansas. Some of the stems held together and appear as screw-like formations in the rock. Sometimes they were broken up and the discs or segments of the stem are scattered through the rock strata. Two hundred seventy-five million years of the earth's past lie buried in this Ozark limestone.

I sometimes take tourists on hikes at Eureka Springs and one of my favorite trails is over East Mountain that rises abruptly from the valley floor of this famous stairstep town. Near Onyx Spring I point out the Crinoids in the rock strata which give mute evidence that this region was once the bottom of the sea. Some of these sea lily fossils are almost perfect, others are broken into fragments.

One need not be a geologist, or even a student of geology, to observe and enjoy the rock formation of the Ozarks. The region is an open book and even he who runs may read and enjoy it.

There are stories in the stones at Eureka Springs. Tourists who visit Cork, Ireland usually go out to the village of Blarney, four miles distant, and take a look at the medieval castle built by Cormac McCarthy in 1449. On the summit of the castle tower is the famous Blarney Stone which has been kissed by thousands of people from all parts of the world. It is an age-old superstition that to kiss this stone endows one with the gift of coaxing, wheedling, flattery and blarney. Eureka Springs does not have a "Wheedling Stone," but it does have the Sliding Rocks at Little Eureka Spring which tradition has marked with special purpose. The name, Sliding Rocks, has a double meaning. In the first place, two large flat rocks, each about twenty feet in diameter, stand tilted against the mountain side at an angle of forty-five degrees. They slid down the mountain, ages ago perhaps, to their present location. That was long before the white man came to drink the "Wonder Water" from the near-by spring. An oak tree a foot in diameter now stands in the path which the rocks took in making the descent to their present position. Putting the rocks in this position was the work of Nature; to wrap them in a halo of tradition called for the ingenuity of man.

Some person who liked to have fun noticed the Sliding Rocks and started a custom that developed into a ritual. They became initiation stones for newlyweds as a part of the charivari ceremony. In the Ozarks, newly married couples are usually "shivareed" by their friends. They are serenaded with bells and shotguns and other racket making devices and if the groom refuses to "treat" with candy and cigars, he is given an unconventional bath in the river. In some communities the bride and groom are driven around town in a horse-drawn vehicle or an old jalopy.

At Eureka Springs, it became a practice to have the newlyweds slide down the perpendicular rock near the spring. It developed into a tradition and even today honeymooners, others too, try the daring slide to prove their courage. The surface of the stone is covered with scratches made by shoe heels that dug-in during the sliding operation. The most disastrous potential about this fun-making ordeal is the disruption of the seat of the pants.

XVI THE SPRINGS

There are forty-two springs within the corporate limits of Eureka Springs. Most of these belong to the city and are included in the municipal park system. A few are privately owned such as Ozarka in Mill Hollow, Congress, Lion, Carry Nation and Cold Spring on East Mountain. Sam A. Leath has counted and named sixty-three springs within a one-mile radius of the center of town and it is said that there are about 1200 springs in the Western District of Carroll County.

The Basin Spring, so called because of the peculiar depression in the limestone rock, was first called the Indian Healing Spring and discovered by a pioneer hunter, Dr. Alvah Jackson, in 1854. It comes from a cave in the cliff-side and in the early days made a cataract down the mountain to the valley floor where it joined Little Leatherwood Creek. About one hundred feet below the cave that houses the spring is a flat rock, now covered with a deep layer of concrete. In this rock, the Indians cut two basins, one about eighteen inches in diameter and twelve inches deep, the other, twelve feet farther down, about five feet in length and ten inches deep. The larger basin was partially destroyed by falling rock before the spring was discovered by white men. The smaller basin is still in existence at the bottom of the Wishing Well. The fountain from this spring is surrounded by the Basin Circle Park with band stand, and seats for those who like to loiter in a restful, picturesque environment.

Sweet Spring is on Spring street around the corner from the post office. Its original position was in the hollow about two hundred yards below its present site. When Spring Street was laid out by Powell Clayton and other city officials in the early eighties, the stream of water was tapped and a stone pit erected with steps leading down to the fountain. The spring itself was imprisoned in stone for sanitary reasons. No one seems to know the origin of the name Sweet for this spring. Benches beneath the hard maple and ginkgo trees surround this spring and it is a cool spot for summer loafing.