lost treasure in tennessee

MULBERRY Southern Weakley County

 
  Written by John Holt

Long past and almost forgotten is the town and legend of Mulberry, Tennessee. A small settlement that once existed until shortly after the Civil War. It was located in Weakley County, Tennessee directly where the Meridian Line crosses the old Jackson-Paris road. A road that was once used by the Union Army to move soldiers and supplies to the deep south during the Civil War.  Mulberry consisted of several public establishments and may have been populated with over one hundred residents during it's prime years. There was never a Post Office and there's no record or evidence where it was an official stage stop. However, the Jackson to Paris stage line ran right through the heart of it. 
The settlement was named Mulberry because of a large mulberry tree that stood in the center of the settlement. A Negro man was once hanged on one of the branches and afterwards large curly knots resembling a Negro's head grew on the sides of the old tree (Dr. Elinor once had one of these knots cut from the tree and he used it as a doorstop in his office). The mulberry stood in the front lawn and north of old Mulberry Schoolhouse.  This was one of the first, one-room log school building built in Weakley County. It was a community school and existed before any state or county education systems was established. The old building sat directly on the Meridian Line and faced north. The well was a dug well and was located a few yards south and was used for watering large quantities of animals occasionally, and also furnished water for the school. 
North of the big mulberry tree was Smithson's Cotton Gin, powered by a "tromp wheel" using cattle rounded up from open range. This operation was run by Samuel P. Smithson, his wife Elizabeth (Earls) and their family.  Sam was born here in 1833 and raised here and had nine children, all received a good education at Mulberry School. 
 William M. "Billy" was the oldest (born about 1853/54) and a graduate dentist, he married Ella Ford (daughter of Jonathan Fletcher Ford and Martha Jane McAlister). John "Jackie" never married and died about 1936; Martha; Gus "Bud" was the best veterinarian in the entire area and a practicing attorney,; Nancy, first married "Coon" Ketcham and later married a Mr. Williams; M. Ella married D. Scott Robertson, Thomas probably never married; Alecia "Leecy" married H.S. "San" Hubble,; and Maggie. 
The family owned a considerable amount of land and their acreage in one tract was estimated to have been four miles long. Some of the land was inherited from Sam's father W.M. Smithson and the family added to his original acreage. 
This old settlement then known as Mulberry was most likely established on William M. Smithson's land. He was born in 1796 in the state of Virginia, married his wife Elvira and was a veteran of the War of 1812. Some of the Smithson acreage came as payment for the services he rendered during that war. However, he was already a resident of this settlement in 1833. 
When "Bud was a young man he worked at the Smithson Gin, hauling cotton seed to a field fenced off with chestnut rails. Wearing only a long shirt (or dress) he rounded up bull calves from the open range, hitched them to a cart and hauled cotton seed from the Gin and scattered them on Smithson land for fifteen cents a day. 
West of the old mulberry tree was located a brick kiln. Not much information is available about this operation, although it was thought to have been operated by Nancy Smithson's family. It was on the farm later purchased by Logan Argo. 
Just east of Mulberry Schoolhouse stood Sheepskin Shelter. A community church where big meetings and occasional services were held by all religious denominations. Traveling ministers then called "Circuit Riders" would fill the air with peaceful bliss as well as hellfire and damnation.  Sheepskin Shelter had a bungalow roof and it was supported by long posts, pickets aligned the outer walls to keep open range cattle out, the two doorways segregated the gentlemen from the ladies and a crude pulpit stood on the earthen floor covered with tanned sheepskins. 
The heart of the Mulberry Settlement was the old Camptown Racetrack, where the rich race horse owners gathered with their trainers and special riders to bet their money and participate in this gentlemen's sport. Large crowds assembled here as they followed the racing circuit of Camptown Racetracks across the south. This track was acclaimed "the finest in seven states".  It was the only one of the Camptown tracks of crescent design and the start/finish line was directly south of Mulberry Schoolhouse. It Made a semi-circle that ended about half a mile southwest of the starting point,  following the crest of a ridge all the way allowing good water drainage.  Several Camptown tracks existed in the southern states and always large crowds
gathered to watch good horse racing between the wealthy. 
A very interesting story about the old track was often told by "Bud" Smithson. This story or legend relates to events that took place just prior to one of the big races, and was told as follows:   "One day just before a big race, a Gypsy wagon pulled by a number of good horses arrived with a cart in tow. The cart contained a big Arabian racehorse belonging to a Gypsy and he was one of the famous Cooper Brothers. There was thought to have been three of these brothers that followed the racing circuits always betting large sums of money and almost sure to win. 
After this race Cooper would return to the Gypsy colony and the long drawn out marriage ceremony would take place between him and his bride, followed by festivities for several days. But there was a big race that had to be run (if not won) before the wedding festivities began. 
Cooper bet his gold on winning the race, then buried all $50,000.00 in a brass chest along with a fine diamond engagement wedding ring he had already purchased for his bride and a gold pocket watch set with diamonds. 
The next day it began to rain, but there was a lot of getting ready that had to be done before the race. The stables were located west of Mulberry Schoolhouse on the south side of the old Jackson-Paris Road. The big Arabian had been shod with extra heavy shoes to condition him before the race. After the rain stopped, Cooper asked his trainer to give the horse a run or two on the track, but the trainer refused stating it was too dangerous to run this animal at full speed on the wet, slick track and muddy racetrack. So Cooper saddled up and was off at full speed on the slick track when the horse slipped and fell. Cooper was hit in the head by one of the heavy horse shoes, his skull was crushed and he died without ever regaining consciousness.
None except Cooper knew where the gold had been hidden. Cooper was buried a short ways northeast of the big mulberry tree (and his grave site was still visible in the early 1940's)." 
For years to come the Cooper Gypsy Caravan came, camped and searched for the buried gold, but never found it. It was on a night during one of the Gypsy Caravan's visits that "Bud" Smithson doctored a sick animal for them when he learned in full detail about the Cooper tragedy. Although, he had already heard about the incident from his father. 
In the early 1940's "Bud" Smithson sold his timber to "As" Michael, a timber buyer from Trimble, Tennessee. While they were walking the woods discussing the terms of sale, they came upon Cooper's grave and "Bud" told "As" Michael the story. For years during World War II, when gas was rationed and tools hard to buy, Mr. Michael, Mr. Bailey and Mr. DeLaneycame once or twice every week to dig for the buried treasure. Several Sunday
 afternoons they brought expensive money needles and psychics to find the exact location of the gold. One night they came and dug awhile, then left in a hurry, leaving behind everything. Tools were scattered at the digging site and several were left in Ulus Holt's barn. They never returned after that night, whether they found the treasure or were frightened away was never known. 

PORN.............

Mainstream adult porn should not be attacked by the government. Resources should instead go toward fighting child pornography. Does porn exploit women? No. No one is forcing a woman to star in a porn film. Women's sexuality should be their own. They should be allowed to explore it as they see fit. Does porn warp the sexuality of men? It can. However, trying to model one's sex life after a porn film is akin to going on a murder spree after seeing "Natural Born Killers." It's fantasy and entertainment, it's not real life. Can people become addicted to pornography? Not really. A man or woman who views pornography on a regular basis is not addicted to the porn. They are addicted to orgasms, as are most humans. The porn only acts as assistant, allowing the individual to achieve orgasm more easily. Show me a male who reads and looks at a lot of pornography without using it almost exclusively as a sexual aid. I don't think too many of them exist. Know why? Because pornography is really, really boring and stupid.

And yes, I think it should be protected speech. "Obscenity" should be protected speech.

The problem with pornography is that it represents male fantasies. And there's a danger in men getting too self-focused with their sexuality. Long-term relationships and marriages can only work if sex is about "us" not about "me." 

Gays in the military? bad idea or just awkward?

O.k., I'm not a homo-phobe I just think it is a bad idea. Now I'm not saying gays can't fight cause we all have seen on you tube some gay guy/woman kicking some straight guy/woman's butt. No no thats not the issue at hand here. If you take away all the stereo types: gays are sissies, can't fight, ecetera ecetera. The big problem  with gays in the military goes much much deeper than that. I will explain.
When you go to school you have women locker rooms and men locker rooms. Now the main purpose of this is so when and men do not feel they are being forced to undress in front of the opposite sex. It also eliminates any kind of sexual harassment that might rise from the two mixing together in one room naked. It just eliminates the whole male/female sexual harassment and saves money that would have to be spent for lawsuits.
Now, in the military you have the men's basic training and women's basic training. Why, well we won't address the physical difference, we all know how the hormones run wild. Just look at the work place where there are men and women working together. It also does the same thing that it does in the high school locker room scene.  Cuts down on sexual harassment and saves money without the lawsuits.
    If you have,lets just say for the sake of argument, a new class of men basic training. Now if 2/3 of the class was straight and a 1/3 was gay. What so you think the first complaint would be? "The gays guys are looking at me in the shower." Well, wouldn't it be the same as a man and women taking a shower in boot camp together?
How long would it take before someone was seriously hurt? How much money would have to be spent on lawyers and doctor bills?
     The whole gays in the military thing just opens up way to many problems and would cost the tax payers way to mush money in the long run. So why don't we just leave it at the don't ask don't tell, policy.

Besides I don't go around telling everyone I'm straight.What I do at home is my business. I wouldn't want the whole world to now what I do in the bedroom. So gay guys and women grow up and be normal like everyone else, and quit trying to always cause a scene it's totally uncalled for.

Did you know in TN if a sheriff lets someone commit murder he is only charged with a class a misdemeanor?

		8-8-211. Penalty for allowing lynching. —

		Any sheriff who, either negligently or willfully, or by want of proper diligence, firmness, and promptness in the use of all the powers with which the sheriff is vested by law, allows a prisoner to be taken from the jail of the sheriff's county, or to be taken from the sheriff's custody, and put to death by violence, commits a Class A misdemeanor in office, and, upon indictment therefor and conviction thereof, shall be fined at the discretion of the court, and shall also, by the judgment of the court, forfeit the office, and be declared forever incapable of holding any office of trust or profit in this state.

[Acts 1881, ch. 45, § 1; Shan., § 450; Code 1932, § 697; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 8-820; Acts 1989, ch. 591, §§ 1, 6.]

Did you know aleins can own property in Tn? Its on the law books and here it is.

	66-2-101. Alien ownership. —

		An alien, resident or nonresident of the United States, may take and hold property, real or personal, in this state and dispose of or transmit the same as a native citizen.

[Acts 1875, ch. 2, §§ 1, 2; Shan., § 3659; mod. Code 1932, § 7187; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 64-201.]

	66-2-102. Heirs or devisees of alien. —

		The heir or heirs, devisee or devisees, of such an alien may take any lands, so held by descent or otherwise, as if a citizen or citizens of the United States.

[Acts 1875, ch. 2, § 3; Shan., § 3660; mod. Code 1932, § 7188; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 64-202.]

Boy are we trying to crack down on illegal aliens or what. What do you think about this crap. Yes CRAP that's what it is!

Nigger, what does it mean to you?

Well there I've said the word that we are not suppose to say. Why can't we, if we are not using it in a racial slur?? Most people think they know what it means, most people believe it means some lower life form, ect..
Lets talk about the term "Nigger". Wher did it come from? What is its uses? why is it so bad to be used by white people? 
Nigger is a noun in the English language, most notable for its usage in a pejorative context to refer to black people (generally people of Sub-Saharan African descent), and also as an informal slang term, among other contexts. It is a common ethnic slur. The word originated as a term used in a neutral context to refer to black people, as a variation of the Spanish/Portuguese noun negro, a descendant of the Latin adjective niger, meaning the color "black.
For years it was used as a racial slur. Even me in my childhood years used the term "nigger" when I was growing up. It was just the norm. Blacks would be so enraged when a white person used the term. I just couldn't, for the life of me, figure out why they got so mad. Did I really have that much power of someone that I could say one word and make them go insane?
Since most people think the word "nigger" just means black peole here are a few other uses of the term:

1. Nigger as "defect" (a hidden problem), derives from "nigger in the woodpile", a US slave-era phrase denoting escaped slaves hiding in train-transported woodpiles.^[7]
2. In American English: nigger lover initially applied to abolitionists, then to white folk sympathetic towards black Americans.^[50] Sand nigger, an ethnic slur against Arabs, and timber nigger and prairie nigger, ethnic slurs against Native Americans, are examples of the racist extension of nigger upon other non-white peoples.^[51]
3. In British English, the maritime term niggerhead denotes a bollard mooring post, made with an old cannon, partly buried muzzle-up, topped with an over-sized cannonball; it is sailor's jargon for an isolated, navigation-hazard coral outcropping. (see quay).
4. In the Victorian era, the 1840s Morning Chronicle newspaper report series London Labour and the London Poor, by Henry Mayhew, records the usages of both nigger and its false cognate niggard denoting a false bottom for a grate.^[52]
5. Flora and fauna nomenclatures include the word nigger. The Arizonan nigger-head cactus, Echinocactus polycephalus is a round, cabbage-sized plant covered with large, crooked thorns. The colloquial names for echinacea (coneflower) are "Kansas niggerhead" and "Wild niggerhead". In Oceania, the "niggerhead termite" (Nasutitermes graveolus) is an Australian native.^[53]
6. During the Spanish–American War US Army General John J. Pershing's original nickname, Nigger Jack, given to him as an instructor at West Point because of his service with "Buffalo Soldier" units, was euphemized to Black Jack by reporters.
7. Nigger rigged= means to temporary fix something in an unusual manner.

       In 1960, a stand at the stadium in Toowoomba, Australia, was named the "E. S. 'Nigger' Brown Stand" honoring 1920s rugby league player Edward Stanley Brown, so nicknamed since early life because of his pale white skin; so known all his life, his tombstone is engraved Nigger.Stephen Hagan, a lecturer at the Kumbari/Ngurpai Lag Higher Education Center of the University of Southern Queensland sued the Toowoomba council over the use of nigger in the stand's name; the district and state courts dismissed his lawsuit. He appealed to the High Court of Australia, who ruled the naming matter beyond federal jurisdiction. At first some local Aborigines did not share Mr Hagan's opposition to nigger. Undaunted, Mr Hagan appealed to the United Nations, winning their recommendation to the Australian federal government, that it force the Queensland state government to remove the word nigger from the "E. S. 'Nigger' Brown Stand" name. The Australian federal government, however, thwarted Hagan and the UN recommendation, by citing the High Court's jurisdiction ruling. In September 2008, the stand was demolished. The Queensland Sports Minister, Judy Spence, said that using Nigger would be unacceptable, either for the stand or on any commemorative plaque. The 2005 book The N Word: One Man's Stand by Hagan includes this episode in law and the language. Hagan is also writing a doctoral thesis titled The Origin, Maintenance, and Legitimization of the Word 'Nigger' in the Australian Vernacular; and he has restarted his linguistic legal reform efforts against the Coon cheese brand name.
 O.k. now that everyone is more educated in the term"nigger", lets talk about the term"honkey"

Definition: Term for caucasian. Derogatory. Origin unknown for certain.
Possibly derived from the Wolof word "xonk" (pronounced like "honk," but with a guttural H at the beginning), meaning "red." Wolof people in West Africa sometimes call white people "xonk-nopp," or "red-ears." It has been speculated that first generation Wolof-speaking slaves may have popularized this term.

Skeptics might point out that the most slaves came from south-west Africa and further east in West-Africa than Senegal, where Wolof people live.

However, many slaves passed through Goree' Island, near Dakar, the largest Wolof city. So the term could have been popularized there.
Also, the Wolof language, having developed as a trade language, is relatively easy to pick up in its most basic form. It is also a rather staccato and crisp language, which might make it easier for non-speakers to pick up on particular words. Lastly, Wolof is spoken in a way that seems unnecessarily aggressive, even when its not intended to be. (The Wolof are sometimes referred to as the "Germans of Africa") This all might tend to make make a derogatory Wolof word catch on relatively faster than a similar Mandink or Ibo word among a multilingual group like first generation slaves. Here is a peice of language used by the Wolof i found on a website:

Xonk-nopp yii, dafa sajjkat. Dumu begg liggey daara, wante Man, mes na liggey bes bu nekk. Xonk-nopp, dafa begg-togg rekk. Dafa am nopp bu Xonk ndakte Yalla dumu ko begg.

 

 

Translation:Lazy thief honkey doesn't want to work, but I have to do all the work. He just wants to sit. His ears are red because God hates him.

 

 Now with that said, how come whites don't get mad when they are called a "honkey" like blacks get mad?
How come blacks can use the term and it's excepted as o.k.?
Personally it makes no difference to me. I never give anyone that much power over me. DO YOU?






Urban dictionary contributed to this blog.

Obama's new budget for us. hmmmmmm what do you think?

Having emerged from the worst recession in generations, the President has put forward a plan to rebuild our economy and win the future by out-innovating, out-educating, and out-building our global competitors and creating the jobs and industries of tomorrow. But we cannot rebuild our economy and win the future if we pass on a mountain of debt to our children and grandchildren. We must restore fiscal responsibility, and reform our government to make it more effective, efficient, and open to the American people.
The President’s 2012 Budget is a responsible approach that puts the nation on a path to live within our means so we can invest in our future – by cutting wasteful spending and making tough choices on some things we cannot afford, while keeping the investments we need to grow the economy and create jobs. It targets scarce federal resources to the areas critical to winning the future: education, innovation, clean energy, and infrastructure. And it proposes to reform how Washington does business, putting more federal funding up for competition, cutting waste, and reorganizing government so that it better serves the American people.
Key Budget Facts

• The Budget includes more than $1 trillion in deficit reduction – two-thirds of it from cuts – and puts the nation on a path toward fiscal sustainability so that by the middle of the decade, the government will be paying for what it spends and debt will no longer be increasing as a share of the economy.

• The President meets his pledge to cut the deficit he inherited in half by the end of his first term.

• Five-year non-security discretionary spending freeze will reduce the deficit by over $400 billion over the next decade and bring this spending to the lowest level since President Eisenhower sat in the Oval Office.

• 10-year Deficit Reduction:  $1.1 trillion, excluding war savings and not extending 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for high-income earners. Two-thirds are from spending cuts.

• 2011 Projected Deficit: $1.645 trillion, 10.9 percent of GDP; 2012 Projected Deficit: $1.101 trillion, 7.0 percent of GDP; 2015 Projected Deficit: $607 billion, 3.2 percent of GDP; 2017 Projected Deficit: $627 billion, 3.0 percent of GDP

Innovate

• $148 billion for R&D overall; robust investment in biomedical research at NIH ($32 billion, a $740 million increase over 2010 enacted level, post-transfers); more than doubles energy efficiency research, development, and deployment funds; and continues our efforts to double investments in key basic research.

• Supports the goals of: putting one million electric vehicles on the road by 2015; doubling share of electricity from clean energy sources by 2035; and reducing buildings’ energy use by 20 percent by 2020.
  • Elimination of 12 tax breaks to oil, gas, and coal companies will raise $46 billion over 10 years to help pay for programs to reach these goals.

• Simplifies, expands, and makes permanent R&D tax credit.

• Establishes 20 new Economic Growth Zones, hard-hit areas that will receive expanded tax incentives to spur investment and employment.

Educate

• Maintains maximum Pell Grant award, helping 9 million students afford college.
  • Paid for with more than $100 billion in savings, including eliminating year-round Pell and graduate student in-school loan subsidy.

• Reforms K-12 school funding by supporting high standards, encouraging innovation, and rewarding success.
  • Consolidates 38 K-12 programs into 11 that emphasize competition and evidence of what works, while also eliminating 13 education programs outright.

• Expands the Race to the Top concept to early childhood education, school districts, university funding, and job training.

• Prepares 100,000 new science, technology, engineering, and math teachers.

Build

• As part of a $556 billion comprehensive surface transportation bill, the Budget creates hundreds of thousands of jobs in the short term with a $50 billon up-front investment; establishes a National Infrastructure Bank to support projects of national importance; and brings access to high-speed rail to 80 percent of Americans within 25 years.
  • Consolidates 60 duplicative, often earmarked programs into five. Investment will only be made if bipartisan financing is found to ensure that it does not increase the deficit.

• Builds a next-generation, wireless broadband network to bring high-speed Internet access to 98 percent of Americans, and establish an interoperable network for public safety.
  • Plan is fully paid for, and the sale of spectrum provides nearly $10 billion for deficit reduction.

Responsibility

• A five-year non-security discretionary spending freeze that will reduce the deficit by over $400 billion over the next decade and bring this spending to the lowest level since President Eisenhower sat in the Oval Office.

• More than 200 terminations, reductions, and savings totaling more than $33 billion in savings for this year alone. Half of all agencies see their top line reduced from 2010 enacted levels.

• Sample cuts: Community Development Block Grants by $300 million; LIHEAP in half or by $2.5 billion, Great Lakes Restoration Initiative by one-quarter or $125 million; more than $1 billion in grants to large airports; $950 million to states’ revolving funds for water treatment plants and other infrastructure.

• Cuts $78 billion from the Pentagon’s spending plan over the next five years, bringing defense spending down to zero real growth. Including spending related to Iraq and Afghanistan, overall defense spending for 2012 is more than 5 percent below the 2011 request.

• Pays for the first two-years of “doc fix” – which will prevent a nearly 30 percent cut in reimbursements to doctors in Medicare and keep them seeing patients – with $62 billion in new, specific health care savings, including recommendations from the Fiscal Commission and recent bipartisan proposals, that will strengthen program integrity and increase efficiency and accountability. 

• Pays for a three-year patch to prevent an increase in taxes on middle-class families through the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) by limiting the rate at which high-income earners can itemize tax deductions. This would bring the rate back to where it was during the Reagan Administration.

• The President has called on Congress to work with the Administration on corporate tax reform that will simplify the system, eliminate special interest loopholes, level the playing field, and lower the corporate tax rate for the first time in 25 years – without adding a dime to the deficit.

• The President lays out his principles to strengthen Social Security and has called on Congress to work on a bipartisan fashion to keep this compact with future generations.

• Includes important Fiscal Commission recommendations such as: federal civilian worker pay freeze, medical malpractice reform, PBGC reform, and a government reorganization initiative.

Reform

• Cuts more than $2 billion in administrative overhead like travel, printing, supplies, and advisory contract services.

• Embraces competitive grant programs based on the “Race to the Top” model applying it to programs from early childhood education through college; to allocate grants for transportation; to bring innovation to workforce training; and to encourage both commercial building efficiency and electric vehicle deployment.

• Sets up a process to quickly dispose of excess and under-utilized federal real estate.

• Starts a process to reorganize government so it is better able to serve the goal of a competitive America.

Encourages new “pay for success” bonds in areas where government programs have too often failed. Taxpayers will only pay the programs if they produce results.