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My Father-in-law,
Jimmy Wright, told me that in the early 1930's he raised several acres of Irish
potatoes and sweet potatoes. He built two "tatter houses" or cellars to cure and
store the potatoes in. After the potatoes were "cured out" and ready for market,
he would load up his old "bob-tailed" truck and haul them to West Texas and peddle
them out to grocery stores. He had a sign painted on each door of the truck which
read " J.N. WRIGHT -- POTATO GROWER-- BEATTIE, TEX." Mr. Wright told of a time
when he was out in West Texas and a total stranger walked up and read the sign
and he said. "Beattie, Texas, I was there once and I'll tell you what I saw" He
went on to say that he had stopped at Beattie for the first time in his life and
was sitting in his touring car enjoying a cold drink. He said that a man came
out of a filling station and fell down on his all fours in some sand. He began
to bellow like a bull and paw up sand into the air. About this time a fellow came
running out of the barbershop waving his hair drop cloth in that "bull's" face
and yelling "Ole, Toro". About that time a man came running out of the blacksmith
shop and jumped a straddle of the "bull". He yelled, "Yahoo, By Grabs" while another
bystander shouted "Ride 'em Cowboy!" Jim Wright said that he could tell you who
these characters were and he named. Dimmet Wright, Dan Bingham and John Kelley.
Uncle
John Kelley was the "Village Blacksmith" at Beattie for many years. On a clear
morning you could hear from miles away, the ring of the hammer on the anvil as
he beat out and sharpened the plow sweeps for the local farmers. If you were a
little closer you could hear him whistle and warble the tune, "Listen to the Mocking
Bird". I never had the pleasure of hearing him play the fiddle, but I have been
told that he was an outstanding fiddle player. Uncle John was an avid fisherman
and it was said of him that he would go to the creek fishing and if they were
not biting he would stay with them until they did even if it took several days.
"Slick" Robertson told me one time that he went by the blacksmith shop and said,"Uncle
John, Let's go fishing." Uncle John looked around him at all the plow sweeps that
needed to be sharpened and he said, "There is about a hundred reasons why I shouldn't
go fishing, but right now I can't think of a one of them." "Give me five minutes
to get my tackle and I'll give you back three of them."
In the early days
of the automobile, Zuleam's grandpa, Dimmet Wright, owned what was later called
an antique. It was an old two cylinder Maxwell. The engine sat cross ways, that
is, it was parallel to the axles kind of like some of the modern front end drive
vehicles. The Maxwell was not a front-end drive, but it used chains like a motorcycle.
It had a large visible flywheel on the side. It had a drip lubricating system
and carbide lights. When it ran it sounded like a "Popping Johnny" or an old two
cylinder John Deere. Dimmet Wright also ran one of the early "Filling stations"
in Beattie. The story goes that a lady was driving a T Model Ford through Beattie
and she stopped at the service station. She ask Mr. Wright if he had a Rest Room
there. He said, "No, but I have a chair that I can put under that tree and you
can rest there." next
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