Colorful Characters of Marshall County
Written by Justin D. Lamb
Like most small rural towns, Marshall County has been full of colorful characters throughout the years. Here are a few stories of some of Marshall County’s most colorful characters:
Rupert Town:
Born in 1896, Rupert came from the Hamlet area and was the son of P.B. and Josie Town. When he turned 18, he went to work on the construction of the Panama Canal where he was later injured. He returned home and lived with his mother. Town never held a regular job and would spend most of his time loafing at the courthouse where he swapped knives, rolled cigarettes, and chewed tobacco. Rupert also had the bad habit of not bathing and any time he went to visit his sister, Dollie, she would make him strip all of his clothes and take a bath outside before she would allow him to enter her house. On one occasion, Rupert was at Myers and Elkins store to get a bologna sandwich and on the counter was a jar of mustard to put on the sandwiches. Rupert took a spoonful of mustard, lathered his sandwich with it, licked the spoon, and put it right back into the jar. The checker at the counter saw what had happened and threw Rupert out of the store.
Pup Brown:
Phillip Brown was born in the 1890s near Salem Chapel and was the son of Finus and Melvinia (Henson) Brown. The origin of his nickname “Pup” is not certain. Some believe it was because he was the youngest of the Brown children. Others think it was because he would lick his plate like a dog while eating. Nevertheless, Pup was the definition of a colorful character.
One time, Pup deserted from the army and he came home and had his mother hid him out. It was a hot and humid August morning when the sheriff came to apprehend Pup. He ran up into the attic of the house and hid himself between two feather mattresses. The Sheriff knew Pup was hiding out in the house so he and his deputy decided to wait him out. As the morning turned into the afternoon, and the temperature continued to rise, the heat of the day finally got to Pup. He ran out of the house, stripped his clothes off and surrendered himself to the Sheriff, begging him to take him back to the army.
After his service, Pup returned to Salem Chapel where he began moonshining and he set up a still near the Lamb Spring. Pup didn’t make much money at moonshining, however, because he drank up most of his product. After going on a month bender (one of many), Pup would see the light and give up drinking. While on the righteous path, Pup would attend church regularly at Olive Baptist Church where he would stand at the front door and greet all the men and kissed all the women as they entered the church. This caused many of the women to start entering through the back of the church.
J.D. Peterson, Jr.
Born in 1912, John D. Peterson, Jr. was the son of Bank of Benton President John D. Peterson, Sr. The family were very prominent and wealthy members of the Benton community. They owned a house on Birch Street which was deemed to be one of the most beautiful houses of its day. J.D. Peterson Jr. was a very intelligent young man and had every opportunity afforded to him, but chose to remain in Benton and live off his father’s wealth.
Peterson was an exceptional airplane pilot and one story has it that he flew an airplane underneath the Egner’s Ferry Bridge in Aurora. During one Big Singing Day, Peterson got locked up and thrown in the city jail for public drunkenness by one of the sheriff’s deputy. While in the cell, Peterson conned the deputy into cracking the cell door because he was claustrophobic. Later when the deputy went to check on Peterson he was gone. The deputy ran out to his squad car by the courthouse and began blasting the sirens. Sheriff Volney Brien, who was attending the afternoon session of big singing in the upstairs courtroom of the courthouse, heard the sirens and ran out to see what the matter was. “J.D. Peterson has e-scaped!” the deputy said to the Sheriff. After Big Singing, Sheriff Brien and the deputy went to Peterson’s home where they found him sleeping off his drunk.
Years later when Peterson was an old man, he dressed up in an old Confederate Soldier uniform, strapped two pistols on his hip and went into the Bank of Benton to cash a check. When Peterson went up to the counter, the cashier was startled and she went to the back to tell bank president Myrvin Mohler what was going on. “Mr. Mohler, J.D. Peterson is dressed in an army uniform and has two pistols strapped to his hip.” Mohler told the cashier, “Well, cash his check and get him on out of here.”
Thomas Julius Alexander Prather:
Tom Prather was a prominent figure of the Brewers community. When the Courthouse was built in 1915, bonds were sold to fund the construction and Prather bought a majority of the bonds. Shortly after the courthouse was completed, Prather was arrested in town on public drunkenness and thrown into jail. After he was put behind the bars in the basement of the courthouse, he reminded the sheriff that he held most of the bonds on the courthouse and he demanded, “Let me out of this jail or I will sell the damn courthouse!”
Stilley Ray Wyatt:
Wyatt was a local bootlegger and known throughout the county as such. One time during early spring, he was being chased by Sheriff Sam Myers for selling illegal whiskey. Wyatt led the sheriff on a long car chase which ultimately ended near a large pond. Wyatt jumped out of his truck and raced toward the pond where he swam out to the middle of the pond. “I know you ain’t gonna swim out here and get me Sheriff.” “No you are right,” Sheriff Myers said as he walked to back of his patrol car, opened the trunk and got out his fishing pole and tackle box. “I will just do a little fishing until you get tired of being in that pond.” Wyatt eventually got tired of being wet and turned himself over to Sheriff Myers.
Ross and Jamie Griffith:
Jamie Griffith was a true character. He liked to partake in a nip with his public drinking landing him in the county jail on occasion. Jamie had an illegal roadhouse on Main Street over where the old Bank of Benton building was located and business was good. Bootlegging was a problem in Benton at the time and Judge Joe Price was determined to see it stopped. During one particular session of the Circuit Court in the 1940s, the docket was full of bootlegging cases and Judge Price proclaimed, “I aim to see bootlegging stopped in this county if it’s the last thing I do!” As Judge Price spoke, he noticed Jamie Griffith in the back of the courtroom and he said, “Well, speaking of bootleggers, we have the king of the bootleggers, Mr. Jamie Griffith in our presence today.”
Not long after, the local county elections came around and Jamie thought he had been well acquainted with the county jail enough that he would run for County Jailer. He printed his campaign cards to read “Vote Jamie Griffith Jailer-Once Known as King of the Bootleggers, Working from the Bottom Up.” During the campaign, Jamie handed out pints of whiskey to persuade people to vote for him, especially in his home precinct of Elva. As the election drew near, Jamie began to celebrate a little too early and his celebration got him thrown into the county jail. When the votes were tallied on election night, Jamie who was in the jail cell right directly below the county clerk’s office, would yell up to the vote counters, “How am I doing up there?” When the vote counters told him he was trailing, Griffith replied, “Just wait ‘til Elvy comes in” Elva never came in for Griffith and he was defeated in the race.
Another colorful character of Benton was Jamie’s brother Ross who owned the Hub Café on Poplar Street. On one occasion, his wife forced him to quit drinking and demanded he straighten up. To hide his booze from his wife, Ross poured the liquor in the milk shake dispenser at the cafe. One day, a man came to the lunch counter and ordered a milk shake from Mrs. Griffith. Not knowing the liquor was in the dispenser, she made the milkshake and gave it to the customer who drank every last drop. After he finished, the customer demanded another saying it was the best milkshake he ever had!
Pos Hampton:
“Pos” Hampton was a regular in the Benton area in the late 1890s and early 1900s and loafed around the court yard and would often sit on the front steps swapping knives and chewing his tobacco. Pos had a reputation as one of the ugliest men in the county and took pride in the fact that he was so ugly. County Jailer J.A.”Mac” McDaniel often would show Pos off during court days and ask people “Have you ever seen a man as ugly as old Pos?” During this time, the courtroom was upstairs and there was a balcony that was over the front steps. And it was accustom in those days to let the witnesses who came to court to stay out in town until they got ready for them and they would step out on the balcony and call them to come in. Jailer McDaniel was the one who usually called them in. He had a loud, deep voice and you could hear him through the deep oak in the courthouse. He’d get out there on the balcony and call the name of the witness for them to come in. One day, Lawrence Cooper was trying a case in the courtroom and he decided to play a prank on Jailer McDaniel and told him to call the next witness, “I.P. Freely.” McDaniel went out on that balcony and yelled continuously out in his deep voice, “I Pee Freely.” Finally Pos Hampton, who was sitting on the steps under the balcony, looked up and said, “”Well sir, if you pee freely then I better move!”
Finus Brown
Finus Brown of the Salem Chapel community was another Marshall County character. He was born in 1865 in Marshall County after his father came to the county to avoid going to jail in Arkansas. Brown eventually married Melvinia Henson and had several children. On one late night, Finus Brown took the notion to burn his house down. He got up in the middle of the night set the house on fire and went out in his rocking chair in the yard to watch it burn. Thankfully, his wife soon awoke and put the fire out!