[Granville-Hough] 8 Apr 2009 - Moughtaben: Wilson West and Neese Sullivan

[Trustees and Executors for Granville W. Hough]

MOUGHT’A BEEN

So much has been said and written about Cornelius "Neese" Sullivan that 
little can be added with accuracy He may not have been the meanest man 
in Sullivan’s Hollow, but he was certainly the most feared. Many 
Sullivans would claim they feared no man, but went the other way when 
Neese approached. Others openly admitted they were afraid of him, 
particularly when he was drinking. Reports that he would get drunk and 
sleep with young negro boys did not go well with the community. So it is 
better to tell an apocryphal story “mought’a happen, could’a happen” if 
you like.
It seems one day that Reverend (and great-uncle) Wilson West was making 
his way on a back road of Sullivan’s Hollow looking for people he could 
invite to church. He always rode with saddle bags, one side holding a 
bible and the other holding a bottle of whiskey. He stopped and talked 
to each person he met, offered to read a few words of scripture and pray 
with them. Most people tolerated this and agreed to come to church the 
next Sunday. In the hard cases, Preacher West would bring out the 
whiskey bottle and share a few drinks. Eventually, the most hardened 
sinners would be agreeing to come to church.
Well, on this particular day, Preacher West saw someone walking down the 
road somewhat erratically, but still upright. On getting closer, 
Preacher West could see that it was Neese Sullivan, just the fellow who 
most needed his guidance. Neese had either been to the stills on Merry 
Hell, or he had met John Barleycorn or Jack Daniels along the way. 
Anyway, for Neese, he was in a mellow mood. Preacher West tried the 
bible and found that Neese did not particularly resist his message, but 
did not know about coming to church, any church, as he had always gotten 
into fights at church gatherings, and sometimes people got killed.
So Preacher West asked the rhetorical question, “Would you be willing to 
meet Jesus Christ and accept him?” To which Neese replied he would not 
mind at all. So Preacher West reflected and said, “I just passed the 
Bunker Hill Mill Pond. Let’s go back there and you can be baptized.” 
Now, Mill ponds are not very deep usually. They just store water for the 
waterwheels which turn the machinery for grinding the grain or doing 
whatever work is required.
So they went back to Bunker Hill Mill Pond and waded out to a suitable 
baptizing depth, and Preacher West did the proper things and dunked 
Neese in an ordinary baptism. He then asked Neese: “Did you see Jesus 
when you went down with your sins?” Neese replied: “No, Preacher, I 
didn’t see anybody. You had your hand over my eyes.” So Preacher West 
said, “We’ll do it again,” So this time he did the baptism for a little 
longer without covering Neese’s eyes, then asked the question: “Did you 
see Jesus when you were shedding your sins?” And Neese again said: “No, 
I did not see anybody.” Then Preacher West said, “We’ll have to do it 
one more time.” This time he held Neese under the water until Neese 
began to struggle, then brought him up and asked: “Did you see Jesus 
this time?” By then Neese had sobered quite a bit, so he replied: “No, I 
did not see him? Are you sure this is where he fell in?” As I noted, 
this is a “mought’a happen’ story.