[Granville-Hough] 9 Oct 2009 - Lost Thornton Boy I

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

Lost Thornton Boy – A Beat 3 Drama.

One of the saddest and most terrible stories I heard in my childhood in 
Beat 3 of Smith County, MS, was that of the lost Thornton boy. Perhaps 
he was a young man, but the story always specified Thornton boy. I heard 
it from my grandfather, Jim Richardson, my father, Lisha Hough, and from 
others I cannot recall. The characters involved were young Jasper 
Thornton (Thornton boy), young Bill McAlpin (McAlpin boy), a spotted 
white horse, probably the elder Bill McAlpin (McAlpin father), and a 
clever Lawyer. This is a story which can be researched in the newspapers 
of the day and the court records of counties adjacent to Smith County. 
(The Smith County court records probably burned in the last court house 
fire, but files of the “Smith County Reformer” probably exist.) It is up 
to partisan descendants and relatives of the characters to do that 
research. The time would be between 1886 and 1913, as Jim Richardson 
lived in the upper Cohay community 1886-1904, and Lisha was in that 
community until 1913. Part of the search for Thornton boy took part in 
the Upper Cohay community. It is not clear in my memory whether it was 
Lisha Hough or Jim Richardson who took part. (We now know the event was 
in 1899, and it could have been either one or both.)
This drama took place in the Lower Cohay Community near Mize. I recall 
that the division between the upper and lower communities to be roughly 
at the Ace Johnson bridge. They were actually in separate beats, or 
county divisions. Beat 3 was the southwest fifth of the county with 
center at Mize, while the Center Beat held the County Seat at Raleigh. 
Early settlements had been on Cohay Creek, which extended from near 
Raleigh down past Mize and on into Cohay Beat of Covington County. The 
creek bottoms had the only land fertile enough to support farming, other 
than Leaf River, and they also had water. The sandy plains, or hills, 
were covered with longleaf pine timber but were not fertile. These hilly 
pine forests were part of the open range where deer, cattle and hogs 
grazed. Roads generally followed the ridges, with extensions down into 
the creek bottoms to fords across the creeks. Old Indian and game trails 
followed the creeks into all their branches. If you got lost, you could 
follow a game trail until you reached a road, but it might be several 
miles covered with chiggers, snakes, ticks, and mosquitoes, all of which 
made a living on game trails. Getting lost was not uncommon, but it was 
always serious business.
The story as I, Granville Hough, recall it handed down, follows. 
Thornton boy was the much-indulged son or young man from a well-known 
and fairly well-off farm family. The family had been pioneers in the 
County and held land near Mize. McAlpin boy was of the same age as son 
of a Confederate veteran who had moved into Beat 3 just before the Civil 
War. The families were neighbors, and their children roamed the nearby 
Piney Woods and creeks together. McAlpin boy was not as fortunate as 
Thornton boy as his family was not able to give him everything he 
wanted. In spite of some economic disparity, the young men were best of 
friends (to be continued).

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God has two dwellings, one in heaven and the other in a meek and 
grateful heart. Isaac Walton.