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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (June 1, 1919)
20 THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAN, PORTLAND, JUNE 1, 1919. FIRST HERO OF THE LAND JUST SIMPLE MOUNTAINEER Sergeant Alvin York, Elder in" Church of Christ, and Conscientious Objector, Bravest in All A. E. F. ". ---- i ' I CORPORAL AJLVIX C TORIv. l...... ....TT.. ITT.TT..TTTT---T-TT--------' NASHVILLE. Teniu, May SL (Spe cial.) In the mountain fastnesses of Fentress county, Tennessee, three miles south of the Kentucky line, the mother of Alvin C. York, sat at her wheel thia week and spun as she waited for the return of her boy from France. suit and Panama hat stood before the door of Wolf church last Sunday after noon and talked for over an hour about his third elder. "Mighty glad the people are so In terested in our boy, he said. "He de serves something, for there's no better Alvin arrived there in time for the nristian in ail me mountains man lour DDy. lie use a 10 oe who. 119 uuc, Memorial day celebration. And Alvin, known to the mountain people as "Big 'Un." Is home. Up there in the "rough country" of the upper Cumberlands was born Alvin Cullom York, "holiness" preacher and Pershing's pick as "the greatest hero of the American army." Up there today his mother's heart is made glad. And there, up the mountain road near the little mill, lives Gracie Williams, 17. and the belle of Three Forks o" Wolf, as the neighborhood is known. She holds the heart of the six-foot hero in her hands, for when he went to the war he "left it up to her" to take him or turn .him down when he came home. York Family la Poor. The family of York Is poor. Their farm of 75 acres raises barely enough for a living for York's mother and her eight children. Alvin York, before he entered the army, wafl & laborer on other people's farms and on the county roads. Mountain folks up in the Wolf river country don't know Alvin York as a hero. They've heard rumors to that effect, following the stories published in all the papers of America. York himself has never written home of what he did. To them he is simply "Big TJn." an elder in the "holiness" church and leader of the country choir. It is as the churchman that he holds his place among them, not as the soldier hero of the Argonne drive. York's family, with the exception of himself and two of his brothers, are Methodists. Up until four years ago the red-haired Alvin drank his "moun tain dew" and gamed for money with the beet of them. The church was not for him. He went at times to "meet in's" at Wolf church or Possum Trot, hut not for religion. He loved to eing. and the mountain folks will tell you what a tenor voice ho has. And he loved the young mountain girl to whom he offered his heart when he left for battle. For these two considerations, and these two alone, he went to "meetin"." York Gets Religion. Then the new church came, the Church of Christ in Christian Union. Rev. R C. Pile, known to his flock simply as "Rosier," was the new pastor. A few people only would come at firBt to hear his creed. Wolf church, the "meetin' house" of the Methodists, was used by the new eect when not in use by the Methodists. One Sunday morning. It was. the six- foot mountaineer, eager to lead the singing, as he did everywhere around Three Forks o' Wolf, came to hear Rosier preach. He sat by the back of the door, paying little heed to what Rosier was a-eaying. When the hand ful of real listeners rose to sing, York rose with them and led. the hymns. "I can see him now," said the moun talr preacher, speaking of his boy in France. "He has a powerful voice, and when he sings he rears back his shock of red hair and lets 'er come forth. "I can show you the very spot where he got religion. And from that day to this he has followed it to the word. Before he killed those Germans I know he had reasoned in his heart that it was right to kill them. If he hadn't he wouldn't have fired a shot." The congregation of the Church of Christ in Christian Union now averages 25 or 30, sometimes more, sometimes less. They hold Sunday school in the little church every Sunday morning, with meetin s twice a month. And those Tneetin's" are not the rowdy sort. None of that goes In that congregation. Rosier Knows his flock and holds them in when, in the rare occasions that men get together up in those parts, somebody feels it incum bent upon himself to start a fight. Not so very far from Three Forks o' Wolf, at another church, a young man had his throat cut in a brawl. What York thinks of his church and its life is told by his mother. Soldier Anxious to Get Home. "Alvin s anxious to get home," she said. "Ho writes that he's a-pinin" for the smgin s again. Says it won't seem like home if the singin' and prayer meetin' ain't goin' on when he gets Back. Ho will not be disappointed. Rosier says. Since Brother York left th prayer meetings and the singings have died out at the church. But when the third elder returns the voices of hi congregation once more will rise in reverence to the maker of the hills. "Alvin says he s getting along all right and bavin' a good time, and it ain't costin' him nothin'." said his mother. "But he wants to see us all bad, he says. He writes to me that he's been singin and prayin' and talk in' to the boys in the hospitals over in France." The lauded war hero, for all his honors, is still the third elder in the Church of Christ in Christian Union, doing his duty in the hospitals for his tiod as he did it on the field of battle for his country. Nobody in all the countryside who knows Alvin York or his people has anything but good words for "Big 'Un." They're powerful glad to know he won his honors. No one is prouder of him than Rosier. The little round preacher in his brown but he never failed to provide as best he could for his mother and his little brothers and sisters. He's always worked hard and everybody respects him for the man he is." Mountain Minister Described. Pastor Pile himself is something of a personage. Reared in the heart of the mountain, he has not failed to take advantage of his opportunities, and now discusses theology as well as his neighbors can dilate upon corn licker. And, Incongruous as It may seem in that country of roughest roads, he has a Ford. You can see him wobbling along over the boulder roads like a battle tank going into action, or chug chugging down a creek-bed that serves a stretch of the way as the road. He also has a gasoline engine at his place. and buys his "gas" for it and the "Llz- ie by the barrel over at East James town, many miles away. Thought as ow he might also use some of that mountain licker for the flivver in a pinch. Alvin Cullom York was born Decem- er 13, 1887. He was within one month of 30 years old when, on November 13, 917, he left home as a drafted man for Camp Gordon. . Previous to that had worked as a day laborer on the roads and neighboring farms. He was the first York ever in the army, as far back as the family can remember. He did not want to go. As a member of the Church of Christ Christian Union he did not believe fighting. He was the head of a family of ten. The family was very poor. He tried to claim exemption and -was told that he had to go anyhow. Even after ho got to camp was hard to convince that his duty lay in the army. He wrote back for affidavits that he was needed at home. "Best He Conld Do." But, like others, he found that the army was easier to get into than out f. The story has already been told of how his captain, by quoting Scrip ture to him at length, convinced him of his duty to go ahead and make the best soldier he could. The best he could do was to kill 25 Germans in one brief encounter and capture 132, win the congressional medal of honor. and the French croix de guerre, and be singled out by the commander-in chief of the American expeditionary forces as the author of the greatest single feat of heroism in the war. He is now coming home as Sergeant Alvin York. When you hear his people speak of htm, though, it is not so surprising that he succeeded so well. He .was an expert at everything he took an in terest In. As a laborer on the roads he was an expert "steel driver" with the hammer and drill. As a rifle shot he was unexcelled in a country of born and life-txained marksmen. As a singer he was the leader of all musical events for miles and miles around. York was born on the site of his present two-room cabin. His father was a blacksmith. The family owned 5 acres of mountain land, given to Mrs. York by her aunt, and on the meager hillsides they managed some how to make a living. Father Killed In Fend. Mrs. Mary York, mother of Alvin. was a Brooks, a family populous in that neighborhood. Her father, the first of "the Brooks." was murdered as the climax of a wild mountain feud. He came to Tennessee from Michigan before the Civil War and married. For some reason, probably because of his wife, his sympathies were with the Confederacy; and when all of the men from Three Forks o' Wolf went into the union army he stayed at home. A man was murdered at the mill during the last year of the war. Brooks was suspected, and fled back to Michigan. His young wife, who had never been out of the mountains, followed him. The family of the man who was mur dered followed him also, found him, and brought him back. He was placed In jail, but the hatred of the others was too bitter to wait his trial. He was brought out and shot, his body tied to a horse's tail, and as tha ani mal raced down the mountain road the feudists pumped Brooks body full of lead. The Union men it was that killed him. But today his gnandson, for bravery under the union flag, has been decorated with the nation's greatest honor. Alvin grew up as one of the wildest of the neighborhood. Ha drank, gam bled and fought. Because of his im mense size and strength men called him "Big Un," and tha nick-name Is what he is known by up there now. "Alvin was a kind of wild boy," his mother said. "He drank liquor a lot after his father died. But then he got religion and has bean a mighty good boy ever since." Alvin Follows the Faith. Rev. R. C, Pile, pastor of the Church of Christ in Christian Union there at Wolf church, is tha man who converted York. He made a good Job of It, for tha big mountaineer Is now third alder in the church, leader of the choir and preacher upon occasion. He follows our faith." said Mr. Pile. "We don't use tobacco, smoke, drink, cuss or raise hell. Ha has always fol lowed what our church teaches. "When he went away wa asked him to say good-by to tha members of tha church. He wouldn't do it. Said he was coming back. Told ma the Lord had revealed to him that he was com ing back. "I got a letter a few days ago from a man asking me if wa were going to take Brother York back when ha came home. The man said if wa take him back wa do away with conscientious ob jection, and if we don't take him back we lose a great man. Well, all I've got to say is that if York's conscience is clear, mine is." York's sweetheart is Miss Gracie Wil liams, who, though 15 years his junior, seems to hold the matrimonial situation pretty well in hand. When the red haired giant left for the war, he just "left it to her to take him if she want ed him when he came back." Whether or not she'll take him, nobody but Gra cie Williams knows. Youth Always a Dead Shot. A little conversation with any of York's neighbors will unfailingly bring out the fact that he was a dead shot in the fullest sense. A little old man in gray clothes and uncertain whiskers, who sat on the side of the river just above the mill, was accosted by the stranger, who asked the foolish question if York was a good shot. The little old man looked up with an air of knowledge offended at igno rance. "Yes, sir." he said emphatically. "He was a good, old-time shooter!" York could kill a fox running as far as he could see him. His neighbors tell you that offhand. He shot in the tur key matches, clipping the gobbler's head at SO yards. He shot in "pony purses" for money. In all the matches he always excelled. Fox hunting, however, was his favor ite sport, and in one season he has killed as many as 25. his mother said. Ha hunted them far and near over the mountains, and their skins, with those of the coons, possums and skunk, he sold for profit. His father, too, was an extra shooter, said Mrs. York. "He used to win beeves and hogs and everything at their matches. "Once Alvin and some more boys ran a fox out of his hole Into the bushes and Alvin shot him. Just like his paw, he was no trouble for him to knock 'em. Since he has been in France Sergeant York has written twice a week to his mother. She keeps his last letter al ways on the high mantel over the fire place, and when the next letter comes she takes Its predecessor to a big wooden box with all the others she has received from him since he has been away. better Written to His Mother. In his last letter the big mountain- err shows his simple love for his home and home folks. From near Bordeaux he writes as follows: "St. Solve. France. April 8. 191s. "Dear Mother: I will now write you a few lines to let you know that I am O. X. at present. Truly hop these few lines will find you the same. "Well, say, mamma, how are you all 7 Fine. I hope. Say, how art th children by now ? Fine. X bop. Well, mamma, 1 ara going- to start to Paris again tomorrow. Hal lia! 1 puess you think 1 am having a good time. Well. 1 am not working much, but 1 sure get homesick. I can never be satisfied over here, no matter how much they let roe go. I get my way paid tree. It don't cost me anything to go. "Well, say I guess that I will not sail for the States until the last of April or first of May. Hut 1 hope 1 soon will leav her, for it rains almost every day. l hailed here yesterday and thundered hard. Just Ilk it does back home. "Well, say, tell th boys to work hard, and I will b there some day. maybe. Ha! Ha! Tell all the folks 'Hello' for me, so that's all. "Good-by. From your only soldier boy. KUt'.A.1- J AbVi.N YORK. Company O. 328th Infantry.- AwaKlng York at home Is a letter from the sister of his "bunkle," Cor poral Murray L. Savage, who was killed while fighting with York in tha Ar gonne. The writer of tha letter, Mrs. Hollis McPherson of East Bloomfield. N. Y asks news of bow her .brother died. The mother of Sergeant York said she didn't know whether or not he would accept the offer of the polytechnic school at Cookevilla to go there and get an education. "I don't know whether Alvin win want to leave here or not," she said. "He has always been such a great home boy." Asked If she would like to move to Cookeville into the big house the town has offered' her, she said: "I hardly know about that. I ain't never been no place. Just used to the bluffs and the mountains. A-body ought to be satisfied, though where he can do the most good." THE UNITED STATES OIU AND GAS COMPANY wisH to advise the present stockholders of their stock that a number of wells haVe been drilled in on adjoining property and are big producers. Here is a fac simile of the latest telegram: CLASS OF SERVICE OESIBED ( TELEGRAM I DAY LETTER NIGHT MESSAGE - WIGHT LETTER Patrons should nla aa X op wl the daaa of ssfvles as-ars-l; OTHERWISE THE MESSAGE WILL BE TRANSMITTED AS A FULIRATE TELEGRAM WEST NEWCOHB CARLTON, nniom UNION GEORGE W c ATKINS. n-r vici-nnretia Form 1206 accaivaa no. can or ciaaot Tim a niao Send the following message, subiect to the term on beck hereof, which are hereby s treed to A2965K 48 COLL 1JL iai9 MAY. 30; THERKOPOLIS' T,T0 30 UNITED STATES OIL CAS0 CO N0RTHWEST2Hi:"3AlTK'3LD5' '20RTLAIID ORG HAVE HOT COUPLE TEL UIJDEKREAIJIIi G 7EECH IS GOIIIG SLOtf BUT SURE STILL HAVE BUT THE 0HE SHIFT WORKING AS I CANNOT FIND MAN SUITABLE AND WILL TAKE HO CHANCE WITH INEXPERIENCED MAS THEY HAVE A GOOD T.ELL AT HA1.HLT0N D0LLE IN THE EilBAR ESTIMATED AT FIVE HUNDRED BARRELS C C LANDES FIELD KAN. This is only one of several. This well is near our property. It looks like we are going over the top, does it not ? Secure this stock if you can. THE UNITED STATES OIL and GAS COMPANY An Oregon Corporation Capt. E. L'. Smith, President Northwestern Bank Building Indians Go Berry Picking in Touring: Cars. Hood River See Deiru of Families; Arrive by Motor Oem Reserms-tioiaa. HOOD RIVER, Or, May tL Bpe ciaL) On former years, when the Indian families) of. neighboring reserva tions made their annual pilgrimage to the Hood River valley to assist In strawberry harvest they 'traveled on ponies, occasionally a more substantial family Journeying in a mountain hack, drawn by a spirited team. Ponies and wagons today are eeetx In frequently, for the Indian has caught the spirit of the times and hurries over to the berry fields In hie touring car, in the tonneau or strapped to the run ning boards of the machine, carrying i I his camping outfit Just ae so many scores of paleface automobile tourists. Dozens of Indian families have I motored here this year from Warm Springs and other reservations for the I berry harvest, They seem to take more pride In their new power rteeds than in ponlee of days gone by. The Indians, when calling at garages, make fre quent Inquiries about good roads. They are ready to offer Information on pleas ing stretches they have passed over or to warn against bad roads. A number of the Indian families here plckinc; berries have announced that they will motor over the Columbia river hltrhwav to th Portland Rose Festival. Land Conditions Outlined. The Oregon state chamber of com merce has In the hands of the printer the copy for a new folder on land set tlement conditions in the state. It presents In concise form an outline of the Oregon land settlement commission, but its chief value is in the compre hensive story of the resources, develop ment and chance for the homeseeker in the state. Compiled by J. V. 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The eight western slates produce 150 per cent more foodstuffs than Pennsyl vania, but the Keystone state would re. celve SO per cent more of the distribu tion for agriculture under the bill than would the eight western states. The state chamber called attention of Sen ator McNary to this situation in a tele, gram that brought his answer. S. 4 K green stamps for casn. Holman Fuel Co., Main 853. A 3SJ. Blockwood. short slabwood. Roclc Springs and Utah coal; sawdust Advj Read The Oremnlan classified ads. iLl!lllIllil!l!ll!li!!lllIlllIlil!!lIIlll!lllN for ,ae many descriptions may be wonderfully benefited by following the simnle rules. Here is the prescription: Go to any active drug store and get & bottle of Eon-Opto tablets. Drop one Bon-Opto tablet in a fourth o & glass of water and allow to dissolve. With this liquid bathe the eyes two to four times daily. You should notice your eyes clear up perceptibly right from the start and inflammation will quickly disappear. 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