Colorful characters of Carter County

There were a number of colorful characters hanging around Carter County in the early days, probably still are. When I first thought about writing about this I figured that I would have a wealth of persons to talk about but after thinking more didn't come up with many. It is probably because my memory of those days, especially people, is getting weaker. Well, I will do my best.

The first person I think about is Ernie Funk; I couldn't come up with his first name but my brother Charles said it was Ernie. He moved from down around Alzada to Ekalaka and became a fixture around town. My Dad was always coming home saying something that Ernie Funk had said. Now that you mention it, my Dad, Lee Lavell, was a real character in his own right. He had been a real cowboy in the early days. He made his living out of buying and selling horses for some years, among other things. He was a terrific guy.

There was a man named Forest Collins; he worked for many years for a man named Sevier Dokken who had a threshing machine. Forest was a little slow but was a real nice guy. One time he was helping other men fight a forest fire and a man climbed up in a tree and lit two cigarettes and made it look like a mountain lions eyes. Forest was scared and they teased him about it and called him Cougar after that. That was a real mean thing to do to a nice guy.

Some of the colorful guys were just their names. Like Bunny Rabbit, aka Gordon Kirkwood. They called him that because of how some people said that he walked. Another name was, The Big Kid. His name was Dague, I think Dell Dague’s dad. I don't know why they called him that. There was a man named Rain in the Face Olson. I won't tell you what his main claim to fame was because of my policy of not saying anything bad about people. I don't know why they called him that name.

There was a man that they called Poker Jim; he at one time ran a cafe on the highway in the southern end of the county. They sometimes had dances there on Saturday night. One night, Poker Jim ran out of steaks so he just went out in the back pasture and killed a young horse and cut off a few steaks. He said that the drunks wouldn't know the difference.

There was a man named Avon Lester who lived up toward Marmarth. They called him “Heavy” although he wasn't. One of his favorite things to do was to go in to buy a new car and dig the cash out of his hind pocket to pay for it. He did a lot of buying and selling, so he dealt with my Dad a lot. I liked him, but I will never forgive him for something he did. Directed at me and talking about Dad, He said "There is only one thing worse than a has been and that is a never has been". I guess he thought he was being funny.

One of the most colorful characters was Freeman Peabody. One time he was being tried for cruelty to animals for leaving his horse in a trailer outside a bar on a cold winter night. He acted as his own lawyer. After the deputy sheriff testified Freeman said, "Your honor, I move that this mans testimony be stricken from the records on the grounds that a man who would steal wood from a widow woman in the middle of winter shouldn't be allowed to testified in court". He thought he saw the guy stealing wood from Addie Peabody when her pickup was broke down in the ditch. The Justice of the peace, Mr. Schweighert found him innocent because of insufficient evidence.

If you are looking for colorful characters, no one outdid Addie Peabody. She was a widow woman but had been married several times. She lived out south of the Ekalaka Hills and did quite well for herself, selling wood and other things. She was a crusty old lady, old by my standards at that time anyway, but everyone said that she had a heart of gold and would do anything for you.

There was a man who hung around Ekalaka after moving in from his ranch; Coley Munro was his name. His descendants still live there. Some people called Coley crazy but there was nothing crazy about him, he just liked to talk and sometimes make outrageous statements. He loved to get an audience of kids. He would say things like, "I saw a little over a thousand head of turtles coming over that ridge this morning". When he saw a man he knew he would say, "Very legitimate looking gentleman, John". We kids really liked Coley Munro.

As I write, I think of more. This narrative would not be complete without Squeaky Johnson, so named because of his voice. He also liked the kids. I did chores for him sometimes and he would say, "Well, here is an old dollar that isn't any good, I guess you should have it". He would come to church sometimes and spit tobacco juice out of the side window. Some people would say that they should talk to him about that but Mother said, “No we will just clean it up", and she did.

I am sure that there are more colorful characters that I missed. If I think of enough more I will just have to write another story.