My grandmother Myrtle Cahow was born in 1897, the daughter of a successful owner of a drayage business, what would be a trucking company today, only he used horses and mules instead of diesels.
My Great Grandfather Cahow became well to do, and one of his biggest jobs was hauling stone to build Ha Ha Tonka.
en.m.wikipedia.org
His downfall came about, because of his oldest son John.
The old man also had a contract to haul the mail, and was hauling a large gold shipment across a ford on the Pomme De Terre River when his son John in disguise held him up, at gun point. Being a devout Campbellite he refused to swear an oath against his son, sold his drayage business to make good the loss, and retired to his farm. John went on to live as a bootlegger, then a keeper of brothels and gambling dens, and eventually controlled the liquor licenses in the county after Prohibition was repealed.
My grandmother said he was gifted by the angels of the most handsome face and silver tongue any man could wish for, but he was too lazy to drive horses and mules, himself.
According to her, in the year 1952 his most faithful paramour grew tired of his wickedness, and rammed a broomstick up his rear end as he lay passed out on the bed.
Knowing he’d be scandalized by such a thing, he persuaded his lover to drive him in the back seat of his new Cadillac to the Veteran’s Hospital 150 miles away in Kansas City, where the broomstick was removed and it was thought he’d recover, although he died suddenly on the third day. His trip back to Wheatland was in the undertaker’s new Cadillac hearse.
Grandma said he only did two honorable things in his life, his military service and not telling on his girlfriend for ramming the fatal broomstick up his rear.
Grandma was Hickory County’s most famous author, and a magnificent story teller, and all these things happened before I was born, so I can’t vouch for their veracity.
But when I turned 16 in 1974 I never missed a chance to chauffeur her around to have her tell me stories like that, and she always told the Uncle John story the same, adding more scandalous details from time to time about his misspent life.
