History of the Weathers Family & Coal Hill

Coal Hill, Johnson County, Arkansas

Coal Hill During the 1880's

On January 8, 1880, the town was incorporated and named Coal Hill. One legend of how the town got it’s name was, when the railroad was built through here a small hill had to be leveled before the track could be laid. When leveling this hill, they hit a vein of coal, the vein was only about six inches thick, but every time the train came into town, they could see the vein of coal in the side of the hill. A man by the name of Moss Butts gave Coal

Hill its name.

By this time the population of the town had grown to about a thousand people. A school was badly needed by the town, so a one-room schoolhouse was built just south of Coal Hill where the Ferguson gin stood for years. This is just east of Terry Williams, across the street. In 1880, the people got paid seventy-five cents a hundred for picking cotton. A person working in the field, such as hoeing cotton, was paid $1.25 a day. After the cotton was ginned, they got ten cents a pound for the cotton and three cents for the seed.

Coal Hill was a wild western town with 4 saloons. It was a boomtown that attracted all types of rough men. All western towns usually have a man to come in and clean it up. Bud Ledbetter was such a man. One day Bud, a farmer, came into town. He lived out on the hill northwest of Coal Hill. ( He lived on what was the Beaumer place in the 1940s.) He went in a saloon to have a drink and 9 town bullies were in the saloon. While he was having his drink the bullies started making fun of his clothes. He took about all he could and then walked out. He went to Henry’s store and bought a new oak ax handle. He then went back to the saloon and locked the door on the way in. Some people passing by heard a commotion in the saloon and went to tell the town officials. Sometime later when they finally got the door open, Bud was standing at the bar with the ax handle still in his hand. The town bullies were scattered all over the floor all out cold.

People of the town had been having trouble with these men and they seen what Bud had done to them. They immediately offered Bud the job of town marshal. Bud accepted and this began his famous career as a lawman. The town raised $40.00 to build a jailhouse in Coal Hill. Smith Cantwell took the $40.00 and built a calaboose, as he called it. He cut logs and built the walls and ceiling out of them. He bored holes in the ends of the logs and run a rod down threw them. This kept a man from taking one log out and getting away. He covered the logs with boards. The first man Bud arrested, after the jail was built was George Tears. He was drunk and caused quite a commotion at the Bench Brothers store. He almost stabbed Bud while he was trying to arrest him.

Bud had George on resisting arrest and assault with a deadly weapon. This was a penitentiary offense in those days. When George sobered up, he realized what a fix he was in. He sent one of his friends to J.D. Hunt, the lawyer. Hunt told him the only chance he had was to escape. The jail was built so good that it was impossible to get through

the walls or ceiling. Hunt told him to get his wife to come see him that night and change clothes with her. Now George did just what Hunt said and it worked like a charm. They kept his wife locked up until morning and when they seen what had happened, they let her go. So the first man they put in the new jail got away and was never caught.

Bud went on to be deputy sheriff of Johnson County. Then he became deputy U.S. Marshall under Judge Parker of Fort Smith. This man became a legend in his home time. Many a story has been told of his fearlessness. He died in Muskogee, Oklahoma on July 8, 1937.

In 1881, Lavina Weathers bought block 10 of the school land addition at a land auction. This land was across the street from their house so they could build a barn and put the horses and cows there near the house. On September 8, 1881, Joshua was eating breakfast in the kitchen or cook room as they called it. Tenny and Vina

were cleaning and doing the dishes as usual. Josh wanted to know where Henry was. They told him his dad wasn’t feeling well and was still in bed. He decided to go on over to the store and help Hackney put up stock and fill in for his dad. When he arrived at the store several men were already there talking and going on at each other. He asked Henry

Arbough why wasn’t he picking his cotton, of course he knew the cotton wasn’t ready yet. He asked J.D.Hunt if he had any big cases coming up. John Jackson was there trying to pay some on his grocery bill. Hackney was reading his bill off to him, one pair overalls -.85, one-pint whiskey – $1.00, two-pounds of coffee – .50, one shirt – .70, one pair of boys shoes – $1.00, one pair of men’s shoes – $1.75, one plug of tobacco – .70, one broom – .25, one gallon molasses – .75, 3 spools of thread – .25, and cash borrowed – $3.00, which adds up to $10.75. John said, " I have worked 8 days for Mr. Weathers at $1.25 a day so take that from my grocery bill. After figuring it up Hackney told John that left him owing $.75. Jackson was well pleased to come out that close and sat down.

Moss Butts was in the store talking and Josh knew he didn’t buy groceries there so he asked him what he was up too. He said he was just killing time waiting on the train to run. He was catching the train to Fort Smith to see a hanging. Judge Isaac Parker was having 5 men hanged the next day so he was riding the train up one day and watching the hanging the next. At this time, Josh had a fine horse, he told the guys he thought he could ride his

horse up there, see the hanging, and come back in the same day. Some of them laughed at this, although some thought it possible. One man said he knew of better horses that couldn’t do it.

Meanwhile, Henry had gotten up and dressed and came to the store. He heard a few words of the discussion before it ended. That afternoon Josh started getting ready for the trip. Henry tried to talk him out of it but it was of no use, so he gave up. Josh thought if he could do this, he would have the best horse in Coal Hill. The next morning before daylight Josh was up. He ate breakfast and saddled his horse and took off. Henry

wished him luck although he really didn’t think he could do it. Tenny, Josh’s wife assured Henry he knew what he was doing or he wouldn’t have tried it.

Josh was off and running to the ferry at Rosville. There he would cross the river by ferry. This way his horse wouldn’t have to swim the river. He had been all over the bottoms and knew them like the palm of his hand. This was the way to go without crossing a lot of mountains and it was less than fifty miles this way. Josh arrived in Fort Smith before 12 noon and put his horse in the livery stable, to be rubbed down, fed, and watered. He then found his friends and they had lunch at a nearby eating joint. Hunt told him the hardest part would be getting back, but he had made it there okay and was sure he would get back without killing the horse. The hanging was to take place at 1 o’clock. Josh had never seen such a crowd of people. There was to be 5 men hung that day. There was George Padgett – a cattle thief, who murdered a man named Stephens. There was William Brown, he murdered a man named Tate Patrick, McGowan had murdered a man named Sam Lotta and Amous and Abler Manley, who was also up for murder.

The hangman was George Maledon. While they stood waiting to see the men hanged, Hunt told them about the first hanging that took place in Fort Smith. A man named John Childers was hung 8 years ago. A cloud came up just minutes before the hangin, it covered the sun and made it dark. Just as the man was hanged, lightning struck

the gallows. It started raining and everyone got wet. This sounded scary to them and they hoped nothing like this happened today. Judge Parker was never seen by the crowd, so, no one knows if he watched the hangings or not.

J.D. Hunt, being a lawyer had seen hangings before but the other’s had not. They were sore of nervous as the marshals marched the convicted criminals up on the gallows and lined them up. After the last words were spoken, the hangman pulled the lever, and the five men dropped 6 feet. With a sudden jerk at the end of the ropes it was all over. Now about four out of five wanted to get out of the crowded area. Josh went back to get his horse and the other men went to the train depot. The train wouldn’t get back to Coal Hill until 2 o’clock in the morning. Josh knew he would be home before that time. Josh would ride until he felt the horse was tiring then get off and lead him awhile. He made it to the ferry about dark and crossed the river. He then went through the community of Greenwood and Nortentown, then on to home. It was almost midnight when Josh reached home, where Tenny, Vina, and Henry were waiting for him. They were glad

he had made it and his horse was okay. Henry helped Josh rub down the horse, feed, and water him.As Henry went to be he wondered if Josh had any money bet on his trip. He never would find out, but one thing he was sure Josh had the best horse in Coal Hill.

In 1882, Charley Author Weathers was born to Josh and Tenesee Ann, on August 10. Charley was their second child. The first one died and we do not have any record of when it was born or died.The first school house burned down and a second one was built. It was built where Hoyt Douglas’s house now stands. Again, they built a one-room school building.

In 1884, the second school house burned and a third one was built on the same land. No one knows what started the fires, but it sounds to me like the kids were burning the school to keep from going. Henry’s eyesight had been failing him for sometime. By 1884, he was almost completely blind. His daughter, Vina was taking care of him. They didn’t have eye doctors back in them days. He might have had something minor that could be treated now days. Nevertheless, the grocery store he had run for the past five years, had to be shut down. They started buying their groceries at Craven’s store at Hartman.

Tenesee Ann died on April 3, 1884. Tenny left Charley, less than two years old, to be taken care of. Vina took care of the baby for Josh. Josh wanted Vina to raise Charley so, to make sure they had a home, he deeded his house to Vina for taking care of the baby.

Henry knew that he had a good daughter in Vina, but he didn’t realize how great she was until now. Henry wanted to do something for Vina, who was doing so much for him and his grandson. He had sold most of his land by this time, in fact he only had 450 acres left. He decided to deed her 40 acres of land like he had his other two daughters when

they got married. He had the deed written up to say "For one dollar and other valuable assets such as the love and affection I have for her as my daughter" and he signed the deed with an X as he was blind and unable to sign his name. Josh was trying to make the living now and of course they still had sharecroppers that brought in money in the fall.

On December 8, 1885, Joshua Weathers died. This left Vina with the job of making a living for herself, Henry, and Charley. She knew if they kept on selling land to live on, as they had in the past it would all be gone soon. Since she couldn’t leave Henry and Charley, she decided to take in boarders. She did their cooking and

washing, and they slept in the upstairs part of the house. They way she didn’t have to leave home. Henry J. Weathers died on April 14, 1886, four months after Josh had died. Tenny, Joshua, Elizabeth, and Henry were all buried at Steel Cemetery, north of Coal Hill off the old Wire road. After Henry died, Vina, Sallie, and Mary, the three remaining children, divided up 3 ways the land and other valuables that were left. Henry must have had some gold left, because they owed some money at Craven’s store at Hartman. The debts were paid off. Vina’s part was 120 acres of the Bates farm, which she owned 40 acres already, and the store. If the 4 year old boy had received his father’s part, other people might have wanted to be his guardian so his part wasn’t considered.

Vina and Charley were the last two living Weathers in Coal Hill. Vina centered her whole life around him, from then on. In her eyes, he could do no wrong. Vina rented the land she inherited to sharecroppers. She would receive ¼ of the crops grown. She used the land she had bought back in 81 for cows and chickens. She sold milk, butter, and

eggs, plus she kept her boarders and made out quite well for a woman alone.

Vina used to tell the story about seeing the convicts come in on the train. The convicts were leased from prison to work in the mines. They were worked harder than slaves and paid nothing and ate very poorly. They were all dressed in stripped suits and had chains on. The coal mines were dug with a slope in these days. That is, they went down in the ground with a gradual drop. The coal could be pulled up the slope with a mule. The car the coal was loaded on was on a track, like a train track, but smaller. Some of the bigger mines had steam engines to pull the cars out by hooking a cable on the car. Some

had a horse on top going around in circles winding the cable to pull out the car. To get the cars to the slope, to be pulled out, many of the mines had donkeys to pull the cars to the slope. The mules were too tall to get in some of the places they had to go. When mules were used to pull them up the slope extra rock had to be knocked out for the taller

mules. Sometimes rock and shale had to be brought out of the mines and would be dumped at the end of the track on the ground. When coal was brought out it was dumped on a screen at the side before it reached the top. The chunks of coal would go over the screen and load in one railroad car. The dust coal or slack, as it was called, would go

through the screen and into a different railroad car.

This picture shows the way Coal Hill looked in 1887. With stores built on both sides of the railroad track and a road running along side of it. Henry’s store building should be the second one on the left, on the north side of the tracks. The rods sticking up were lightning rods.

One mine located about 2 ½ miles southwest of Coal Hill was called the "old slope mine". This mine used convict labor and for this reason was known as the "old convict mine". From 1877 to 1889 convicts were leased out of the prison. The state would get out of feeding them and got money for them too. Some of the legends about the convicts leased to the coal mines were those.

Some of the convicts that wouldn’t work or who tried to cause trouble were beaten until their bodies were bloody and then tied to a stake. Salt was poured on them and the mules were allowed to lick off the salt.

A family named Cruzon lived near the mine and allowed the convicts to get water from their well. One trusty came to the well often. Mrs. Cruzon felt sorry for him and the other convicts going hungry all the time. She fixed up a big pot of chicken and dumplins and a gallon of buttermilk. She gave it to the trusty and told him to take it back and share it with his fellow convicts, on the way back, he decided to eat what he wanted

first. He sat down in the shade and eat and drink to much. Later that night he died from eating to much. When one of the mine owners would work or beat one of the convicts to death they would bury them on the hill where the mine was located. They would plow the ground to hide the unmarked grave.

The convicts entered the mine one morning, overcame the guards, set up a home made cannon of blasting powder and pipe and took control of the mine. The convicts had not prepared for this. They had no water, food, and a very poor air supply. They got water from the seepage in the mine and had to kill the mules for their food supply. The only weapons were picks, shovels, and their handmade cannon. This was probably the first sit-down strike in the history of labor. They demanded decent food, improved working

conditions, etc. Time was on the side of the owner and knowing they would have to come out sometime, just waited them out. They finally came out, but I doubt if they received their demands.

On fall morning in 1888, Vina got Charley up. She dressed him in his best clothes and started walking him to school. The school was the one-room building. It was near Mary Susan’s house. She told Charley that he was to eat dinner at Mary’s every day. This would keep him from walking home at dinner time, as the school did not

have a lunch room. Vina made up her mind that she would give Charley the best education she could afford.

Charley went to school there until he was in the 6^th grade. Then a wind storm came and blew the building down. This was the third school house Coal Hill had lost.

A fourth school was built about ¼ mile up the hill from where the school house now stands on the flat. This was a five room two-story building with 8 grades. Charley finished the eighth grade in this school.

Johnson County, Arkansas | Cover Page | Table of Contents | Name Index