A Trip to Walton

Sheriff Beall had some important business at Walton, last Thursday, and we accepted an invitation to accompany him to that hustling town.  The journey was made in a buggy, and the first hour and a half after our arrival was consumed in restring normal temperature by keeping in close proximity to the large stove in ‘Squire Curley’s store.  About the same time the thawing-out process was completed, our efficient Walton correspondent, George M. Casey, put in his appearance.  He is one of the best posted men in the town, and holds the honorable position of permanent chairman of the Democratic caucus that meets at ‘Squire Curley’s store every night.   Several persons having passed in and out and out friend Joseph Glenn not having been one of that number, we asked, “what has become of Joe Glinn?” and some member of the crowd answered, “when he is not trying to persuade a veal calf to go to the morning train, he can be found at home studying a war map of South Africa and noting the movements of the opposing armies.  He has announced that the English will soon meet with a severe reverse.”  Recent military events in the Transvaal prove that Mr. Glinn [he spells it both Glenn, above, and Glinn] knew whereof he predicted.   The noon hour having arrived, the sheriff escorted us to Mrs. King’s, where an appetite keyed up to the highest notch by a long cold ride, was satisfied with a good substantial meal.  Mrs. King and daughter are very attentive to the comforts of her patrons, and their house is a stopping place for many of the weary and hungry travelers who visit Walton.   After dinner we started out to take in the town, but a stiff breeze from the west soon drive us unto Richard & Dean’s store, where several persons were enjoying a good fire,  Among the crow were Joe Glinn and Joe Fisher, the latter trying to intimidated some of those boys who had been hunting foxes down in his neighborhood, but they made a date for another visit to that section, and Fisher appeared to reconcile to their coming.  It was here that the crowd was discussing the excitement that Shaw, a buyer for the tobacco trust, had created among the farmers of parts of Grant, Boone, and Kenton counties,  He had been paying several more dollars per hundred than the local buyers, and Dry Ridge, the town at which he was receiving, was literally blockaded with wagons loaded with the weed.  One farmer present said he took his tobacco to Dry Ride on Monday, and had been notified that it would get unloaded in time for him to get his wagon on Sunday.  Shaw had been paying as high as $10 and everybody was willing to take that price.   Just before leaving the town, we called at Edwards Bros.’ hardware store, as a fellow would not feel like he had visited Walton if he did not meet Kirk and Dolph.  W. H. Metcalf, local manager for the T. A. Snyder Preserves Co., who has contracted for the growing of about 500 acres of tomatoes in the vicinity of Walton, was there dishing out tomato seeds for those who desired them, and gave us a package to take home with directions to distribute.  His orders have been obeyed, the seeds being placed in the hands of the best gardeners hereabout.   It was two 0’clock when we bid adieu to Henry Diers and his clerk, A. R. Hance, and started on the return trip which, before half completed, made us wish we had a hot drink like the one Joe Glinn had, a few hours before, told a crowd about him and Richard Finnell taking several years ago.   It was decidedly the dullest day we ever saw in Walton, owing, of course, to the very disagreeable weather.   

from the Boone County Recorder, January 31, 1900