Mick’s Barn, A Terrible Blaze

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A working barn is filled with a variety of combustible materials, and a barn fire is an impressive thing.

[This is a generic photo of a barn fire]

by David Parmer

A Death Bed Confession

Confession on her death bed made,
An act of long ago.
Death looms and as her life force fades
She seeks kind Heaven’s glow.

Mick’s barn—it was a hot, hot blaze
Three horses trapped inside.
A frightful noise, the horses’ craze
The din with her abides.

An accident, and no intent
To hurt the beasts in there.
As God well knows, no malice meant
At last the truth she bares.

To feed her stock she needed corn
At home, her bins held none.
She knew by six each early morn
The barn man would be gone.

A mere handful of grain she sought
A pittance was her need.
Instead, a guilty conscience was bought
By her long hidden deed. . . .


Claud Mick, Rural Mail Carrier

As a rural mail carrier in Orlando, Claud Mick knew the value of a good horse. The mail routes out of Orlando were long and tiring on both man and beast. A mail carrier knew that at least two reliable horses were vital for the arduous mail routes and that his four-footed companions needed good care and pampering.

When he first became a rural mail carrier, Claud rented barn space for his horses. It was important to give rest to the tired horse and recuperation to the horse which might be down in his oats. Claud had rented stables from both Mike Moran and Sandy Tulley but soon decided that he needed a barn of his own.

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A New Barn

Around 1926, Claud arranged for the construction of a barn near the western foot of the Orlando hill, near the Matthews home. According to his son Chick, his dad hauled rough-cut lumber to the planing mill in Burnsville by horse and wagon to be planed and used in the barn construction. The barn, approximately twenty four feet wide and thirty feet long, with an added lean-to for a cow, was of two story construction with a haymow on the second floor. The barn had three fifteen foot stalls. There was also room in the barn for a corn crib which had been rat-proofed by tightly woven wire. The barn was well-roofed with tin sheeting. Of course, since there was not yet any electricity in Orlando, oil lanterns were used for lighting. The barn had two doors on the roadside front and two doors at the hillside rear. After the barn was finished, Claud found the barn to very commodious and satisfactory for his horses. He felt well-served with the barn while he was the rural mail carrier.

Claud Becomes Postmaster

In 1927, Claud was appointed as the new postmaster in Orlando. The days of riding the long and grueling mail route were days of the past for Claud and his horses were granted a reprieve from the monotonous mail route. There was still however plenty of work for a self-respecting horse. Although automobiles were starting to appear with more regularity, their reliability was mostly limited to dry weather months, and even then, roads were so rutted by the spring usage, the horseless carriage had its limits. Horses still were needed for plowing, mowing, hauling and other jobs requiring brute force, such as timber skidding.

The Winter of 1940-1941

The winter of 1940-1941 was once again a cold winter, as had been the winters for four decades. Dale Barnett recalls Claud Mick’s barn as a well-built barn and comfortable for the animals it housed. The corn crib was full of corn and the upstairs mow was full of a new load of hay. During this winter Claud had two horses and Cecil Skinner boarded a horse of his own in the barn. Cecil was a teamster and worked with horses each day. He also took care of feeding and tending to Claud’s horses, which, from time to time, Cecil used on jobs. During the winter of 1940-1941, Cecil was skidding logs off the hill for Lee Blake who had his saw mill set up on the farm of Duck Bee, below Orlando. It was Cecil’s routine to go to the barn early each morning prior to his own breakfast to feed and tend to Claud’s horses and cow which was housed in the lean-to of the barn. After taking care of the stock, Cecil would then go home, eat breakfast and return to the barn to get the horses ready for work. This routine was well-known to most Orlando residents. Although it was also the routine for Cecil to lock the roadside doors, it was also common knowledge that the doors to the barn at the rear were left unlocked.

A Fire

Cecil returned home for breakfast. A short time later, fourteen year old Junior Hurst, who lived on the hill above with his parents, Worthington and Jenette Hurst, glanced out of his bedroom window toward the bottom of the hill toward his uncle Claud Mick's barn. Smoke was rolling out from under the tin roof of the barn. Recognizing immediately that the barn was on fire, Junior dressed quickly and ran to

his Uncle Claud's to report the fire. Chick Mick recalls that his father hurriedly put on a pair of house slippers and ran down the hill toward the barn, losing both house slippers en route. As he ran down the hill, Claud could hear the screaming horses kicking the stalls trying to escape the flames. The cow was bellowing and the barn was fully in flame. Claud reached the front of the
barn but found the doors padlocked. Looking through the crack of the door, Claud could see the white horse which was frantically kicking the stall, its back already burned black from the fire. As
Claud ran around the barn to go in the back way to rescue the animals, the roof of the barn collapsed onto the animals, killing them, if they were not already dead. Nothing more could be done.

The fire continued to burn after the collapse of the roof. All the stock was dead. The corn in the crib was destroyed as was the newly delivered load of hay. The harness and a cowboy saddle were now ashes. The carcasses of the animals had not been consumed by the flames and lay like ashen monuments amid the rubble.

Right: Worthington "Junior "Hurst, Jr. See Junior Hurst's story in the Mar '07 entry Worthington Hurst Jr., Fallen Soldier

The Aftermath

As the insurance man wrote a check on the spot for two hundred dollars which was the full value of the policy, he gave his sympathies to Claud and Cecil for their respective losses which far exceeded the amount of the policy. The men discussed the location of the lantern in the burned debris which lay in the area of the corn crib instead of where it had been left by Cecil when he left the barn earlier. Obviously, the lantern had been moved, but for what cause the men pondered. There were no witnesses and no amount of conjecture could replace the barn or restore life to the animals.

The winter was a cold one and the ground was frozen. The carcasses of the animals were now open to the elements and had to be disposed of. No hole large enough could be dug in the frozen earth to bury them. Slabs from Lee Blake’s sawmill operation were hauled to the barn site and the unfortunate beasts were moved to a common pile and covered with slabs creating a funeral-like pyre. Slabs were burned for two days until nothing was left of the animals except skeletal remains.

It was a grisly scene. Passersby stopped and asked who could do such a thing to defenseless animals and that the perpetrator should burn in hell. No one was brought to justice for this senseless, or perhaps merely a careless act.

It would be many years before the mystery would be solved; the solution came in a deathbed confession. Time heals many things but perhaps not a guilty conscience. The few who know of her confession keep the penitent woman's secret to this day.

. . . It was a lantern that she brushed
Which fell into the hay;
Flames spread so fast and out she rushed
Home, at the break of day.

Smoke she saw and smell of death
Lay heavy on her brow
And for years purloined her breath,
With corn and memory foul.

Long years passed by and green grass grows
O’er ashes of the barn,
Seasons change but truth endures even ‘neath the snow,
And time her heart can’t darn.

Now life has run its course at last;
The sand is running low;
Grace now she seeks for a dark sin past
In search of Heaven’s glow.

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200 Attend Mrs. C. C. Mick's 88th Birthday

"There was a birthday dinner at the home of Mr. and Mrs. C. C. Mick on Dumpling Run October the 10th in honor of Mrs. Mick’s 88th birthday. About two hundred were present and a real sociable day was enjoyed by all. Games were played in the afternoon while some engaged in a little "Join hands and circle to the left." James and Charles Henline of our town furnished the music. We wish Mrs. Mick future happiness and health to enjoy many more birthdays."
- Reported by Uncle Zeke in his October 18, 1934 Buzzardtown News column.

Clint and Martha (Lawman) Mick are pictured to the left.

Martha Wyatt Lawman was born October 10, 1846 to Bernard and Permeillia (Campbell) Lawman. The family moved from central Virginia to Upshur Co in western Virginia in 1861. They settled at the head of Rovers Run, which is near Berlin in Lewis County. Like his father and grandfather, Bernard Lawman was a tanner and farmer. He fought with the Confederate army.

In 1865, at the age of 19, Martha Lawman married Confederate veteran Charles Clinton "Clint" Mick. His records claim he was born in 1848. If so, the war was over when he was 16 years old and he married at the age of 17. They raised their children on Dumpling Run, a creek that joins Oil Creek just before it meets the Little Kanawha. Although it is much closer to Burnsville than to downtown Orlando (evidenced by who their children married, and Uncle Zeke's acknowlegement), they were part of the Posey Run community.

Clint's brother Solomon and Martha's sister Mary married and lived close by, across the county line in Gilmer County. Researchers say that Solomon fought for the Union.

The advancing years were probably difficult for the couple, as, according to their death certificates, doctors noted symptoms of senility in both. Martha died January 22, 1936 at the age of 88. Clint died less than three months later, April 12, 1936.

Music makers at Mrs. Mick's celebration, Jimmy and Charlie Henline, are pictured at the right. Their music making is discussed in the June '07 entry The Buzzardtown Tongue Twisters

Gun Gets Snake Bit

In the Braxton Democrat on October 18, 1934 Uncle Zele reported in his column the "Buzzardtown News":

"We have been informed by Grant Ptomey that little eight year old Junior Hawkins, son of Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Hawkins of Dumpling Run, has a little target gun of which he is very proud, and is a crack shot for a boy so young. My informant says the boy was called recently to shoot a copperhead which had been found by some of the family. In order to make sure work he placed the gun so close to the snake that the snake bit the gun just as the shot was fired. Grant says the gun swelled so big that it took the boy and his mother both to carry the gun to the house, and ever since he has used 16 gauge shotgun shells instead of number 22 cartridges."
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To the left is Junior Hawkins with his shotgun.
To the right is Junior with a future hunting dog.

Junior Hawkins was the grandson of Clint and Martha Mick who llived on Dumpling Run. Their daughter Bernice had married Oscar Hawkins and they lived near by on Oil Creek.
For more on the Mick family see the Nov '07 entry Mrs. C. C. Mick's 88th Birthday

In the 1930s Junior's family lived near Oras and Edith (Skinner) Stutler. Junior Hawkins married a little girl he grew up with, Wanda Jane "Jane" Stutler and like most of their generation, they left Orlando. They moved to Detroit about 1950, where they raised their three children. Junior had grown up to be a kind and gentle man. On the other hand, his wife Jane was a firecracker. She was bold and she loved to party. Yet, they seemed to be a good pair. Junior had a stroke which led to a very early retirement. As devastating as that was, it did allow Jane and Junior to move back home. In the 1960s the family purchased the Allman house next to Jane's parents, Oras and Edith (Skinner) Stutler who, in the late 1940s, had made the former Dolan Hotel their home. (The Hawkins family is mentioned in the Oct '07 entry Gaver Hamilton Allman: Telegrapher and Freight Agent )

To the left is Junior Hawkins' high school photo.
On the left below are Junior and his sister Thelma Hawkins with their shotguns.
On the right is Junior's future bride, Jane Stutler.

Uncle Zeke spoke of Junior's grandmother in the Nov '07 entry Mrs. C. C. Mick's 88th Birthday

A copperhead snake is shown to the right

Wade Mick's Mill

Wade Mick’s Mill

By Uncle Zeke

Wade Mick has a good grist mill,

Its equal can’t be found

In grinding out your daily meal

He hustles things around.

From morn ‘till night, the wheel turns ‘round

And then from night ‘till morn.

And every time that wheel turns ‘round

It grinds a grain of corn.

Now Wade’s a pretty jolly soul,

And jokes he likes to crack.

He takes your grist to pay the toll

And sometimes takes the sack.

When Wade gets up with the early bird,

And nothing in his way

I do believe upon my word,

He can grind a peck a day.

And when the judgement day comes ‘round,

And Gabriel blows his horn

I think that Wade Mick will be found,

A grinding of the corn.

by David Parmer with Cecil Mick
Wade Hampton Mick was the son of Nicholas Mick and his second wife, Jane Litel Queen. Nicholas Mick was a native of Harrison County and was a miller by trade. Wade was born in 1876 near Heaters in Braxton County. He was first married to the former Ida Belle Myers of the Knawl’s Creek area. They had eight children: Beauford, Elias "Dink", James, Orville, Robert, Dana, Nellie, and Bertha. After his wife Ida Belle died in 1912, Wade married Minerva Riffle, a widow who lived on Posey Run.

According to the family history, Wade worked with his father in the grist milling business in Harrison County and after the death of his father moved parts of his father’s grist mill by train from Harrison County to Orlando. Taking residence on Posey Run, Wade moved the grist mill machinery to his home on Posey Run by wagon. Although the date of the move from Harrison County is not positively known, family tradition has Wade moving to Posey Run around the turn of the 20th century.

Wade operated a grist mill on Posey Run until 1933 when he purchased land in Orlando from Elizabeth Rush. From Orlando’s early days this had been the site of a livery stable. This parcel was located between the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad line (the former Coal & Coke right of way) and the Clover Fork Road, and just west of Mike Moran’s Wholesale Building (the white warehouse that stands today).

Above, Wade Hampton Mick and Ida Belle (Myers) Mick.
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To the right, Earl (Bill) Mollohan is standing on the bridge into Orlando. Wade Mick's mill is behind him on the right, and the warehouse is behind that. On the left is Charlie Knight's store.

Immediately Wade and his son Beauford began construction of a building to house his grist mill operation. The building was 20 x 25 feet with a stone foundation from the ground to the floor of the building. This massive foundation served two purposes: it was high enough to avoid flooding and strong enough to hold the weight which was expected to be in the building. The building was completed by early spring of 1934.

Wade and Beauford commenced the grist milling operation on the basis of “shares.” This means that the miller does not charge money to grind the grain but instead charges the farmer one gallon of the finished product for each bushel milled. The grinding mechanism was calibrated to remove the miller’s share from the larger amount when it was ground. Wade primarily ground corn, but occasionally he would grind wheat which required an adjustment of the burrs. There were large storage bins to hold the ground grain which Wade would sell to customers.

The Equipment
Wade’s granddaughter Ruth (Mick) Gay, who is now 82, recalls that when she was young her grandfather bought a new gasoline engine for the mill. The engine originally was gasoline driven but was later converted so that it could also use natural gas. Cecil Mick recalls that the mill had two 16 inch stone wheels, one stationary and one which turned, which were purchased by his grandfather from Dixie King Burrs in Harrisburg, Kentucky. When Cecil tore the mill down around 1973 these stones were sold to a mill located in Coshocton, Ohio, which at last report is still using the stones. The mill also had a crusher with stone burrs which would crush field corn, cob and all, into a rough cut which was used as livestock feed.

An example of a Witte "Junior" Engine like Wade Mick installed in the mill is above, to the right.
Above left is a 12 inch steel burr crusher for full ears of corn.
To the right is a 16 inch Dixie Stone Burr Grist Mill.

Beauford Takes Over
Wade’s sons, Beauford and Elias (known as “Dink”) worked with their father in the milling of the grain, and continued the milling operations after their father’s death. Wade Mick died in 1939 and his widow, Minerva (Riffle) Mick, inherited the estate of her husband. Minerva was Wade’s second wife and had no children of her own. The mill property in Orlando was purchased from Minerva by her step-son Robert Mick in 1940 and was re-conveyed by Robert to his younger brother Beauford in April 1940. Beauford continued to operate the mill until October 1941 when operations ceased because of financial necessity.

The Great Depression which began in 1929 was still sapping the energies of the country twelve years later. The New Deal policies of the 1930s had done little to stimulate the economy in central West Virginia and if you didn’t have a government job, or a politician’s pull, times were tough. These stark economic realities forced Beauford Mick to seek an alternative means of providing a living for his family. Although the New Deal policies were an economic failure, war in Europe and pending war in the Pacific were beginning to provide a spark to the economy in industrial states.

To the right are Beauford and Ruth (Cole) Mick with little Charlie and Norma Jean.

Beauford Mick, as did many other hard-pressed Orlando natives, found work in Ohio at the Barberton plant of the Babcock-Wilcox Corporation in late 1941. Beauford’s knowledge of machinery qualified him as a boiler-maker, a job in which he worked at the construction of steam generating equipment for use in Liberty ships which were delivering badly needed supplies to our allies in Europe. In recognition of his exceptional work on the first Liberty ship, the “Patrick Henry,” Beauford was awarded the M. Burgee Badge of Merit. Beauford continued his work as a boilermaker with Babcock-Wilcox until the constant exposure to toxic fumes and gases took a toll on his health. Under medical advice, Beauford left the Ohio plant to recuperate at the family farm on Rag Run.


The crystal clean air of Rag Run had curative effects on Beauford’s health, and with a clean bill of health Beauford became eligible for the military draft in 1945. However, military success in Europe and against Japan negated the need for more manpower in the military but there was still a pressing need for maintenance of way workers on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in order that war materiel could be moved to ports. Beauford became a track worker toward the war’s end and worked for the B & O Railroad for the next 27 years.

Beauford, while working for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, re-opened the grist mill at Orlando on week-ends or whenever there was a day’s work to be done. He also continued to operate the family farm. Subsequently, in 1946, Beauford moved his family by horse and wagon from Rag Run to another farm on Little Bear Run at Bennett Siding on the Oil Creek Road where he lived to the end of his life in October 1970. He was survived by his widow, Ruth (Cole) Mick, and his children, Charles, Norma Jean, Carol, Dale and Cecil.

Today

The site of the Mick grist mill in Orlando is still owned by the Mick family. Although the mill building itself which was built in 1933 was demolished in the 1970s, the milling equipment which was used there by the Mick family to grind the grain of Orlando residents still enjoys life. The burrs, sifter-crusher and hand corn sheller are now located in Coshocton, Ohio in the historic Rosco Village and is used during their annual Canal Days. Wade’s grandson Cecil Mick relates that the gasoline engine, a 16 horsepower, one cylinder, water cooled Witte engine, was bought by Carroll Gum of Lewis County who re-sold the engine to another buyer.

Note:
The receipt at the right reads:
12/28/1940
B. W. Mick
Orlando W.Va.
?5 gallons gas 10.09

Rec’d Payment
12-28-40
Lynn Riffle
Rec’d by ???

Comments
comment 1 Donna Gloff
Census records for 1860, 1870 and 1880 have Wade Mick in Upshur County. In the 1850 census he was in Lewis County. (Upshure County was created from Lewis County in 1851.) No census records show him in Harrison County.

Orlando Businesses Over the Years

The following is an inventory of businesses that have served Orlando. The earliest was established around 1835 (John Riffle’s grist mill) and the last was the general store owned and operated into the 1970s by (my aunt) Juanita (Stutler) Burgett.
It would be great to get more information on Orlando Businesses.

~ John Riffle’s grist mill (built about 1835) 2.
~ Hickory Mill (opened in 1905 by Coal & Coke) 1.
~ Charles and Maggie (Cosner) Skinner's gristmill 2.
~ Wade Mick’s mill and feed store 2.
~ a restaurant owned by the Coal & Coke 1.
~ Dick Skinner’s Wagon Restaurant 1,4.
~ Lee Morrison’s restaurant 1.
~ Glen Skinner’s barber shop 4.
~ Dolan Hotel 1,2,4.
~ Rush Hotel 1.
~ Kelly Hotel 5.
~ general stores owned by
Pete Kennedy,
Rush,
Dolan,
Mike Moran,
Adblake’s,
Charles and Maggie (Cosner) Skinner,
Bill Foster then Bill Conrad, then Dexter & Lela Brown, then Juanita (Stutler) Burgett. 1,2,4.
~ Mike Moran’s mortuary 1,4.
~ Cecily Tulley Brice’s millinery shop 1.
~ C.Z. Ruth wholesale house 1.
~ Mike Moran’s skating rink (replaced the wholesale house) 1.
~ Hole in the Hill, a bootleg saloon 1.
~ Mike Moran’s feed store 1.
~ Bill Foster’s feed store 1.
~ Nathan Parmer, Blacksmith 1.
~ Jake Queen, Blacksmith 1.

David Parmer reports the following:
Orlando as reported in the Burnsville Kanawha Banner.
~ In August 1912, O. E. Hollister opened a five lane pin bowling alley.
~ On March 22, 1911 Dr. Stanton Trimble moved into the Sandy Tulley house.
~ In 1913 the Oldaker Mercantile Company was bought out by G. F. Bennett.
~ In 1914, W. B. Foster bought out Bennett.

Photos:
upper right The Wagon Restaurant
middle right Former Dolan Hotel in the 1970s. It had been a private residence for many years. The landscaping had changed, but there had been no external architectural changes.
lower left Mike Moran, mortician and entrepreneur

1. Orlando:Cinderella City... Weston Democrat Wed, Nov 2, 1977. Cited as sources History of West Virginia by J.M Callihan and Orlando residents Macel Parmer Bennett, Martin Sweeney and Edith Blake.
2. A Pictoral History of Old Lewis County: The Crossroads of Central West Virginia by Joy Gilchrist Stalnacker, published by Walsworth Publishing Company
3. Lewis County, West Virginia: Her People and Places by Joy Gilchrist Stalnacker, published by Walsworth Publishing Companyin 2000.
4. My own experience in Orlando in the 1950s through 1980s
5. Newspaper ad: see Nov 30, '06 entry Hotel Kelly