Wallins Creek, like any small town, has had its share of people with unique personalities. Here are a few that I remember.
Elijah "Lige" Buell - Lige was someone that a young boy could look up to. Among his many other attributes, he was a very gifted basketball player. I remember the night he scored 58 points in a basketball game. At least I think it was 58. I may be off a point or two. It was the single greatest performance that I have ever witnessed by a basketball player. I remember the game really well, but had forgotten what team we were playing. Former Wallins resident Ben Jones filled in the details. It was against Loyall. I found out that Ben was very impressed by that performance, also. Lige was dating my cousin, Joyce Osborne, who later became his wife. I recall when they were dating, I would make a pest of myself by hanging around them. One time when they were sitting on our front porch swing, Lige gave me a quarter to get rid of me. It wasn't easy to court with a young boy hanging around. Years later after he retired from work in Ohio, Lige returned to Wallins to live. He became a town fixture. He was the consummate storyteller. I loved to hear him spin his yarns. I always thought that he missed his calling. He should have been a stand-up comedian. Unfortunately his life was cut much too short by an early death. I miss him very much.
John "Peg Leg" Hensley - "Peg Leg" was the Town Marshall of Wallins. I think his tenure ran from the late 40's till the early 50's. I was a very small when I first recall seeing him. He walked around with a great amount of difficulty because of a wooden leg. The leg was not jointed, so it caused him to have to turn his hips to thrust the leg forward. Couple this, with a long barrel pistol in a holster slung low on his hip, and you see how a young boy might be affected. There were also the other stories about him, whether right or wrong, that circulated. Thus he was quite an imposing site to behold. I recall his death. We got the word that he had had a heart attack. I remember going to where he lived, as people gathered after receiving the news. They do stuff like this in a small town. His apartment was located upstairs in the building on the same street near where the jail was located. I also remember his wake. It was one of the first of many that I would attend in my life. It was the custom to bring the corpse home for viewing rather than having the wake at the funeral home. We called it "Sitting Up With the Dead." It was scary for a young boy seeing him lying in his coffin.
Bill Burke - Bill was one of the Town Marshal's that we had when I was growing up. I think this was during my early teens. The thing that impressed me about him was that he was an old man when he took the job. I never understood why anyone would want this job. It was a thankless job. No matter what you did, you could not please everyone. I found out later on in life, when I became a policeman, that this goes with the territory. I personally witnessed several of the times that Bill had to arrest disorderly drunks or break up other situations in town. He seemed to be fearless. You had to consider that he was on his own. There would be no back up if he got in a jam. I remember on one occasion, I witnessed him arrest and pistol whip a drunk. The blood flew everywhere as he struck this man in the head with his gun. I remember feeling that he didn't really need to do this. But now in retrospect, I do not judge him quite as harshly as I did then. He was always nice to me. I was not afraid of him, but I gave him cautious respect.
Norman Preston - Norman was also the Town Marshall. I remember him previously when he was a town drunk. I was very skeptical at first when he got the job. I later came to think that he did a very good job. I think that he either quit drinking completely, or kept it well hidden. I know that he looked very good in his uniform. He was spit and polish. Must have been his old military training. Up until this time, none of the town police had worn a uniform. I can't say that I respected him, but I can say that I feared him.
There was a story that has circulated for years concerning Norman's prize bird dog. It is a part of Wallins Creek lore. I can testify to the event happening. I won't go into the details because it is not suitable for general audiences. Some details are in dispute to this day. But one thing that is not in dispute is the fear that all participants in the story had that Norman would find out what happened. All participants took an oath of secrecy. I know that I never broke this oath while Norman was alive. Everyone involved in this escapade evidently kept this vow of silence. We dared not even discuss it until after his death.
L.C. Scott - L.C. as well as his brother, whose name I can't remember, were confined to wheelchairs. L.C. lived up towards Creech's, but spent a lot of time in town. He occasionally got a ride from someone, but most days rolled himself to town and back. His legs may have been paralyzed, but he had tremendous power in his upper body and arms. I learned very early on, not to get too close to his wheel chair. He had a vice grip, and loved to put the clamps on anyone who got near him. He had grabbed my brother once, which terrified him. I think he had nightmares about it. He told me about seeing an old photo recently of L.C. that was taken years ago. He said this still brought back those memories. This was not meant in a mean way by him, but was very scary for a young boy.
Peppermint - I don't know what Peppermint's real name was, nor how she got the nickname. Everyone just called her Peppermint. She was very old. I don't know that anyone knew for certain just how old she was. Legend had it that she was over one hundred years old. She was very small, with deep wrinkles in her face. She wore several layers of clothing and an old fur coat. She always had a walking stick. In the winter Peppermint would wear bags on her feet. She was quite a sight to behold.
Legend had it that she was a witch. We thought that she could cast spells on people. I think she thought that she could also, as she would make terrible faces and utter strange sounds. She also would attempt to strike at us boys with her walking stick.
Peppermint spent a lot of time in town begging money. I am sorry to say that a lot of us would taunt her. But we also were a little afraid that maybe she really could cast a spell on us. After I had been gone from Wallins for a few years, I heard that she got sick and was taken to the hospital. When they took her clothes off to examine her, they discovered thousands of dollars pinned to her clothing in tobacco sacks. She eventually passed away. I don't know how much money she had or what happened to it after she died. She was one of the most unique individuals that I have ever met.
Muscles Osborne- Everyone called him "Muscles" but his name was Ernest Osborne. His wife Sarah ran the town café. He was a hulk of a man. He drove a tractor-trailer for G.D. Saylor's beer distributorship. He was actually a very gentle man as I remember, but he was someone that you wouldn't want to run afoul of. He gave me a ride to Louisville one summer vacation. I was going to spend a couple of weeks with my Aunt and Uncle, Ruby and Norman Morgan, who lived in Louisville. I caught the ride in his Mack diesel truck. It was a very loud and bumpy ride. It also took about eight hours. We didn't have the road system that we have today. The trip to Louisville was a real adventure.
Fred Stanley - He was the original "Pinball Wizard." I remember watching him play the pinball machine in Sarah's Café. He would feed whole rolls of nickels into the machine to increase the odds. He would then step back and use "Body English," as he would call it. What this really was, however, was some extraordinary body gyrations in which he didn't even touch the machine. I can't remember who it was, but I remember one day when he was playing the machine. He drew a large crowd as he usually did. He had fed a large amount of money into the machine, only to have it tilt when one of the town drunks fell into it. Needless to say, Fred was not a happy man.
D.Y. Little - D.Y. had a terrible accident when he was a boy. I can't remember all the details, because he was several years older than I was. If I remember correctly, he lost his leg when he fell off a train he was trying to hobo with some other boys. It must have been a terrible experience for him. He never let that stop him though. He lived up Little Creek. This was quite a task to navigate that hill on a crutch. I remember that he did all the things that his friends did. He was a friend of my uncle "Greasy," Lowell Osborne. I have seen him run through town on his wooden crutch. Another good friend of mine, Don Hensley, used to say that there was not another person in town that could outrun him. It was a familiar sight to see him on the wooden crutch, which he obviously preferred. I know that he had an artificial leg, but seldom used it. He actually seemed to function better on his crutch. I know that it would probably have been easy for him to wallow in self pity, but that didn't seem to be his way. I know that he went to college. I'm not for sure, but I believe that he became a schoolteacher. I have not seen or heard anything from him in years. I hope he is still alive and well.
