3 minute read
SPIRIT OF THE WEST
The 50-Year Saga
BY HUGH MCLENNAN
In digging through 30 years of Spirit of the West stories, I came across this fascinating one, and I can’t remember where I found it, but it’s worth sharing. It’s called “The Fifty Year Saga.”
The story began in the early 1930s. Don Smith was a teenager, and it was the height of the Great Depression. He lived with his folks on a small farm near Mount Carroll, Illinois. There was little or no money.
Somehow, he heard that a load of mustangs had come in from Montana to the train depot in town. He saw a colt in the group and convinced his dad, Elmer, to buy it for him. The price was $25 — a lot of money in those days.
Don and the colt grew up together. He was the only one who could handle the horse. Everyone else was scared to death of the animal, but Don could ride him anywhere and even shoot a gun off his back.
In 1938, Don and his new bride, Zelda, moved 10 miles south to Chadwick. They took the mustang along, and it was the same story in Chadwick. Everyone was afraid of the horse — except Don. Sometime in 1940, Don awoke to find the horse had gotten loose during the night, and he found him dead in a ditch along the road. The horse had been hit by a car, and Don was beside himself with grief and anger.
In those days, the cars all had hood ornaments, and Don found one beside the dead horse. He thought he knew the car it was from and headed for town. Don was now in his late 20s, rough, tough, and fearless. The villain was Ralph Ferriss. He was young and hard-working but also a hard drinker who was often out all night raising Cain.
Ralph’s dad ran a filling station in Chadwick. Don walked in, asking for Ralph and found him with his car — the front end was
all busted up. Don set the hood ornament on the car, and it fit. What happened next isn’t clear, but Don wound up with Ralph’s head under one arm and his dad’s head under the other. He knocked them together and then left.
The two never spoke after that. WWII came along. Don stayed home to farm while Ralph served in the South Pacific. Ralph came home when the war was finally over, and at this point, Don felt Ralph had paid his dues and was no longer angry about the horse incident. They became friends, and the horse was never mentioned. For the next few years, Ralph even worked for Don.
Fast forward to 1996 — 56 years after the horse was killed. Don and Ralph were both in their 80s, and time was running out. A month before Ralph passed, he was in his parked car on Main Street. He saw Don and motioned for him to come over. Don went to the car, and Ralph, after 56 years, said, “Don, I’m sorry about your horse.” They both shed tears — and the saga was finally over.
