Dark Corner Dogs

Just about everyone in Dark Corner had a dog or two, some had more. A friend once told me of one of his childhood memories. He said, "Late at night our old hound would start baying down by the road and dad would sit up in bed and call out, 'Come on up, he won't bite.'"

From 1942 until 1949 Mom and we six kids lived on McDuffee Roads about ¾ of a mile east of Texoma Park Road. The railroad track, some 200 yards to the north of our house was built during that time. Quite often in the summer a Hobo would come by and walk across the field to our house to ask for food. Our big gray-colored bob-tailed dog, Captain was probably a Sheppard-bulldog cross. He would alert us long before the Hobo got near the house. I can almost hear Mom, "You kids get in the house!" She would lock the screen door and tell the Hobo to "Wait right there!" "Right there" was out at the edge of the road. Our house, which we now refer to as "The White House" was about sixty feet south of the road. The old brick well is all that remains as a testament to the houses' location.

Mom would head to the kitchen to prepare a meal for the Hobo. Nobody ever came to Alice McWilliams' house and left hungry. It didn't matter if it was a neighbor or a total stranger. A plate of food with plenty of biscuits was placed on the edge of the porch. I'm sure that Captain was tempted to sneak in and grab a biscuit and run, but he stood his ground between the Hobo and the house. Mom would speak to Captain and he would back off to one side toward the well and let the Hobo come up and eat. Just one of Mom's biscuits was a pretty good meal. There were no plastic bags or paper towels in that day, so the Hobo would put any excess biscuits in his overall pockets and head back to the railroad when he finished his meal. He came to the house from the west and was headed east, but since Captain had backed off to the east and stood his ground, the Hobo had to go back the way he came until he got far enough from the house that he felt it was safe to turn east.

The Hobo was permitted to sit on the edge of the porch to east. Even though Captain had ceased to bark when Mom ordered the Hobo to "wait right there" he never took his eyes off of the stranger. Those eyes stayed focused on the begger until he made his circular route and was out of sight.

The American Examiner January 30, 1910 detailed quite a list of well-established Tramp Signs. The 1901 Chambers' Encyclopedia carried an important article on Vagrants. The author was Chief Constable Henderson. He quotes from, "The Book of Vagabonds and Beggars" edited by Martin Luther in 1529. It seems that Hobos were a somewhat clannish bunch and would often leave a "sign" for those who followed. One such sign, a circle with a vertical line through it meant "Worth robbing". Another one was a drawing of a hammer which implied "Makes you work for meals". A house so marked would probably be passed by. One was a horizontal line with four vertical lines underneath, this signified "Dog". And X inside and circle indicated "Good for a meal". In retrospect, I'm sure there must have been one or two such signs somewhere near our property.

One particular hobo was a regular and we even got to know him by name, which was Columbus Mathis.

Neighbors were anyone who loved within a two or three mile radius. One neighbor who lived about a half mile to the northeast across the rail road track was Shed Stevens. Shed's wife had died and he was raising three kids, Bo, Imogene and Margie. The Stevens' black and tan hound, "Guts" had a litter of pups. Since Captain was the dominant male dog in the area we suspected that he had sired the litter. As toe pups got older one started coming to our house. My brother Archie took a liking to that short-eared black and tan. His short ears testified to the fact that he was only half hound. He stayed at our house more than he stayed at the Stevens' so they finally just gave him to Archie. I always thought that Archie named him "Rambo. However, the following is an email I got from Archie as I was completing this.

Hi Willis,

"I think Rambo had the name when I got him. I remember how I got him. I had a pocket knife and I asked Mother if I could go and try to trade it for Rambo. I was on my way when I met Bo and Rambo at R.R. crossing. I told Bo that I wanted to trade and Bo said, 'Keep your knife; I was on my way to give him to you.' I was the happiest kid you ever want to see."

Archie

Rambo was the most energetic dog I ever saw. Everywhere he went, he went on the run. When we went squirrel hunting he would run circles around us, while Captain searched for the scent of a squirrel. Rambo got bit by a squirrel at an early age and became obsessed with hunting them. He would start running in short circles when he scented a squirrel and would continue circling until he located the freshest scent. Then he would line out on it and soon have the squirrel treed. Daddy Moody said he was the best squirrel dog he had ever seen.

Skipper was a big black and white dog, probably part birddog and part hound. He belonged to my grandfather Moody McCuan, who I always referred to as "Daddy Moody". Daddy Moody lived at what is now the east end of McDuffee Road. Before the railroad was built and Lake Texoma filled with water you had two options at that point. The road to the south crossed Alberta Creek beneath what is now Alberta Creek Marina. It would take you to (old) Woodville. The road forked just north of the Alberta Creek Store & Café. If you went east you could travel through the Washita River bottom, then around to the north and back west, then up the hill and back to the south by the McCuan place. This was the route of the (old) Woodville School Bus. It picked up Ben McCuan's kids plus the Wheeler and Lemmon kids in the bottom. At Daddy Moody's place it went west and picked up my older brothers Richard & Wendyl and my sister Dorothy, the Stevens kids and some of the McGaugh kids.

Try to imagine, if you can, the sheer number of snakes that were displaced from the river bottoms by the rapidly rising waters of Lake Texoma in 1945. Water quickly covered nearly 80,000 acres of land. The snakes had to retreat to higher ground. There were snakes in every brush pile and under nearly every rock. Skipper hated snakes and initially knew no fear in dealing with them. He would grab any snake and run backwards while shaking his head and thus dispatching g the hapless snake. He would inevitably get bitten and his head would sometimes swell up to an enormous size. This didn't deter him from attacking the next snake he encountered. He was a welcome companion for us kids on our frequent trips to the new lake. I was 7 years old at that time.

In time, Skipper learned that a copperhead snake was a worthy adversary. He resorted to paying them and knew someone would soon show up to kill the snake. Yes, old dogs do learn new tricks.

The squirrel and rabbit population, like the snakes, also reached record numbers as Lake Texoma displaced them. There was an old hollow tree stump southeast of our house that yielded many rabbits that were chased into it by Captain and Rambo.

Dan and Dave were black and tan hounds. Daddy Moody bought them from Ross McCorstin when they were pups. He kept Dave and gave Dan to my next-to-oldest brother Wendyl. Ross' black and tan hounds, Slim, Tip, and Lady had quite a reputation. They were outstanding Mink hounds and accounted for many mink. A mink hide was equal to about a month's wages. Ross said that those hounds kept groceries on his table one winter.

Dan got hit by a car. He recovered, but was unable to use his right rear leg. He is pictured on the front cover of Wendyl's book, "Dark Corner and Beyond". Incidentally, I'm also on the front cover of that book. I guess that makes me important. Well, at least as important as Dan.

About the time Dan and Dave were learning to hunt it was common for young dogs to have "Running Fits". Daddy Moody would instruct us kids to, "Climb a tree!" In a matter of minutes the wild, crazy, slobbering fit would end and everything would return to normal.

I believe it was the Ralston Purina Co. that finally isolated the cause of the fits. It was a bleaching agent that was used to make flour white. Most dogs were fed left over biscuits and gravy on occasions, this causing the fits. I'm glad that it didn't affect humans!

The best mink dog story came from the late Charlie Blevins. Charlie lived just north of Knob Hill where the Indian Casino is now located. A stranger in a wagon had camped beside the road and spent the night on top of Knob Hill. Charlie rode up on his horse and learned from the stranger that he had lost his dog. He told Charlie that he had to get to Lawton as soon as possible and could wait no longer for the dog. He asked Charlie to find a good home for the dog if he showed up. He hadn't been gone long when the dog appeared. (The dog would no doubt have followed his master and caught up with him if allowed to do so.) Charlie got to dog and took him home. He contacted a boy in Aylesworth, begging to go mink hunting with Charlie and A.G. Slinger. Charlie thought this would be a good way to pacify the boy and he gave him to dog. Fur season opened the first day of December. Charlie was in Madill just before Christmas and ran into the boy's mother, whereupon he inquired about the boy and how he liked the dog. She replied, "Oh he loves him, he has already caught eight mink." Charlie told me that he probably gave away the best mink dog in the world. He and A.G. with seasoned hounds and hunting almost every night had managed to catch only three mink in three weeks.

As an after-thought I must mention a dog owned by my brother Wendyl. She was a pointer bird dog and her registered name was "Dark Corner Cindy". Wendyl acquired her from Dowe Abshire, an uncle to our brother-in-law Darrel Abshire. Dowe arranged to have her bred to a famous pointer "Wahoo Pete's Jake owned by Rex Perkins the renowned lawyer in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Cindy had five pups and one went to the lawyer, one went to Dowe, one was sold to Homer Buck of Kingston, leaving 2 males Pete and Jake. Pete was then sold to Hux Taliferro of Madill and Wendyl kept Jake. I trained Jake, using the book "How to train Hunting Dogs" by Williams F. Brown the editor of The American Field magazine.

It has often been said that you have to be smarter than a dog to be able to train it. Jake reminded me of that statement from time to time as I attempted to train him. We had somewhat of a symbiotic relationship; we learned from each other. I can't declare with all certainty who was the master. At any rate, that litter of pups out f Dark Corner Cindy all made outstanding bird dogs. Dowe Abshire got the only female in the litter and sold her for $500. This was around 1963 and that was a considerable sum back them. He later said he regretted selling her because she was the best dog he ever owned and she had a very rare trait. Few dogs will break point, but if he couldn't find her she would break point and come to him and then return to where she had located the quail and relocate them.

Ginger and Drive were beagles and were brought to Dark Corner in 1958 by a Mr. Moore who lived at Lost Acres. At that time Lost Acres consisted of a little concrete block building with two or three rental rooms and two little mobile homes. The land I that area was formerly owned by my parents, my uncle and my grandfather.

I fell in love with the bell-like baying of the little beagles the first time I heard them chasing a rabbit. My brother Wendyl bought them from Mr. Moore, but I always considered them as mine. That first litter of seven pups whelped July 10, 1959 somewhat changed the course of my life. In 1988 I got involved in beagle field trails. I organized Texoma Beagle Club and we conducted AKC licensed trails for several years.

Over a span of 15 years I wrote articles for three different beagle magazines. One monthly article appeared under the caption "Barbed Wire, Green Briars & Other Hang-ups".

I have owned numerous beagles and ran them in Field Trials across America. I ran them in 18 states, including Texas, Nebraska, New Jersey, Florida and others within this perimeter, winning more than a hundred trophies. I've owned Field Champions, Bench Champions, Dual Champions and one Hall of Fame Champion, Dual Champion Bob's Lakeside Redhead (the first and only one in the 20th century to make the Hall of Fame in his division). Most were good, a few were great, but none were better than Ginger and Drive.

Recently I was honored to have my picture with Mc-Hun appeared on page 84 in DOGS 24/7, a large book containing dog pictures. It's available at Books-A-Million and I'm sure you will want to hurry and get a copy. My granddaughter Macy Wingfield of Durant also has beagles. Macy's picture with some beagle pups appeared in OKLAHOMA 24/7, another book of picture. We presented Macy a copy of the book recently for Christmas.

On July 28, 2007 I put a period at the end of a very long chapter in my life. I sent the last beagles from my kennel to Georgia and Arkansas. I did so to free up more time to devote to church involvement. Now my friends cat say, "He's gone to the dogs."