Ole Tom
as related by Linc Tickle

Ellen Smith Pegram Mrs. George Lee Tickle and son Newton

Smith Tickle was the mother of 15 little Tickles. When her children married they made their homes in the area around Bland, Virginia. Her son, Isaac Newton "Newt" Tickle, and his family of six children lived nearby. Linc Tickle is the son of Newt Tickle.

"In 1932, Dad killed hogs and it was so cold that he couldn't put the meat in the meat house because it would freeze so hard that he would not be able to trim it the next day. He cut up the meat and we carried it into the basement of the house and laid it on large tables. An hour or so later we went down to check the meat and found that something had eaten a big chunk out of one of the hams. We thought it was a rat but Dad said it wasn't a rat. He was really upset and said "I'll get what ever that was." There was one hole leading into the basement and Dad set a steel trap in the hole.

The next morning we went down and heard all this purring, scratching and meowing. Ole Tom, Grandpa's cat, was in the trap. Dad said "I'll just kill the rascal right here and now." The kids said, "That's Grandpa's cat, don't kill his cat." Mother said "Oh, no! Don't kill Ole Tom, Granddaddy will be upset." Dad said that the cat was going to have some punishment and went out the the apple tree. He cut off a little limb about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch in diameter right at its fork. He cut the forked ends off and left about 3 inches on the main limb. He took his hatchet and split the main limb up to the fork. Then, he took a screwdriver and pried the limb apart wide enough to get Ole Tom's tail into the opening. As he pulled the screwdriver loose he also had his foot on the spring of the steel trap and turned the trap loose. Ole Tom started spitting, purring, and rolling around on the ground trying to get going. He tore up about ten feet of grass in the yard getting started. Then he headed off to Grandpa's which was just about a 1/2 mile from our house. Ole Tom made that 1/2 mile in about 45 seconds. The last time we saw Ole Tom he was going out of sight across the hill near the hosiery mill.

The next day, Grandma came down. She sat down in our living room and wanted everyone to come in. She had mother and all the kids come in. The she said "Where's Newt?" Dad came by and said "I'm busy now Mom." Grandma said "Newton, you come in here and sit down I've got something to tell you all." Dad came in and got a chair directly across the room in front of Grandma. She set her gaze on Dad watching his every move and started telling her story. "The most terrible thing happened yesterday. Ole Tom came to the house just scratching, clawing and carrying on something awful. He ran around the house two or three times screaming and hollering. Grandpa went out to see what was wrong with him and saw something hanging on his tail. Grandpa caught Ole Tom and the cat just scratched him all over the hands, arms and legs. He finally wrestled Ole Tom down where he could hold him and he had this awful stick on this tail. Grandpa had to get a screwdriver to get this stick off Ole Tom's tail." Grandma was still looking straight at Dad who was leaned over with his head down. Ever since Dad was a child, Grandma knew when he was telling the truth. She leveled her finger at him and said. "Newt you done that!"