Ghosts Of The Snelson-Brinker House, Cuba, AL
Way Of The Ray
Free Press Feature
Ghosts of the Snelson-Brinker House
By Jim Hardin
If spooks exist, as some
folks imagine, two or more
of them must have become
quite unsettled ten years or
so ago near the
Crawford-Phelps county
border.
One would have been the
spirit of a small child.
Another would have been
the ghost of her teenage
baby-sitter, although that
term, "baby-sitter," had not
yet been coined when the
two met their deaths.
The story is well-known
though some of its
particulars seem to have
changed down through the
years.
In the second decade of
Missouri's statehood, John
Brinker and his wife lived in
a log house, built a few
years earlier by Levi
Snelson, a few miles from
Maramec Spring. Also
domiciled there were their
daughters, two-year-old
Vienna Jane and the infant
Sarah.
A trip to Steelville for
provisions, a journey of
nearly 10 miles, was a
considerable one in those
days of wagons drawn over
bad roads by horses or
oxen.
The Snelson-Brinker House is located on Highway
8
about nine miles west of Steelville.
So the young couple left the children in the care of a teenage slave
named Mary. Their other slave
(or slaves) would accompany them on the day long outing.
Once, upon returning from Steelville, the mother and father were told
by the young nursemaid that
one of the girls was missing. Vienna's body was subsequently discovered
in a nearby spring, the
victim of a terrible accident.
Suspicious of the young slave's tale, however, the parents had the girl
arrested. Chained to a tree in
Steelville (for the county seat had no jail then), terrified that she
would never be allowed to return
home, and threatened with a beating to extract a confession, the
suspect admitted that she had
drowned the little girl, poking her with a stick of firewood to make
her sink.
It took two trials to accomplish the feat, for there were legal
mistakes other than that the confession
was made under duress, but Mary was found guilty and was eventually
hanged in Steelville. She was
buried somewhere on the ridge north of Main street.
Supposedly, Mary was sixteen when little Vienna died, and seventeen
when she was executed.
There is evidence, however, that she was as much as three years
younger.
The graves of the Brinker sisters are located
in the Brinker-Houston Cemetery about 100
yards east of the cabin.
During the time frame that
these events
occurred, at least one of
several groups
of Cherokees passed through
the area
on the infamous Trail of
Tears. Their
property in Georgia and
east Tennessee
had been confiscated, and
they were
being removed to what would
become
Oklahoma.
On the forced march, much
of it during
an especially harsh winter,
as many as
twenty-five percent of the
transients died
of exposure, disease and
malnutrition.
Mostly, the casualties were
aged men
and women and young
children.
Probably, some of them died
while
camped near the Brinker
cabin.
If spooks exist, as some
folks imagine,
the ghosts of some
heartbroken Indians,
as well as the small
drowning victim
(whether by accident or
malice) and of
her purported murderer,
might have
clung to the log cabin on
the side of that
long hill overlooking the
Meramec river
for a century and a half.
The property on which the
house stood
changed hands several times
over the
years.
Although it was on the Crawford County side of the boundary, it
eventually came into the possession
of the Phelps County Historical Society, which put up a sign and
informational posters, but for lack
of funds never really developed it as a historic site and performed
only minimal maintenance.
In 1988, it was sold to the St. James Historical Preser-vation Society
to acquire money for removal
and restoration of another ancient building, this one actually in
Phelps County. The St. James
organization, with a grant from the James H. Woods Foundation, and with
labor and funds from
other interested parties, dismantled and rebuilt the structure.
Examination of the restoration indicates that some logs (presumably
rotted or damaged beyond
recovery) were replaced, but it seems that most were used again in
their original location. Proper
chinking now insulates the old log house, and it appears the two
fireplaces, which are served by a
single chimney, might make the pioneer home quite livable, even in very
cold weather.
No attempt has been made to rebuild the kitchen, a room formerly
attached to the rear. It was torn
down ages ago; only its foundation remains.
The nearby graveyard was manicured, and it seems some outbuildings were
restored or replaced.
New informational materials, presumably more correct than those
available before restoration, were
placed inside for the edification of visitors interested in such
things.
No longer is the old log house dilapidated, its days numbered by those
newer occupants, (not ghosts
but) very alive termites and other pests that can destroy a wooden
structure left to the elements. Set
on its original site, the restoration is nearly identical to the old.
Except for the flag and pole erected in
the front yard, it must appear awfully like it looked in the
mid-nineteenth century.
But what turmoil must those ghosts have endured as the building in
which they had dwelled alongside
the termites for 150 years was unmade. What terror might they have felt
as its parts were separated
and hauled away on trucks the likes of which had not existed in their
time, over ribbons of concrete
and asphalt they could not have visualized. And what sorrow might they
have known as other parts,
such as whatever remained of the old chinking, was scattered to the
winds.
Can the spirits find peace in their cosmetically resurrected
surroundings? Folks who imagine they
exist surely hope so.
Willow
I'm just passing by.. say hello to the bunch in twister.. can't access it
anymore :o( oooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhh well.. just be good.. or try *grin*
Will~
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