5

Alabama 5

had the money, sewed right here." Skelton marked off the place on his
thigh where the money had been sewn; be marked it off on cheap, dollar
pants, faded with washing. He drew out his sack of tobacco, rolled a smoke
with his lean, mutilated hand. "Well, I wasn't thinking about nothing like
that, buying land—I wasn't married then and wasn't thinking about settling
down. Well, I come back by that saloon and house when I was working on the
postal telegraph lines, and that house was worth $4500, and it wasn't more'n
a year after that. I was there in July, July the Fourth—it was a legal
holiday—and I was in the same saloon, and it was just one year later that
same parcel of land and house was $4500! I could have been a rich man, but
I'm a pauper...

"That wasn't all. My brothor-in-law—he's in Texas—Ferguson is his
name, bought a bunch of land for $1500, and he's got something; he's been
offered $15000!"

The regret and chagrin in his voice was real; his tone of voice was as
angry as if he had just stumped his toe.

"But I've made money. I didn't know there was going to be a panic or
anything. It was that panic and trucks that ruined me. Trucks are like
gambling; you think if you spend just one more dollar on a truck you won't
have to spend anymore. Trucks was my downfall. I was up there in Belgreen,
working that timber. I'm up there now, but it ain't hardly worth a dam,
but it's all I can get. It's worked to hell and back.

"I bought a bunch of trucks before the panic. I thought it would be
better to have a truck, and then I could come home at night. I bought a truck
up here at Russell ville, one Saturday. I bought the best tires I could buy --
them Goodyear—worth $57-50 apiece. Well, sir, I started home, and when I
got to Bear Hill, my rear, left tire hit a strip of iron." Skelton measured
with his mutilated hand a strip about 1/4 x 1 x 6. "It sliced a hole in the
tire, ruining $57.50." He could taste the sound of that money. "Well, I

738