Since the question about Short in Clay Township has arisen, I'm curious if anyone on the list has any knowledge of brothers John and Bill Short of Clay Township in the early 1900s. My parents bought land on the south bank of Big Creek from these men in the 1930s but by the time I discovered America, they, nor any of their descendants of which I was aware, no longer lived in those parts. Where did the Shorts relocate? Did they have children? John and Bill Short lived on the north side of Big Creek near where Briar Creek empties into it. (Big Creek was a south and sometimes westerly boundary of Clay Township.) My recollection is that their houseplaces were on the Hardcastle land near the gravesite of the child that died from scalding during hog killing and was buried in the yard. (I think this tragedy and gravesite was mentioned on this list a few months back.) And while we're in that vicinity and speaking of isolated graves, does anyone know the identities of about 4 persons who were buried on the bank of Big Creek near State Hwy 16 at the site of the "old" bridge (probably on the old military road)? This site is about 200-300 yards north of the present Big Creek bridge on Hwy 16 and then due west on the near side of the creek. If any gravestones were ever there, they were probably washed away long ago in floods. My recollection of the legend about those graves was that some travelers were camped there, unable to cross the creek and proceed on their journey due to high water, and when these deaths occurred, the people were buried there on the creek bank. I don't know when that old bridge was constructed but these deaths could have occurred even before the bridge was built when there was only a ford across the creek there. My GrGrandfather John Smith homesteaded the land where the graves are located. And speaking of John Smith, he was the one-armed lawman (Constable?) who rode his mule to Clay and arrested the man who had drowned his wife in their dug well. (He threw her in the well and held her under the water with a fence rail.) John Smith put this man on his mule at Clay, brought him to his home, probably just a few hundred yards north of the above mentioned gravesites on Big Creek, gave him a bed for the night, took turns with Mrs. Smith guarding him with a shotgun throughout the night, gave him his breakfast the next morning, put him back on his mule, and took him into Searcy, where he was hanged from a tree on the courthouse square after being found guilty. (Most everyone in this area recalls this notorious story. I think Mrs. C. Presley wrote an account of this a few years back.) Looking forward to any input on these questions and legends, Wendell