| ||||||||||
 
Dr. Ronald P. Rogers CHIROPRACTOR Support for your body's natural healing capabilities 270-384-5554 Click here for details 
  
Columbia Gas Dept. GAS LEAK or GAS SMELL Contact Numbers 24 hrs/ 365 days 270-384-2006 or 9-1-1 Call before you dig 
Visit ColumbiaMagazine's Directory of Churches Addresses, times, phone numbers and more for churches in Adair County Find Great Stuff in ColumbiaMagazine's Classified Ads Antiques, Help Wanted, Autos, Real Estate, Legal Notices, More... 
|
John Dillinger was a guest at Sulphur Well's Buelah Villa Hotel In this story by Geniece Marcum (Senior Quest, late 1990s) Mr. Paul Froggett of northern Metcalfe County is interviewed. Paul Froggett remembers when John Dillinger was a guest at the Buelah Villa Hotel at Sulphur Well, Kentucky Most of us are familiar with stories of the notorious James Gang, and of how they spent the night in a cabin located near Edmonton after their reported robbery of the Columbia bank. But this little- known story is one remembered by Paul Froggett, 87, who says back in 1933 another infamous bank robber, John Dillinger, also spent some time here as a guest at the Buelah Villa Hotel. Paul says in August of 33, his brother Luther went to Louisville to pick up a new car which he had purchased. Cars were scarce here in those days and on his return trip home that afternoon Luther noticed that he was not the only motorist traveling in this direction on Highway 68. He had been following the same car for some distance. As they neared the county line, just short of the residence once occupied by the late Charlie Perry, the car ahead of him became stuck in the road. Always a good neighbor, Luther stopped and helped get the car with its two occupants out of the mud hole and on their way again. He later confided the incident to Paul. Luther had recognized the driver as a fellow by the name of Mullins, an oil man active in the Crail Hope vicinity near the Froggett home. Mullins was also managing the Sulphur Well dance hall at that time. There wasnt a doubt in Luthers mind, he said, who the passenger traveling with Mullins was either. Hed seen too many pictures of him in the papers lately to be mistaken about his identity. It was John Dillinger, Luther told Paul, sure and certain. Paul says for about a week after that, Dillinger stayed around the Buelah Villa, moving unobtrusively among the other guest who were there. No one paid any special attention to the man, whom Paul described as being, A tall fellow with a rough face. He says Dillinger didnt talk much to anyone during his stay there and whenever he walked around the hotel or its grounds, he always carried a folded newspaper tucked under his arm. We shot pool with him several times while he was there. Paul added. Now the news that a character like John Dillinger showed up at a summer resort as small as as Sulphur Well, isnt all that surprising. He was wanted by the law, for several bank robberies which he had successfully pulled off in the Chicago area. So the heat was on for Dillinger and he was hiding out. Or was the term, on the lam ? As the story went, Dillinger allegedly had a close friend living in a neighboring town and this friend was a brother to the man Luther saw Dillinger riding with, on the day he had arrived in Sulphur Well. This experience wasn't the only brush Paul had with big time gangsters in his youth. A couple of years earlier, in 31, he says a basketball tournament was held at Glasgow in which Center High School and some other team were playing. Paul and a group of other young men had rented a room at an old hotel on the Glasgow square. After the game they planned to spend the rest of the night there. The boys discovered that one of two men lodged in the room just a couple of doors up the hall from theirs was none other than Scarface Al Capone, biggest of the Big Time Gangsters. Late that night Paul remembers that some kind of commotion took place at the hotel which brought Capones bodyguard running out into the hall with a machine gun. At that time it wasnt illegal to carry a machine gun. According to an excerpt from Capones Chicago, written in the thirties, this gun was standard equipment for Capones men. Paul enjoys retelling the stories and events that have taken place during his own life time, as well as those he heard as a boy, while listening to his parents and grandparents talk. There is much to be learned about the early history of this area, its people and the lives they lived, just by spending an hour or so in the company of this seasoned story teller. There arent many around like him any more. His memory is clear as to names, dates and locations of the events which have taken place in the vicinity where he has spent his life. No small detail is ever left out of his stories until the listener can almost see things like the tall, rough faced man with the folded newspaper tucked under his arm, strolling across the old swinging bridge on a hot August day. Maybe to get himself a drink of sulphur water? During our visit Paul was reminded of a long ago feud between the Wallace and Lile clans where he now lives. There was no real reason for the feud, Paul says, they just wanted to have a shootin spree. He recalls being at the store in Liletown one day with a couple of other youths when one of them said to him, Lets go home and hunt Wallaces. Paul told the boys that he couldnt take sides in the feud because he was related to both parties involved. He explained that the Liles were close cousins of his and William Wallace, head of the other side of the feud, was Pauls great grandfather. Early on in this feud the Lile family sent word to the Wallaces not to cut wheat that day, Paul says. But William Wallace sent part of his hands to the wheat field to start their work and the rest of them he hid to watch out for an attack. According to Paul when all of this was taking place a local fellow known as Little Sam Houk, went along to the fields out of curiosity just to see what would happen. When the shooting began Little Sam innocently stepped into the line of fire and was killed. That ended the feud. Paul says. As a young man Paul married the former Joyce Judd and the couple have two sons, Edwin Brown and Sammy. Mrs. Froggett retired after more than 40 years with the Green County School System. Before his own retirement Paul was involved in farming and was widely known throughout this area as a cattle buyer and real estate dealer. He grew up in this county but he and his wife have lived at Liletown since the early 40s, in a house once occupied by Pauls grand parents. Their attractive home stands within an easy stones throw of the banks of Greasy Creek. Usually a mild mannered, harmless little stream, Paul recalls only one time in the years since they moved there that it actually became a threat to their home. "That was eight years ago he says, following a cloud burst upstream." He says. The creek went wild, quickly overflowing its banks and before reaching its crest the swirling waters came within a few inches of their back steps. For a while, there was so much angry water rushing toward them that Paul said, I thought the ocean was coming. The overabundance of water quickly passed on its way into Green River without having done any real damage to the Froggett's property. ~ ~ ~ Writer Geniece Marcum can be reached at: seniorquestmag@scrtc.com ~ ~ ~ For more on Sulphur Well click here: Memories of Buelah Villa This story was posted on 2005-08-07 05:18:24
Printable: this page is now automatically formatted for printing.
Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know. More articles from topic News:
Sheriff's Office responds to Robert Lawrence injury accident Cast your votes for Sarah Withers, Miss Kentucky Teen USA Adair Co. Extension Agent Report: Tobacco buyout tax planning Look Whos Happy Now Over 130 slogan ideas submitted for new promotional logo Annual 450-mile 127 Yard Sale begins Thursday, August 4 Get Moving Kentucky ends with banquet to honor those who met their goals YOU GUESSED IT: mystery baby Garner An all too frequent problem: Phones out AGAIN in Bliss, Gradyville area State Champions: 11-year-old Adair girls All Star Softball Team View even more articles in topic News |
 
115 Jamestown St. Columbia, KY. 270-384-2496 
  
   
 Provided by the Adair Co Fiscal Court and the Adair Co. Emergency Mgt. Agency 
|
||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
|
Quick Links to Popular Features
Looking for a story or picture? Try our Photo Archive or our Stories Archive for all the information that's appeared on ColumbiaMagazine.com. | ||||||||||
|
Contact us: Columbia Magazine and columbiamagazine.com are published by Linda Waggener and Pen Waggener, PO Box 906, Columbia, KY 42728. Please use our contact page, or send questions about technical issues with this site to webmaster@columbiamagazine.com. All logos and trademarks used on this site are property of their respective owners. All comments remain the property and responsibility of their posters, all articles and photos remain the property of their creators, and all the rest is copyright 1995-Present by Columbia Magazine. Privacy policy: use of this site requires no sharing of information. Voluntarily shared information may be published and made available to the public on this site and/or stored electronically. Anonymous submissions will be subject to additional verification. Cookies are not required to use our site. However, if you have cookies enabled in your web browser, some of our advertisers may use cookies for interest-based advertising across multiple domains. For more information about third-party advertising, visit the NAI web privacy site.
| ||||||||||
