Ghosts out in full force
Adamsville is site of haunting good time
By PHYLLIS POEHLMANN Special Correspondent Photos by Jim Lowe

The "Ghosts" cast includes Ben Leggett (who portrayed Moses Hughes), seated left; Gladys Dickison (Hannah Hughes); Betty Poe (Leone Patterson Walton); Shawna and Shad Hill Annette and J.M. Chadwick); Lila Goodson (Tempus Fugit); and Pat Millican (Joshua Gibson). Back row: Vickie Saulter, keyboardist; Phyllis Poehlmann, violinist (and Georgia Millican); Charles Fields (Henry Childs Fields); Wayne Boultinghouse (undertaker and emcee); Jamie Smart (Reuben Senterfitt); Janie Perkins (Julia McCrea McAnelly); John Davis (Harvey Maxwell); and Vanita Craft (Margaret Taylor). Janie Potts, back right, directed the play.

ind and rain weren't the only W

things to blow into Adamsville last Saturday night. The "Ghosts of Lampasas County" were resurrected once again by the Lampasas County Historical Commission for an encore appearance hosted at the Adamsville Community Center.

Despite the inclement weather, a near-capacity crowd of 175 attended the event, organizers estimated. While the wind howled outside, the audience did the same inside as they laughed at the anecdotes of the characters.

Janie Perkins -- dressed in period costume complete with a corncob pipe and fancy straw hat -- delighted a near-capacity crowd with her portrayal of Julia McCrea McAnelly.

The actors, some of whom are descendants of the early-day county settlers they portrayed, were directed by Janie Potts of Lometa.

As Edmond Straley and Vaughn Vann assisted with parking, Robert Shurtleff and Lester Yates distributed programs. Charles Fields, president of the Adamsville Community Center Association, welcomed the audience.

Wilda Mullins, vice chairman of the county Historical Commission, gave opening remarks about the commission's goals to preserve, protect and promote the history of Lampasas County, and she congratulated Adamsville on its centennial year.

Actors were cued for their appearance by music from the "Many Ha-Has:" Phyllis Poehlmann on violin and Vickie Saulter, dressed in authentic Native American costume, on the keyboard.

Dressed as an undertaker complete with silk top hat, County Judge Wayne Boultinghouse acted as master of ceremonies and performed the duty of announcing the ghosts as each appeared.

Adamsville resident Charles Fields welcomed the audience to his community for Saturday's repeat performance of the "Ghosts" portrayals. Fields told of his ancestor, Henry Childs Fields, who had a reputation for "earin' down" a mule.

"I thought I had laid these souls to rest," he quipped before introducing Tempus Fugit, played by Lila Goodson, whose job was to keep an eye on the performers' "fleeting time" and ring her bell when their allotted five minutes had expired.

Gladys Dickison and Ben Leggett portrayed Hannah and Moses Hughes, the first settlers to test the curative properties of the Lampasas springs when Hannah's health was fading, thus initiating the flow of settlers and visitors to the sulphur springs after word spread about her improved health.

Shad and Shawna Hill as J.M. and Annette Chadwick waltzed to the stage, demonstrating the type of entertainment that occurred on a regular basis at Chadwick's Mill on the Colorado River during its operation from 1878 to 1915. People traveled from as far away as San Angelo and San Antonio to use the mill.

Lila Goodson was Tempus Fugit, the ghost of fleeting time.

Fields told the audience of his ancestor, Henry Childs Fields, and demonstrated his version of "earin' down" a mule. With eight children in the family, he said of Fields: "That's what you call your own work force." When the boys started breaking mules to ride for fun, the task soon turned to work, and the family business expanded as they sold mules that could be ridden in addition to pulling wagons and plows.

Today, 1,220 acres near Adamsville are owned by Fields' descendants, with 610 acres bearing the name "Fields Turkey Creek Ranch."

Jamie Smart, wearing a 10-gallon hat and toting a saddle, portrayed Reuben Senterfitt, considered to be the first cattle king of Lampasas County. He explained how the railroad's westward expansion spelled doom for the thriving town of Senterfitt when it bypassed the settlement by 2 1/2 miles. Overnight the town's businessmen packed up and loaded whole buildings onto logs so they could be pulled by teams of horses and oxen to the railroad at its present-day site of Lometa.

Lometan John Lynn Davis posed as his ancestor, Harvey Maxwell, who became the youngest Texas Ranger of record.

Janie Perkins, in period costume complete with a corncob pipe and fancy straw hat, portrayed Julia McCrea McAnelly. She read from an actual letter written by Julia's sister, which told of her sadness when two neighbors were killed by Indians within three miles of her home in 1860.

Mrs. Poehlmann acted as her great-great-grandmother Georgia Millican, wife of the Baptist preacher, L.R. Millican. She told of the loneliness during his long absences from home while he traversed the frontier preaching and building churches, "braving the elements, sleeping on the ground, with only the stars for his roof and his saddle for his pillow."

The first church Millican established was School Creek Baptist in 1879.

Vanita Craft was convincing as the grieving widow Margaret Taylor, whose husband, Daniel Webster Taylor, did not heed her pleas to stay home with her and their 14 children. Instead he opted to drive the cattle trail, which led to his death of pneumonia. Her grief was so great that Taylor appeared to her in a dream, reassuring her there would be a bright future for the incorporated town of Kempner.

John Lynn Davis posed as his ancestor, Harvey Maxwell, who became the youngest Texas Ranger of record. After witnessing a robbery by the then-governor's brother, Sam Neff, Maxwell was asked to testify against Neff which he agreed to do, despite threats to his life.

While Maxwell attended a Methodist camp meeting, a rider on horseback fired several shots at him but missed. Maxwell ran for his rifle, fired one shot and killed the man. When he turned himself in to authorities he was "no billed," required to put up a $500 bond and soon afterward was named a deputy sheriff.

Betty Poe, as Leone Patterson Walton of Moline, related how an enterprising doctor ordered Sears catalogs for all the residents so a post office could be established for the community.

Before Moline built a cotton gin, farmers hauling cotton to Center City for ginning had to tie down the brakes of their loaded wagons to maneuver down a treacherous slope, aptly named "Paradise Hill" for its penchant to send drivers on to their eternal reward.

Pat Millican gave a rendition of his ancestor Joshua Gibson, telling several tales of his children's pranks and mischief. "Oh Tab, I've killed Fan, but don't tell Mama!" is often quoted in the family today in jest of a long-ago sibling argument that ensued over a gardening task. Today, Gibson's great-grandson Foy Gibson and great-great-grandsons Grady Gibson and Glenn Gibson still farm the land at Bend.

The program concluded with Tempus Fugit reminding the audience that "time is fleeting and you, too, will someday be an ancestor."

Refreshments were served by Amelia Fields, Mary Shurtleff, Joan Vann, Annette Yates, Wanda Lang and Sherry Boultinghouse.

Another presentation of "Ghosts" is set for April 5 at 7 p.m. at the county courthouse, hosted by the San Antonio Club of Lampasas as a fund-raiser for preservation of the Lampasas Colored School.