Mr. Patrick Back in Class

Written by Tom Fowler, Published on 11/20/2009

Autumn was in the air as Gary Patrick spoke to his advanced history students. It was week three of the fall term, and it was time to share an interesting story with them. Several of his students were familiar faces that had been in his basic class last spring. Gary was especially pleased that his two most gifted students from the spring term, Justin Miller and April Park, were with him again. He remembered how much they enjoyed hearing of his great-grandfather Tom Patrick’s experiences in a northern prison during the Civil War. Mr. Patrick also wondered if April would once again be able to solve the mystery he was about to put before her and the others in advanced history. At this moment, he was pleased he had decided to delay retirement for another year.

Looking at April, Mr. Patrick said to his students, “I’m going to tell you a story. It is recent Patrick family history and a true story.” When he said this, he saw Justin’s eyes widen and an intense look cross April’s face, for they remembered well how interesting the story of Mr. Patrick’s great-grandfather was. The students sensed the upcoming drama and the classroom fell silent.

Mr. Patrick continued, “The time is July, 1933. The place is Shawnee, Oklahoma. Those of you who were with me last year know that my great-grandparents Tom and Marie Patrick lived in London, Arkansas. After the Civil War, Tom’s brothers spread out to Oklahoma and Texas. This story is about my uncle John Patrick, who moved west to Oklahoma in the 1890’s and settled in an area of what became the city of Shawnee.”

“My cousin Johnny Patrick still lives on the farm that Great Uncle John established just before the turn of the 20th century. It plays a major part in the story I am about to tell you.”

“The 1930s were hard years for the United States but were particularly harsh for persons living in Oklahoma. The drought and high winds created what is known as the ‘Dust Bowl” and destroyed the crops and livelihood of many farmers, Uncle John included. The economic collapse created widespread distrust of banks and other financial institutions, for there were few government programs to insure assets or assist persons in need during that time. It took President Roosevelt’s New Deal awhile to get into full swing and in July of ’33, he had only been in office a short time.”

Mr. Patrick paused, waiting for questions. There were none, so he continued, “Because of the public distrust many families, especially those living in rural communities on farms and homesteads, simply hid or buried things of value, even money, somewhere on their property. Even today, you will hear the occasional story of valuables being found unexpectedly on an old farm or residence. Hiding treasured belongings is what Uncle John did with just about everything of value he and Aunt Jean had during that hard first summer of the Roosevelt administration. He hid his assets and, like most persons of that era, did not tell anyone besides Aunt Jean he had done so.”

“So, to the point of the story and the little puzzle I have for you. A couple of months ago Johnny decided to tear down the old barn. It was built in 1912 and was in pretty bad shape. In mid July, I traveled to Shawnee and spent several days helping him. One morning we discovered a tiny marker on the barn wall near the floor and in the far corner. It indicated that a metal box was buried just underneath the ground line underneath the floorboard at that spot. As you may imagine, we were intrigued and hurriedly ripped up the rotten wood flooring and quickly unearthed the box.”

“The box was what old-timers used to call a ‘strongbox.’ It was obviously homemade and made entirely of steel with leather straps around it. As you may imagine, the straps were mostly rotten and the box itself was covered with rust, but otherwise it was in very good condition for something that had been in the ground for decades. We would soon find the contents of the box were dry and well preserved. It had a padlock on the hasp but both were so rusty that it took Johnny little effort to snap the lid open. When he did so, we found something of great value.”

Mr. Patrick paused. This time, he did not continue until April asked, “What was in the box?”

Mr. Patrick smiled, “That is the puzzle. I’m going to give you some clues and you will have to figure it out.” Mr. Patrick was pleased. He saw that he had the students’ full attention. He resumed by saying, “Now, let me back track a little bit. Tearing down the old barn was only part of a cleaning up project. Johnny and his wife Nance had been doing some remodeling in the main house as well. About a month before Johnny and I found the buried strongbox, Nance was cataloguing some old recipe books, which were kept on a shelf above the washer and dryer in the laundry room. Within one of those books was a yellowed piece of paper dated April 27, 1932. On this piece of paper was written a list of family valuables. The list included five items. The items were a diamond necklace, several pieces of paper Confederate States of America, (or CSA), currency, a rare lithograph photo of Tom and Marie Patrick, a money clip made of gold and a pistol encrusted with rubies and emeralds. Johnny said that the diamond necklace no doubt belonged to Jean and the other things were John’s. He thinks John got the pistol and money clip when traveling with a Wild West show in the early part of the century.”

Justin asked, “Were all of the items found in the strongbox?”

Mr. Patrick smiled and replied, “No, only one. That is the puzzle. When I finish the story, you should be able to figure out which item it was. Now, listen closely.”

“After opening the strongbox, we took it inside the main house to the kitchen table for closer inspection. On the inside of the box lid the date, “May 4, 1932 was scratched. Evidently, Aunt Nance’s list detailed the items to be placed in the box Uncle John was making for the purpose of safekeeping. For some reason, only one of the items was found in the box. This was a mystery to both of us but over the course of the next few days we discovered why.”

“The next day, Nance found one of the items in an old ice box in the main house basement. In those days, it was common for people to store paper documents such as stocks, bonds, legal papers, etc., in iceboxes and refrigerators to safeguard against fire.”

Mr. Patrick was quietly amused when he noticed one of his new students about to say something but decided against it. He continued, “A couple of days later, in the middle of the morning Nance again found another of the valuables, this time in the library and in a hollowed out book on the top shelf. This was another common practice in those pre-World War II days. Normally, you would hide things, especially dangerous objects you wanted to keep away from children, inside such a modified work – and the bigger the book, the better! It helped if it was one of those large leather works with a small lock and key hasp on it, but then you would have to ruin a very expensive work of art and literature to use it as a makeshift safe.” Mr. Patrick paused to let his last statement sink in.

After a moment, he continued, “That afternoon, the busy Nance found another of the items. It was found in a storage box, deep in the basement storage closet. With this item there was a lock of hair, a brooch and a hairbrush with a silver backing.” Looking at Justin and April, Mr. Patrick stated, “I believe we learned in one of our lessons last year that women of that era and before kept locks of hair as keepsakes with their other items of jewelry.”

“Finally, just before I was to return home, Johnny and I cleaned out what appeared to be an unfinished room upstairs. When we were about half done, we realized it was not an unfinished bedroom but an abandoned walk-in closet. This was not too surprising as it sat right off of Uncle John’s study. The item in question was found in an inlaid box full of masculine accoutrements. Among other things, it contained a tobacco pouch, a cigar lighter and the usual assortment of suspender buttons and cuff links.”

Mr. Patrick paused but resumed before any of his students could speak. He said, “I have given you four clues. You should be able to determine what was in the strongbox by process of elimination.”

Mr. Patrick left the classroom for a few minutes. Before departing, he said, “I would expect you will have the correct answer when I return from the office.”