Bud Easterwood

"In the business office of the Times the other day this writer was introduced to Mrs. Nancy Ellen (sic) Malone of Attalla and learned that she is the daughter of the late Bud Easterwood, noted trapper and fisherman in Etowah and neighboring counties back in the good old days. She was the widow of Alfre (sic) Malone, and has three children, all of whom are doing well. She is one of nine children, seven of whom are still living.
Bud Easterwood died about 12 years ago and his wife died some time later. He was born in Calhoun County and was widely known in this section of the state, mostly as a trapper. He was really an expert at that business, for he knew much about wild habits. He hunted, fished, and trapped, mostly in St Clair and Etowah Counties. He hunted with all kinds of dogs and trained many for others. Mrs. Malone said that the family always had much game and fish to eat, but that she did not care for any of them. If Bud did not bring in quail, squirrels, wild turkey, and occaisionally deer, all through the hunting season, he was fishing and he was always lucky at that sport.
It was 47 years ago that the writer saw Bud Easterwood and his wife and children when they stepped off the train at the N.C. & St L depot on North 4th Street, back from a long trip home from Texas. They had gone to Texas some time before with the intention of making a future home in the Lone Star State but they had come back because of sickness. Every member of the family, except a 3 months old baby, were sick with chills and fever. That baby was Mrs. Malone. They had arranged in advance to go to W. P. Johnson's farm south of the city and while waiting for transportation they sat around on the depot platform after finding the sunny side and shook with chills - Texas chills - that indicated medical attention but Bud was anxious to get his brood in a house on a farm and declined Mrs. Johnson's offer to get a doctor. Bud said all he wanted was a gallon of whiskey and a double handful of quinine and shelter. Mr Johnson furnished the medicine that Bud preferred and pretty soon the family was in a wagon headed for a farm back in God's country, as Bud expressed it. While Mrs. Malone doesn't remember the whole terrible experience, she recalls that her parents often told her that the whole family was mighty sick and came very near dying.
All successful trappers, hunters, and fishermen have been able to tell many tall stories -as many amatuers do also - and sometime they are accused of stretching the blanket when they are really telling the truth. Very often they are credited with stories they did not originate and they grew less credulous with each repeating. One of the funniest ones they told on Bud - he always claimed it had no basis in the truth - was that he set out 100 traps one mile apart and visited them every morning before breakfast. That would require a walk of 200 miles in a short time. Bud took the jibes that followed the telling of the story with good nature but one day he was a witness in a civil case in Ashville when a lawyer said: "Oh yes, you are the man who visited 100 traps a mile apart before breakfast!" and Bud is said to have gone to town on that lawyer. He was a fast talker and the court had great difficulty quieting him. What he said on the witness stand is partly forgotten but Bud convinced many spectators that he'd been "lied" about!
Very often Bud would come to town with a big story and bring along proof in the way of hides or freshly killed animals. One time he came up with a story about catching a big catfish in the Coosa River that was a whale of a fish, BUT he had a 90 lb cat to prove it!
When he died, he and his wife owned 400 acres in Ball Play, the happy hunting grounds of the Cherokee Indians way back yonder. His son, Homer, now owns the place, having bought the interests of the other heirs.
Bud was an entertaining fellow and always in a friendly mood. He's on the list of this column's unforgettable characters!"