Out of the Past - 1960
Caution must be used in reporting Diamond Jubilee activity in Callaway these days.
Striking fear into the hearts of the general populace is the vigilante committee - a dozen or so men who every Friday evening hold kangaroo court at the community hall and dish out penalties for “improper” activity.
The vigilante committee, however, has also been made uneasy itself by the secret organization known as the Callaway Peoples Protective Committee (CPPC), with promises “Revenge Death” and a multiple of other tonguein-cheek fates to the Friday night judges.
The secret protective society has made its mission clear in a number of ways. Every business house window in town is splattered with its red paint promises. Hanging suspended high above a main street intersection is a dummy with another threatening slogan slung across its back.
In the middle of all this cut-throat masculine activity stands the Callaway women, who in general thinks the whole business is a heap of fun, but, nevertheless, remains non-committal in certain respects.
A Chief reporter surveyed a cross section of the southwest Custer County town’s distaffers this week in an effort to find out how the women feel about the facial adornment some of their husbands have been culticating for over six month.
Most of the women were hesitant about offering any opinions.
The reasons? Could it be fear of reprisal or a beating by their husbands? Who knows?
“It’s a big one!” Mrs. Leo Wendorff said laughingly as she tweaked hubby’s bushy face. No comment aside from that. Leo, owner and proprietor of Leo’s Market and Locker, said he hasn’t run into any trouble with vigilantes, mainly because he is one. Main trouble these days, he snorted, is with the dreaded CPPC.
Mrs. Weston Peer said because her husband started the spouting his growth in January she’s gotten pretty used to it by now (the rules say the beards didn’t have to start until May.
Peer was charged by the vigilantes last week-end with “barking at the moon and gazing at the sun” among other things, and, as punishment played town crier on Saturday night.
Mrs. Maurice Edgington said her husband’s prickly growth is small (only a mustache) and hasn’t caused her to feel one way or another toward it. She feels sorry, however, for many of the heavily-foliaged fellows who must suffer on these hot summer days. She reports her husband apparently hasn’t made any miscues to date. So far he is untouched by the vigilantes. She speculated this may be because he servees a bailiff at the weekly court proceedings.
Mrs. Marion Cantrell says her husband, a dark-haired individual, has had no trouble making his beard color match the growth on top of his head. “It grows out really light,” she said. “Almost grey.” This fact has been Mr. Cantrell’s failing. His bouts with the dyeing brush have put him in dutch with the vigilantes.
A big run on shaving cream and razors will probably hit Callaway about Saturday, Aug. 13. The big 75th anniversary Pioneer Picnic is scheduled for the 11th and 12th. Plans for the big program are almost complete.