I NEVER SEEN SUCH VERMIN
by John Godfrey

I kicked around the woods a good bit and been in some pretty lousy camps and on the drives, but the worst lousing now that I ever got was the winter we were working back in Caribou for Russell's'.
That was one of the winters during the depression. We had a small crowd and just used one end of the camp. We were mostly country lads from around the area.
I don't think there had ever been a louse in that camp. But these two feelers come down from up river. I think they had been up at Sin clair's but since they had worked for Russell's before they got hired on. .
It wasn't long before I thought some vermin had come from somewhere's. So, on Sunday I went out to the hovel and hauled my lint en (undershirt) off. Boys, let me tell yak, I didn't throw 'er down 'till put my foot on 'er
because I-think they would'a took her away! I never seen such vermin as them! And as thick!
So I went in and got another suit of underwear and put the lousy pair on the horse under his rug (horse blanket). The lice would leave and go to the horse and that's how I kept meself deloused so to speak. It wasn't one hundred per cent mind you, but it sure helped.
Andrew McKenzie was there with his team and he used to go home some Saturday nights. One Sunday night he come back and he said to me, "Did you change your clothes today, John?"
I said, "Yes I did, Andrew." When he asked me if I had any lice on me I lied, "No, I don't think there's a louse here. Why do ya ask?"
"Oh jaysus," he said, "I went home and the wife kicked me out into the shed and told me to change me underwear. So help me God, when I threw her down on the floor the lice started taking her right out the door. The young lads started to pick and they picked near three hundred and they didn't have the quarter of them!"
But I never seen lice so thick! We had them until we were done in the spring. I never bothered washing. I just took them out Sunday and put them under the horse's rug.
I 'am not telling yak a word of a lie. I've seen them old lads up the Miasmic .....
and from the first time I went to the woods that's what they were doing to get rid of the lice. They were a raw bunch. And them old lads.... they were just as fat as bears. Always chewing abaca and drinking black tea ....

PEOPLE DIED
by John Godfrey

A plague known, as the Spanish Influenza, swept the world during the winter of 1918 -1919. they believed it was spread by soldiers returning borne after WWI. New Brunswick was estimated to have had over 35,000 cases and 1394 deaths. The schools in Newcastle were closed from October 10 to November 25 and again from December 16 until after Christmas. --dm-
When that flu come through here, there was an awful pile of people died. I was working up the woods in Bartibogue. They cut spool wood there. A portager, by the name of Les Mullen, caught the flu but it didn't kill him. He recovered, ya see, and as a result, he couldn't catch it again. He became immune to the disease.
Les, he's dead now, often told me about having to bring dead men out of the camps on his portage sled. One time in particular 'afore the rivers and brooks was froze he bought out three dead men in the box on his sled.
As he was coming out he had to ford some little brooks and a river. The water was high enough in places to flood the box and soak the dead men. By the time he got to the Depot Camp, the weather had turned cold, and those three corpses were frozen together•••.••_.
I guess it must have been a terrible sight.
A lot of people up there in them camps died with that flu. I often did hear them old lads say how many but I can't remember right now.
But that struck there about two weeks 'afore Christmas. That was at what they called Seghoulya Camp. It was named after a place over round Chatham Head. An awful lot of French lads died there........•. God rest their souls.

HE HAD THE POWER
by John Godfrey

Do you know anything about this black art business? We had a man lived around here in my time by the name of Will Lawlor. Him and his brother hauled in a field of wheat with no horse on a truck wagon. The wagon just moved along from one stook to another all by itself. Will Lawlor had the power!
I seen this meself now where he started the jam on Green Brook.We worked on her for about a day, but there was a crowd on her afore that and we worked the next day until first lunch. Lawlor was working on a drive up behind us and he come down and his drive come right into the tail of the jam.
They were telling Lawlor how bad the jam was but he just said ,"Don't worry, I'll start it."
And he went out after we boiled the kettle •.•• he went out on the jam. Now I don't know what he pronounced ••• he just looked up to the heavens ... and that jam started to move! I would say about three or four minutes after he went out on it she started moving. She run out clear. There was more that a dozen men seen that right there. Nobody ever said a word to Lawlor about what happened. We were kind of scared at him, I guess. It wasn't natural, ya know.
There was a crew working up in the woods there for Ritchies'. Up in the Holmes Lake country. Lawlor was there this winter and this young feller used to torment him a bit. When Lawlor predicted that an accident was to happen the young lad and some of the others laughed at him. Mind you, not everyone laughed ..• just some. This all happened sometime in February. It all came to a head on the Sunday evening that Lawlor had prophesized an accident would happen.
The young feller taunted Lawlor that this was the day that the accident was due and nothing had happened. Lawlor simply replied,"The day ain't over yet. It ain't over 'til midnight."
Now, lads who were there told me that what I'm about to tell you is the God's truth. That young feller took an awful pain in his stomach and just kind of passed out. Well,sir, they had to get ready real fast and take him out to the settlement. Now on the way out, they hadda take the portage team across this narrow bridge and when they did, one of the horses crowded. One horse shoved the other off the side of the bridge and broke his leg! They had to go back to the camp and get another team to take the young lad out. He died 'afore they got down to the Depot Camp. Coincidence, ya say? Maybe •.. but then agin' .•• maybe not.•
Now I'll tell ya what a boss on a drive told me about Lawlor. He says, "Lawlor has the power. Don't think fer a minute he doesn't." He went on to tell me what Lawlor did one time when he was working at another camp up at Holmes Lake. The boss wanted to send some word down to the office. Well it was two day's journey from Holmes Lake to Newcastle and he asked Lawlor to take the message down to Ritchie's office. He said Lawlor didn't hurry away in the morning 'atall. The cook told him it was nine o'clock before ever he made a start. Well, anyway, when the men came in from work that evening, Lawlor was back and sitting up as nice as ya like warming his feet by the stove. He had the answer to the letter the boss had give him in the morning! I tell ya the man was scarey...
He could also take rabbits right out of the wall there an' the like a that. Alive! They would come right out of that wall and hop right across the floor. A friend of mine said he was working on the Fisher farm with Flatwork. They were working out in a field. They were hoeing and Lawlor told him he could make the clothes fall off him right there in the field."No,"he said, "Your arose, Flatwork, you can't do no such thing." He didn't get the words out of his mouth until the clothes started to fall right off a him 'tile he pleaded for mercy. He told me that different times. But after a while, they wouldn't hire Flatwork up river a' tal. The men didn't want him in the camps.They were scared of him. That's true. The bosses wouldn't hire him.

LET THE DEAD REST
by John God frey

There was an old lad down in Chatham. He wouldn't weigh no more than ninety pounds I don't think. He run a boarding house. Him and his wife. Oh, she was about two hundred pounds. She was a strapping' big woman. We used to get our supper there. Well anyway's, there had been a big fight down in Chatham around what we call "The Hill."
We were all talking about the fight when we were getting our dinner and the wife says,"Amos, you hit a man awful hard one time, didn't you?" Without batting an eye the old lad says,"Let the dead rest, Woman, let the dead rest." Everybody at the table whooped at that I'll tell yak. Boys, I laughed till the tears run down me cheeks!

GET THAT MAN!
by John God frey

I pretty near went over the falls up there on the Nor' west one time. It was up there just below what they call Camp Adams. The sports from the States own it now, I believe. We were putting in landings at the start of a drive. I was about twenty years of age maybe, no more. Just a young lad.
There was quite a crowd of men there and the water was pretty high. On this occasion, there was about ten pieces of logs caught on a rock and right across from it against the other bank was another rock with a few logs on it.
Well, the boatmen took us out _••• us two lads. Russell Mullen's and me. He's still living up here yet. Anyway, they put me on this first little center and one of the boatmen said,"Now don't you touch those logs until we come back!"
They had something else to do first and they wanted to lighten the load in the boat.
So, curiosity, and being a young man .•..•. I said to myself that I could set the logs free, hop on one, ride it down river and get off on shore somewhere's ahead. After all, any good stream driver knows how to ride a log. And being young and foolish I probably wanted to show off a bit as well.
So , I give this first log a cant with my peavey and it went over the top of the rock and then all of the other logs went over one after the other. I only had to touch that first log and the others followed it just as slick as you please. The rock had a very sharp edge and since I couldn't stand on it anyway, I just stuck my peavey in one log and stepped on to another.
There I was sailing down the Nor' West! Just groin' right along without a worry in the world. Then I heard the boss sing out to the boatman,"Get that man! there's a falls around the corner!"
Well sir, I sure had something to worry about then! I was down where the river always narrows up and I had quite a little start on them. And to top 'er all off, I was going as fast as they were.
But, they put the poles to her and Russell Mullen's drove his boat hook into one of my logs and they got me into the boat. Then, by golly, they had a job of 'er to snub the boat before we all went over the falls. They got to me in just the nick of time.
Itellya, ifithaddataken any longer therewould'abeena lot ofmen ina lot of trouble.The Nor' West is a very rough river. Up where the ledges are and that sort ofthing. She's not to be trifled with.

AN AWFUL STRENGTH
by John Godfrey

I've run across moose all right but I was never a hunter of the wild. But, I was often around where there was quite a few bears. When I was a young lad there was always a lot of bears around. They'd go right into a sheep pen and kill a sheep or sneak into a barnyard and kill a pig. Look, a bear has an awfuL strength, eh! I mind one night I was up at Digdon's out in Wellfield and they had a big pig. I betcha it would dress four hundred pounds. They had it out in a pen at the end of a pig shed, ya know. They had it built up with rails. They wern't far apart. One right on top of the other. A bear went in the night before and took the pig right over that fence! He didn't knock the fence down nor go under it or nothing. He took that pig over the fence! I know it would dress four hundred pounds. Va know, a wild animal is a powerful creature. .we found the pig later that day. He didn't take it very far. He killed it. It ':Vas just a tilde bit from the barn.

Bully's Acre
by John God frey

That old portage road went to Bald Mountain. You crossed the road right at Jim McNeill's place at the head of the settlement. This Bully's Acre was about two and a half miles above McNeill's on the portage. It's on this side of Stoney Brook.
It appeared a bunch of these old fellers was going up to bring down a drive and someone by the name of McCain took up a keg of rum and give it to them. More likely, he took it up and sold it to them.
Anyway, those men set up camp and stayed there for three days. They drank the rum, fought with each other, went for more rum and fought some more. Everyone would try to outdo the other. I don't think anyone got hurt real bad or anything like that ...... but they were a tough bunch.
When I was there fifty years ago it was just as bare as a field! They pulled the little spruce trees and bushes right out of the ground. They fought there until the rum run out and then they went on up to bring the drive down. They called that place Bully's Acre. It was an old portage told me about it the first time I went up there.

GALLOWS HILL
by John Godfrey

There was a man hung himself out here one time. At that time there was hoboes. This was afore my day but I remember a feller showed me where it happened. He was walking through on the Richibucto Road.
They didn't know who he was nor where he come from, but someone found him one morning hanging from a tree. Nobody knew him. He hung himself with his braces. They buried him right there at the foot of that tree.
At that time they didn't hunt around. There wasn't no telephones nor nothing like that. He was just a stranger. That's all••• Seemed a shame... Such an awful waste..•
They always called that place Gallows Hill after that. It's on the Richibucto Road right a' back a' Napan about two miles. It goes by the name a' Gallows Hill to this day.

THE BEST LIFT I EVER SEEN
by John Godfrey

I think now if it come down to the strongest man I ever had anything to do with, it would be Peter Breau from Loggieville. I'll tell ya what I seen him do.
He loaded for me one winter in the woods. I knew him from the time he was a kid. Somedays he was moody and sort of ugly, and never said nothing to me or anything. On those days I wouldn't pay no attention to him whatever in the world.
We were loading one night after dark. It had been a long day and everyone was tired and probably a hit cranky.
The logs were icy and we had blocked them on with the horses. We had cleaned up a bottom and was just about ready to step ahead. After the third tier of logs you put your chains on and left one log free on top. Peter went up on 'er to spread 'er and that log went right off onto the side of the snow plowed road.
And he jumped off the load and grabbed 'a holt 'a that log right fair in the middle. Now this is the God Almighty's truth! All by himself mind you, he set that log right up on the third tier on those sleds. Just like that! No friggin!
And when he got hack up on the load didn't that damn log roll off again. Without batting an eye, he jumped right back down there in the snow up to here (above the knees), and picked her up a second time!
Now sir, I always thought that was just about the best lift I ever seen a man take. That vaar (fir) was eighteen feet long, because it was a skid, and I would say ten inches at the top. And ice! There was a hundred weight of ice on it.
Now, I've seen quite a few logs loaded and what they call good strong men, but I never met the man that I think could 'a stepped in an' done that. No, Sir. That was some lift I!!!