Howard Herron Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield

Howard Herron 7 7
Q: He was elected governor?
A: Yes. I was just a young fellow then. I was married though and I
heard a politician say that that was what they were for, to elect Glen
Small the governor.
Q: About what time was this in your life?
A: About 1925.
Q: You were a young man then?
A: Yes.
Q: Did they ride into town?
A: No, they just had a meeting out there out south of town here in a
pasture out there and we drove by. They didn't bother you, you just went
on by and they had a fellow standing at the gate and unless you belonged
you didn't get in.
Q: Did you ever see them in their sheets?
A: Oh yes. And they had a big red cross, a big cross burning but it
didn't last long. That's why a lot of them felt that was for that
election purpose.
Q: So you feel it was more political than religious?
A: That wasn't my feelings exactly, but that was what I heard. The
smarter guys were the politicians though.
Q: I understood though that back in the olden days when Auburn was just
getting its start, that the people who lived on the east side of town
were not considered as good as the people on the west side of the track.
Was there some sort of controversy there?
A: Well, there was the east sid-and the west side but most of the
foreign people settled on the east side. The residents on this side, I
can say this for the east side, I was in business for myself later on at
the tailend of that. But the foreign people, I was their lawyer and
advisor, and a lot of them trusted me. They all traded with me and they
all paid, when I sold out, everyone that could, came to pay their bills.
I remember one fellow by the name of Felitian Gignet, and I had bought
Dr. Hart's house up here and I moved back from Springfield here, and he
came down to my house. I'd sold him a car, a used car, and he came down
to my house and he stood there with his hat in his hand and he said, my
nickname, they call me Percy. He said, "Mr. Percy, I'm sorry, I owe you
for $40 on the car but I can't pay. I got no money, I got no job." And
I said, "Well, wait till I get my book."
And I went and got the books and I said, "yes, that's $40." So I just
got the papers and he turned around and I happened to see the seat of his
pants was out. I went and got a suit of clothes I give him, and tore up