Firefox Commons

What mystery is hidden in our small community?

Firefox Commons

Not much ever happens in tiny Firefox Commons. I suppose it's the way most folks like it too.

It's been quiet here for decades, or so I've been told anyways.

That's when it happened.

It was way back then, before I was bornd.

It was July 4th, 1984 when the world changed forever, at least, that I heard.

Lookin grimly, Mamma said that ole Mr. Johnson never looked so bad, seein as how he was dead and all.

His throat was cut clean through to the spin, it was.

Doc said whoever done it was real mad at Fred.

That's what most folk called him...Fred.

It was a good name, that is, till he was murdered.

That's what them big fancy fellas from the city called it, "MURDER."

They was real plain about it too.

Mamma always said ole Fred was a real nice, for a person.

He never did no harm to anyone.

There were only a few things bout him she didn't care for.

It was on account of how he treated his ole milkin cow.

He'd yell and curse things at her like a sailor on an Easter Sunday.

That's what Mamma always said.

She always had a way with words.

Well, there he lay in his bed, soaked in his own blood.

Ms. McMillan said there ain't no way to get all that blood out, and that those sheets were ruined forever.

I guess that didn't much matter to ole Fred at that point. I doubt he would be too upset about a little blood right now.

Well, as I said, it was decades ago, and not much is said about it anymore on account of the shame it brought the community.

Seems ole Fred and Mrs. McElroy was havin some kinda affair.

Apparently everyone in town knew about it except Mr. McElroy.

He didn't take too kindly to the news. He was pretty steamed up when he went home on that night of the "MURDER".

It was pretty obvious he'd done it on account of he had motive for such a thing.

Everybody thought he was guilty too.

But the problem was, he wasn't.

Seems somebody else done the crime.

It seemed a little too late for poor ole Mr. McElroy, seein as how he was lynched a week after the trial.

Once you're lynched, you're lynched. There ain't no goin back from that.

So ya see, that's where all that shame come in.

"Sendin an innocent man to the gallows is a terrible thing," Mamma always told me.

Mamma lived with the guilt just like all the others, even though she was merely a teenager at the time, and innocent of knowledge of such things.

Mamma is gone now, but to this day, I still remember most of the things she taught me, and things she told me.

She had a real fine way with tellin things.

But as to the case of Mr. Johnson, the killer has never been found.

That's where I come in.

I'm Detective Steven Dowdy of the unsolved murders department also known as cold case investigators on account that they've had time to simmer down a bit.

This is my town.

Author's Note

Who killed ole Mr. Johnson?

Reviews

[Samuel Dickens]

Who killed him? Uh, I dunno. An enjoyable little tale. I even like the accent/dialect.