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Mary Ann and Allie Bennett were left alone, each in their own cabinsas their husbands took corn to the mill. the two cabins were built fairlyclose toghther. The women decided to cook a big pot of the fresh pork fortheir men when they returned. It would take hours to cook in the big ironkettles hanging over the fire in the fireplace of their cabins. alongabout dark the women were cooking the meat, and they heard wild screamsthat sounded like a woman with a high pitched voice, screaming for herlife. It was a bloodcurdling sound. The sounds got closer and closer totheir houses, and more joined in screaming. The women knew these werepanthers, maybe half a dozen or more, coming out of the dense forest. Evidently the panthers smelled the fresh pork cooking and they werehungry. They jumped on top of the log cabins scratching and tearing atthe shingles. They were scratching and tearing at the chimney tryin totear away enough rocks to get down into the house. Each woman stayed inin her own house and kept a big fire in the fireplace to keep thepanthers out. The two log houses were built just a few feet apart. Both had awinwow opening with wooden shutters, so the women could holler back andforth. Through the tiny cracks they could see the panthers on eachother's roof. The panthers stayed all night, clawing, schratching, and screaming.Just before daylight, Mary Ann was so tired and sleepy she fell asleep inher chair. All of a sudden she was awakened by the sound of a rockfalling into the fireplace and vigorous scratching. Her fire had died down to just a hand full of coals, and a pantherwas clawing his way down the chimney. He was half way down and more rockswere falling. The panther was getting in, she had to do something, quick. She jumped up and grabbed a string of dried red hot peppers, threwthem on the fire coals, then started fanning as fast as she could, as thedirt and rocks were falling. Finally, the peppers flamed up. they sent hot gasses up his nostrilsand in his eyes. He got out of there and ran back in the woods screaminglouder than when he came. The others left just at daybreak. No one knows why Mary Ann was known as "Granny Pop" but, during theCivil War she had to be both Mom and Pop, or then after the war when shewas raising fourteen children, maybe if they did not obey her, she gavethem a big pop on the rear. Older folks used to tell about Granny Pop going over to visit hermarried daughters. On the way back home along the trail, she saw apanther perched in a tree ready to pounce on her. She left the road andcontinued on her way circling through the woods. She was thinking she hadleft the panther behind, but when she had circled around through thewoods a long distance then came back into the trail, he was coming alongsome distance behind her. she wondered what to do. He was getting closer.she knew she could not outrun him so, she took off her apron, dropped itin the trail, and walked on as fast as she could. Glancing back, she sawthe panther was courious, smelling and examining the apron. She keptwalking briskley, but when she looked back, he had left the apron and wasfollowing her. As he got close again, she dropped another piece ofclothing, and he stopped to examine it again while she gained a gooddistance. Then the panther was following her again. This happened overand over again as she traveled the three or four miles. she finally gothome, but she was practically naked. After hearing her story, the menfolks went hunting him, found his tracks, set a trap, and caught him. During the Civil War, Mary ann was left home with nine children. Herson Harrison and her husband had been captured. Her father-in-law, JimmyCaldwell had been of some help but, he was an old man, got sick and died.Then her baby, Mary, died before she was five. After Kirk's men came into the valley, they grabbed up Mary Ann'sson, Andy, and made him go with them to tend to their horses. Her sonHiram was with his father when they were captured. Hiram managed to toget away and come back home to tell of their experience and how theynarrowly escaped being burned to death. Levi was still gone, and theydidn't know if they would ever see him again. The war had caused a shortage of everthing and their Confederatemoney was worthless. (They later used it to wallpaper the walls). The onething people was hungry for was salt. They used all they had on hand andcould not get anymore. Mary Ann reclaimed some salt by going out to wherethey had poured the dishwater, and dig up the dirt, put it in a pot, fillit with water, and boil it. The salt dissolved in the water. She let itset until the dirt settled to the bottom, then pour of the salty waterinto another pot. She boiled it until all the water evaporated, thusleaving a little salt it the bottom. There was no soda, but these women knew how to leach a certianwoodash and make it into soda. Since coffe could not purchased either,they parched rye to use for coffee, and also made spicewood tea andsassafras tea and sweetened it with honey or molasses.
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