The Turnbo Manuscripts
by Silas Claiborne Turnbo
1844-1925
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SAVED BY A SILVER HALF DOLLAR
By S. C. Turnbo
When the writer was a small boy I heard the old settlers relate repeatedly the following which they said was strictly true.
A man of the name of John Roberts built the first mill in Green County,
Mo. This mill was a very small affair and stood near 4 miles east of Springfield.
This man Roberts and Tom Harn had an old grudge between them, and every
time they would meet together they could hardly pass each other without
heated words. Harn was sheriff of Green County and experienced some trouble
in his efforts to control violators of the law. One day Harn and Roberts
met in Springfield and renewed the quarrel which soon become serious and
Roberts got so exasperated that he drew a big long bladed knife and struck
Harn intending to kill him. As it happened the sheriff had a loose half
dollar in silver in his vest pocket on his left side and the point of the
knife hit the middle of the piece of silver and of course did not penetrate
it and thus saved the life of the sheriff. It was the sheriffs turn now
to get his temper up at a high pitch and he knocked Roberts down with a
stick of wood which stunned him and he lay unconscious for a while.
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