Document text
ve- y ua-f_11 in thi s
v (:‘IP:r nc 1w
FO?V
Personal History of Informant
STATE New York
NAME OF WORKER WAYNE WALDFI'l
mm)uss 51 Bank St. NYC
DATE November 22, 1030
STWECT A M=LRIOTTS VINE --"CAPTAIN" JOHNS' STOPY
1. Ancestry
English -American
2. Place and date of birth
About 70 years of age
3. Family
FOLKLORE
YORK
Has a son who is a Captain in N. Y. Police force.
4. Places lived in, with dates
Ilved in Clason Point district 25 years
5. Education, with dates
Seems well-educated
b. Occupations and accomplishments, with dates
Was formerly a ca captain. Now the keeper
of the old Clason Point Inn.
7. Special skills and interests
S. Community and religious activities
9. Description of informant
Well preserved man of about 70 --weighs about
175 pounds --around 5 ft. C in. tall --blue eyes,
ruddy complexion, gray eyes, rather stout--
VD. Other Points gained in interview speaks fairly well --rather rrejudicial in
viewpoints.
STATE
Forms to b9 Fille4 out for Each Interview
New -ork
FORMA
Circumstances of Interview
NAME OF WORKER WAYNE ALNRll
mutEss 51 Rank Street, NYC
DATE November 22, 1032
SUBJECT A =ST-PRI= VINE --"CAPTAIN" JOHNS1 STORY
1. Date and time interview
November 23, 1030
2. Place of interview
Clason Point Inn
3. Name and address of informant
FOLKLORE
NEW YORK
"Captain" J. Johns
Clason Point Inn, Bronx, NYC
4. Name and address of person, if any, who put you in
touch with informant.
5. Name and address of person, if any, accowpanying you
6. Description of room, house, surroundings, etc.
(referred to in text)
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, for any of the forms, each
bearing the proper heading and the number to which the material refers.)
'7(7
k
Informant("Captain" Chaa.J.J9hns
Subject: A 7Aysterious
(Wayne Walden
November 23,1938.)
Captain Johns for twenty-five years keeper of Clason oint inn and dealer
in the now antique contents of the historic old building2led me into what
had once been the saloon.Presumably he regarded me as one who might be
interested in his antique wares.
"This here",said he,"is a battle-ax that Chief Geronomo used to own.Feel
the handlewno one seems to know what that wood is.It aint mahogany and it
40
aint any wood anybody guesses it to be. I ventured that it might be teak,
but my guess also seemed incorrecto,it aint that either",he demurred,
It seems to be a mystery just what it is .No one knows."
4 The hatchet,allegedly once the property of the famous Indian Chieftain,
was indeed a formidable looking weapon,and might have,when brandished by
that intrepid warrior,despatched many a brave man to the happy hunting
groundiBut as I had no murderous inclinations,nor desire to try -my hand
at scapping,I made no offer to buy it.I would,however,have bought a drink
at the bar of the old inn but,alas,the vast array of bottles were empty.
"Those bottles" ,the Captain informed metinterpreting my glance,'"were all
drunk up several years ago when we were running full blast.Sometimes,when
-es Jimmie Walker would bring his outfit up here,we had as high as 2500 people
here at one tibme.But when prohibition ended and ,Ir.La4uardia slapped on
the present taxes,it---eh,well,there is a lot of changes come over the
country.' try not to be pessimistic but I guess the old times are done for.
41/4- I joined the old gentleman in a sigh as we emerged from the bar room out
upon the porch where from the East River below uyame smells as of something
also
/dead and done for. *Come around to the back of the house,and I'll show you
a part of the original structure",the 2aptain said as he led the way through
the long neglected grass succumbing to a rank growth of weeds.He showed me
the original stone work of the building and pronounced it original,with the
accent on the first syllable."A cave is down below here",he continued,"I was
down in it once,but the monoxide gas is tbo strong to stay in it long enough
sInfe,rmant:Captain Johns (page 2) Wayne lialden
Subject, The Mysterious Vine,669. Nov.23,1938
to conduct much of a Bearch.It is about 150 feet deep and runs out a couple
of miles.There seems to be a lot of old relics of the revolutionary war and
Indian relics too,I guees,but the gas wont let a person look around long."
XXXXXIMMXXIMIXIMXIMNIMMIMMXIMOMMIXAANUMAYAXXXX6IXIWNKXMWAIRIKAIRXX
4 "Might not the cave have been used by smugglers at some time?"I asked.
"Well,Commodore Vanderbilt used to live here,and they say he used to do a
lot of smuggling,"ithe Captain answered,/and Anna Held also lived heilL16) did
Lillian Langtree and different ones.The famous Judge Cohen used to operate
here."(I surmised that neither the ladies mentioned,nor the famous Judge,
were implicated in any smugling activities;,but my informant did not make
it clear. This was once the Clinton-H.Stevens estate,l/he went orWit's area
is thirty-five acres."
We had returned to the front porch of the building,and the Captain appear-
ing to have wearied of his information,seemed to have concluded that I was
not an antique buyer after all.About to reenter the houselhe paused to inspeer
e vine which)now withered)still clung tenaciously to the stone wall.
"Here's something that's got 'em all wondering what it is,"lhe sai4but no
one knows much about it.It's a perennial;it dies out completely when winter
i
comes,and reappears in full force with the spring.,.No one knows when it
started to grow here,nor why,but they say 00 the cause of it was one of
the massacres they'Se had here in old days." (My informant used the express-
tt
yeti
ion massacree)wttkxtkerx The vine has four fingers and a thumb,rhe continued,
and use4hose four fingers and thumb just like you would to climb up these
rocks. Notice how it sticks to thisiniggerhead. :he Captain pulled some of
the vine loose and bid me see for myself its fingers and thumb.I couldn't be
sure that the resemblance was so remarkableut admired nevertheless the
"poor plant's ability to maintain its hold upon a smooth "niggorhead"rock.
"It don't need no water,and you dorilt need to give it any attention"he de-
_
clared'"and if you hold one of the leaves up where the light strikes it,
(page 3)
The Mysterious Vine,Etc. (W.Talden)
you'll notice blood running through it;sort of transmigrating through the
veinsSometimesovhen you break off a stem;blood will ooze out of the stem.
I dont know why,but as I said,it seems to be connected somehow,or be a re-
minder of some of those massacrees they used to have here."
.1,1 The Captain again seemed disinclined to further pursue the subject.ris corrob-
oration of the"massacrees",'the blood of which may still be coursing through
the mysterious perennial vine,he pointed to a legend above the door and
reentered the house. The legend,not too skillfully printed, reads:
IN THE Y_!..AR 1643
T707AS CORNFLL BOUGHT THIS POINT OF THE INDIANS. HIS TITLE WAS
CONFIRMED BY T -E DUTCH GOVERNOR KIEFT SETTLED HERE.PART OF THIS
BUILDING IS THE ORIGINAL HOYSE CONSTRUCTED BY CORNELL.IT TAS BURNED
BY THE INDIANS THE FIRST YEAR CAME,SOM7, OF HIS FAMILI KILLED, HE
HIS CATTLE DRIVEN AWAY,ANN HUTCHINSON HER FAMILY 15 PERSONS IN
ALL WERE MURDERED AT THE SAME TIME AT PELHAM BAY.
RECORDS AT AL'2ANY N.Y.
Having read this legend,as the gesture of the Captain bade me do ,I
was still at a loss to account for blood flowing in the vine.
5flArfRePoRrelk's fvorE:--
I fear that this is a none too adequate contribution to tlore,
but it is about all I can do with the paucity of material I was able
to obtain on this visit to Clason Point.
The Captain seems rather saturated with prejudices which I believe have
no relevancy to our purpose,and I have refrained from giving expression
to them. He indicates a dislike of W.P.A.,and more obviously dislikes
the "Jews and Eyetalians".)