Humphries Grocery at Myrick's Mill served as the poling place for McDonald District.

After all votes were cast and the poles closed, people in the county usually gathered at the courthouse on the night of voting day to get all the news firsthand about who had won and who had lost.

After the ballots were counted and it was announced that Sheriff had won, everybody went to Rock’s Grill to eat ham & eggs and celebrate--------usually about midnight. Sheriff always led the auto caravan to Rock’s Grill. That’s another reason I knew he was important------------he led the parade.

As I got bit older, I learned a lot more. One of my best friends, Jimmy, lived at the jail. His mother was the jailer and cooked for the prisoners. The jail was an old two story brick building that sat next to the courthouse. Prisoners were kept on the top floor of the jail and Jimmy and his family lived in the bottom floor. Of course, Jimmy and his mother and father were good friends with Sheriff. Jimmy told me the night after vote day when everybody was real worried that Sheriff might not get most of the votes.

As I remember, all the tin boxes were carried to the Courthouse on the night at the end of voting day. My Daddy would usually go to the Courthouse on voting night. On this night as the votes were being counted, it appeared that the other fellow was getting more votes than Sheriff. There were a lot of people around and in the Courthouse and all of a sudden the lights went out. I don’t remember whether there was a storm or what happened, but the courthouse went black that night.

As Jimmy explained it to me, there was a lot of noise as people stumbled over the tin boxes to get to the fuse box to figure out the problem. Finally the lights came back on and the pole managers took their position, again calling out the tally as votes were counted. Providence ruled! The sheriff now began to get more votes. When the vote counting finished, Sheriff had the most votes. Everyone headed to Rock’s Grill for ham and scrambled eggs. The Sheriff always got the most votes. That’s another reason that I knew he was important.

Sheriff was real famous and a lot of people who ran in an election would talk to him about how to get the most votes. One of the ways to get votes was to get people to like you. Sheriff, in several ways, got people to like him. One, he always paid for their Coke if they were in a store together. Another was, he always tried to find out who voted against him so that he could find something nice to do for that person. I always thought that you left somebody alone if they didn’t like you. But sheriff always did things for people who didn’t like him. I later learned that it takes an important person to do nice things for people who don’t like you.

Once My friend Jimmy overheard Sheriff giving advise to another candidate trying to hold onto his elected position. This man asked the Sheriff how far ahead of voting day do you start working so that you can get the most votes. Sheriff reportedly said, “Timing is everything. Son, I start working the day after the election.” The Sheriff knew a lot about timing. Sheriff also told this man that “the biggest ‘possum always walks just before daylight.” If you know anything about possums, you might understand this kind of advise.

The Sheriff served for 48 consecutive years, receiving a citation from the National Sheriff’s Association as the only Sheriff to attain this distinction in America. Sheriff was an important man.

©2003 - William C. Humphries, Jr.