A  SQUIRREL  INVASION 
Submitted by Kay Mason <KLMPIANO@aol.com on Oct 26, 2000
              
              Page 69: 
              
	"In Feb. 1884 brother BOB [BRICKEY] married MARY ELLEN SPARKS, sister 
of [RICHARD] MENIFEE SPARKS, and in March we moved to a larger house on an 
adjoining farm where we had formerly lived a short while when it was owned by A. J. JOHNSON.  Now, it was owned by his wife's brother, ELISHA F. WELLMAN.  We lived here two years - 1884 and 1885. 
              
	In 1884 we raised a field of corn near the house - the back side running up to the top of the hill to the edge of the woods which lay between our house and WILEY's [LYON].  That year we had an influx of gray squirrels - the greatest I ever saw or ever heard of.  It was claimed that there was an exodus of squirrels from Ohio and that they swam the Ohio River to Kentucky in great numbers. I do not vouch for this, but I know that it was the common talk in Elliott County that the farmers hunted them from their cornfields and some farmers hired other men to kill squirrels in the fields in order to save their corn. 
              
	As soon as our corn got in 'milk' the squirrels began on it and Bro. BOB [BRICKEY] went hunting most every day for several weeks and many times I went  along to assist and carry the game.  He had only an old time muzzle loading rifle which made shooting slow.  Many times he had opportunity to shoot several squirrels had he had a repeating gun but in most cases could get only one or two before the game got away.  We had a report of one hunter who set out to kill one hundred squirrels in one day and got 99 and had the hundredth one treed but it was so near night he couldn't see it to shoot it.  It was also reported that many hunters cut off the tails to keep count of their kill and threw the squirrels away.  They were tired of squirrel meat and had no refrigeration or other way to save the flesh in the hot weather of August and September.  We got tired of the squirrel meat but we threw none away. 
              
	The squirrels became less plentiful as cold weather approached and the corn crop - what was left - was gathered.  Much of it was unsound if partly eaten by squirrels.  I pulled corn alone in that field while BOB [BRICKEY] and MORGAN [BRICKEY] went to the Presidential Election to vote for Grover Cleveland who was elected - Nov. 6, 1884." 
   
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