The Old Hurley Horse-Radish War: Cal Snyder
By Lorna Smedman
Studying the Beers survey map and the state census gives us some rudimentary information about the multiracial community on Eagle’s Nest Road in 1875. Relations between neighbors there were not always friendly, according to a story that appeared in The Kingston Daily Freeman in 1873.
The most striking thing about this article is its mocking tone, starting with the title, “Old Hurley Once More Aroused,” which gives the author a chance to poke fun at the small farm town where nothing exciting has happened since British troops threatened to destroy it after setting fire to the city of Kingston on October 16, 1777. Almost a century later, the author devotes an entire column to recounting an altercation between Calvin Snyder and Benjamin Reed.
Reed’s cows stepped over the fence between their properties and damaged Cal’s horseradish crop. When Cal sicced his dog on the herd, Reed shot and killed it. Cal then filed a lawsuit against Reed for damages. The author presents this ugly incident with a brutal humor that anticipates the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes. After firing his gun, Reed somersaults backwards, twice. The force of the blast obliterates the dog, leaving nothing but a few toenails. When Cal decides that his damages amount to $40, Reed threatens to countersue for $80, given the injuries he sustained from his own musket.
It’s easy to imagine Freeman readers in Kingston (and maybe even Hurley) grinning over their morning coffee at this tale of country bumpkins brawling, first over the fence and then in civil court. The author doesn’t identify the race of either man, but many readers would have known who Cal Snyder was—the Black man who lived up on Hurley Mountain and peddled dried herbs in Kingston and, seemingly during the 1870s, horseradish. Not exactly a “renowned gentleman,” but certainly a local character, this medicine man who was his own boss and who didn’t hesitate to take legal action when his rights as a property owner had been violated. He also may have spoken with a dialect—the author harps on Cal’s pronunciation of the phrase “yaller dorg” —perhaps a holdover from when Low Dutch was the common vernacular.
The journalist couldn’t resist publishing a follow-up story a few days later on November 21. Supposedly a big crowd of Old Hurley residents attended the trial, held at the Sammons Hotel. According to the journalist, “The case was tried with a great deal of gusto, and all evidence given in regard to the deceased “dorg” was hailed with delight.” Unfortunately for Cal, his claim for damages amounting to $40 was reduced to $2.50 after the court rejected any compensation for the dog. Was this the going rate for damage done to a family vegetable plot?
Note that the name Eagle’s Nest doesn’t appear in this story; it may have still been known as Brink’s Hill in 1873.