Published in 2011, the late John Eddie Vogt’s book, Witches, Bitches, and Other Small Town Folks, brings to life the quirky, unforgettable, and entertaining tales of growing up and living in Kendall County from the 1930s through the 1960s. Thanks to the gracious permission of his family, The Kendall Gentleman is honored to share excerpts from his book for your enjoyment.
The ‘Mill Dam’ on River Road was one of the places to go for a swim in warm weather. Another favorite place was below the bluff where Schleicher Street runs into School Street. There was a real good swimming hole there and it was handy to change clothes in a thicket that had formed where a gravel pit had once been. And then there was the Fabra Hole about a mile farther up the creek. Both of these latter mentioned places are so muddied up or full or trash and moss that they are unfit for swimming today. Dale Bower and I would play hookey from school each Spring and go swimming. No matter how cold the water we would have to test it out.
The Cibolo would dry up every two or three years and become only a puddle or two. If it did run, it would be only a foot or so wide. I remember one year when the creek from Main Street to the dam dried and Jack and Frank Newton went into the creekbed with buckets and gathered up the crawfish and sold them to Dutch Paul Adler. Dutch Paul had a cade at about 142 South Main and would add crawfish to the menu. He would also pay thirty-five cents for a soft-shell turtle and make soup. When you were young, it was considered a real stroke of luck to catch a soft-shelled turtle and take it to Dutch Paul for the thirty-five cent “bounty”.
Dutch Paul had a parrot that he kept by his side at all times. The parrot liked men but he had no respect for the female species. Whenever a parrot would come forward with “Hello you old bitch. Hello you old bitch”. As you can guess, the cafe was mostly a male hangout.
More from John Eddie Vogt: The Mill Dam and the Fabra Hole both sat on the same Cibolo Creek that flowed past the sheep dip downstream, on land described in Thrifty German as belonging to one of Boerne’s old German families.