It wasn’t as hard to appease old Ab Crossman as we had first thought,
but it was much more complicated. We had underestimated and misunderstood
Mr. Crossman from the start and the contractor, the State and local courts
knew this uneducated back woodsman and ex-moonshiner could be a thorn in the
side of everyone connected with this job. While we went about trying to
build a ski resort in the mountains of West Virginia, Ab Crossman was just
trying to be left alone and live out his last days in peace.
The small wiry figure of a man would come every
day to watch the big bull dozers and earth movers as the ski-resort began
clearing the land to make way for ponds and buildings. He would watch in
interest as the trees were felled and roads began to take shape. Every day
he would go past the construction site and disappear into the woods. It was
no secret where he went. There was ice cold water springing out of the
side of the hill about five hundred feet into the brush and Ab would carry a
couple of gallon jugs and refill them almost everyday.
Once when we had cut down a large hardwood tree
and began digging out the root we discovered four jugs of moonshine under
the base of the tree. The construction guys made a big deal out of it.
Someone asked Ab if he knew anything about it. His only comment was, “ I
forgot I hid them there.”
Things went along just like a big happy family
until one day an electric power pole truck drove across Ab’s western fence
line. Ab who grew up taught to protect his rights met the truck carrying a
twelve gage shotgun. When he asked the purpose of the intrusion the foreman
told him they were putting the main power lines in for the new ski-resort
and they had permission to go over the land. As it turned out, not only
were they going over the land Ab lived on, they were going directly over his
eight by twenty foot shack. Ab informed the crew that they could go north a
couple hundred feet and then turn back east, but he was not going to live
“under” the power line. That is when the state took Ab to court for a show
cause and to everyone’s surprise Ab revealed a little known fact. A hand
written letter from the family who previously owned the land the ski-resort
was being built, gave Ab permission to live on a twenty eight acre section
on which his shack stood. The letter went on to state that Ab could live on
the land until he passed from this wonderful beaurocratic ridden world to
the next. The judge, after verifying the signatures, agreed with the
letter and told the state that Ab Crossman would live on the land for the
rest of his life and once he passed on, the land would belong to the state.
Some said that Ab was given the land use because
he had taken the fall for a moonshine operation in which the owners of the
property were the distillers and sellers of the shine. Ab was just the
delivery man, but since he confessed to being the owner and delivery man he
was the only one to serve hard time in the county jail.
Ab told the court he had no objections of the
ski-resort being built and that he would not stop construction of anything
being built on his land. He was too old to cultivate any of it and the only
thing he wished to do was to live out his days in his shack. The court
agreed and suggested the contractor divert the power poles from going across
Abs shack. The contractor then proceeded to dog leg that electric line
north and then back East as Ab had wanted them to do to from the start.
Another snafu occurred when the two large
sediment ponds were being built about fifty yards from Ab’s back door and a
water line going down the side of it. Ab did not stop the construction but
did want to know what all this digging and earth moving was for. The
contractor informed Ab that one was a water line which would serve the other
parts of the resort and the ponds were just to catch water and keep it from
going into the back of Ab’s shack. In fact the contractor asked if Ab
would like an outside faucet off the water line. Ab said that would be nice.
Then he wouldn’t have to walk up the hill to the spring during the colder
months of the year. The contractor then asked Ab if he had a TV set. Ab
said no, but he had heard there was nice entertainment on them. The
contractor informed Ab he would bring him a set the next time he came to the
site. It was hard to miss the owner of the construction company when he came
to the job because he flew in his private helicopter.
Everytime the contractor flew in Ab would come
looking for his TV set. Finally Ab informed him that the next time he flew
in without the TV set Ab would make them sorry about putting those ponds in
his backyard. After Ab left the work trailer, one of the foremen said that
Ab was really dogging the contractor for the TV set. I then told the men in
the trailer that with Ab it wasn’t about the TV set. It was about keeping
your word. Ab is one of the last of a generation whose word is their bond.
If they promised you or you promised them anything, it was expected that you
to keep your word. When the contractor heard this, he made a phone call and
Ab had his TV set delivered, complete with antenna before the end of the
day.
After that we saw very little of Ab. He was
probably hooked on daytime soap operas and game shows. When they turned the
water on to the main water lines we heard Ab went out and sampled the water
from his frost proof tap, but never drank any of it because he said he
could taste the chemicals in it.
Ab is gone now. So is his shack. Few people
remember Ab except those who dealt with him. A man who wanted very little
of what this world had to offer, but willing to fight for what little was
his. His appeasement was the same. Tell him the truth and leave him to
live out his last days in peace.
