08/25/2026
Day 3 in Alderson:
I painted another portrait. I called him “Ol’ Stumpy” and here’s his story (based on history.)
OL’ STUMPY MOURNS THE MONKEYS
“I have lived a long, proud life. I have seen much, beside the Greenbrier River, which divides Alderson into Greenbrier and Monroe Counties.
“Back on August 5, 1906, I was just a young sapling and witnessed a tragedy. The Sells-Down circus train came up the tracks across the river, on the Monroe County side. Before passing through Alderson, the steam engine stalled inside the 1.2-mile-long Great Bend Tunnel near Talcott, filling the tunnel with thick smoke and poisonous gases.
“Over 300 monkeys and apes died from the fumes. Most humans don’t realize it, but trees like me have very sensitive smell. As the train rolled by, I could tell that these fellow creatures had died, even though the circus people on board had no idea. They did not discover their deaths until the train arrived in Ronceverte. That day I mourned their senseless deaths and shed many tears (dropped many leaves.)
“I got my name ‘Ol’ Stumpy’ about 100 years later when humans cut me down to make way for roadside parking space next to a little riverside park. Even as the blade cut through my tall proud body, I gave thanks for the long life I had … having outlived those poor primates who had died in captivity so long ago.”
