William Shakespeare was one of the first to wonder why some names are much more powerful than others - why some could generate magic while others built only apathy or disgust.
"A rose by any other color would still smell as sweet," he said; but an actor by the name of Marion Morrison might argue that he never would have become a Hollywood legend if he hadn't changed his handle to John "Duke" Wayne.
The entertainment industry was quick to catch on to the power of names; which is why Archibald Leach became Cary Grant, Frances Gumm morphed into Judy Garland, Issur Demsky became Kirk Douglas, and Steveland Judkins was transformed into Stevie Wonder.
What follows though, is not about people: but of towns and cities so horribly named that the citizens decided their very survival depended on getting rid of their names.
Here then is chapter one of my forthcoming book, Getting Rid of Swilling's Mills.
Getting Rid of Swilling’s
Mills
By Bill Russo
In the mid to late 1800s as the nation pushed its way to the
Pacific Ocean, Swilling’s Mills was one of hundreds of tiny communities
sprouting up in the scorched soil of the American West. Most of those rowdy, untamed towns died off
quickly.
The citizens of Swilling’s Mills wanted their town to endure
and prosper, but how could a town with such an inelegant name ever expect to
attract new settlers and become a real city?
“Jumpin’ Jehoshaphat, the name of this village should be tarred, feathered, and run
out of town on the back of a mule,” said Grover Jeffries, the owner of the
mercantile store.
He urged
of all his customers to join forces with him in demanding that the horrible
name be changed to anything but Swilling’s Mills.
“There’s
nothing wrong with our town’s name said one of the men at a meeting called for
the purpose of instituting a more fitting and proper appellation for the
community. “Our village was not named for the four dance halls and 16 saloons
on Main Street, or for the drunken swilling of cheap whiskey - but for Major
Jack Swilling, hero of the Indian Wars, the Civil War, and the great canal
builder who founded this town.”
“He’s
right,” added a rancher, “Jack Swilling was a stalwart of the first rank. He
was our first postmaster and justice of the peace. And even if he was one of
the most eager patrons of the 16 saloons and four dance halls, he should never
be dishonored by disowning ‘Swilling’ as our name.”
 |
| Jack Swilling in the 1880s |
The
town’s sheriff was not so sure. “I know that Swilling was a visionary. When he
saw this area he felt that it would be the center of a booming farming
community except that it lacked water. His canal building is what made our town
wet and prosperous - but what about his involvement in the infamous “Favorite
Killing?”
A
few newcomers to the West were unfamiliar with the story, so he explained…..
“A
few years after Major Swilling started the town in 1871, President U.S. Grant
gave him a land patent for the area and it was decided to hold an election for
the first sheriff. Jack Swilling did not run and may not have been involved –
but the race was tainted. There were three candidates; Jim Favorite, Tom
Barnum, and John A. Chenworth.
Favorite
and Chenworth were the leading contenders for the job. One of the two heard
that the other was saying that if he lost, he had been guaranteed the job of
deputy. This led to a falling out and a sunlit gunfight at dawn between them.
Favorite fell dead and Chenworth fell out of the race. His withdrawal left Tom
Barnum as the only candidate and the first sheriff of our town.”
Storekeeper
Grover Jeffries got up from his seat in the audience and walked to the front of
the hall, dragging his chair along behind him.
Trying to look as ‘official’ as possible he took his apron off,
straightened his string tie and put on a black suit jacket of the latest
back-east style.
Jeffries
was a large man for the times, close to five foot nine inches tall. His
legendary appetite had pushed his weight somewhere north of 250. Seeing him climb clumsily upon his chair and
stand up so that everybody in the hall could see him, reminded some people of
watching a burly grizzly bear attempting to climb a cottonwood to make lunch of
a treed dog.
“Citizens
of Swilling’s Mills - Godfrey Daniels how I hate that name!” he swore. “I stand
before you today to implore you to vote to give our town new life with a new
name.” After brushing aside a wave of coarse black hair that had partially
covered his eyes, he stroked his long beard for a moment while he made sure he
had the attention of every man in the room.
From
high atop his chair that groaned audibly from his bulk, the storekeeper
continued…
“I
don’t want to speak badly of our founder.
The sheriff has already told you that Jack Swilling may have been
involved in the killing of Jim Favorite.
It is my duty now to tell you of another incident; another blot upon the
name of Jack Swilling! And remember my
friends a blot upon the name of Swilling is equally a reproach to our town,
Swilling’s Mills.”
Jeffries
reached in his jacket and withdrew a newspaper clipping from an interior
pocket.
“As
I have stated I personally do not wish to say anything negative about Swilling,
but I shall quote the following story from our town’s newspaper, “
Putting
on his spectacles, Jeffries read the article: "The day passed off quietly to the relief of all; but
after dark, Jack Swilling allowed his angry feelings, at the result of
the election, to get the best of him, and narrowly escaped a lynching. He had
left the polls, and was up at the old house of Dennis & Murphy, when a
Mexican who had not voted to suit Jack came along on horseback. The Mexican
dismounted, when Jack, who was standing a little distance from him,
deliberately pulled a double barreled shot gun on him, and lodged the contents
in his stomach. The gun was fortunately loaded with small bird shot, and they
did not penetrate the vital parts.
"Andrew
and Jake Starar,
who were still at the polls, heard the shot, and suspecting some foul play
immediately spurred their horses to that direction. Just as they reached the
outskirts of town, they saw in the moonlight on the left hand side of the road
the gleam of a gun barrel pointed towards them. After some parleying they found
it to be the Mexican who had just been shot and he told them he was 'laying for
Jack Swilling.' Jake Starar,
fearing more trouble took the Mexican down to his house, and told him to lock
himself in and shoot the first man who came to the door. A committee of
citizens headed by Jake and Andy Starar, immediately waited on Jack Swilling,
and quietly told him that at the very next lawless act he would die like a dog,
without judge or jury.”
“That
is the end of the story as printed many years ago in our local newspaper
gentlemen. There can be no doubt about
the veracity of the story. I hope that
you will join me now in crafting a more fitting title for our municipality.”
The
men agreed generally that they didn’t like “Swilling’s Mills” but they were
unable to come up with an alternative. The debate of the fate of the town’s moniker continued
for some years. The village finally got a change of name and grew quickly into
a city and the city bloomed into a megalopolis – today it is one of the largest
in the United States.
It’s
new name? Many sources say that one of Jack Swilling’s old pals, ‘Lord’ Darrell
Dupa came up with it. He suggested the name “Phoenix”
Phoenix,
Arizona today is the sixth largest city in all of the 48 contiguous states. It
is also the largest U.S. state capital, and with 1.4 million people it is the
only one with a population over a million.
'Lord' Dupa's house, built in 1871 and still standing today
in the re-named Swilling's Mills. Photo by Marine 69-71 Wikipedia
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