Will Espy,Cecil Espy, Dora Espy Wilson, Harry Espy, Charles Nelson, 1954 Oysterville Centennial

Yesterday I spent a pleasant hour or so with Charlie Nelson through the miracle of some oral history transcripts done back in 1975. Charlie was in his late eighties and was being interviewed by David Meyer for a Washington State Oral/Aural History Project. In one interview he talked about the “Native Oyster Industry: techniques, early oystermen, bed division, labor, work, towns, and storms” and in the other he focused on “The History of Oysterville and Work in Oysters and Cranberries.” All great stuff!

I was especially intrigued by his story about the now infamous 1893 break-in at the County Courthouse here in Oysterville when ‘South Bend Raiders’ made off with all the records and stole the County Seat. He and my great uncle Cecil were right there in the thick of things – Charlie was ten and Cecil was seven.

Oysterville Courthouse c. 1895

According to Charlie, the whole thing lasted about an hour and a half and they were on their way back to South Bend with their loot…we saw the gang arriving in Oysterville and we didn’t know what was going on, so we went right along in with ‘em to see what was going on. Finally we got in [and] found out that they were looting the county records. Cecil got scared and hid behind the front door and I was out among the crowd and I had to watch my toes so they didn’t get tramped on; I was barefooted at the time…

The raid happened on a slushy Sunday morning in February and, according to the more-or-less official account given afterwards by Commissioner John Morehead, all the good citizens of Oysterville were in church. I don’t know about Charlie, but Cecil must have been playing hooky from the newly built Baptist Church just around the corner from the courthouse. I’ve never heard what kind of trouble he faced when he exited the bushes and went home.

Nahcotta 1889/1890

There’s another story, though, about Charles Nelson and Will Espy who were exactly the same age and did lots of adventuring together. According to Raymond J. Feagans in The Railroad that Ran by the Tide: It must have been quite an affair when the first train from Ilwaco arrived in Nahcotta in May 29, 1889. Charles Nelson and Willard Espy, both six years old at the time, remember going to see it. Charlie went with his folks but Will was forbidden to go. Will escaped, “requisitioned” someone’s horse, and galloped off to the celebration. He says his mother made him stay upstairs in bed for two days for running away, but that it was well worth it.

I don’t know if Charlie teased Will into disobeying his mother or not but, somehow, now that I’ve heard the story of Cecil and Charlie at the Courthouse, I have the feeling that Charlie was quite the instigator among the boys of Oysterville in the 1880s and ’90s.