Tuesday morning and I think it may not be raining. The dogs went out anyway. Today I need to be much more productive than I was yesterday. So as I mentally make my list of what I want to accomplish. I am at the same time, making excuses for why I may not get them done. So we will see how the day comes out.
In the fall of 1958, when I was first pregnant with Billie. Mike Miksell took my Mom, Dad and I on a drive. We drove out North Schifferdecker and he stopped at a old unkempt cemetery. It was called Peace Church Cemetery. The graves for the most part were very old. Some dating back to the late 1700's. We walked amidst the stones. Some broken and toppled. Reading the inscriptions that were still visible on some. One that I will always remember. As I was seventeen that's a long way back to bring to mind. But it was a fifteen year old boy's stone, it read. "Think of me as you walk by, As you are now once was I. As I am now, soon you will be. Prepare for death and follow me." Pretty heavy, huh?
The cemetery over the years has been vandalized many times. There has been different groups of people who have undertaken to try to preserve it. It is such a great part of the history of the people who first settled here. But the young people come back, trying to destroy these wonderful pieces of history. Another fact about the cemetery is that Billy Cook was buried there. But only on the outskirts of the cemetery as many people did not want him buried inside the official boundaries. There has been stories that drifted down over the years that the ghost of Billy, ashamed of his murderous deeds, wanders the grounds at night.
In 1950, Billy Cook who was born and raised in Joplin Missouri went on a killing spree across the country. The one that really rocked the papers was a family of five that he shot and killed along with their dog and dumped them down a mine shaft on forth street here in Joplin. He also killed several others on his murderous mission. When he was caught and finally executed in 1952. He was sent back home though nobody wanted to claim his body and was eventually buried outside the edges of the old cemetery.
Kids have gone there for years, partying, trashing the cemetery. Many of the two-century old stones have been broken and strewn across the grounds. It is sad I think. I fell in love with that old place when I was only seventeen. It bothers me to think of the history that lays there,broken, being neglected.
Does Billy Cook really roam the cemetery at night. Seeking vengeance on a world that he felt was cruel to him. Or maybe I would like to think if he really does haunt the cemetery it is because he is restless. Seeking forgiveness for the cold, cruel acts he placed upon on the Mosher family and several others. I guess we'll never know. But I would like to believe the latter. At the top of the page I have added a old picture of "Peace Church Cemetery." Most of the old stones had writing on them, little pieces of poetry or something personal written about the person who lies there.. The one I will always remember though is, "Think of me as you pass by." Its something to think about. I do from time to time, think of them. Their part these unknown people played in beginning of Joplin. I also think of Billy Cook, a young man at just twenty-one who was so angry at the world he murdered so many people. Coldly and cruelly and if what I read is correct without ever having any remorse. I hope that somehow he has come to feel remorse and wanders at night amidst the ruins of this old cemetery, keeping vigil among the crumbling stones. Seeking peace. I hope someday he finds it.
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