SASSAFRAS - abridged synopsis - sample pages following synopsis

         Anglin Silver Mine, Marion County, Arkansas, 1937:  Four men are deep within the mine: aging owner COLONEL NOEL ANGLIN,  half-breed HOWARD ‘GATOR’ JUMPER  and two others. A shadow is seen running from the mine entrance. A horrific explosion collapses the mine, killing all four men.

         1939: VONNESSA’S PARENTS strongly object to the twenty-nine year heir of the Anglin fortune, ARLIN ANGLIN,  courting their eighteen year old daughter. Arlin sets himself up as VONNESSA’S White Knight.  He kills her parents, covering their murders by setting a forest fire. He also kills his AILING MOTHER. SHERIFF DWIGHT CHESTAIN invites Arlin to join a perverted recreational club; offering sex, drugs and booze; ran by CLARENCE BEND and TARA PAYNE.

         1941: Vonnessa has been constantly physically, sexually and emotionally abused by Arlin. Avoiding the draft Arlin joins the Army, using his clout to gain a post in DC. In Arlin’s  absence Sheriff Chestain has an ongoing affair with Vonnessa.  

         Twenty-eight year old JOHN CORY meets fifteen year old FORESTINE JUMPER, the daughter of deceased Howard Jumper, when he is  a guest speaker at Yellville High; he often shares his families deep roots there. He treats Forestine with complete respect, is accepted by her mother, and Shaman, SALLIE MAE JUMPER. John joins the Army and is shipped to Europe. He and Forestine plan on marrying when he returns and she is out of school.

         1942, 1943: Vonnessa has not given Arlin a son. On one of his leaves he takes her to see Shaman Sallie Mae Jumper. She creates a special oil for Vonnessa  to give secretly to Arlin and prophesies  that Vonnessa will have a one time conceptional involvement with a mystery man and that Arlin will think the child, which will be a daughter, is his.

         Arlin is discharged from the Army. Sergeant John Cory is indirectly responsible for the deaths of many Nazi’s, civilian’s and his own squad in a bizarre event in Sicily. After unjustly receiving a Purple Heart, he returns home with an injured body, direful memories, exhausting guilt, a broken spirit, and a few illegal souvenirs.                     

Months later Vonnessa has not become pregnant. While Forestine is on a lineage finding journey to Seminole territory in Florida and Tennessee, Arlin visits Sallie Mae and offers to hire maiden Forestine for mating purposes. Sallie refuses to sell her daughter and is brutally assaulted  and  hung from the rafters of their cabin home. It is made to look like a suicide, a conclusion Forestine never accepts and swears to vindicate.

         1944, 1945: John and marries Forestine. Forestine soon becomes pregnant. During her pregnancy John has a one time sexual encounter with Vonnessa, which results in her becoming pregnant. RUBY CHESTAIN, Sheriff Chestain’s wife, blackmails John, forcing an ongoing affair with her. Ruby tells John about her husbands long time affair with Vonnessa and his involvement with Arlin and a group of low life’s. Vonnessa and Forestine’s daughters are born only months apart; WONNIE ANGLIN and SASSAFRAS MAYTHORNE CORY (Sassy Mae).        

         1951: Vonnessa has remained faithful in giving Arlin the oil supplied to her by Sallie Mae and then Forestine. Not only is Arlin’s  mind failing but so is his health. Arlin finds out about the affair between Chestain and his wife, figuring Chestain to be Wonnie’s real father. Arlin kills Vonnessa, hides her body, then kills his daughter and three months later Sheriff Chestain and Ruby.  Arlin then discovers that Vonnessa  had also been involved with John Cory.

         With a desire for justice, to vindicate the death of his illegitimate daughter, richly motivated by guilt, John Cory runs for and is elected Sheriff. He has  a near death experience with ball lightning.  Arlin tries to frame John Cory for the recent murders. In a showdown attempt John kills two people but is taken captive and tortured. In a dramatic escape John kills Clarence Bend and Tara Payne but Arlin gets away. John confesses all to Forestine but dies as a result of injuries sustained during his captivity.  At the funeral Forestine vows vindication for John. 

         MORE: Forestine’s vigilante justice, with the help of some Siminole cousins from North Carolina.       

         1952 and the future: Forestine and Sassy relocate to Knoxville, Tennesse. Sassy grows up, meets and marries Ray Cooper, the son of country star Mittie Cooper (the main character from Mittie’s Song).  Ray Cooper becomes governor of Tennessee.

FIRST FIVE (5) PAGES OF "Sasafras" by Jimmie Ray Cantrell

A SPECIAL WORD

Built within this fascinating fiction story of vengeance, vindication and lore are tributes to the abused women of our world, to American Indians; especially the Seminole Indians of Southern Florida; and to the Black-American’s of our nation.

               1835: Runaway slaves fled to Florida to gain their FREEDOM. There they joined with the Maskoki’s (Seminole), who called themselves in their unwritten language, isti siminoli– which meant “free people.” This was what they once were; this is what they again desired, FREEDOM. They fought side by side to remain FREE.

The Seminole Wars ended in 1858 with no treaty, with no victory, or no FREEDOM. 3,000 Natives were forcibly removed from Florida and placed on reservations in Arkansas and Oklahoma. Only an estimated 300 Seminole’s remained in Florida. Those bewildered souls took refuge within the inhospitable swamps of the Everglades.

Sassafras is a story of man’s inhumanity to man on a personal, one on one level, reflecting to the larger scale.

FREEDOM!  JUSTICE!  VINDICATION!

Additonal Dedication to:

The men of the 45th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army that served our country in World War II.

The innocent lives taken and effected by the

September 11th, 2001 atrocities, and the men and women who serve our country to fight terrorism and crime.

A Note from the Author:

Although this is not a book about Botany, it is important to understand a little more about one of the stories supporting characters, the Sassafras Tree. Over the years this tree and its products have been important to many families, in particular to the Jumper’s, the Cory’s and the Anglin’s of this story.

Sassafras: genus of trees and shrubs of the family Lauraceae (Laurel). The genus, which is native to the North Temperate Zone, contains few species, the most important of which is the American Sassafras, Sassafras Albidum, cultivated for the bark of its root. The American Sassafras is found almost throughout the eastern U.S.; it grows from bush to tree size and attains a height of almost 15 meters, 50 feet, in the southern U.S. The leaves are deciduous, and the wood is yellow and soft. The bark of the root has long been used in medicine as a stimulant and diuretic. The bark, which contains a volatile oil, the oil of the Sassafras, is also used in perfumery. Extracts of Sassafras bark are used as bitters and flavoring agents in the preparation of various beverages, i.e. sarsaparilla.

Safrole: a poisonous oily cyclic ether that is the principal component of Sassafras Oil and is used chiefly in perfumery.

Australian Sassafras: a powerful poison, useful in treatments for rheumatism, syphilis and bronchitis.

Chapter 1–– THE EXPLOSION

 1937: Anglin Silver Mine, Rush Arkansas

Prior to the explosion, the Anglin Mine, owned and controlled by Anglin & Son’s Mining, had been the life blood of Rush, Arkansas for many years; attributing in a major way to the economy of the entire county, especially the small town of Yellville. Unbeknownst to many, the mine’s yield had been steadily declining over the past years. The Anglin family had seen millions in profits over the decades. These millions had been wisely invested by the elder Anglin’s in stocks, bonds, commodities and real estate lots of real estate. The elder Anglin, Noel Anglin, much to the regret of his two son’s, was an honorable man, almost to a fault. Not only was he a man of pronounced stature in respect called Colonel Anglin, or just Colonel, by many he was a true gentleman. He was proud of his mine, proud of his workers, proud of his heritage, proud of Arkansas. He was proud of most everything except his two sons. Second only to the John Cory heritage, the Anglin’s roots, deteriorating as they were, grew deep.

       By the time of the Great Depression the revenue of the Rush Mine had hit a major decline it was all but mined out. However, the Colonel did not pass his loses on to his people. Instead of a massive layoff, which by most accounts would have been justified, he just let the working force decline in numbers by attrition. He was a real gentleman, and his eldest son, Alvin, took exception to his father’s integrity. Your crazy old man, he would scream at his father. You prefer those... those mine workers over your own blood. Niggers, half-breeds and no accounts. You even gave Gator a raise. You’re crazy!

       Gator was the nick name of the Colonel’s third in command, Howard "Gator" Jumper. They called him Gator because he’d wrestled alligators for the tourists down in Florida fifteen years earlier. Others called him, behind his back, Gator Nigger-Injun. Gator was a part-breed Seminole - Seminole-Spanish-Negro. A mysteriously wonderful man; dark hair, dark eyes, dark skinned, quiet with an occasional burst of strange humor. He moved his wife, Sallie Mae, and infant daughter, Forestine Mae, to the area several years back. He had a dream of a better life for his family. He staked a mining claim, and worked it a couple of years, but was not able to make it pay off, and ceased his small one man operation, and regretfully took an entry level position working for Anglin & Sons Mining.

       The Colonel grew to respect and trust Gator, and within a few years Gator had worked his way up to third in command. The Colonel loved Howard "Gator" Jumper like a brother. He loved to hear his hand-me-down Seminole stories; stories that he told with an ever so slight and unique Indian accent. He was an interesting man to listen to and learn from. Some of his stories included his wife Sallie Mae, who was a sort of Shaman. He’d tell how when they lived in Florida she would brew up miraculous cure-all’s; sold ‘em to the tourists along with her woven baskets and dream catchers. Soon, some of the mine workers, including the Colonel and his wife Martha, would have Sallie Mae whip up concoctions for this or that, Sassafras being one of the frequently used local ingredients. Despite public opinion, the Colonel and Gator became good friends. Neither brother, Alvin nor Arlin, took well to that. The brother’s began to suspect that Gator might even be considered in their father’s will. They’d never stand for that.

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