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Accidental Outhouse Shooting

It happened when Grandpa was in the outhouse and the lower boards were off the bottom on the backside for air, and a few large stones were lying around in the back.

My mother asked my father to kill a chicken for dinner. He took his rifle and when the chicken was in his sights he pulled the trigger. The shot missed the chicken, but hit the rock in the back of the outhouse, ricocheted into the outhouse and hit Grandpa.

He carne out screaming with his britches down and we all thought a wasp had stung him till we saw the blood.

He never quite forgave my father, and he never did think it was funny.

Mrs. C.G. McCallister
Baxter Springs, Kansas


Back in 1955 a call went out from the editors of the then Capper’s Weekly asking for readers to send in articles on true pioneers. Hundreds of letters came pouring in from early settlers and their children, many now in their 80s and 90s, and from grandchildren of settlers, all with tales to tell. So many articles were received that a decision was made to create a book, and in 1956, the first My Folks title – My Folks Came in a Covered Wagon – hit the shelves. Nine other books have since been published in the My Folks series, all filled to the brim with true tales from Capper’s readers, and we are proud to make those stories available to our growing online community.