Although the date remains questionable, the earliest and most reliable accounts indicate Huddleston noticed the first crystal on or about August 1, 1906, while looking along the edge of a high slope for traces of copper, iron, or lead. [41] The lustrous white stone lay among pebbles by the public road running down the center of the slope. Because of rains and muddy spots, the roadway had shifted about ; wagon wheels and horse hooves had torn away vegetation and worn ruts through a wide area, exposing the rocky soil. [42]
That same afternoon, “while riding on horseback into Murfreesboro and carefully scrutinizing the ground,” Huddleston noticed a similar crystal “lying in the ruts of the road, about 500 feet north of the first . . ..” Afterward, Huddleston and his family searched the area carefully but found no more of the crystals “until September 8,” when he picked up a half-carat yellow stone about 400 feet northeast of the spot where the first turned up. [43]
The experienced farmer-prospector knew the crystals differed from the common quartz of the area, but evidently had no idea they were diamonds. [44] Puzzled, he took the first two into town and showed them to the cashier at the bank, Jess Riley, who reportedly offended Huddleston by offering him 50¢ for the pair. [45] Then he showed the remarkable stones to the county's leading lawyer, Joseph C. (J. C.) Pinnix. When Pinnix suggested sending them to the region's most reputable jeweler, Charles S. Stifft of Little Rock, Huddleston entrusted the mailing to him. Stifft tested the gems and reported their weights as 2 5/8 ? carats and 1 3/5 carats. [46]
While wary of a possible hoax, Stifft and his son-in-law, Albert D. Cohn, a leading Little Rock merchant, quietly visited Murfreesboro in late August or early September to inspect Huddleston's property. Stifft was an experienced real-estate negotiator as well as a jeweler, but his and Cohn's offer to take an option on the farm or join Huddleston in an exploratory partnership proved unpersuasive. [47]
Undeterred, the two returned to Little Rock and formed a partnership with Samuel W. (Sam) Reyburn, a lawyer and founder-president of the Union Trust Company. The tall, thirty-five-year-old Reyburn, a native Arkansan with an affable, down-to-earth style, headed the venture as trustee. Getting an advantage over potential competitors, Reyburn's group also included an agent in Murfreesboro who had considerable influence with Huddleston and other land owners—J. C. Pinnix. [48]
The Huddleston's apparently were not impressed when Reyburn and associates initially offered to pay a few hundred dollars for an option on the 243 acres, with a purchase price of $36,000 only if the group exercised the option. [49] No doubt Pinnix played a key role in changing their minds; and on September 19, 1906, before the required witnesses, John and Sarah Huddleston put their X s on a contract for an extendible six-month option on the 243 acres. They received $360 cash, and would get $36,000 if a diamond-bearing deposit turned up. [50] Although no one knew at the time, the property included over two-thirds of the eighty-acre volcanic formation and all the diamond-bearing east half except six acres at the northeast corner.
Later, John Huddleston offered an explanation for the price received for the 243 acres. While differing from emerging folk tales, the statement was consistent with his and Sarah's longstanding interest in accumulating property: “Good farm land always appealed to me as an investment. . . . I figured up in dollars and cents what I would have to pay for the amount of land I wanted. It came to $36,000. I asked this for the diamond pipe I found, and got it.” [51]
Huddleston's diamond hunting did not end with the option. “We further agree, as may suit our convenience, to continue the prospecting of said land, agreeing to turn over to said Sam W. Reyburn, as Trustee, any and all minerals or stones of whatever nature we may find, to be held in trust to go to him in case he exercises the option or to be returned to us in case the said Sam W. Reyburn fails to exercise said option,” the initial contract stated. [52] Among other benefits, Huddleston's continuing presence would help generate publicity for all concerned.
Indeed, the Nashville News kept a running tally of his finds into early 1907, when geologists finally determined he had discovered a real diamond-bearing volcanic pipe. “J. W. Huddleston, on whose land the diamonds were first found, has found a total of fifteen to date, many of them being splendid stones,” the paper reported on January 9. A week later he added two more while still “surface mining for the syndicate to whom he sold an option on his land.” After that, the News failed to clarify Huddleston's personal total; but no doubt he contributed all except a few of the thirty-three diamonds collected from the property by March 9, 1907. [53]
In the end, John and Sara Huddleston received much more than $36,000 for their 243 acres. New agreements with Reyburn's group kept extending the final payment, and the Huddlestons drew interest on the balance almost the entire time. On August 14, 1907, they signed a deed contract and received $7,000 cash, with a schedule of monthly interest payments at a 6% annual rate. Another contract in March 1908 produced $1,000 cash and 8% interest paid monthly; then, three months later, a warranty deed yielded $6,000 cash and a commitment for the balance of $22,000 by January 1, 1909, at 8% annually. Further extensions delayed the final settlement until 1916. [54]
[41] Kunz and Washington, and other sources, Bibliographic Note 4, below. Although a valid date of discovery probably will never be determined, August 1 st is too early to fit into a timeline of events for August-September 1906. In an interview about fifteen years later, Huddleston evidently changed his story and said he was hunting for gold when he found the first diamond on “August 8, 1906,” which fits the timeline a bit better (Shiras, “Arkansas Diamond Discoverer”). Everything considered, about the middle of August is more likely.
Bibliographic Note 4 . The earliest information about Huddleston's discovery was provided by George F. Kunz of New York, considered the nation's leading geologist-gemologist, and Henry S. Washington, a prominent geologist-chemist with offices in New York and New Jersey. Jointly, the two published a detailed account after long visits to Huddleston's farm in late 1906 and early 1907, while Huddleston was still around: “Occurrence of Diamonds in Arkansas,” Mineral Resources of the United States, 1906 , Part 2 (Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1907), 1247-1251. Their comment about the discovery lacked the drama of most other stories; primarily, the two geologists were interested in fundamentals such as establishing a date for the first find?August 1, 1906?and determining the spots where Huddleston picked up the three diamonds. Still, they recorded almost all the basic elements. Huddleston had bought the property (date and acreage not given) “largely on account of its peculiar character, as he suspected it contained some ‘mineral.' Mr. Huddleston was searching, on his hands and knees, for indications of copper or lead ores and his attention was attracted by the luster of the stone . . . lying among the pebbles . . . near the southern edge of the igneous area where the decomposed Peridotite is much cut up by small gullies.” Huddleston knew only that it differed from quartz. That afternoon, “while riding on horseback into Murfreesboro and carefully scrutinizing the ground, he saw a second diamond lying in the ruts of the road, about 500 feet north of the first and also within the igneous area.” Afterward, Huddleston and his family searched the area carefully but found no more of the crystals “until September 8,” when he found a half-carat yellow stone about 400 feet northeast of the spot where the first turned up. Although Kunz and Washington evidently were misled about the weights of the first two diamonds, their information can be considered a reliable account of the discoverer's own story immediately after the event (Huddleston was still at the diamond field during their visits).
The next basic account, in 1907, included the first full version of the discovery and ensuing events?including Huddleston's interest in gold prospecting and the local bank clerk's disrespectful offer for one of the strange crystals when Huddleston took them to town (“Mr. Riley said he did not know what it was, but offered to risk 50 cents on it. Mr. Huddleston said he didn't know what it was either, but rather than take 50 cents for it he would pulverize it.”). This well researched feature article, “Genuine Diamonds Found to the Number of 140 in Pike County, Arkansas,” Arkansas Gazette , August 4, 1907, p. 4, evidently drew from Huddleston, Kunz, Stifft, and other central actors. Among newspaper articles of the early decades, it is the most credible. Cf. Shiras, “Diamond Discoverer,” published later.
Another impressive feature article, “Status of Diamond Fields of Pike County, Arkansas,” The Commercial Appeal , Memphis, March 21, 1909 (page number unclear on microfilm copies), introduced more detail, including the erroneous statement about Huddleston's “160 acres.” The writer agreed that John Huddleston knew nothing about diamonds, but said, “His wife was the first to suggest the possibility that the stone might be a diamond, and this suggestion was sufficient to make Huddleston determine to have the stone examined.” As Kunz and Washington, the writer mentioned Huddleston's interest in the possibility that the property held important minerals, particularly “copper or iron” (corresponding to the greenish and rust-colored volcanic breccia); but there was no reference to gold. Alone among the sources, the article described the “road alongside which Huddleston picked up the first diamond,” one of the “oldest and most heavily traveled roads in that portion of the state.” (Branner's earlier survey map showed the road clearly, as did John Fuller's reproduction of Branner's map in 1909 [Plates 1-2]; the USGS map of 1916 [Plate 3] included the two public roads in the immediate area: one, closed after Huddleston's discovery, ran north-south through the Arkansas Diamond Company's southeast slope and turned eastward at the plant site.)
One of the most prominent and influential reports was published long after the discovery: Tom Shiras, “Arkansas Diamond Discoverer,” Arkansas Gazette , Magazine Section, January 4, 1942, pp. 1, 10. Based upon a long interview with Huddleston, probably in late 1924, this is a rare instance when the discoverer was quoted directly. In the interview, Huddleston mentioned the “160 acres” and gold prospecting (“I had a hunch that there was gold on this diamond pipe when I bought it, but had no thought of ever finding a diamond. The soil was different from anything I had ever seen. Full of crystals and bits of mineral.”). Upon finding the first unusual crystal, while crawling along, Huddleston “had a feeling that it was a diamond,” but was not sure. He repeated the earlier story about the bank teller, Jess Riley, varying it only slightly (“Of course Jess didn't know a diamond from a crystal, and all he would offer me for them was 50 cents. If I hadn't had such a strong notion that they were something besides ordinary crystals I reckon I would have sold them.”).
In the early era, Shiras was the highly reputable owner-editor of the Baxter Bulletin, Mountain Home, Arkansas. During the interview he took a well-dressed John Huddleston, then over sixty years old, out to the diamond field and took the famous photograph of the discoverer squatting where he found the first diamond (“Lee Wagoner, John Huddleston's brother-in-law, and a diamond hunter since the first work started, joined the party in the afternoon. We finally located the exact spot where Mr. Huddleston picked up the first diamond, and I took the photograph that illustrates this article, showing Mr. Huddleston pointing directly at it.”). For an excellent copy of the photograph, see the Lee J. Wagner Collection, File 23-80, in “Photographs,” Crater archive. About the time it was taken, Miser and Ross published their initial USGS report, with the comprehensive survey map pinpointing the spot (marked x1 ).
According to Shiras, Huddleston was sixty-three years old at the time of the interview, which, if correct, suggests a date of late 1924 or early 1925 (on his marriage license in late 1921, Huddleston used fifty-nine years of age; but in the Census of 1920 and at other times he used other birthdates and ages). Shiras' comment about a warm fireplace at Huddleston's home and his photographs of their trip to the diamond field indicate late fall or early spring. Moreover, the long trip to Murfreesboro ? his only trip on record ? likely was prompted by news of the Uncle Sam Diamond, the record-setting 40.23-carat gem found in the summer of 1924.
Shiras initially used a brief summary of the interview in an article he published “a few years” after the trip to Murfreesboro (Shiras, “Ozark and Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas Contain Numerous Precious, Semi-Precious Stones,” unidentified, undated clipping in IV.E.5, Crater of Diamonds archive). Content dates this article after late summer 1924, and the typeface and style suggest it was one of Shiras' early features in the Arkansas Gazette. Initial review of the Baxter Bulletin from 1920 to mid 1932 failed to locate the piece (an excellent microfilm of the Bulletin is available in the Arkansas History Commission Research Room, Little Rock).
In 1924, George N. Moreland published his long, colorful “Rambling in Arkansas,” The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tennessee) , October 12, 1924, page number unclear [undated clipping also available in W. C. Rodgers Collection, Box 2.IV, File 26, Arkansas History Commission]. The article gave little attention to Huddleston directly while focusing on other features of Arkansas diamonds; yet it introduced another variation of the discoverer's experience. “On August 1, 1906, he went down to his 160-acre tract and sat down beneath a scrubby pine tree . . ..” While sitting there, feeling poorly, “he picked up a pebble probably to toss at some bird which annoyed him because it twittered a song that was full of joy and sunshine. . . . It proved to be a perfect specimen of a blue white diamond which weighed nearly two carats.”
Clearly, Moreland had gotten that story from John Huddleston's brother-in-law Lee J. Wagner, who later gave the full-blown, apparently tongue-in-cheek account to a leading newspaper of New York City: “Pike County Has Real Diamonds, He Says,” The World (New York), August 14, 1927, Section E, page 12 (a clipping in IV.E.5, Crater archive, has incomplete identification and no page number, but is an excellent copy of the piece). Among other effects, this tale helped establish the image of a more knowledgeable John Wesley Huddleston. “He told Sarah, his wife, that he believed he had found a diamond,” Wagner said, “but Sarah only laughed because John had brought rocks home before. Upon looking at the stone she saw it was different from the rest and suggested he take it to town and have it examined.” ( The World was a continuation of Pulitzer's New York World. Microfilm of the newspaper for the period 1906-1931 could be found only at the New York Historical Society, online address: https://www.nyhistory.org/web/default.php?section=library&page=reference_services . Notice the Library of Congress's comment on the varying titles of the newspaper, at http://www.loc.gov/chroniclingamerica/ndnp:137074/display.html .
For further examples of the way the tales of discovery began varying soon after 1906, compare the sources above with these: “Diamond Mines of Arkansas—Supplement of the Nashville (Arkansas) News, ” [1912], p. 1, undated copy in “Misc.” box, Crater archive (dated by content and by “Our Diamond Special,” News , March 16, 1912, p. 1, which referred to it as an ”enclosed Diamond Supplement”); and untitled article from the Kansas City Star, reprinted as “The Pike County Diamond Mines,” Pike County Courier, September 24, 1920, p. 1 (microfilm in the Arkansas History Commission, Little Rock, provides almost complete coverage of the Courier after 1918); Fletcher Chenault, “Pike County Destined to Become a Great Golconda,” Arkansas Gazette, October 4, 1920, p. 4. A brief article in the Supplement depicts Huddleston as a heroic figure who knew he had found diamonds and had to convince skeptical townsfolk. The detailed article in the Star followed the basic account: Huddleston had no idea what the crystals were until Pinnix got them back from Stifft and went out to his farm to break the news: “‘They're diamonds! Real diamonds . . . . You've got the real thing. What't you take for your farm?'” Chenault repeated an earlier tale in which Huddleston saw the sparkling crystal while using a pick to explore for copper. Here again, Huddleston learned from others that he had found diamonds.
After the Great Depression, popular national magazines picked up the evolving tales?usually from Austin Q. Millar and son Howard, who had remained at the diamond field (sources are summarized below, Bibliographic Notes 5-6).
[42] Bibliographic Note 4a . The area of the volcanic formation, including the road, was first surveyed and mapped by State Geologist John C. Branner in 1888 (see Plate 1 and notes above). The condition of the road was described in “Status of Diamond Fields of Pike County, Arkansas,” The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tennessee), March 21, 1909, page unclear in microfilm copies available. George F. Kunz and Henry S. Washington, “Occurrence of Diamonds in Arkansas,” Mineral Resources of the United States, 1906 , Part 2 (Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1907), 1249, mentioned that Huddleston found the second diamond in the ruts of the road, north of where he picked up the first. The U. S. Geological Survey map of 1916 marked the spot where the first turned up (Plate 3, USGS map, symbol x1 ). The USGS map still showed the path of the public road that had cut through the diamond field (it was closed and rerouted when aspiring commercial miners bought the property). The USGS map, a refinement of Branner's earlier survey, appeared as a plate in a series of publications by Hugh D. Miser and co-workers in the 1920s, including: Miser and Clarence S. Ross, “Diamond-Bearing Peridotite in Pike County, Arkansas,” U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 735-I (1923), 279-322, and Miser and A. H. Purdue, “Geology of the DeQueen and Caddo Gap Quadrangles, Arkansas?Igneous Rocks,” USGS Bulletin 808 (1929) , 99-117 (a copy of this B ulletin is in IV.D.3, Crater archive; that file and other material in the archive by early 1984 were included in the “Crater of Diamonds” microfilm series, copies in Crater archive and Arkansas History Commission Research Room [AHC], Little Rock).
[43] Kunz and Washington, “Occurrence of Diamonds in Arkansas.”
[44] Few sources indicate Huddleston though the crystals might be diamonds, and some of those are clearly imaginative tales (e.g., “Diamond Mines of Arkansas ? Supplement of the Nashville News, ” p. 1). For a basic survey of the issue, see sources in Bibliographic Note 4, above. Compare with Millar, Finders-Keepers, 20-21, an account reportedly gotten from Huddleston firsthand (Bibliographic Note 6, below).
[45] Considering the general data in the most reliable sources, it seems the trip to the bank occurred about August 20, 1906. On September 12, the Nashville News reported two diamonds had been found and also listed Stifft among those visiting Murfreesboro. The statements of Stifft, Reyburn, and Huddleston, cited above, indicate Stifft had received the two diamonds and notified Huddleston about a week before going to Murfreesboro. In Huddleston's interview with Shiras c. 1924, he said he received Stifft's letter “about two weeks” after Pinnix sent the diamonds to Little Rock (“Arkansas Diamond Discoverer,” p. 1.). This, however, leaves a puzzling lapse between the discovery of the first two diamonds ? reportedly on August 1 ? and the trip to the bank and Pinnix' office: reportedly, Huddleston started to town immediately after finding the first crystal and spotted the second one on the way. Even if August 8 is accepted as the initial date of discovery, as Huddleston indicated in the interview with Shiras, the data fail to mesh
Accounts of Huddleston's visit to the bank in Murfreesboro and his talk with Pinnix vary in some details, but agree generally. The discussion with Jess Riley at the bank appeared first in “Genuine Diamonds Found to the Number of 140 in Pike County, Arkansas,” Arkansas Gazette , August 4, 1907, p. 4 (comment above, Bibliographic Note 4). Some accounts, such as Millar's Finders-Keepers (22-23), added colorful dialogue ? details Millar said he got from John Huddleston, himself. Compare that with Millar's similar story in “Diamond Mines of Arkansas ? Supplement of the Nashville News, ” (1912). Compare those two sources with the substantial report in “The Pike County Diamond Mines,” which indicated Huddleston rode horseback to town in order to talk only with Pinnix (“‘I'll take these things up to Little Rock,' Judge Pinnix suggested, ‘and show them to Mr. Stifft, the jeweler. He'll know if they are worth anything.'”). Authors of the earliest and most authoritative account of the discovery were interested primarily in establishing the dates of Huddleston's finds and pinpointing the spots where they turned up, and therefore omitted details about the visit in town (Kunz and Washington, “Occurrence of Diamonds in Arkansas,” 1248-1249).
[46] Reportedly, Huddleston started to town immediately after finding the first crystal and spotted the second one on the way. If Huddleston found the third diamond on September 9, as Kunz and Washington reported after their visit to the diamond field in late 1906 and early 1907, the trip to the bank probably occurred about mid August, 1906. In Huddleston's interview with Shiras c. 1924, he said he received Stifft's letter “about two weeks” after Pinnix sent the diamonds to Little Rock (“Arkansas Diamond Discoverer,” p. 1). The statements of Stifft, Reyburn, and Huddleston, cited above, indicate Stifft notified Huddleston about a week before going to Murfreesboro the first time. Huddleston picked up the third diamond after Stifft's visit and reportedly while Samuel Reyburn of Little Rock was at the property trying to secure an option (“Genuine Diamonds Found to the Number of 140 in Pike County, Arkansas,” Arkansas Gazette , August 5, 1907 , p. 4, reprinted as “Diamonds Genuine,” Nashville News , August 10, 1907, p. 3; Stifft's statement in “Diamonds Found in Pike County”). Evidently, Reyburn's first visit occurred just before the Nashville News broke the story on September 12, 1906 .
Accounts of Huddleston's visit to the bank in Murfreesboro and his talk with Pinnix vary in some details, but agree generally. The discussion with Jess Riley at the bank appeared first in August 1907, in “Genuine Diamonds Found to the Number of 140 in Pike County , Arkansas .” Some accounts, such as Millar's Finders-Keepers (22-23), added colorful dialogue?details Millar said he got from John Huddleston, himself. Compare that with Millar's similar story in “Diamond Mines of Arkansas?Supplement of the Nashville News, ” (1912). Compare those two sources with the substantial report in “The Pike County Diamond Mines,” which indicated Huddleston rode horseback to town in order to talk only with Pinnix: “‘I'll take these things up to Little Rock,' Judge Pinnix suggested, ‘and show them to Mr. Stifft, the jeweler. He'll know if they are worth anything.'” Authors of the earliest and most authoritative account of the discovery were interested primarily in establishing the dates of Huddleston's finds and pinpointing the spots where they turned up, and therefore omitted details about the visit in town (Kunz and Washington, “Occurrence of Diamonds in Arkansas,” 1248-1249).
[47] For details, see Banks, Diamonds, online at http://www.pcahs.com/ . Decades later Sam Reyburn said of Stifft and Cohen, his friends and associates, “Finally they offered Huddleston a partnership, and he said he would let them know. When they didn't hear they came to see me.” (Martin L. Gross, “The Incredible American Diamond Mine Mystery,” True [September 1959], 55.)
The initial report in the Nashville News, on September 12, 1906, mentioned Stifft was among those visiting the Huddlestons' property; but that article evidently appeared a week or so later when Stifft returned with Sam Reyburn (following note).
[48] Banks, Diamonds, “Sam Reyburn and the ADC, 1906-1932.” As indicated later in this study, J. C. Pinnix had a continuing role in John Huddleston's life. He was an influential friend, one whose help undoubtedly went well beyond the instances found in available documents. A former member of the Arkansas House of Representatives and Senate (elected President Pro Tem; once served as acting governor); member of the school board for four decades; a major real-estate investor in Pike County; the prosecuting attorney in 1909-1913; organizer and president of the Pike County Bank, 1910 until his death in July 1942 ? he certainly had the skills and resources to make a difference. For a brief background see “J. C. Pinnix Dies in Murfreesboro,” Arkansas Gazette , July 27, 1942, p. 5.
[49] The Nashville News implied Huddleston had been offered $36,000 for an outright purchase, but that clearly was not the case (“Diamonds in Pike,” September 12, 1906, p. 1).
[50] Deed Record L, 345, Option to Purchase, John W. and Sarah A. Huddleston to Sam W. Reyburn, Trustee, September 19, 1906 (cf. Record P, 326, Warranty Deed, June 15, 1908). “Pike Diamond Lands,” Nashville News, September 22, 1906, p. 1, reported the basic details of the contract correctly.
Huddleston dressed up and posed with Reyburn for a photograph, apparently when the initial option was filed in Murfreesboro at the Pike County Courthouse (“Photographs,” VIII, File 23.112, Crater archive). The photograph of Huddleston used in this study was cropped from 23.112.
[51] Shiras, “Diamond Discoverer,” p. 10. Compare this with the version popularized later by Howard Millar: “Finally, $36,000 was agreed upon and John explained his ‘figuring' this way: he and his wife had four daughters, making six individuals in the family. He estimated that $6,000 each would last them the rest of their lives. So, he wanted $6,000 for each member of the family, and requested this to be paid in $10 bills.” ( Finders-Keepers, 25.)
[52] Option to Purchase, September 19, 1906. Later, an option renewal allowed the Huddlestons more flexibility: “We hereby reserve the right to continue, as may suit our convenience, the prospecting of said land . . .” (Deed Record M, 99, Option, September 9, 1907). The Nashville News, a biweekly newspaper published in a small city about fifteen miles southwest of Murfreesboro, occasionally made it clear the discoverer was hunting diamonds for those holding the option: “The Fourth Diamond,” October 6, 1906, p. 1; “More Options Taken,” January 16, 1907, p. 1.
[53] “Diamonds Plentiful,” January 9, 1907, p. 1; “More Options Taken,” January 16, 1907, p. 1; “Four More Diamonds,” March 9, 1907, p. 1. Banks, Diamonds, “Reyburn ? Caution to Overconfidence,” provides the full context.
Evidently, Huddleston was allowed to carry his collection of diamonds while in the field, for “demonstration” purposes. Apparently he kept them in a pocket-size Bull Durham tobacco sack, and thereby inspired another future folk tale (see Bibliographic Note 6, below, for details).
[54] The basic contracts reflected the group's cautious maneuvering after September 1906 ? as a small crew probed the field to determine if the discovery was genuine or merely another salting scheme: Deed Record M, 99 , John W. and Sarah A. Huddleston to Sam W. Reyburn, Trustee, December 31, 1906 (conditional option deed, with full payment by September 1907); N, 405 , Huddlestons to Reyburn, Trustee, August 14, 1907 (a fee-simple deed, in effect an extension of the option and the final payment; but this time the Huddlestons' received $7,000 cash ? and a schedule for interest payments on a balance of $29,000); P, 49 , Huddlestons to Reyburn, Trustee, March 4, 1908 (a new deed for $1,000 cash, an extension of the balance at 8% interest, and the Trust's assumption of property taxes); P, 326 , Warranty Deed, Huddlestons to Arkansas Diamond Mining Company. June 15, 1908 (two marginal notations are on the deed [others evidently were on the related promissory note]: “Receipt of $60 . . . April 5, 1913, being payment of interest on the within mentioned note to March 28, 1913” [the balance had been $22,000 in June 1908; this $60 was the monthly interest on the remaining balance,]; and “Satisfied in full this October 6, 1916, for value received,” certified by agent of Union Trust Co.); Deed Record 33, p. 208 , Quit Claim Deed, J. W. Huddleston to Union Trust Company, October 6, 1916 (for $1 and “other good and valuable consideration” [Reyburn's Union Trust Co., Little Rock, had assumed responsibility for the note on January 4, 1910]). For the full context see Banks, Diamonds, “ADC's Dilemmas.”
According to the prevailing myth, John Huddleston not only bought the “160-acre” farm earlier in 1906 and sold it for $36,000 cash, but also required payment in $10 or $20 bills.