As one of my favorite humorists, Dave Barry, would say, “I’m not making this up!”  The tale is reported  by folk historian John W. Allen in his book, Legends and Lore of Southern Illinois (Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois University Press, 1963). It’s retold in the excellent volume, History As They Lived It: A Social History of Prairie du Rocher, Ill.,  by Margaret Kimball Brown, Ph.D. (Tucson, Ariz.: The Patrice Press 2005; copyright Margaret Kimball Brown 2005; ISBN 1-880397-57-9).  See pp. 273-274.

Craig