As we know, Bill Haywood lost his right eye as a youth while whittling. From
Big Trouble, page 205:
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| John Richards Collection |
"But the bloodiest encounter of his youth came at his own careless hand. At age nine, he was whittling the stock of a slingshot when his knife slipped and punctured his right eye, blinding him for life. Other children mocked him with epithets like Squint Eye and Deadeye Dick. Henceforth, in
posing for photographs he always turned his head to offer the unimpaired left profile. But he never had a glass eye installed in place of that dead eye with it's milky glaze. Did he somehow enjoy the lopsided, even sinister cast it gave his face?"
The information below comes once again from Carlin Otto as told to her by her grand-father
M. Ned Williams:
"When my grandfather, M. Ned Williams, was about 6
or 7, he used to sit around Silver City, Idaho whittling with his knife. Whenever he saw Big Bill Haywood approaching he would
switch the direction of his whittling so as to pull the knife towards himself
instead of pushing it away. Big Bill would stop and pay him a nickel to change the
direction of his whittling. The reason
for this is that Big Bill lost the sight in one of his eyes when he was a boy
due to an accident that involved unsafe use of a knife."
Thank you again Carlin for sharing these great stories from your grandfather and great-grandfather.
This one was in the
possession of Julian & Francis Steunenberg, my grandparents. Uncle Cal
and Uncle Jule served during WWII. Each star represents a family member serving
in the war. Uncle Frank (Bud), the third son, served in the Marines prior to
WWII.
