Here is an interesting war story from the society editor of the Daily Corinthian, Mrs. Mildred Sawyer.

It is about a lost and found pitcher once owned by her ancestors who were among the pioneers who settled in old Tishomingo County near Rienzi. They were James Lusk, born in Rienzi, June 13, 1803 and died Sept. 3, 1883; his wife Ellen, born July 25, 1810 and died Sept. 1, 1886.

Ellen was the girl who owned an ironstone pitcher trimmed with a gold band. And this is the story about the pitcher that was lost and found.

Mrs. Sawyer said during one of the raids that the Federal soldiers (camped near Bethel Church) made on homes in the Rienzi community, they stopped at the Lusk homeplace. One of the soldiers tried to carry away a barrel of molasses, but, finding it too heavy, he grabbed a pitcher and filled it with molasses. The soldiers left that day without raiding the outhouses. But they returned later and took everything they could find in the way of food, including the barrel of molasses.

Several years after the war Mr. Lusk found the pitcher while clearing some land about a quarter of a mile from his home. The pitcher was not damaged in any way in spite of the years it had lain among the brush in the woods.

When Mr. and Mrs. Lusk died they left the pitcher to their daughter, Alice Lusk, who was born Feb. 28, 1845 and died June 1, 1891. She married James Newton Suitor who was born Jan. 15, 1845 and died Jan. 17, 1922.

This pitcher was passed on to their daughter Mary Ellen Suitor, who married Joe L. Walker of Kossuth. And the pitcher is at their home on Route 1 at Rienzi. Mr. and Mrs. Walker are the parents of Mrs. Mildred Sawyer.

In the accompanying picture (in original article), this prized memento of the war is being shown to Mary Frances Walker, eight year old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Milton Walker of Rienzi, who is the granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joe Walker.

And Mary Frances Walker is the great great granddaughter of Ellen Lusk, the orginal owner of this pitcher. Mrs. Mildred Sawyer believes the pitcher is 150 years old, as she understands the pitcher was given to Ellen Lusk when she married by her mother.

The pitcher has never been more than three miles from its original home, except when it was brought to the Fairs at Corinth where it won many a prize for being the oldest piece of pottery on exhibition.