Tallahatchie County has produced some colorful and very talented people. Col. Tom James was one of those people.

The story of Col. James and the legend of Pine Crest Farm was interwoven. In 1916 Col. James purchased Rocky Branch Plantation for thirty five thousand dollars. Rocky Branch had been in operations since before Tallahatchie became a county.

On the south half of the two thousand acre farm the Col. grew corn. On the north half he had a fabulous cattle and pig operation. The Col. and Mrs. James picked up the name "Pine Crest" on one of their trips through the Colorado Rockies. And somewhere along the way the Col. established himself as a diversified leader and a successful businessman in the farming communities throughout the nation.

He raised Duroc-Jersey swine. "Scissors", was his champion. He won the overall title of "CHAMPION" in 1917 and 1918 at the Omaha Livestock Shows. It was said that he had reached eighteen hundred (1800) pounds in 1920. Now that is a lot of sausage folks! There were other accounts to dispute this rumor, and listed his weight as twelve hundred and fifty pounds. That is still a lot of Ham! Scissors was so large that he had his own house, complete with front porch. Another rumor had it that the Col. turned down an offer of $80,000.00 for Scissors. He later sold the entire herd of Duroc-Jersey Swine to John Borden of Glendwild Plantation in Grenada. It was said that he only received $20,000.00 for the herd.

December 24, 1929 Col. James died. The Plantation was left to the heirs. His son-in-law, Hugh Gary, a one time lawyer in Charleston, continued to run the operation until financial matters and the depression overwhelmed the business in 1932.

Scissors home is still standing and in recent years has been preserved. His house is located on MS. Hwy. 32 East.

The photo is not Scissors, but the type of breed he was

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Updater: This page was last updated Friday, 24-Oct-2003 14:00:06 MDT

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