IRVIN S. COBB

by Kelly Foster

Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb was the second of four children born to Kentucky natives on June 23, 1876, in Paducah Kentucky. Cobb was raised in Paducah, and many believe his hometown ties and personal love for the state contributed to his writings. Cobb was best described as having a round shape, bushy eyebrows, full lips, and a triple chin. He always had a cigar in his mouth. Cobb was a successful author whose more than three hundred short stories and sixty books made him one of the highest paid writers of his time. Because of his success he has been compared to Mark Twain and Edgar Allen Poe.

Cobb was educated in public and private elementary schools and then entered William A. Cade's academy with hopes of eventually studying law. Cobb's plans were shattered at age sixteen when his grandfather died, his father became an alcoholic, and Cobb was forced to quit school and get a job to support the family. This trauma in Cobb's life began his extraordinary career as a writer.

Cobb's first job was for the Paducah Evening News as a reporter making $1.75 a week. Cobb was a sure success with his work; by the age of nineteen he was the youngest News Managing Editor in the country. This fame allowed him to receive a position at the Louisville Evening Post for a year and a half before returning to his hometown of Paducah. At this time Cobb married Laura Spacer Baker of Savannah, Georgia, who supported his work and urged him to try out the big city of New York. With the support of his family, Cobb borrowed two hundred dollars from his father-in-law and took off to New York in 1904.

The city life was hard on Cobb. After two weeks without work he had to finally beg for a job. Cobb sent thirteen identical letters to different newspapers in New York. The letter basically said he was tired of sitting in the lobby waiting to be seen. Cobb wanted the opportunity to work and show off his talent. After this he received five different job offers and chose to work at the Evening Sun. Cobb's first major assignment was covering the 1904 Russian-Japanese peace conference in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Cobb became known for taking dull assignments like this one and turning them into something interesting. Cobb didn't focus on the everyday occurrences of the conference but put his attention towards the personalities of the people involved. This helped him to earn a daily feature entitled, "Making Peace at Portsmouth." After this was published across the United Sates, Cobb was offered a job on Joseph Pulitzer's New York and Evening and Sunday World. This job made him the highest-paid staff reporter in the United States.

Cobb wrote about many different subjects in his time. However, there is a pattern seen in his literary writings. Most of his pieces are based on anecdotes and happenings from his early life in Kentucky. Many of the characters in his stories are based on people he knew as a child: doctors, lawyers, merchants, ministers and black servants. One of his most popular creations is Judge William Pitman Priest, who is derived from Judge William Pitman Bishop, who was a prominent Western Kentucky circuit judge. Priest can be seen in his first book, Back Home, as an intelligent Confederate veteran who is fond of mint juleps. In the preface to Back Home, Cobb states that the book consists of, "a series of pictures, out of the life of a town in the Western part of Kentucky."

After reading through Back Home one begins to feel as if there was a reason Cobb wrote this book. Cobb wanted to provide a picture of Kentucky to those who thought the entire state was full of hillbillies and poverty. When Cobb was asked about his works being compared to Kentucky he made comments like, "Once a Kentuckian always a Kentuckian," or that he wanted others to see an average southern community like he had seen it.

After reading the Judge Priest's stories the South and its people all seem very real, especially the character of Judge Priest. Priest is a character that one would recognize if he was walking down the street. Cobb has painted Priest to be broad, stooped shouldered, have wrinkled clothes, and fat, short legs. The description Cobb has painted for the reader allows one to see him as more than just a character. While reading the Judge Priest stories readers could easily forget they were reading a story and wander off into what seemed to be reality.

Cobb tried to provide a positive representation of Kentucky even in his literature that didn't mention the state. After reading the short story, "Snake Doctor," parallels can be drawn between the characters and the sometime assumed characterization of the people of Kentucky.

"Snake Doctor" is about a man and woman who live out on Cashier Creek in a primitive setting. Not far from their home lives a man who is know as the Snake Doctor. The Snake Doctor is thought to be a hermit who is evil, dangerous, and has a huge poisonous snake in his home. It has also been said that the Snake Doctor has a large amount of money hidden in his home. Of course no one has ever seen the snake or the money, but because the Snake Doctor is different from everyone else and does not interact with civilization, everyone believes the rumors about him except for Kizzie Morner, Japhet's wife.

Japhet and Kizzie Morner also live on Cashier Creek in a cabin. Japhet is a hunter and knows the land well. Kizzie is a housewife who is the only person who has ever had contact with the Snake Doctor. Because her husband is always out hunting Kizzie gets lonely and enjoys talking to the Snake Doctor when she runs into him. It has been said the Snake Doctor is entirely too fond of Kizzie. One day when Japhet comes home from hunting, Kizzie makes the mistake of telling him that the Snake Doctor came to their house today and that he is ill. Japhet becomes angry and tells her to stay away from the Snake Doctor. Japhet then gets his gun and says he is going hunting and will not return until after dark.

As soon as Japhet leaves the cabin he kills two squirrels. Japhet wants it to look like he went hunting for animals, however he went hunting for the Snake Doctor. Japhet goes to the Snake Doctor's home and fires a shot at him. What Japhet doesn't know is that he has shot his wife who had the Snake Doctor's jacket and hat on. Kizzie had gone to check on the Snake Doctor because she knew he was ill. She had put on his jacket and hat to go to feed his animals. Japhet ended up killing his wife because of misperception.

Japhet hears that he has shot his wife and decides to run into the woods. He ends up back at the Snake Doctor's home and decides to steal the money. When he discovers the hiding place and sticks his hand in the hole, he feels a pain that he assumes is a snake bite. Japhet takes off running and feels the poison running through his blood. He falls to the ground and dies.

Snake Doctor is based on the idea of misperception. Cobb is trying to show how some people are labeled as hillbillies because they live away from civilization and they live their own lifestyles. They are looked down upon just like the Snake Doctor. Many times people from Kentucky are thought of as being barefoot and stupid. Cobb proves this theory wrong with the Snake Doctor. Because the "Snake Doctor" was different, he was thought to be bad. Actually he was the smartest person of all. The Snake Doctor did not have a snake in his house, only a model of one. The hole that Japhet stuck his hand in was not filled with a snake, only pointed wires so that someone who tried to steal his money would think he had been bitten by a snake. This means that Japhet must have died from a heart attack because he got so worked up about the snake bite. " Snake Doctor" is another example of how Cobb used his writings to make the reader think about their perceptions of people and to insure a positive outlook on Kentuckians.

According to Joel Harris, a southern apologist, "Cobb created a South peopled with honorable citizens, charming eccentrics, and loyal, subservient blacks, but at their best the Judge Priest stories are dramatic and compelling, using a wealth of precisely rendered detail to evoke a powerful mood" (Dictionary of American Biography Volume III 84).

Irvin S. Cobb dedicated his literature to Kentucky and its people. It is very obvious that some of his literature spoke of Kentucky and in some of his other works it may take a true Kentuckian to uncover the meaning. Cobb was a true Kentuckian. On March 10, 1944 he died and went back home to Paducah where his body was cremated and placed by a dogwood tree. A granite boulder is the marker for his grave. Inscribed on the boulder is "Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb 1876-1944 Back Home."

Dictionary of American Biography, Supplement III, 1941-45.

Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume III, Humorists, 1800-1950.

Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 86, American Short Story Writers,1910-1945.

Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 25: American Newspaper Journalists, 1901-1925.

Cobb, Irvin S. Back Home. Indianapolis & New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1912.

Cobb, Irvin S. Cobb's Cavalcade. Cleveland & New York: The World, 1945.

by Kelly Foster

Books:

Cobb, Elizabeth. My Wayward Parent. Indianapolis & New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1945.

Davis, R. H. Introducing Mr. Cobb. New York: Golden Book, 1934.

Cobb, Irvin S. Back Home. Indianapolis & New York: Bobbs-Merril, l912.

Periodicals and Pamphlets:

Fred G. Neuman. "Irvin S. Cobb, Kentuckian." Kentucky Progress Magazine 1931: (23,44).

Davis, R. H. "Irvin S. Cobb, a Paducah, Kentucky, Gentleman." American Magazine 1917: (14).

Dictionary of American Biography, Supplement III 1941-45.

Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume III, Humorists, 1800-1950, 83-88.

Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 86, American Short Story Writers, 1910-1945, 73-76.

Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 25, American Newspaper Journalists, 1901-1925, 50-57.

Newspapers:

Courier Journal, "Hundreds Visit Grave of Irvin S. Cobb". Neuman, Fred. October 1945.