What became of the C.L. Johnson's 'real Indian tomahawk' and mysterious bottle?

Indian brave with tomahawk.

While preparing this week’s news flashback feature, I ran across an unusual item that was originally published in the April 3, 1941 edition of The Monroe Journal. In that week’s paper, under the front-page headline “Tomahawk Found In Johnson House,” readers learned that “a real Indian tomahawk” and a mysterious bottle had been found between the walls of the C.L. Johnson house at Franklin. These two unusual items were found by Francis Johnson and J.T. McArthur, who were wiring the house for electric lights.

“The tomahawk was found when a hole was cut in a baseboard for a receptacle,” the newspaper reported. “A bottle was also found but was too large to be removed through the hole. The house was built more than 100 years ago and members of the family have no idea who could have selected this hiding place for his weapon and bottle. Francis says he may decide to wreck the house and get that bottle for he is convinced that whatever it contains has plenty of age.”

A close reading of this short news item and a little research were quite revealing. First, I believe C.L. Johnson to be Charles Langdon Johnson, who was born in January 1843. He went on to serve in the 42^nd Alabama Infantry Regiment during the War Between the States. He lived to the ripe age of 72, passing away in November 1915, and was buried in the River Ridge Cemetery at Franklin.

More than likely, the Francis Johnson mentioned in the story was the Francis Johnson who ran an agricultural supply store in Monroeville years ago before going to work for Liberty National. If this is the same Francis Johnson, his tomahawk discovery came about three months before he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps and went on to serve in the 24^th Combat Mapping Squadron in the China-Burma-India theatre of operations during World War II. He passed away in 2006 and is also buried in the River Ridge Cemetery.

As best that I could determine, the J.T. McArthur mentioned in the story was John Thomas McArthur, who was born in 1903, making him about 38 years old in 1941. He passed away in Miami at the age of either 62 or 63 in 1966. He’s buried in the Hillcrest Cemetery in Monroeville.

For folks unfamiliar with tomahawks, they were single-handed axes that resembled a hatchet. In prehistoric times, the heads of these axes were usually made of stone, but when European settlers arrived on the scene, iron and steel heads began to appear on tomahawks. For the most part, tomahawks were general-purpose tools, but were also used in hand-to-hand combat.

The bottle found by Johnson and McArthur may have been what old-timers called “witch bottles.” These old bottles were often filled with nails or other items and placed inside walls or buried near hearths to supposedly fend off evil spirits. Another practice similar to this was the hiding of shoes inside of houses as protection against ghosts and witches. Shoes were commonly hidden under floors, inside walls and in attics in the old days for this superstitious purpose.

In the end, we’re left with a lot of questions. Where was the C.L. Johnson house and does it still stand today? What became of the tomahawk found in 1941? What was inside the bottle behind the wall? If anyone in the reading audience can shed more light on any of this, please let me know.