March of 1903 was marked by a heavier than usual sequence of rain and flood, factors that captured most of the local headlines. However, there was one day when all the mud and water was pushed aside by a headline of a quite different nature. At that time, one of the hottest commodities on the market at local food service establishments and groceries was an item that had originated far to the south - the tamale. Not only did it tantalize local taste buds but it was possibly one of the most popular food items of the era. On that occasion it forged its own place in local annals while also opening a door pon a bit of earlier history, daring from the Civil War era.

The Carthage Press of March 14, 1903, included this unusual account:

“Hot times prevailed at the hot tamale joint of Tom Plain on East 4th Street last night. The keeper has a 44-caliber revolver which he claims was carried by his brother’s wife, then Sallie Starr, (alleged) cousin of Belle Starr and involved in the Northfield (Minnesota) raid at the time the Youngers were captured and sent to the Minnesota penitentiary. Tom said  Sallie was there in men’s clothes. She married my brother, who now lives in the country near. She died about a year ago, when I went down to Claremore.  At the time of the conversation last night, B.B. Clark was sitting in the chili establishment and he was heard to remark that the possession of such a keepsake was a questionable honor if the gun really had been in the Northfield raid. At this, Tom Plain, better known as Plain Tom, took exception and when Deputy Sheriff Hedrick’s attention was drawn to the matter from across the street by a young carpenter, T.H. Johnson, Clark and Plain were up and at it, striking with their fists. When Hedrick arrived each had a gun in his hand. The officer grabbed Hedrick and wrestled him for the gun, finally taking it away from him and handing it to Deputy John Reno. Meanwhile, Clark had disappeared but not until Plain had given him a bloody mouth in exchange for the one he had received. No arrests were reported. The gun in dispute is a Colt and was loaded during the scuffle over it last night. Why it failed to go off is a mystery.”

The unlikely relationship to Belle Starr is typical of many fake tales circulating nationwide at the time in which Belle, having been discovered by the dime novelists, was gaining nationwide notoriety.
 

Belle of course was the former Myra Belle Shirley who was reared at the John Shirley hotel, tavern and dance hall on the north side of the Carthage square and, as serious historians long since have learned, could not possibly have engaged in the countless wild and lawless activities attributed to her by the gossips of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.
 

The rains came again and the rivers rose again to reclaim headline attention and the hot tamale episode soon lost its appeal by local story tellers.
 

It could be said the episode was viewed primarily as a matter of entertainment, that in the days before movies, radio and/or television broadcasts, telephone networks and other means by which the entertainment industry forged a number of means of entertainment that put the dime novelists  creative visions out of business.   
 

Tom Plain’s not-so-plain chili-hot tamales eventually dwindled in popularity to the point of being supplanted by other creative items on local menus.