Located in the southwestern portion of Arkansas, Prescott is the county seat of Nevada County and also its largest city. Incorporated in October 1874 as a railroad town, it became an important center of agriculture and business in the area.
The land where Prescott lies was part of the Indian Removal (known as the Trail of Tears) in the 1830s, and was home to several nearby actions of the Civil War, including the battle of Prairie D’Ane and the skirmish at Moscow.
Several notable people have come out of Prescott, including Arkansas politicians Gov. Thomas McRae, acting-governor Christopher Hamby, U.S. Congressman Oren Harris and U.S. Congressman and one-time gubernatorial candidate Mike Ross. Also hailing from the Nevada County city was singer Anita Pointer of the famed musical group, the Pointer Sisters.
As is the case with many Arkansas cities, Prescott is full of interesting and unusual legends and stories. However, in my opinion, none are more so than the story of a man known simply as “Old Mike.”
No one knows for sure when he was born or where he was from, but Old Mike was a traveling salesman who frequented Prescott in the early 1910s. He visited the city about once a month selling everything from paper to thread to homes and businesses located in the central part of the town. According to newspaper reports, Old Mike would arrive in Prescott by the southbound train around 3:00 p.m. and leave the next day at the same time to continue his travels to another city to sell his wares.
It is believed on Sunday, August 20, 1911, Old Mike attended a revival held that evening in the city park. The following day, his body was found under a tree in the park. It was thought at the time he either died from a heart attack or stroke.
Local residents took Old Mike’s body to Cornish Funeral Home where it was embalmed. His body was searched, but no identification was found. The funeral directors believed Old Mike was in his early 40s and of Italian descent. It appeared he had suffered major injuries to his left leg and right arm—possibly as the result of a stroke.
Now here’s where the story of Old Mike turns really strange. The staff of the funeral home took Old Mike’s body and placed it in the front window of the business. The thought was that someone might pass by the body, recognize it, and claim it for proper burial. For over sixty years, Old Mike’s body stood in the window of the funeral home, however no one came forward to claim it. Old Mike’s corpse did become somewhat of a tourist attraction, as curiosity seekers from all across Arkansas and even nearby states came to Prescott to see the body
Finally, in 1975, Arkansas Attorney General Jim Guy Tucker, politely requested the funeral home bury Old Mike’s body. The funeral home complied and Old Mike was buried in a small ceremony at DeAnn Cemetery in Prescott on May 12, 1975.
According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture, journalist Mike Nichols began trying to learn more about the mysterious identity of Old Mike in the 1990s.
Nichols’ research revealed that a staff member at the Pulaski County coroner’s office testified to having seen Old Mike in a Little Rock police court, along with a man named Pat McFarland, where Old Mike was charged with public intoxication. In the police docket section of the Arkansas Gazette dated August 12, 1911, Pat McFarland was listed as having been arrested for disturbing the peace, while the only arrest for public intoxication was of a man named J. M. Estes. Could the “M” in M have stood for Mike?
Chances are we will never know the answer to that question, as well as the true identity of Prescott’s Old Mike.
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