BAXTER SEMINARY
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-BAXTER TENNESSEE-
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Algernon
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Baxter, Tenn
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Algernon (the truck)
 Algernon Photo from A Light on the Cumberland Plateau: The Story of Baxter Seminary by Ruth Robinson Matthews Baxter Seminary has a lot of friends around the country. That became evident after Dr. Harry Upperman, head of Baxter Seminary went on a trip to Milwaukee this week to get a truck given to the school by a supporter. On the drive back, Upperman made several stops along the way to pick up a diversity of items offered by other supporters of western Putnam County’s church sponsored high school. Packed in and lashed onto the truck when Upperman rolled into Baxter were lab supplies, electrical equipment, a piano, a radio, 61,000 envelopes, a collection of other stationery, and parts for a printing press. Upperman, at the end of the three day, 650 mile trip, said a man in Nashville offered the school a load of hay too, but Upperman said he didn't swing that far went on the trip home. - Putnam County Herald, March 12, 1935 The following is one of Dr. Upperman's responses to questions from Ruth Robinson Matthews while doing research for her book.
"Dr. Brevard asked,'Have you enough room on the truck for a piano?' 'Yes, Dr. Brevard, we can take a piano on the truck.' 'All right,' he said, 'you go to my house, get some men to lower my piano out of the second floor window.' I went to Evanston, secured six men on the street at a dollar apiece an hour and I asked them to go with me ad load the piano on the truck . They thought the best way to load the piano was to put ropes around it and lower it out of the window. A policeman saw us and said, I will clear the street so you can get the piano on the truck.' When the piano was loaded, we started off with a tarpaulin over the whole thing. As i came down through Kentucky, there was a whistle behind me, and to my dismay a Highway Patrol was after me because the tarpaulin had come loose and was floating all over the truck like a cloud. The officer said, 'Young man, you will have to get that tarpaulin tied up because all the cars behind you and those coming toward you are having a good deal of trouble driving.' I said, 'Yes, sir, I'll do that.' He continued, 'You had better go with me.' "When we reached Louisville, the asked, 'How do you happen to be doing this?' I said, 'The truck was a gift from a Milwaukee Methodist church, and the piano is a gift from Dr. William S. Brevard who is the head of the Board of Education of The Methodist Church.' Then he said, 'The whole story sounds kind of fishy to me. I would like to know if you have authority for having the truck in the first place.' 'Here are the papers where Dr. Morse has signed the truck over to Baxter Seminary,' and I showed the papers to him. He said, 'They could be forged.' I said, 'They could be, but they are really genuine.' The policeman continued, 'I don't like the story. Do you have any means of identification in Louisville?' 'Yes, sir, the man who preached our commencement sermon last year lives in this city. He is the pastor of a church here that is a very prominent church. He can identify me.' The officer said, 'You call him'. I said, 'Mr. Officer, if you don't mind, you do the calling and then you can find out whether I am telling the truth.' So he called the pastor of the church and asked him who I was. The pastor said, 'I'll come right on down, because I gave his commencement address last spring.' "The Pastor of the church came. In the meantime the officer said, 'I don't really like this story. You don't look like a preacher to me.' I said, 'I am and I am a truck driver, and I have been living in the truck places on the way down from Milwaukee to Kentucky.' He said, 'Well, what is that school? What is it like?' I told him all about the school, and by that time the pastor of the church arrived. He said, 'Hello, Upperman.' I said, 'Hello, Dr. Sprague. I am having some problems here trying to tell this man that I am a Methodist preacher.' The officer broke in and said, 'He's no Methodist preacher. He is a truck driver.' I said, 'Well the two are the same thing. I am both.' The policeman, after getting all the facts of my situation, gave me five dollars for Baxter Seminary. "We called the truck, 'Algernon.' It looked like a Greek god to me right out of Greek mythology. So the truck became Algernon to the student body. All the faculty referred to Algernon with a great deal of pride, and Algernon was always present at our picnics. Anywhere we went Algernon went with us and was the carrier of food for our picnics and also hauled lime and fertilizer and logs. It was a very useful truck. It was finally given away, I think, to a nearby automobile cemetery." - A Light on the Cumberland Plateau: The Story of Baxter Seminary by Ruth Robinson Matthews Note: Algernon was a late 1920's or early 1930's Graham-Paige truck.
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"One day there came to Baxter Seminary Judge and Mrs. A. Morse. They had been in Florida and were on their way to
their home in Milwaukee. Mr. Morse said to me, 'You have a very good school here. I would like to know more
about it." I said, "Mr. Morse, what we need most of all for this school is a printing press.' 'Why, I have
one up in my shop in Milwaukee that I will be glad to give you.' I then asked, "Mr. Morse, I brought a pair of
overalls and a jumper and a blue shirt, and I can drive the truck back.' He asked, 'You can drive the truck to
Baxter from Milwaukee?' 'Why not? I am as good a driver as any other man.' 'All right, be at Taylor's
Sunday school class in the morning,' he directed me. We went to Sunday school, and there we told the members of
this men's class about Baxter Seminary. When they heard the story, they asked, 'Why don't we take up a collection
here this morning to pay Mr. Upperman's trip expense home?' They raised enough money to pay for the whole
trip. Early the next morning I left Milwaukee with 6,000 sheets of letterhead for Baxter Seminary, a printing press,
and also some equipment for the Science Department. As I came through Chicago I asked Dr. William S. Brevard if he
would like to know about the trip. He said, 'Not only that, but I would like to have a picture of it.' So Dr.
Brevard sent the photographer out to the street to get a picture of the truck, and thy asked me to pose with it because I
looked like a truck driver.
