CARLOCK,
ILLINOIS—
Carlock,
home of the community-owned Countryside
Family Restaurant, has another claim to fame. If you drive down Church
Street about a mile, past the point where houses have given way to cornfields,
you'll find the town cemetery on the right-hand side of the road. A few
hundred feet farther, on the other side of the road, you'll see the second
one.
Why does
a tiny town like Carlock have two cemeteries? The reason goes back more
than a century, when Abraham Carlock, a staunch Democrat, was one of the
leading citizens. His nemesis in town was Philip Benson, a Republican
of equally strong convictions. When Carlock established a cemetery and
announced that only Democrats were welcome, Benson created one for Republicans
nearby.
We visited
the two cemeteries, and were surprised to find markers for members of
the opposing families in both. Carlocks seem to be lying peacefully next
to Bensons, all differences forgotten. Did the rivalry die with the two
men who started it, or did other family members defect to the opposing
party? We don't have the answer, nor can we tell you the solution to another
quandary. What happens to people in Carlock who voted for Ross Perot?
9/96
Two-Cemetery
Town
