This is one of the recollections written by Wallace A. McKay and published in The Pioneer-News. Follow the "Recollections" link above to find others of his writings.
The Pioneer-News, March 31, 1933, pages 1-2
In the early eighties, while Hon. Wilhite Carpenter was County Judge; Richard McConathy, Circuit Clerk, E W. Hall, County Clerk, and James H. Hays, Sheriff a strange young man blew into Shepherdsville, who claimed to have been a native of the Mountain Country of West Virginia. He was of good address and affable and rather jovial in manners and made friends rapidly. He was then about 29 or 30 years of age. He had bushy, curly, light hair, was rather good looking, and popular with the fair sex His name was Caleb Rood. After working at odd jobs around town, he finally landed a job as Deputy Jailer under H. Clay Bowman, who was then Jailer of Bullitt County. At that time there was a lot of horse stealing going on throughout the country, and Caleb Rood; Chief Clay Bowman, had established a reputation as a detective which extended throughout a wide section of the State. Bowman had in the last several years, apprehended and was instrumental in convicting some of the most notorious horse thieves in this section of the country, and was often especially employed as a detective by citizens of Nelson, Spencer, Meade and Grayson Counties, who had lost valuable horses. During those days this class of bandits were very hard to locate and arrest. A fine horse would be stolen from a barn near Mt Washington on a Saturday night about 10 O'clock and its loss would not be discovered until the following morning about 8 o'clock. By this time, by rapid all night riding the horse and its rider would be in Tennessee or Indiana and this made pursuit and apprehension very difficult.
Clay Bowman had a wonderful knowledge of the habits and customs of these horse bandits and was in touch with officers all over the State and adjoining States and made a rather remarkable record in finding and returning the stolen horses as well as apprehending the man who did the stealing.
Caleb Rood was a born adventurer and a bold, intrepid, ingenious detective, and on more than one occasion he and his chief captured some of the most daring and desperate crooks in this section of the country. Caleb Rood was soon elected Town Marshal and made a very excellent officer.
About this time several barns were burned in and about town. Every evidence indicated they were of incendiary origin. On some nights two or three were burned in one night. Caleb Rood was given the job of finding the barn burners. The people were alarmed and began to guard their houses and barns. Excitement was at fever heat and the populace were looking to Caleb Rood to find the incendiary. No one was ever arrested. No one was ever suspicioned during this period of suspense and unrest. A few barns were burned each week covering a period of several weeks.
Finally, one bright morning in May, the popular and genial Town Marshal, Caleb Rood, disappeared. No one knew when he left or how he left. No one knew the cause of his leaving. No one knew where be went. As soon as he left, however, the burning of barns ceased. There were no more fires. People soon ceased guarding their barns. A period of rest and quiet safety again prevailed. People often asked Clay Bowman if his old friend and co-partner in detective work took along with him when he left town, the incendiary who caused so much alarm among the people.
The question has never yet been answered. Caleb Rood's disappearance was as mysterious as his unexpected and unexplained arrival in town. Clay Bowman always was loyal to his old friend. He never took any stock in the talk about Caleb Rood. He tried a number of times to find out where he went to and the cause of his sudden departure, but was unsuccessful.
The mystery of this strange man Caleb Rood, is still unsolved. Many people claimed he was disappointed in love in his early manhood, left his native heath to conceal his identity, and had changed his name to keep from being found, and that he was in reality the scion of some wealthy family in West Virginia and returned to his old home and resumed his real name after his adventure as a detective Deputy Jailer and Town Marshal at Shepherdsville had ended.
A novelist, no doubt, could weave a fascinating story of this strange man of mystery.
W. A. M.
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The Bullitt County History Museum, a service of the Bullitt County Genealogical Society, is located in the county courthouse at 300 South Buckman Street (Highway 61) in Shepherdsville, Kentucky. The museum, along with its research room, is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Saturday appointments are available by calling 502-921-0161 during our regular weekday hours. Admission is free. The museum, as part of the Bullitt County Genealogical Society, is a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization and is classified as a 509(a)2 public charity. Contributions and bequests are deductible under section 2055, 2106, or 2522 of the Internal Revenue Code. Page last modified: 15 Jun 2026 . Page URL: bullittcountyhistory.org/bchistory/wallace-pn-13.html
